Shell StartUp Engine UK
SHELL STARTUP ENGINE UK A new programme for UK energy start-ups as part of our contribution to society. Shell UK is delighted to announce our new programme for energy start-ups – Shell StartUp Engine UK – in partnership with Unreasonable Group (Unreasonable). The initiative sits within Shell UK’s portfolio of programmes contributing to society and the communities where we operate. It complements Shell’s wider efforts on building an entrepreneurial ecosystem locally and globally. The programme focuses on scale and growth-stage start-ups that are best placed to accelerate a fair and just energy transition, improve access to energy and help consumers make smarter energy choices. CEOs of these start-ups will benefit from high-profile mentorship, access to potential investors and partners and being part of the Shell and Unreasonable start-up communities. It’s exactly these start-ups that can and will play a critical role in enabling clean and resilient growth in the future. The programme is built on Unreasonable’s strengths, experience and expertise in curating ecosystems of support for entrepreneurs solving some of the world’s most intractable social and environmental challenges. They do this by forging partnerships with multinationals and large foundations to host highly immersive programmes that catalyse and scale entrepreneurial solutions globally. The programme will be delivered over 12 months to give Shell and Unreasonable an opportunity to test new ways of supporting entrepreneurs in the energy space building on Shell’s significant legacy in this area. The programme will initially focus on up to 30 start-ups operating in or entering the UK energy market. Our legacy of supporting entrepreneurs
Our wider innovation ecosystem
The new UK programme is part of our larger global energy accelerator Shell StartUp Engine. In the UK, it replaces Shell LiveWIRE and Shell Springboard programmes which ran for 38 and 15 years respectively and helped hundreds of entrepreneurs to set up sustainable, innovative and ultimately scalable businesses. Some of our recent alumni include Farm-Hand, LettUs Grow, Aceleron Energy, Brill Power, MiAlgae and Seawater Greenhouse. Our new programme builds on that experience and is designed to meet the needs of entrepreneurs helping to accelerate the UK energy transition and is in line with Shell’s own ambitions to deliver more and cleaner energy.
Besides programmes such as Shell StartUp Engine UK, Shell has a history of fostering open innovation and technology development through vehicles like Shell Research Connect (fundamental research), Shell GameChanger (early stage technology development), Shell Ventures (corporate venture capital group) and Shell TechWorks (innovation centre). Read more about Shell’s open innovation landscape here.
Shell StartUp Engine UK
Participants are selected through scouting and open applications. Information on the global Shell StartUp Engine programme is available on our global website.
CONTENTS
01
02
03
04
Abundance Investment
Aceleron
Arcola Energy
BuffaloGrid
05
06
07
08
Dendra Systems
H2GO Power
ILI Group
Naked Energy
09
10
Orbital Marine Power
Zeigo
Shell StartUp Engine UK
ABUNDANCE INVESTMENT
Louise Wilson is the Co-Founder and Joint MD of Abundance Investment. Louise spent over 15 years at UBS Investment Bank and was responsible for structuring multimillion pound flotations and share sales across several global regions. In the end, she questioned why traditional markets don’t serve the ordinary investor. At the same time, she was becoming increasingly concerned about humanity’s impact on our planet and left banking in order to pursue a new career getting involved in fixing the problem. She wanted to find a way to make engaging with the issue guilt-free and therefore to help drive solutions at the scale needed to tackle the problem. Abundance is about providing the platform for that engagement, providing attractive returns to investors whether they have £5 or £50,000 to invest, and at the same time helping to build a fairer society. Louise is on the Advisory Board for the Centre for Climate Finance & Investment at Imperial College Business School.
SEC TOR
Responsible finance Developing a leading direct Investment platform that makes it possible for everyone to invest in things they care about and earn an attractive return.
LOC ATION
London
Abundance is a leading direct investment platform empowering people to take control of their dollars. Abundance enables users to contribute to solving major global issues such as climate change and social inequality with smart, informed investments of their money whilst also benefiting from attractive returns. Since Abundance launched in July 2012, it has raised over €100 million from individual investors who can choose from a variety
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Louise Wilson Co-Founder and Joint Managing Director
of projects and therefore know exactly where their money is going and how it is working for them. In 2015, Abundance created the first-ever direct green investment pension, allowing people to build a tax-efficient portfolio of investments that create an effective retirement income as well as a better world to retire into. abundanceinvestment.com Shell StartUp Engine UK
ACELERON
Aceleron is an innovative clean technology company using patented battery assembly technology to manufacture advanced circular economy lithium-ion batteries that can be serviced, maintained and upgraded. The first of its kind, Aceleron’s mission is to accelerate the global shift to cleaner energy usage by creating energy storage technology that is more accessible to
Dr Amrit Chandan is an entrepreneur interested in projects which are low carbon in nature and which will have a positive impact on our world. Amrit holds a PhD in Fuel Cell Technology and worked in the low carbon vehicle space for many years, advising companies like Morgan Motor Company and others. In 2016, Amrit co-founded and is currently the CEO of Aceleron which has developed the world’s first truly circular economy lithium battery based on its patented technology. As part of his work with Aceleron, Amrit has developed key partnerships with organisations like the Shell Foundation to increase the impact of Aceleron’s batteries into developing regions. Amrit has been featured in the media for his work, in publications such as the Telegraph, the Guardian, the Economist and many others.
