Undaunted, in collaboration with Imperial Enterprise, is proud to announce its first cohort of the Better Futures Retrofit Accelerator, a brand-new initiative supporting climate innovation in the retrofit market in London. The accelerator is designed to support startups and early-stage scale-ups in the clean tech sector, with a focus on developing cutting-edge solutions for the built environment.
The following startups have been selected to participate in the first cohort:
- Airex Technologies – Smart air bricks providing passive ventilation
- Anzen Innovations Limited – Smart wall with integrated ventilation & heating system
- Building Atlas Ltd – Building Atlas helps owners of real estate portfolios find the best path to retrofitting their non-residential buildings in order to avoid stranding risk and to increase asset value.
- Cosysense – Cosysense improves buildings’ air conditioner comfort and efficiency, reducing costs and emissions at a fraction of realised savings.
- Cresco Biotech Ltd – Biocomposite panelling materials using industrial waste and biomanufacturing
- Isometric Outcomes – Bathroom dehumidification and heat recovery
- LightFi – IoT sensor manufacturers & HVAC control specialists for commercial buildings
- RIISE – AI / data platform to evaluate and optimise building energy performance
- Verv Energy – Smart monitors to allow energy monitoring of exiting HVAC and household appliances
- Vox Aeris – Agglomeration based air filtration with recyclable filters
- VundaHaus Ltd – Prefabricated insulation kits to retrofit existing homes
The cohort represents a diverse group of companies ready to revolutionise the built environment through their innovative technologies. These 11 companies are at the forefront of developing innovations that can reduce greenhouse gas emissions in London’s built environment. The Better Futures Retrofit Accelerator aims to drive meaningful impact in creating value for customers for these solutions, while supporting startups to scale up, create jobs and boost inclusive economic growth in London.
“The Better Futures Retrofit Accelerator can benefit the startups, firstly, to help revalidate customers that can buy into these solutions,” Stephen Lorimer, co-founder of Building Atlas, observed, “and secondly, support us in gaining access to data that help support our business models that look towards the future and not the past.”
After the first workshop, Preethi Jayakumar, co-founder of Anzen, was eager to share their startup’s vision and how the accelerator can help them achieve it. She said, “My experience with the Better Futures Retrofit Accelerator has been very inspiring, meeting various stakeholders under the same roof and fellow co-founders, sharing our personal experiences in the startup world, which is often lonely. When I think of scaling Anzen, we want to enter every single social house in London because they are the most underrepresented and underserved communities in the decarbonisation race.”
Alyssa Gilbert, Director of Innovation at the Grantham Institute – Climate Change and the Environment at Imperial College London, observed at the workshop, “Today, we have seen by bringing together climate innovators with established players in the field, we can unlock the potential for practical action that will deliver climate innovation at scale. That shows me that we should be doing this not just for the built environment but for every sector in the economy.”
The Challenge Identification Workshop
Designed to identify the barriers to market entry and lay the foundation of the accelerator’s journey, the Challenge Identification Workshop brought together startups and stakeholders under one roof to begin to bridge the gaps in the retrofit sector.
Peter Runacres, Head of Urban Futures at The Earls Court Development Company was keen to observe these challenges and recognise areas stakeholders like him can offer support. Catching up after the workshop, he said, “The challenge for these startups is how to get their pilots up and running. The second challenge is to identify the drivers of their startups and who do they want to work with from a whole host of organisations that they can get a buy-in from.”
Commenting on the need for programmes like the Better Futures Retrofit Accelerator, Peter Runacres reflected, “This accelerator is really useful to us as we have a range of existing buildings on site and within our group and we want to help improve the carbon footprint of those. In doing so, we want to bring opportunities to scale up startups and innovators to actually progress and develop. Ultimately the aim is to implement these solutions as we bring forward the full major scheme on the site at The Earls Court Development. It is actually about thinking about the future and developing companies beyond their pilots including upskilling and training.”
What’s next for participants
Selected participants in the Better Futures Retrofit Accelerator will gain access to a wide range of resources, including R&D advice, internships, technical workspace, and networking opportunities with industry stakeholders.
Underscoring the importance of public-private partnerships in driving innovation and sustainability, Alyssa Gilbert shared, “We are going to see some individual activity for the cohort participants during the course of the programme. They will get an opportunity to access Advanced Hackspace where they will be developing prototypes. They are going to have access to researchers at Imperial College London. The Better Futures Retrofit Accelerator gives them an ecosystem to support their business models and their path to technical advancement while also engaging with the industry. We have this combination of collaborative work and individual progress – both of which will expect to bring great returns.”
Join the second cohort of the accelerator
Applications for the second cohort of the Better Futures Retrofit Accelerator close on March 31, 2024. Applications will be reviewed on a rolling basis and applicants are encouraged to apply at the earliest. Click the link to access the application guidance and form.
To be eligible, businesses and SMEs must be London-based, classified within the Low Carbon Environmental Goods and Services (LCEGS) sector, and developing solutions suitable for the retrofit market. Undaunted actively encourages applications from underrepresented communities, including women, minority ethnic groups, disabled persons, neurodivergent persons, and the LGBTQI+ community.
Follow updates of the programme on LinkedIn here
Powered by Imperial College London, via Undaunted and Enterprise, the Better Futures Retrofit Accelerator is part of the Greater London Authority’s Better Futures programme, co-funded by the UK government through the UK Shared Prosperity Fund.
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Undaunted is a partnership between Imperial’s Grantham Institute – Climate Change and the Environment and The Royal Institution.
