Climate Accelerator comes to a close with a Demo Day for climate tech founders
We have been working with Europe’s leading climate innovation initiative, EIT Climate-KIC, to deliver 6 months of support to start-ups who have innovative solutions for addressing the climate emergency
As the programme came to a close, the founders joined to pitch their ventures at Allia’s Climate Accelerator Demo Day at the British Antarctic Survey in Cambridge – the same venue that saw the launch of the programme back in January 2022.
The event welcomed an audience of investors, entrepreneurs, industry leaders, funders and partners, along with a judging panel of industry experts and investors to hear the founders pitch their innovative solutions.
Annalisa Roy from Grey London, who joined our judging panel said: “These founders are not only creating solutions that will have a huge impact on Co2 emissions but also building profitable businesses and that is huge testament to their talent. Today I have learnt that being profitable and sustainable is not only possible but is also the future of business.”
Andrew Brisbin, Director of Ventures said: “I’ve been thrilled with the progress the ventures have made over the last six months and am truly inspired by the incredible founders on the Climate Accelerator. It gives us hope for solutions that can radically transform our society – with innovations such as those in LED technology by Kubos Semiconductors to radically engaging climate activism by Snowball.”
Over the last 6 months, our venture support team was able to tap into an extensive bank of resources, knowledge and network with the international community of EIT Climate-KIC, to provide intensive coaching and mentoring to the selected Climate Tech ventures, plus supporting them with the tools and methodologies for estimating and validating their ventures’ climate impact.
We have been blown away by the incredible work these founders are doing to tackle climate change and were delighted to speak with a couple of the them to get their take on the experience over the 6-month programme. Check out what they had to say:
Meet Harry Pardoe, founder of Snowball, a non-profit climate action platform, designed to empower and enable people to take effective collective action on the climate crisis. Harry says “Allia was the 5th acceleration programme I’ve completed, and I can say the atmosphere they created in the programme and the inspiration I’ve got during the process is probably the best I’ve experienced, with a perfect balance between the amount of activities offered and the demands for a start-up that is growing. I really felt there is passion in the staff for helping the projects they accelerate.”
Meet Eduardo Vieitez, founder of Creast. Creast are developing a Saas for B2Bs to measure, reduce and offset the environmental impact created within the entertainment industry. Eduardo says “Allia truly cares about the start-ups they work with. They roll their sleeves up and try and help you overcome your challenges. We were very lucky to be a part of their fantastic programme!”
Meet Dhanushka Tennakoon, founder of RE24 – a company enabling businesses to buy affordable, around-the-clock, renewable energy directly from multiple sources with 24/7 traceability to the source of generation. Dhanushka says “The Accelerator was very rewarding. The team really care about your success and they are always there for you, no matter what. And they deliver! They make sure you get the best value from the programme. As for the Demo Day, what a success! What’s most important is how much time and effort went into preparing for the day. The Allia team made sure that each member of the cohort would be ready to pitch their ventures through preparations, training and dress rehearsals and I personally gained a lot from the process.”
This programme was part funded by the European Regional Development Fund. Find out more about Allia’s programmes at https://futurebusinesscentre.co.uk/our-programmes/