SEC TOR
Energy storage (batteries) Revolutionising access to low cost energy storage by transforming end of life lithium batteries and reusing them in renewable energy applications. LOC ATION
Birmingham
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Amrit Chandan Co-Founder & CEO
all. The current state of play is that batteries are produced, used and then thrown away - often with over 70% of their health remaining. By extracting 100% of the material value from batteries and repurposing them into new applications, Aceleron is able to utilise the full value from battery packs drastically reducing battery waste and the lifetime cost. aceleronltd.com Shell StartUp Engine UK
ARCOLA ENERGY
Ben Todd is the Founder and CEO of Arcola Energy, a systems engineering company and Tier 1 supplier specialising in hydrogen, fuel cells, and batteries. Ben has been involved in fuel cells for nearly 20 years, having undertaken his PhD in engineering at Cambridge University working on modelling the Rolls-Royce solid oxide fuel cell system for power generation. He has worked in R&D, technical and strategy on commercial and public-sector projects, including at Cambridge Consultants, Johnson Matthey and Rolls-Royce Fuel Cell Systems. Ben is also Executive Director of Arcola Theatre, a leading Off-Westend venue in London known internationally for its artistic programme, community programme and multi-award-winning mission to become the world’s first carbon neutral theatre.
SEC TOR
Alternative fuels (hydrogen) Delivering cleaner and more efficient energy systems by specialising in hydrogen and fuel cell technologies.
LOC ATION
London
Arcola Energy is a leading specialist in hydrogen and fuel cell technologies for heavy-duty transport and energy systems. Founded to address the “deployment gap” between ever-evolving clean energy technologies and end-user needs Arcola Energy’s strong relationships built with leading players across government, industry and academia over the past ten years, are proof of trust in its deep understanding of the fuel cell technology markets. Arcola Energy is privately owned and offers a truly independent
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Ben Todd Founder & CEO
view of the industry allowing it to focus on products which make a positive contribution to society, delivered with total commitment to quality, safety and compliance. Arcola Energy’s expansion ambitions account for a manufacturing, installation and service facility in Liverpool City Region, which has capacity to supply 1,000s of hydrogen fuel cell vehicles per year. arcolaenergy.com Shell StartUp Engine UK
BUFFALOGRID
BuffaloGrid is a mobile power and internet service for the off-grid world, using solar energy, innovative technology, and a cashless payment system to provide end-to-end accountability and power where it’s needed most. Cashless payments help reduce corruption in the system, while billing and promotion become possible through BuffaloGrid’s transparent virtual
Daniel Becerra is the CEO and CoFounder of BuffaloGrid, a company bringing mobile power and internet connectivity to the next billion users across frontier markets. Backed by Microsoft, Local Globe, ADV, SeedCamp, Hardware Club and Kima Ventures, BuffaloGrid has proven its technology and business model and it is scaling globally. Daniel is an Industrial Designer with a Masters in Innovation Design Engineering by the Royal College of Art and Imperial College. His work has reach four continents winning him several awards and getting a few granted and pending patents. He is specialized in taking projects from concept through to production.
SEC TOR
Access to energy Providing mobile power and internet in the off-grid world to help the next billion people get and stay connected.
