CHF 40,000 for next-gen energy meters, an environmental-friendly hotel digital platform, and scalable and renewable bioenergy
17.05.2022
Evoly, Simon & Josef, WattAnyWhere win Venture Kick's second stage of financial and entrepreneurial support. Their projects help energy providers get a hold of their customers' consumption data by handling all steps from the collection of data to its analysis through a solution combining both a Software and Hardware approach; develop a solution for hoteliers that allows guests from a three-day stay to design and personalize the room cleaning according to their wishes, while valuable resources are saved and our environment is protected; and bring a unique Fuel Cell system that delivers BioEnergy that is clean, cost-effective, CO2 neutral, and adapted to the demand of charging points for e-mobility.
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 Evoly Co-Founders Hassan Lantry and Sami El Bouari
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 Simon & Josef Team from left to right: Markus Aeby; Fabienne Aeby; Caroline Gaudart; Raphaël Gaudart; Jessica Hayoz; Marc Hayoz.
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 WattAnyWhere Team from left to right: Patrick Brennan, CFO; Olivier de Bruijn, VP R&D Fuel Cell; Didier Roux, CEO; Alexandre Laybros, Co-CEO & CMO; Philippe Ruez, VP R&D Systems
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Evoly: next-gen energy meters
As of today, even though the need and the use cases of smart metering are important for countries, their price is still too high with an average of EUR 200. The lack of having new metering technologies reduces the range of possibilities of energy providers and countries being unable to implement dynamic pricing or precise forecasting models leads to considerable financial and environmental impacts.
EVOLY's co-founders Sami El Bouari, Mechanical Engineer alumni from EPFL, and Hassan Lantry former McKinsey consultant that studied mathematics and data science are making old gen energy meters smart, at a tenth of the price. They help energy providers get a hold of their customers' consumption data by handling all steps from the collection of data to its analysis through a solution combining both a Software and Hardware approach. Enel, their device, transforms old-gen electric meters into smart meters at a tenth of the price in a plug & play approach, after connecting it to old gen meters in 5 minutes. Enel measures data transmits it and alerts providers in case of fraud. Their SaaS handles this data and automizes energy providers' tasks allowing fraud detection, remote reading, automatic billing, and dynamic pricing. Their market is very large, englobing 500 million meters worldwide representing nearly EUR 10 billion only on the hardware side.
The Venture Kick financing will help them execute their already signed contracts and begin their expansion to new markets. evolyenergy.com
Simon & Josef: An hotel service that benefits the environment while enhancing the guest experience
A hotel room consumes on average 50 liters of water per day. Moreover and according to different studies, 70% of travelers worldwide are more likely to book accommodation if they knew it was environmentally friendly. Therefore, reducing water consumption and improving environmental impact is not only a preoccupation for hotel managers, but for guests too. Hotels aim at reducing their environmental impact, lowering their costs related to housekeeping services, and engaging their guests regarding the cleaning of their rooms.
The unmet market need is to offer a simple, fast, digital solution to communicate room cleaning preferences and increase the room experience in 3* - 5* hotels. The first goal is to cancel or reduce the intermediate cleaning while staying two nights or more at a hotel. Simon & Josef's platform was co-founded by CEO Raphaël Gaudart from HES-SO Fribourg and COO Markus Aeby, with the help of CIO Marc Hayoz. The platform is accessible with one single click through every smartphone and requests no software or hardware installation. An opportunity for the Hotel guests to customize different preferences, such as room cleaning, and feeling at home while lowering the carbon footprint on vacation. For the hotel, this leads to reducing the usage of water, electricity, and cleaning products. The Hotel safes therefore natural and financial resources and optimizes its processes while increasing the customized service quality.
Their target customers are 3* to 5* star hotels, first in Switzerland with a market potential of 67‘000 rooms encompassing 1’300 hotels, then in Europe - 4’500’000 rooms representing ca. 100’000 hotels -, and finally in Asia and America. They are primarily targeting ecologically sensitive hotels interested in optimizing their resources and guests who are willing to make a positive contribution to the sustainability of their stay. Their digital solution can be deployed in any hotel around the globe within 24 hours.
The Venture Kick funds will be used to further develop the chatbot, link their platform through API to the hotel management systems, hire people and establish a strong sales team to develop their different markets. simonandjosef.com
As of today, even though the need and the use cases of smart metering are important for countries, their price is still too high with an average of EUR 200. The lack of having new metering technologies reduces the range of possibilities of energy providers and countries being unable to implement dynamic pricing or precise forecasting models leads to considerable financial and environmental impacts.
