The CEO of a Birmingham-based company has won the San Francisco-based Women in Cleantech and Sustainability Pitch Competition.
Erika Boeing, CEO and founder of Accelerate Wind, nabbed first place at the startup pitch competition, which is focused on spotlighting female entrepreneurs from the cleantech and sustainability industry.
Accelerate Wind, originally a St. Louis-based startup, has a goal of developing affordable wind turbines for commercial buildings. It made the move to Birmingham after participating in Techstars Alabama EnergyTech Accelerator and receiving an Innovate Alabama grant.
Boeing said in an interview with the BBJ last year that the company was born out of a realization that the solar market was expanding, especially on rooftops, but commercial building owners could not produce their entire energy demand from solar alone.
"There's kind of this missed opportunity for people who want to generate renewable energy but don't have other sources that they can use," Boeing said. "Wind was always a potential option, but the problem was most wind turbines didn't pay themselves back within their lifetime, and so that's what Accelerate Wind has set out to solve."
As the winner of the competition, Boeing will receive a prize pool consisting of consultations and mentorship from various organizations to continue growing her business and preferential consideration to serve on a Cleantech Forum San Francisco panel.
The pitch competition featured an audience of hundreds of industry professionals and venture capitalists as well as a panel of industry professional judges with 10 spots for startups to participate.
Past winners include Rent a Romper, a sustainable fashion business; Alchemr, a green hydrogen business; and EIQ Mobility, a fleet electrification business, which was acquired by NextEra Energy Resources in 2021.
Accelerate Wind was also named a 2023 Alabama Inno Startup to Watch.