LOC ATION
Belfast
ENTREP RENEUR
Daniel Becerra Co-Founder & CEO
payment system. The service is locally run by our network of agents who dispense power to their communities, receiving a percentage of each charge as income in return. No other system has the same mix of secure information and easy access, which is the key to bringing mobile network operators into the power distribution market. buffalogrid.com Shell StartUp Engine UK
DENDRA SYSTEMS
Dendra Systems enables faster, more effective, more scalable restoration of the world’s native forests through specialised data ecology and analytics. Dendra Systems works with mature, regulated industries that already pay to restore native ecosystems and provide full stack ecosystem management, from ultra-high resolution monitoring to detailed environmental reporting and aerial seeding. Dendra Systems disrupts legacy practices with
Dr. Susan Graham is a bioengineer, data scientist and preservationist working with AI and analytics to restore and protect global ecosystems. As the CEO of Dendra Systems, a data analytics company that uses AI and drone technology to restore natural ecosystems, Dr. Graham leads a team of ecologists, engineers and computer scientists to assess ecosystems and execute customized restoration plans to support plant, animal and microbial life. Dr. Graham’s deep understanding of the biodiversity that makes up complex ecosystems as well as the incentives that drive global change has led Dendra to partner with leading Fortune 500 Companies and the world’s top regulated resources companies to comprehensively restore the land they manage. With a mission to create scalable, impactful solutions to climate change, Dr. Graham levied her expertise in engineering and natural sciences to co-found Dendra Systems in 2014, bringing an unprecedented level of cost efficiency and effectiveness to land restoration.
SEC TOR
Naturebased solutions Using drones to plant 1 billion trees per year to tackle industrial-scale deforestation.
LOC ATION
Oxford
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Susan Graham Co-Founder and CEO
proprietary data and analytics and aerial drone planting which scales operations, improves outcomes, reduces costs, and helps quantify improvements. It is the most effective, at-scale way of enabling countries and companies to powerfully offset carbon emissions. Its end-to-end system is designed to help biodiverse ecosystems rehabilitate and thrive. dendra.io Shell StartUp Engine UK
H2GO POWER
H2GO Power is a pioneering clean tech company, enabling clean, reliable and scalable energy storage for a wide range of commercial, industrial and
Enass Abo-Hamad is the Co-founder and CEO at H2GO Power ltd; an award winning spin-out company from the University of Cambridge, developing energy storage technologies. Enass completed her PhD at Cambridge University, where she also was a postdoctoral fellow and elected Cambridge University Energy Champion. Currently she is also a Royal Academy of Engineering Enterprise Fellow and a technology expert consultant to European Commission (REA). Enass has 11 years of research and business experience in hydrogen production & storage, catalysis, renewable energy and energy storage. She is passionate about climate entrepreneurship and clean energy technology policy. She often gives keynote speeches at international forums and participates in high impact roundtable discussions on clean energy, energy security and women entrepreneurship in tech.
SEC TOR
Energy storage (hydrogen) Developing and delivering hydrogen energy storage technology for zeroemission, safe and reliable power supply, with a range of commercial applications. LOC ATION
London
residential applications, including applications where grid-based energy is either hard to achieve, unreliable, or uses considerable quantities of fossil fuel. H2GO Power’s technology enables it to develop and sell hydrogen energy storage systems for UAVs/Drones and “Plug & Play” stationary power units at large scale. Safe, solid-state proprietary technology eliminates the need for pressurizing hydrogen and unlocks significant commercial
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Enass Abo-Hamed Co-Founder and CEO
opportunities. With low pressure storage removing safety concerns of compressed hydrogen use, H2GO Power’s portable applications enable lightweight and clean energy storage. This innovative technology has a 3x longer lifetime cycle with a 2x higher storage capacity than typical Li-ion batteries, garnering 100+ megatons of CO2 savings yearly. h2gopower.com Shell StartUp Engine UK
ILI GROUP
Mark Wilson set up Intelligent Land Investments in 2004 to secure strategic land for housing development. The ILI Group has focused on the renewable energy sector since 2008. From an original target of 100 consents, Mark led the Intelligent Land team in achieving 96 successful planning applications for onshore wind turbine projects. On this journey he could see the growing necessity for a solution to help balance the many gigawatts of intermittent generation that has been coming on stream in the UK and therefore the transition into energy storage. For Mark, this has allowed him to build on his renewable generation experience, to help create a long-lasting sustainable solution for a greener, stable electricity grid. The ILI Group is working on 3 Pumped Storage Hydro projects in Scotland with approx 2GW of capacity and over 450MW of commercial scale battery.
