Birmingham’s growing tech and startup scene has yielded increasingly more out-of-towners converging in the metro for various programs and accelerators.
And many of them have good things to say about the Magic City, two of whom include Niccolò Ferrari and Davide Giacobbe, co-founders of tech startup ScoutIt, who came to the city for the Techstars Alabama Energytech Accelerator.
The pair hails from Italy, although the startup is now based in North Carolina. Both founders are originally engineers who have a background in the automotive industry. They began working full time on ScoutIt in 2022.
“We started out on a journey to solve some of the biggest problems that the automotive industry was facing, especially with the wave of electric vehicles,” Ferrari, chief technology officer at the company, said. “It was a disruption for our industry. We saw some great opportunities and also some great problems.”
ScoutIt focused especially on electric vehicle batteries and what can be done at the end of the batteries’ life.
“These are the most critical components of these cars,” he said. “They are extremely valuable and a lot of resources are needed and extracted from the earth to make these components.”
The team began to explore other applications for the batteries once they can no longer be used in vehicles.
Giacobbe, CEO, said the early stages of the startup included narrowing their focus.
Now, ScoutIt helps companies extract value from end-of-life batteries, enabling car makers to monetize the sale of the batteries and avoid significant recycling costs by allowing for an extension of the batteries’ useful life through second-life applications. The startup facilitates EV battery repurposing companies in accessing EoL battery supply and finding end-users of the battery-based storage system as well as allows energy companies to save money and cut carbon footprint using second-life battery-based storage systems.
Ferrari called the local Techstars program a perfect match for his company; the program offered a combination of an energytech focus and Alabama Power as a sponsor.
Giacobbe said the people he met along the way during the accelerator not only wanted to promote the opportunities available in Birmingham but create new ones and attract new talent to the city.
He was surprised to find such a vibrant startup ecosystem in the city and the caliber of the startups found in Birmingham.
The food, he added, was another highlight.
“Coming from Italy, we are kind of picky with the food in general, because we are used to having good food in Italy. The food in Birmingham is awesome,” he said.
“Another thing that I think that was really surprising was how beautiful the land actually is — the countryside and the city itself,” Ferrari said. “You can drive five minutes from downtown and you are in a park with forests and hills, and I did not expect how beautiful it could be, especially in fall with all the golden leaves.”
He also highlighted places like Innovation Depot where founders can connect with each other.
Andrew Prince, CEO of LiRA, also came to Birmingham recently through Alabama’s Prosper HealthTech Accelerator, though he is no stranger to the city, having attended the UAB Marnix E. Heersink School of Medicine.
He said the Birmingham tech ecosystem is unique because, in contrast to larger, more traditional ecosystems, Birmingham is less saturated.
“I think that what Birmingham has going for it is a smaller group of overall startups, but the resources and the systems that ultimately make a startup ecosystem possible are able to provide very personalized attention,” he said. “I think that will contribute to overall startup success in a way that would just get lost in some of these larger, more traditional environments. It was a lot easier, I think, to navigate through the Birmingham startup environment and people are certainly very approachable.”
