The TechStars EnergyTech Accelerator has selected its second cohort.
After a 2020 class that brought local and national startups to the 13-week program in Birmingham, program leaders are hoping to rally on momentum from last year with many companies benefitting from the time learning and extra exposure.
This year’s cohort of 10 features companies in a variety of sectors including renewable energy, chemical electrification, car conversion and drone inspection, among others. No local companies were selected for this year’s cohort, but several are coming from the Northeast, West Coast and the Midwest.
“We were very pleased with our first TechStars class. The teams performed admirably under very difficult circumstances, and we felt incredibly supported by the local startup and corporate communities,” said Nate Schmidt, managing director of the accelerator. “As we recruited our second class, we could feel the momentum from the first year putting wind in our sails. Now that our 2021 teams are in Birmingham, we're in awe of their potential. We've got a great class on our hands, all from outside the state, ready to make their mark on Alabama.”
The 2021 cohort is as follows:
- Noteworthy AI (Westport, Connecticut): CEO Chris Ricciuti: A company that males a vehicle-mounted computer vision to inspect the electric grid.
- Accelerate Wind (St. Louis): CEO Erika Boeing: Accelerate Wind is making wind energy generation affordable on commercial buildings.
- SolarFi (Boston): CEO: Antonio Dixon: The company is looking to change urban planning and provide more access to solar power pods for e-scooter charging, public space and municipalities.
- Moduly (Montreal): CEO Jonathan Lamer, co-founder Alvaro Omar Macias Fernandez: A smart energy storage platform designed to address the issue between power utilities and the mass of the population, such as GHG emissions, energy overproduction, peak consumption times and its costs.
- Khepra (San Francisco): CEO Julie Kring, co-founder Madeleine Allen: The company aims to get petroleum out of the chemicals industry by electrifying the chemical reactors and replacing petrochemicals with waste-based alternatives.
- Flux Hybrids (Raleigh): CEO Michal Ulrich, co-founder Cody Biedermann: The company has developed a system that can convert vehicles to plug-in hybrid at an affordable price point.
- Birdstop (San Francisco): CEO Keith Miao, co-founder Bill Liu: A company that monitors for physical assets.
- Sustiao (Telluride, Colorado): CEO Olivia Pedersen: An app that helps individuals build sustainable habits to adjust to a climate-smart lifestyle.
- Sunairio (Baltimore): CEO Rob Cirincione: A weather simulation company for renewable energy prediction.
- Hdata (Chicago): CEO Hudson Hollister, co-founder Yuval Lubowich: A company that delivers smarter compliance for the energy sector and beyond. Its mission is to digitize the interface between the public and private sectors.