SEC TOR
Energy storage (batteries, hydro), Renewable energy (wind) Facilitating the transition to renewable energy by delivering clean, long-term, large-scale energy storage in the UK and beyond. LOC ATION
Hamilton (Scotland)
ILI Group operates across the energy storage, renewable energy and residential development markets; creating value for investors in all three sectors, aiming to help reduce CO2 emissions by focusing on creating planning gain from renewable energy projects. Projects have ranged from medium sized, single turbine developments under the UK’s Feed-in Tariff scheme, right up to large scale multi-turbine windfarms, which saw 600
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Mark Wilson CEO
landowners sign up with the company. Its projects offer long and short-term storage solutions for Scotland, including 12 battery storage projects and 3 Pumped Storage Hydro (PSH) projects. ILI Group offer the full energy project solution; a secure option and lease, planning permissions, all other relevant permissions required and a viable grid connection solution. ili-energy.com Shell StartUp Engine UK
NAKED ENERGY
Naked Energy has developed VirtuPVT, a hybrid solar technology that
Christophe Williams co-founded Naked Energy in 2011 to address the pressing global demand for efficient and cost effective solar solutions in the built environment. This role has seen Christophe draw upon his broad and creative skill set, and bring together a collective of pioneering scientists, engineers, designers, and entrepreneurs. He has successfully taken a novel scientific concept and developed it into a proven world beating technology that is now being scaled for a global market. His core values of honesty, relationship building, humility and negotiation underpin his leadership philosophy. Christophe’s passion for the industry, and his belief that profit and sustainability are not mutually exclusive, drive him in his leadership and vision.
SEC TOR
Renewable energy (solar) Providing a revolutionary hybrid solar panel that generates both electricity and heat for commercial and industrial applications.
LOC ATION
Crawley (West Sussex)
generates both heat and power resulting in a higher energy density than
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alternative solar technologies. VirtuPVT can deliver a peak efficiency
Christophe Williams Co-Founder and CEO
of 80%, converting 20% of the sun’s energy to electricity and 60% as heat. VirtuHOT is a complementary high temperature thermal only collector. Naked Energy’s patented technology is ideally suited for use on flat roofs in urban environments where space is limited. This includes large commercial users of thermal energy such as hotels, hospitals and apartments, as well as manufacturing processes that need hot water and/ or heat, including district heating and cooling.
nakedenergy.co.uk Shell StartUp Engine UK
ORBITAL MARINE POWER
Andrew leads the team at Orbital Marine Power, having joined the business as CEO in 2015, with a background of over 15 years in the Scottish marine renewables industry; active and committed at the leading edge of multiple pioneering Scottish R&D programmes in the marine space over that period. Andrew has a background in engineering with a degree in Mechanical Engineering from Strathclyde University and a postgraduate in Energy from HeriotWatt University. Andrew remains closely involved across all aspects of technology development at Orbital; helping to provide challenge and vision to the development process. As CEO he is also responsible for leading the outward facing functions for the company; working extensively with external stakeholders, public and private, to grow the value of Orbital and progress the commercial development for the emerging tidal sector.
SEC TOR
Renewable energy (tidal) Enabling low-cost tidal energy with the most advanced tidal turbine in the world.
LOC ATION
Edinburgh
Orbital Marine Power have an innovative solution for harnessing the renewable energy resources held in tidal stream currents that will enable the generation of predictable, low carbon energy to help tackle climate change. Based in Scotland the company has developed and demonstrated its proprietary floating turbine solution for over 15 years in the harshest of tidal conditions. Orbital’s radical technology unlocks the lowest cost form of tidal energy production with a design that incorporates unparalleled
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Andrew Scott CEO & Director
accessibility for through-life maintenance with low cost approaches to manufacturing and construction; engaging established supply chains and existing industries. Orbital is focused on the delivery of commercial tidal energy projects and bringing a new source of renewable power to the evolving and transitional energy markets around the world. orbitalmarine.com Shell StartUp Engine UK
ZEIGO
Juan Pablo Cerda has a strong background and experience in Operations & Trading for physical commodities, working for companies like BP, Shell and ED&F MAN. He founded and exited a successful consultancy focused on advising large corporates on their go-to-market strategy for 100% renewable energy. During this time he noticed a gap in the market to apply smart technology to simplify the process of contracting renewable energy directly from wind and solar farms for the corporate sector. This is why he founded Zeigo, a tech platform that makes the process of contracting energy directly from wind and solar farms, simple, efficient and cost-effective.
SEC TOR
Renewable energy (marketplace) Helping corporates find renewable energy using smart technology.
LOC ATION
London
Zeigo is a climate-tech platform deploying machine learning to reduce the complexities surrounding renewable energy procurement. Used by corporations, energy suppliers and renewable energy developers, Zeigo is the one-stop-shop for stakeholders to transition to clean energy through Power Purchase Agreements (PPAs) and short-term contracts. Zeigo’s solution creates a simple and efficient process to connect corporate energy buyers with renewable energy developers that is cheaper, more time-effective and transparent than alternative solutions. Zeigo offers a wide range of tools (market analytics, energy forward curve, a business
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Juan Pablo Cerda CEO
case report) to help corporate buyers make informed decisions on a procurement purchase without the need for external consultants or specialised industry knowledge. Its mission is to increase the uptake of renewable energy across the world, not just by the largest corporations, but by everyone who wants in. zeigo.energy Shell StartUp Engine UK