Five Energy & Sustainability Start-Ups Graduate from Shell E4, Bangalore
Five startups, selected by Shell earlier this year as the first cohort of its Shell E4 Startup Hub, graduated from the programme at a Demo Day organised at the Shell Technology Centre Bangalore (STCB).
The startups — Detect Technologies, ION Energy, IoTrek, Trashcon and Ossus Biorenewables — were selected by Shell from nearly 1200 applicants.
At the event, Priyank Kharge, Minister for Social Welfare, Government of Karnataka, announced a grant of Rs. 50 lakh to support social innovation start-ups across the state, focussing on rural development and creating social impact.
The startups are working on a diverse range of solutions, including real-time pipeline monitoring, creating safer outdoor work sites, automating segregation of municipal solid waste, recovering green chemicals from waste water and building energy storage systems and infrastructure for electric vehicles.
“Shell has been in open innovation and supporting startups for more than 25 years,” said Nitin Prasad, Chairman, Shell Companies in India. Shell had launched GameChanger in 1996 to work with start-ups and businesses on unproven early-stage ideas with the potential to impact the future of energy. James Unterreiner, General Manager, Shell E4 Start-up Hub is an alumnus of this program.
“We looked at 1200 startups for the first cohort, shortlisted thirty startups and ended up with five. We’ll run 15–20 startups a year. We are looking for good quality startups, who need the help that Shell can provide,” said Prasad. “We are looking at another 12 for the next year. We have gone through the exercise to identify the second cohort and will finalize it in the next two months.”
“The programme we have now is much more than an accelerator. It is an accelerator and incubation hub. In energy, the typical gestation for a startup can be between one year to five years. Startups in the Energy space require a much longer nurturing programme, not just a short accelerator. They will continue to engage with us. We are building an alumni programme so that these energy startups can continue to engage with each other,” he added. “Commercialisation is non trivial. Risks are very high for anyone to come and adopt new technology. Risk appetite from customers is quite difficult to come across. We need to find an ecosystem where people have the appetite to come and try something new.”
“The strategic intent of Shell E4 is to accelerate India’s transition to a sustainable energy future by becoming a major actor in the entrepreneurial ecosystem by linking talent, technology, capital and know-how for energy entrepreneurs in the country. The E4 incubator invests in the most promising start-ups to develop early insights in critical innovations and to build alignment and commitment with companies that we like to partner with,” said James Unterreiner, General Manager, Shell E4 Start-up Hub.
The Shell E4 Start-up Hub was launched in 2017 to foster a vibrant ecosystem of energy entrepreneurs by bringing together talent, technology, capital and know-how to accelerate India’s transition towards a sustainable energy future.
Located at Shell Technology Centre Bangalore, one of the company’s three global innovation hubs, Shell E4 housed the E4 start-ups at a co-working space for six months. The start-ups were offered a seed funding of USD 20,000 each and access to testing and prototyping laboratories for product development and testing, bootcamps aimed at customer discovery and improving the product, industry mentors and experts, new markets and interactions with investors and other growth and funding opportunities.
“Shell is committed to be a trusted partner in India’s growth story through its people, partnerships and innovations. Shell E4 furthers our commitment to nurture the innovation and entrepreneurial ecosystem in the country. We will continue to evolve Shell E4 to foster solutions that can help India access more and cleaner energy and drive sustainable growth,” said Nitin Prasad, Chairman, Shell Companies in India.
In January this year, Shell Technology Ventures (along with Swedish development finance institution Swedfund International and ENGIE Rassembleurs d’Energies, ENGIE group’s impact investment fund.) led a $20 million funding round for Husk Power Systems, a rural distributed utility company operating mini-grids in Asia and Africa. Shell Foundation began engaging with the Bihar based Husk Power in 2008. Shell Foundation has over 25 investments in socially oriented startups in the country.
A year ago, Nitin Prasad had announced Shell’s plan to build upto 1,500 retail stations over the decade. Then Shell had a little over 80 stations in the country. “Now we have crossed 120 stations and acquired land for 150 more which are under construction. This is front-ended approach (as opposed to a linear approach) and we are currently in a massive build out mode,” said Prasad. He said that it takes over two years to get the requisite licences for a retail station. This delay varies across states.
“We will build 1200 retail stations across the country over the next ten years. We’ll invest upwards of Rs. 15,000 crores (~$ 2.1 billion) for this,” he said.
“A station of the future is likely to have a mosaic of solutions — Hydrogen, Biofuel, Methanol... Eight different energy sources. However we need a policy for each of these first,” he added.
“For the first time ever the Shell Eco Marathon is coming to India in December. One important criteria for the cars being built by students is safety,” said Prasad. The Shell Eco-marathon Challenger will be part of Make the Future India to be held in Chennai between December 6–9, 2018.
Shell has engaged with over 10 Indian universities and has strong tie ups with three of them.
