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Vermont Sustainable Jobs Fund (VSJF) announces the selection of the Energy 2020 cohort of the DeltaClime^VT  climate economy business accelerator.

Nine early-stage energy companies from across the U.S. and Canada will work with climate economy leaders, industry experts, potential partners and investment professionals over the next three months while completing an intensive curriculum, developed by ecosVC, during online workshops, webinars and mentoring sessions as well as two four-day onsite workshops (dependent upon developments with the current COVID-19 pandemic).

The Vermont-based business accelerator kicked off the Energy 2020 program (the fourth cohort for the DeltaClime^VT business accelerator) last week during a virtual sprint in leu of what was originally scheduled as an in-person sprint in Burlington. For four days, 18 entrepreneurs worked together via Zoom conferencing with facilitators Joseph Steig and Judith Giordan and VSJF Business Assistance Director Geoff Robertson.

In addition to connecting the accelerator participants to the larger ecosystem of business support and capital in Vermont, Energy 2020 participants will compete for a $25,000 non-equity award to be awarded to the top company and compete for the opportunity to demonstrate their technology through collaborative pilot projects with DeltaClime^VT Energy 2020 sponsors Burlington Electric Department and Green Mountain Power. Following the Energy 2019 program, four of the seven participating companies won pilot projects.

The goal for the Energy 2020 program is to help move toward a zero-carbon future through better integration of distributed resources and smart building technologies and to help Vermont’s utilities harden the distribution network against outages. All nine companies focus on reducing energy use and greenhouse gas emissions in buildings, and enabling better integration of distributed energy resources and smart building technologies.

 “By participating in the DeltaClime^VT business accelerator, these climate-tech entrepreneurs will improve their business plans and fast track their way to securing financial investments so they can grow their business opportunities in Vermont and beyond,” said Robertson. “Even though we’ve traditionally held our first sprint in person, we decided it was important to continue this program virtually since there’s no better time than now to focus on making these businesses more successful.”

DeltaClime^VT Energy 2020 Cohort Companies:

• Camberline Technologies enables a time of use electricity pricing for households and small businesses, whereas such pricing is typically only offered to industrial users. (Massachusetts)
• Enersion developed an innovative cooling technology that uses low grade waste heat instead of electricity to produce industrial cooling, resulting in over 70% less electricity consumption compared to regular chillers. enersion.com (Toronto, Canada)
• InfiSense is a software platform that helps commercial operations reduce costs, increase efficiency and improve sustainability with long-range IoT sensors. infisense.com (Vermont and Massachusetts)
• M2 Thermal Solutions developed a new thermodynamic mechanism that is used for residential air-conditioning. (Massachusetts)
• Medley Thermal develops and dispatches hybrid electric boiler projects. medleythermal.com (Massachusetts)
• Pecos Wind Power is developing a low cost, 85kW distributed wind turbine to compete on cost with distributed solar and utility-provided electricity. pecoswindpower.com (Massachusetts)
• Switched Source provides power electronics equipment that automates balancing of the distribution grid allowing for more renewable generation hosting capabilities, better power quality, enhanced reliability/resiliency, and reduced operational expenditures. switchedsource.com (New York)
• ThermoAI uses patent pending proprietary machine learning algorithms to optimize the total processes of industrial combustion. thermoai.com (New York)
• WexEnergy delivers energy efficient solutions for buildings and homes one window, one building, one city at a time. wexenergy.com (New York)

DeltaClime^VT Energy 2020 Partners and Sponsors:

Partners and sponsors of DeltaClime^VT Energy 2020 include VLITE, Burlington Electric Department, Vermont Electric Power Company, Efficiency Vermont, Vermont Public Power Supply Authority, Vermont Electric Coop, VGS, Green Mountain Power, Washington Electric Co-Op, Encore Renewable Energy, Bourne’s Energy, and Main Street Landing.

Click to learn more about DeltaClime^VT Energy 2020.

About DeltaClime^VT – A Climate Economy Business Accelerator

The DeltaClime^VT business accelerator is a Vermont-based program serving startup and seed-stage ventures focusing on energy and climate economy innovation in the energy sector. The program provides an intense accelerated learning and business development process designed to test assumptions, expose and remediate business vulnerabilities, prepare for significant investment, and provide a platform for rapid scaling. As a proven leader in sustainability, Vermont offers participants access to a large number of entrepreneurial climate economy and energy experts throughout the program. The program is managed by the Vermont Sustainable Jobs Fund (VSJF). deltaclimevt.com

Funding Support

DeltaClime^VT is funded by VLITE, the Jane’s Trust Foundation, the Sustainable Future Fund, and a large number of utility and corporate sponsors. See deltaclimevt.com for more details.  

About Vermont Sustainable Jobs Fund

In addition to offering the DeltaClime^VT business accelerator to startup and seed stage entrepreneurs, the Vermont Sustainable Jobs Fund (VSJF) provides business assistance, value chain facilitation, network development, and strategic planning to a wide range of stakeholders in the agriculture and food system, forest product, waste management, renewable energy, and environmental technology sectors. Located in Montpelier, Vermont, VSJF was created by the Vermont Legislature in 1995 to partner with state government, private sector businesses, and nonprofits to build a thriving economic, social, and ecological future for Vermont. www.vsjf.org