Deadline: 14-Apr-23
The Rice Alliance is excited to announce the Clean Energy Accelerator to help startups from around the world developing clean energy solutions achieve technical and commercial milestones that accelerate development, establish market adoption, and expand their reach by:
- Growing your business and sparking investment opportunities
- Expanding your network (Access to mentors, resources, investors, talent, potential customers, industry leaders, potential pilots, field trials, demonstration projects, and technical and commercial expertise)
- Building or refining your brand
- Perfecting your pitch
- Receiving a non-dilutive company stipend
Focus
- With an active energy mentor network, they have deep expertise in the energy industry. Their accelerator serves to accelerate the energy transition by supporting early-stage startups that contribute to significant energy efficiency improvements, are developing energy derived from renewable, zero-emissions sources or are curbing the environmental impact of all types of energy production, distribution or usage, or enabling progress toward net-zero carbon. This includes:
- Advanced Materials (Composites that lead to improved efficiencies or new modalities)
- Biomass Energy
- Carbon Management or Accounting (for example, emissions monitoring, ESG tracking, carbon tracking/measurement, carbon capture/sequestration)
- Circular Economy (Reusing, repairing, refurbishing, and/or recycling existing materials and products)
- Digital Technologies for Energy (Artificial intelligence, smart trading, computational chemistry tools, remote sensing/IoT)
- Energy Efficiency or Storage (Carbon reduction technologies, battery technologies, fuel cells, architecture, engineering, or construction technologies or Infrastructure efficiencies)
- Geothermal Energy
- Hydrogen
- Solar Energy
- Waste Heat/Pressure to Power
- Wave Energy
- Wind Energy
Benefits
- An equity-free financial stipend to help support program-related expenses
- Extensive training and personalized mentorship
- Access to an expansive network and exposure
- Lifetime access to CEA and Rice Alliance resources
- Pitch refinement and pitch deck design services
Duration: Nine weeks beginning July 25 through Sept. 22, 2023
Eligibility Criteria
- They welcome early-stage startups from seed stage to series A and who meet the eligibility criteria described below:
- The company must be an already established, corporately formed company or entity.
- The technology or innovation should serve one or more of the industry sectors.
- Each admitted company must participate in all required programming.
- At least 2 company employees must commit to participating at significant levels.
- At least 1 company employee must attend these in-person activities, on these dates, and IN HOUSTON, Texas: July 25-27 (Onsite kick-off), August 22-24 (Onsite mid-point check-in), and September 19-22 (Demo Day).
- At least 1 company employee must participate in all VIRTUALLY scheduled programming between July 25 – September 22
- Details For International Startups
- Companies located outside the United States are welcome to participate with eligibility and travel costs being the same as for US companies
- Participants must speak fluent English and have access to a stable internet connection (the majority of activities are done virtually)
- Participants must be able to attend training activities typically scheduled during US Central Time business hours (keep in mind time zone differences)
- Participants must secure their own travel authorizations; they are unable to offer assistance in obtaining or sponsoring international visas
Evaluation Criteria
- Innovation – Is the technology impactful and scalable? Does it demonstrate promise for a sustainable competitive advantage? Having a prototype is very important and will be heavily considered in the evaluation process.
- Market – Is the potential market size large enough for sustained business growth, and aligned with the expectations of possible funding sources?
- Strategy – Do you have quantifiable value propositions and a sound business model?
- Viability – Have you demonstrated your technology or ability to raise funding?
- Capability – Does the team have the ability to deliver on the identified opportunity?
For more information, visit Rice Alliance.