Riding on the success of the first cohort of the E4 (Energizing and Enabling Energy Entrepreneurs) programme in 2018, Shell has announced its second cohort of start-ups under the E4 aegis, to further strengthen its position as a partner of choice for energy-sector entrepreneurs in the country. After rigorous examination and evaluation of hundreds of startups, eight startups have been selected to be incubated at the Shell Technology Centre Bangalore (STCB).
The companies selected in the second cohort are diverse in backgrounds and domains, which include Battery Management, Digital - AR/VR, Mobility Solutions, Logistics, Energy Management, Operations Efficiency and Energy IOT Applications with interesting business models and differentiated product offerings. Each start-up has a strong connect with Shell’s businesses and will play an integral role in fostering the development of technologies for current and emerging operations at Shell.
Shell has successfully ramped up its E4 programme in India. From offering a single track for early stage start-ups in 2018, the E4 programme now offers five tracks in 2019, namely: 1) Growth track (early/mid stage start-ups); 2) Scale up track (mid/late stage start-ups); 3) International track (foreign start-ups entering India); 4) Women Entrepreneur track and 5) Focus track bringing together groups of start-ups in key areas such as E-Mobility, Digital, Renewable Energy, Waste to Fuel, among others.
Speaking on the occasion, Nitin Prasad, Chairman, Shell Companies in India, said, “After a successful cohort-1 of the E4 programme, which graduated during our Shell E4 demo day last year, we are happy to announce that eight start-ups have been selected as part of the second cohort. We are scaling up by launching five tracks, to accommodate around 30 start-ups annually. Launched in 2017, the objective of the E4 programme is to play a key role in accelerating technologies that fit with India’s energy transition and the businesses operating in the country. By partnering with a diverse set of energy start-ups across the entire value chain, we aim to give back to the ecosystem by becoming the ‘partner of choice’, leading the energy transition in India.”
These start-ups will be incubated at a vibrant co-working space for six months at STCB, one of Shell’s three global innovation hubs. Subsequently, these startups will graduate from Shell at E4Demo Day – India’s largest entrepreneurship event held exclusively for the energy sector where the Shell E4 companies showcase themselves to key stakeholders in the energy start-up ecosystem.
In February 2018, Shell selected the first cohort of five start-ups – Detect Technologies, ION Energy, IoTrek, Trashcon and Ossus Bio-renewables. These companies are working on a diverse range of solutions, including real-time pipeline monitoring, creating safer and smarter infrastructure and 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. The start-ups are successfully integrating technologies like IoT and Artificial Intelligence within their core products. These startups, which graduated in September 2018, will continue their partnership with Shell through various collaborations for the development and growth of the energy sector in India.
The startups under the second cohort will undergo an intense acceleration program inolving: