Five European start-ups advance to Stage 3 of Clean Cities ClimAccelerator with solutions for urban areas

The second edition of the Clean Cities ClimAccelerator supported more than 30 selected start-ups with solutions focused on transforming city systems to become climate neutral. After nine months of training, mentoring, networking and international fairs, only five teams have reached Stage 3 of the programme which runs until February 2023.

The jury, composed of business angels and international impact venture capital, selected these teams based on the growth potential of their solutions, their investment maturity, and their high social and environmental impact. Soon enough, the start-ups will be ready to present their commercial cases before investors and clients.

Meet Stage 3 Start-ups

MIXTERESTING (Austria) a digital simulation software of the mixing process, which can independently suggest optimised concrete mixes. The tool allows innovation cycles to be ten times faster, developing CO2-neutral concrete in just three months.

Volvero’s (Italy) application connects owners and drivers effectively, activating underutilised vehicles and providing an extensive range of efficient mobility possibilities to drivers from cars, motorcycles, commercial vehicles and much more.

Latitudo 40 (Italy) offers an all-in-one urban data analytics platform for climate action planning based on satellite imagery, artificial intelligence and geospatial analysis to make simple and effective climate action plans and deliver better quality of life.

Waisense (Spain) develops a cyber-physical solution (IoT device +platform/app) that improves the efficiency of installations while increasing knowledge and awareness through the data stored and shared with users and administrators.

Prosume (Italy) offers a data management blockchain-based energy platform that can be customised depending on the users’ needs. Its applications are provided on a B2B model to companies interested in offering innovative and digitised services to their customers or to the managers of local distribution and/or generation infrastructure.

Validation, collaboration and impact

The 2022 ClimAccelerator cohort engaged in different phases of the programme including validating their business model, estimating their potential for avoided emissions, developing relationships with public and private institutions, and currently, analysing investment opportunities.

“During the Clean Cities ClimAccelerator, we made a huge development of our software to facilitate the calculation of the CO2 savings in the optimized mixtures. We also gained traction with two new projects from the accelerator,” says Franz Haller, Co-founder and CEO of MIXTERESTING.

The structure of the accelerator adopts an evolutionary approach so that the participants may gradually adapt and provide solutions to the market needs or the problems faced by public institutions and corporates in cities.

Eduardo Dueñas, Founder of Waisense, can confirm: “The technology and the business model have notably grown. We have been able to develop and test a new digital functionality for our patented water-saving tech, able to save up to 25 litres in every shower or hot water usage. We tested it in a real environment thanks to one of the partners of the programme who are now customers and potential investors of the start-up.”

Joining strengths to build healthy cities

The goals of Clean Cities ClimAccelerator are clearly aligned with the local, regional, national and international policy measures and strategies on climate change discussed at the recent COP27 UN Climate Change Conference in Egypt, where entrepreneurship played a prominent role as a key element in achieving climate neutrality. 

The acceleration programme finds synergies between the start-ups and local municipalities across Europe to build joint solutions from mobility to waste, energy to health, and the built environment.

“We believe that the most important value provided by the accelerator is the connection level, contact to similar partners working in the European context, the mentoring and support provided during the workshops and the vision toward a New European Bauhaus approach in doing business with a sustainable approach (…) There is a window that is still open and we can make a change if we unite,” says Alex D’Elia, Co-Founder and CEO of Prosume.

Next edition in 2023

After the success of this second edition of Clean Cities ClimAccelerator, a new call for start-ups will soon be launched related to European innovation needs for achieving climate neutrality in our cities. For information and upcoming dates, please follow along on the dedicated LinkedIn or website.