Two weeks after the presentation of the nine participants in this years Equinor and Techstars Energy Accelerator, many of them have attracted investors. Tuesday this week all nine are ready to present themselves again on Demo Day.
-We cannot disclose this but the startups have been meeting investors through the partnership who have an interest in our general dealflow, says Phillip Hansteen, Leader Equinor & Techstars Energy Accelarator in Equinor Ventures.
Equinors commitment to the program has a clear motivation:
-The Equinor & Techstars Energy Accelerator represents innovation and creativity and a unique possibility for Equinor to expand our network and ecosystem, says Hansteen.
The companies in this years program are:
Ecolectro, technology that can provide 33 percent cost reduction in producton of green hydrogen.
Vortex (Spain), bladeless wind turbins.
CNER Green, witch produces a CNER foam that can reduce CO2 emissions from oil- and gass drilling by up to 40 percent.
RNX Tech that uses AI to reduce accidents caused by humans.
DimeQ, with technology to prevent loss of lives at sea.
Geolumnia, with technology to train computers to read maps as good as human geologists do.
Ocean Access, collecting data from the sea.
F3enice, recycling valves to feedstock for 3D printing.
Hyperion that transforms CO2 to Calcium.
-The first motnhs has been extreamly hectic with 1000 mentor madness meeting over zoom for the participaiting companies, but it has also been very positive!, says Audun Abelsnes, MD of Techstars.
He is confident that the nine startups are ready for another round of presentations:
– We put a lot of work into the storytelling in the first part of the program, and we see that the storys they tell now differs sustainability from the stories they told the first weeks into the program.
The technonologies are also interesting to Equinor:
-All technologies or ideas the companies represent are valuable to us. Some are more mature and can get implemented broadly tomorrow, while others are more in a explore category in a space we should monitor. In total they all challenges the way we think and the way we do things, says Phillip Hansteen. Who lists three key value drivers for Equinors engagement:
- Broaden the pipeline for Equinor Ventures, beyond normal deal flow sources.
- Create bottom line value for Equinor through use of solutions and products the start-ups present.
- Support the drive for an innovative and agile culture in Equinor, a key enabler for Equinor strategy realisation.