Ten companies selected for Equinor’s Techstars Energy Accelerator 2019

August 27, 2019 13:00 CEST | Last modified September 12, 2019 12:50 CEST
Group photo of the Techstar Energy partners
Techstars Energy partners: Gunnar Deinboll (left), executive vice president in Capgemini Invent, Jens Festervoll, Equinor’s corporate liaison, Guro Knapstad, KONGSBERG’s corporate liaison, Hugh McGirr, programme manager Techstars Energy and Audun Abelsnes, managing director Techstars Energy. (Photo: Ole Jørgen Bratland / Equinor ASA)

Equinor today announced the second class of global start-up companies selected to participate in the Techstars Energy Accelerator. Three Norwegian companies participate in the programme.

The ten start-up companies have been selected from hundreds of applicants across 42 countries. Through an intensive 13-week programme they will seek to accelerate their solution by tapping into a global network of experts from Equinor and Techstars as well as the partnering companies KONGSBERG and Capgemini. 

“The energy industry is changing fast, and these companies are at the forefront of that change. Following the success of our first accelerator programme last year, we are excited to have a new class of innovative startups working with us for the next three months. I look forward to supporting the teams - and also learning from them,” says Al Cook, Equinor’s executive vice president for Global Strategy and Business Development.

The accelerator is hosted at Equinor’s Oslo offices. The ten startup companies will arrive 9 September. 

“Norway has a world-class energy-technology industry and is recognized as a true global energy hub. It is the ideal place to engage with subject matter experts if you are working on disruptive solutions within energy,” says Audun Abelsnes, managing director Techstars Energy.

The selected companies represent solutions within oil and gas, renewables, new business models and digitalisation. At the end of the programme in December, they will present their solutions to Equinor, the partners and other potential investors at a Demo Day.

“Kongsberg Digital wants to help the world’s industries with their digitalization journey, and we believe continuous innovation, knowledge sharing, and partnerships are key components for success. We look forward to working with the top ten companies and seeing what mutual benefits we can spin out of the Techstars Energy Accelerator 2019,” says Hege Skryseth, executive vice president in KONGSBERG and president of Kongsberg Digital.

“Techstars Energy represents an opportunity to explore innovative ideas that can reshape our industry. We are very excited to be working with this year’s group of startups in the accelerator programme and to learn from them,” says Gunnar Deinboll, executive vice president, Capgemini Invent.

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Fieldmade, Norway – Increasing readiness through spare parts on demand.

Fuelsave, Germany – Helping customers save energy and money while reducing environmental impact with next generation fuel efficiency enhancements.

GamY, Germany – Increasing the lifetime value of any battery-operated device through managing battery performance with their digital twin management solution.

Navarra Tech, Brazil - Providing the first centralised over-the-counter trading platform for energy traders in emerging markets.

RagnaRock Geo, Norway - Enabling quick and accurate understanding of the subsurface with greater workflow and efficiency through their machine learning exploration software.

Salient Energy, Canada - Improving energy storage with safer, longer-lasting and less expensive batteries.

SeeO2 Energy, Canada – Converting CO2 into high value fuels and chemicals in a net negative carbon process.

Tempus, UK – Improving financial and carbon savings by managing and optimising flexible electricity demand through connecting directly into customer premises.

Terrapin, Canada - Writing cheques for waste heat and going after the 290,000 petajoules of energy lost every year.

VesselAdmin, Norway - Bringing digital tools to the vessel chartering industry.

About Techstars Energy Accelerator in partnership with Equinor

  • Ten companies selected every year from hundreds of applicants globally
  • Successful applicants are typically teams from 2-20+; range from pre-product/pre-revenue to $millions in revenue; pre-seed, seed or series A+
  • Accepted companies receive up to USD 120,000
  • The startups aim to compress two years of work into 13 weeks
  • Eight out of ten companies from the Techstars Energy class of 2018 signed deals with corporate partners
  • To learn more visit us at www.techstars.equinor.com

About Equinor
We are Equinor, a broad energy company with a proud history. We are 20,000 committed colleagues developing oil, gas, wind and solar energy in more than 30 countries worldwide. We are the largest operator in Norway, one of the world’s largest offshore operators, and a growing force in renewables. Driven by our Nordic urge to explore beyond the horizon and dedication to safety, equality and sustainability, we are developing the energy of the future.

About Techstars
Techstars is the worldwide network that helps entrepreneurs succeed. Techstars founders connect with other entrepreneurs, experts, mentors, alumni, investors, community leaders, and corporations to grow their companies. Techstars operates three divisions: Techstars Startup Programs, Techstars Mentorship-Driven Accelerator Programs, and Techstars Corporate Innovation Partnerships. Techstars accelerator portfolio includes more than 1,900 companies with a market cap of $23 Billion. www.techstars.com

About Kongsberg Digital
Kongsberg Digital is a provider of next-generation software and digital solutions to customers within maritime, oil and gas, and renewables and utilities. The company consists of more than 500 software experts with leading competence within the internet of things, smart data, artificial intelligence, maritime simulation, automation and autonomous operations. Kongsberg Digital is the group-wide center of digital expertise for KONGSBERG. More information at Kongsberg.com/digital

About Capgemini
A global leader in consulting, technology services and digital transformation, Capgemini is at the forefront of innovation to address the entire breadth of clients’ opportunities in the evolving world of cloud, digital and platforms. Building on its strong 50-year heritage and deep industry-specific expertise, Capgemini enables organizations to realize their business ambitions through an array of services from strategy to operations. Capgemini is driven by the conviction that the business value of technology comes from and through people. It is a multicultural company of over 200,000 team members in more than 40 countries. The Group reported 2018 global revenues of EUR 13.2 billion.