EVOLY's co-founders Sami El Bouari, Mechanical Engineer alumni from EPFL, and Hassan Lantry former McKinsey consultant that studied mathematics and data science are making old gen energy meters smart, at a tenth of the price. They help energy providers get a hold of their customers' consumption data by handling all steps from the collection of data to its analysis through a solution combining both a Software and Hardware approach. Enel, their device, transforms old-gen electric meters into smart meters at a tenth of the price in a plug & play approach, after connecting it to old gen meters in 5 minutes. Enel measures data transmits it and alerts providers in case of fraud. Their SaaS handles this data and automizes energy providers' tasks allowing fraud detection, remote reading, automatic billing, and dynamic pricing. Their market is very large, englobing 500 million meters worldwide representing nearly EUR 10 billion only on the hardware side.
The Venture Kick financing will help them execute their already signed contracts and begin their expansion to new markets. evolyenergy.com
Simon & Josef: An hotel service that benefits the environment while enhancing the guest experience
A hotel room consumes on average 50 liters of water per day. Moreover and according to different studies, 70% of travelers worldwide are more likely to book accommodation if they knew it was environmentally friendly. Therefore, reducing water consumption and improving environmental impact is not only a preoccupation for hotel managers, but for guests too. Hotels aim at reducing their environmental impact, lowering their costs related to housekeeping services, and engaging their guests regarding the cleaning of their rooms.
The unmet market need is to offer a simple, fast, digital solution to communicate room cleaning preferences and increase the room experience in 3* - 5* hotels. The first goal is to cancel or reduce the intermediate cleaning while staying two nights or more at a hotel. Simon & Josef's platform was co-founded by CEO Raphaël Gaudart from HES-SO Fribourg and COO Markus Aeby, with the help of CIO Marc Hayoz. The platform is accessible with one single click through every smartphone and requests no software or hardware installation. An opportunity for the Hotel guests to customize different preferences, such as room cleaning, and feeling at home while lowering the carbon footprint on vacation. For the hotel, this leads to reducing the usage of water, electricity, and cleaning products. The Hotel safes therefore natural and financial resources and optimizes its processes while increasing the customized service quality.
Their target customers are 3* to 5* star hotels, first in Switzerland with a market potential of 67‘000 rooms encompassing 1’300 hotels, then in Europe - 4’500’000 rooms representing ca. 100’000 hotels -, and finally in Asia and America. They are primarily targeting ecologically sensitive hotels interested in optimizing their resources and guests who are willing to make a positive contribution to the sustainability of their stay. Their digital solution can be deployed in any hotel around the globe within 24 hours.
The Venture Kick funds will be used to further develop the chatbot, link their platform through API to the hotel management systems, hire people and establish a strong sales team to develop their different markets. simonandjosef.com
WattAnyWhere: Fast, scalable, and renewable bioenergy
The sales boom of Battery Electric Vehicles requires a rapid increase in renewable energy production and distribution, via public charging points, to address a yearly need for 24 TWh of clean electricity in Europe in 2030. However, the lack of adequate power infrastructure makes the deployment of fast charging points long and tedious. WattAnyWhere has taken up this challenge and develops an environmentally friendly solution to deliver high power to charging point operators and avoid the current grid capacity shortfall.
The unique Energy-On-Demand system, developed with the support of EPFL, HES-SO Valais/Wallis and industrial partners, is based on solid oxide fuel cells (SOFCs) to convert renewable ethanol, a liquid hydrogen carrier that is safe and economical, into high power electricity. Today, ethanol is mixed with gasoline to fuel conventional cars. As combustion engine cars are phased out progressively, WattAnyWhere solution upcycles surplus ethanol to boost electric mobility! The SOFC is a mature technology, now produced at an industrial scale. It offers an exceptional efficiency of 60% minimum and ensures that the overall solution is carbon neutral. WattAnyWhere will manufacture and sell the fuel cell system, including installation & maintenance services. The solution brings the highest value to Charging Point Operators (CPOs) at parking lots or roadside service stations and is independent of any electricity or gas grids. WattAnyWhere proposes a scalable solution and will be able to address other use cases such as construction, maritime, and other needs for mobile, high power energy. The two founders are Didier ROUX (ENSEA engineer, founder of the KRONO-SAFE company in the field of Real-Time Operating Systems), and Alexandre LAYBROS (ENSEA engineer, former director of strategy and marketing at Honeywell Intl., with more than 20 years of experience in innovation). They are supported by Philippe RUEZ, Olivier DE BRUIJN, and Patrick BRENNAN that bring their leadership and expertise to R&D, Production, Finance & Marketing.
The Venture Kick funds will be used to expand our digital marketing resources, grow the pipeline of launch customers and investors, and support the initial Proof-Of-Concept (POC) activities.
wattanywhere.com