TransGrid and Endeavour Energy are backing EnergyLab’s new global scaleup program

Nine late-stage energy startups have been chosen for the second cohort of EnergyLab’s Scaleup Program including Australian ‘digital twins’ tech venture Neara.

TransGrid and Endeavour Energy are partnering with the program, which kicks off later this month, allowing the startups to collaborate with the utilities, investors and founders. The two power utilities operate across NSW and the ACT, with TransGrid managing the high-voltage transmission network and Endeavour supplying power to more than 2.5 million customers.

EnergyLab worked with the utilities to identify their priority areas and recruit startups globally with a focus on saving customers money and speeding up the transition to a low carbon future.

EnergyLab Chair Piers Grove said the 2021 Scaleup Program cohort represented a diverse global mix of startups dealing with areas such as asset management and network operations to grid modernisation, data integrity and augmented reality, located in Switzerland, Hawaii, Canada and the UK.

“We’re really excited about this global cohort and the opportunity to help them grow through new access to Australian and New Zealand markets,” he said.

“In the age of COVID-19, especially, we’re proud to give Australian utilities access to the best local and overseas energy startups while other, more traditional means of collaboration and expansion remain disrupted.”

He added that program’s secret sauce is the chance for members of its cohorts to build relationships with each other, with one-third of the first cohort collaborating formally together.

Australian startup Neara’s CCO Jack Curtis said they were excited to be part of the EnergyLab Scaleup Program.

“Particularly given its focus on enabling companies like Neara to access significant new growth opportunities,” he said.

“We are excited by the prospect of collaborating with TransGrid, especially in light of their progressive innovation agenda, and our belief that Neara’s digital twin software platform can greatly enable TransGrid’s ambitions.”

Neara (formerly Power Lines Pro) announced in April that it raised $7.25 million series A round led by Square Peg Capital. Former Google software engineer Daniel Danilatos launched the startup in 2016.

Forest Frizzell, CEO of Hawaii-based Shifted Energy said they were glad to be making an Australia connection to gain experience and explore scalable solutions for consumer engagement and grid support through monitoring and aggregation of distributed energy resources such as water heaters.

“Expanding the capabilities of Shifted Energy’s Grid Maestro platform in the Australian market is very exciting and we see a ton of alignment of our capabilities and the decarbonisation goals of Australia,” he said.

Here are the nine startups in EnergyLab’s 2021 Scaleup Program cohort:

Aperio (USA, Israel)

Aperio’s Industrial Data Integrity software automatically validates operational data at scale to improve data accuracy, allowing for better operational and business decisions based on real-time, trusted, reliable data.

Camus Energy (USA)

Camus Energy provides cloud-scale grid management software as a service for utilities and energy providers to enable the transition to a zero-carbon future.

Electron (UK)

Electron enables network utilities to launch and operate local energy markets to optimise the combined use of network capacity and renewable generation.

Neara (Australia)

Neara creates engineering-grade digital twins of critical infrastructure, bringing organisations closer to their assets, environment, and business.

Overstory (Netherlands)

Real-time vegetation intelligence, at scale.

Proxxi (Canada)

Wearable technology and data to protect workers from electrical injury before they come in contact.

Shifted Energy (USA)

Shifted Energy develops and deploys industry leading distributed energy resource aggregation software and IoT-connected load controls to help utilities create and rapidly scale demand side management programs.

V-Labs (Switzerland)

V-Labs provides an innovative augmented reality solution for AR-glasses that can visualize, modify and acquire geospatial data with cm accuracy. In combination with their feature for step-by-step work instructions, V-Labs has developed a powerful tool for surveyors, engineers and contractors to increase their efficiency, verify engineering plans and avoid errors during construction.

Zaphiro Technologies (Switzerland)

Zaphiro helps power utilities to increase the resiliency and reliability of their power grids in order to prepare them for the upcoming clean energy transition.