Startups from Shell E 4's second cohort graduate, future cohorts to focus on digital and mobility
The second cohort included 10 startups that bring unique solutions and innovations to the fast disrupting energy sector. The alumni of the programme will continue receiving access to the world-class E 4 laboratory.
After a successful first edition in 2018, Shell announced the graduation of 10 startups from the second cohort of Shell E 4 Startup Hub. The startups were selected by Shell for Incubation at the Shell Technology Centre, Bengaluru, in January 2019.
The 10 startups that graduated in the second cohort are from a variety of areas ranging from battery management, digital AR/VR, mobility solutions, logistics to energy management, operations efficiency, and energy IOT applications. While a number of these startups are working towards a pilot with Shell businesses, some others are also closely working with Shell to co-create customer solutions.
James Unterreiner, General Manager, Shell E 4 Start-up Hub with the second cohort of Shell E 4 program
Shell, along with its E 4’s cohort of startups, endeavours to bring together technical, financial, and technological expertise to help India move a step closer to its desired energy efficiency targets.
Sada Iyer, Shell Technology Centre Bangalore Leader, said,
“At Shell, we constantly strive to strengthen our commitment to partner energy entrepreneurs and take steady steps towards India’s transition to a sustainable tomorrow."
He added, "We are glad to announce the graduation of the second cohort of the E 4 programme. By mentoring these startups, we have nurtured and enabled the young energy entrepreneurs to bring innovations in the Indian energy sector. We are hopeful that next year we will see even more diverse energy startups striving towards an advanced and sustainable ecosystem with Shell E 4.”
Below are the list of 10 startups that graduated from the second cohort of Shell E 4:
RightWatts: RightWatts is building an 'Open Platform for Industrial Apps'. Targeted at industries, buildings, utilities, and data centres, their No-Code Platform helps solution providers working in these segments to build, deploy, and replicate 'industrial apps' at scale.
Using the platform, providers can themselves build full stack hardware-to-software complex industrial apps leveraging technologies like IoT, cloud, analytics, and AI. Their 'industrial appstore' fosters a market around re-usable apps (under provider's own brand), enabling distribution of single-app or multiple-app combinations to save money. They are enabling new business models in this market, fundamentally doing what Android did in the consumer apps market.
Manastu Space: At present, satellites carry a highly toxic and carcinogenic propellant which will be banned by 2021 internationally. Manastu Space, a startup established in 2017, has designed a green propulsion system consisting of hydrogen peroxide-based green propellant engine associated with it and catalyst providing 40 times less toxicity, 25 percent higher performance, resulting in upto 30 percent cost savings for satellite manufacturer.
MOBYCY: MOBYCY is solving India’s last mile connectivity problem during daily commutes between the metro, home and office by providing specially designed electric scooters – Zypp, which can be found on the Mobycy app and unlocked by scanning a QR code to start the ride. Its IoT keyless lock solution can convert any scooter into a smart scooter and it is doing 50K+ monthly rides, thereby reducing cars and making cities more sustainable.
AutoVRse: Founded in 2016, AutoVRse creates immersive AR/VR environments for a variety of applications such as automotive design reviews, immersive product experience, immersive training, and immersive virtual collaboration etc. The solutions provided by the company are platform agnostic.
igrenEnergi: igrenEnergi has developed a breakthrough Battery Management System which makes feasible the mass adoption of EVs. Our BMS delivers 20-40 percent improvement in range, charging time and cycle life, and enables business models like battery swapping, rental, off-line charging, and second-life. Its proprietary deep-tech innovations combine advanced power electronics, edge-computing algorithms and IoT + cloud intelligence to energise the mass market viability of EV batteries and EVs.
Maximl: Maximl is building a new-age industrial collaboration platform to streamline last mile communication and rapidly digitalise ground operations to enable real-time decision making and effective collaboration between field and office for industrial workforce.
Its flagship product SyncOps is a smart project management platform that enables real-time monitoring of industrial projects, including turnarounds and commissioning projects by connecting every stakeholder of the industrial ecosystem, reducing project time and cost. This is powered by a low code workflow management system designed for use cases within process industries to quickly build digital solutions. The product has received traction from Fortune 500 companies, including all the Oil & Gas refining majors within India.
LogisticsNow: LogisticsNow is building the digital backbone of global logistics to help customers develop a stronger technology enabled transportation and logistics business. Their initial focus is on emerging markets like India where there are significant challenges in terms of lack of business visibility, utilisation, transparency, and payments.
TresMoto: The startup was established in 2015 and is re-imagining the future of mobility. Its first offering is a plug-and-play scooter for dockless rental and micro-delivery service providers. These are purpose built, connected scooters supported by modern-day services and sub-systems.
Ziptrax: The startup aims to provide low cost and infinitely serviceable battery energy storage by re-purposing Li-ion batteries for second use applications such as e-mobility and energy storage. Ziptrax has a proprietary artificial intelligence and machine learning technologies that integrates portable hardware with intelligent plug-and-play SaaS. Its batteries provide superior benefits of Li-ion battery while being cost competitive and better replacements for lead acid batteries.
iGarage: Recently launched in January 2019, iGarage is an integrated technology-based marketplace platform that offers convenience, value for money, and promise of reliability to fill the gap of customer inconvenience for vehicle lifestyle ownership. Its platform has established brand ecosystem partners managed by multi-industry expertise and entrepreneurs.
Shell also announced that the third cohort of the E 4 programme will focus on digital startups and the fourth cohort will focus on the theme of ‘Future of Mobility for India’. The registrations for the fourth cohort are open from July 15 to October 15, 2019.
James Unterreiner, General Manager, Shell E 4 Start-up Hub, said,
“Keeping in mind the idea behind introducing Shell E 4 , we have and shall keep identifying and engaging with startups who have the talent and vision to innovate technology that will further accelerate India’s transition to a sustainable energy future.”
Launched in 2017, Shell E 4 programme aims at playing a prominent role in accelerating technologies that are fit for India’s energy transition. Shell Technology Centre Bangalore is one of the few cutting edge R&D centres in India and one of the very few in the energy space. With its world-class innovation and technology, the centre is integral to Shell’s core ambition of providing cleaner energy solutions for India and the world.
The startups are offered a seed funding of $20,000 each and access to prototyping laboratories for product development and testing, bootcamps aimed at customer discovery and improving the product, top industry mentors and experts, new markets, interactions with investors, and other growth and funding opportunities.
The startups in the first cohort have also witnessed significant growth in their businesses. Detect Technologies, a startup from the first cohort, has successfully raised Series A funding of $3.3 million from Tier 1 VCs. Similarly, ION Energy’s advanced battery management and intelligence platform is being used by top tier OEMs and Battery Pack Makers in 10+ countries. IoTrek is piloting with two Engineering Procurement and Construction (EPC) companies at construction job sites in India and commercially launched products for the US market.
As alumni of the programme, the startups will continue receiving access to the E 4 laboratory, in addition to support from the Shell E 4 team for Shell deployment opportunities.
The event on Tuesday (July 16) included a unique gathering of energy focused startups along with the attendance of Arvind Tiwary, Chair, IoT Forum, TiE, and Subhashini Chandran, EVP and Managing Director – India at Xynteo.
(Edited by Dipti Nair)
