Six Innovative SMEs Competing To Be The UK’s 2017 Best Low-Carbon Startup

These six small businesses are competing to be crowned as the UK’s next best low-carbon startup in the Shell Springboard 2017 competition.

The shortlisted startups are through to this year’s Shell Springboard national finals, which aims to scale up businesses with innovative ideas to tackle Britain’s energy issues.

Shell Springboard, now in its 12th year, is one of Shell’s two social investment supporting enterprise development.

The semi-finalists were each awarded £40K with the winner set to receive a further £110,000, bringing their total equity-free funding to £150,000.

Last year’s winner of the national programme – C-Capture- developed a new technology, which separates CO2 from gas streams to reduce emissions.

The chosen six businesses (from Aberdeen and Cambridge region), picked by a panel of leading experts in the low-carbon sector, are:

• Nova Innovations (Edinburgh) – designs, builds, installs, commissions and operates tidal energy projects;
• Perpetual V2G Systems Ltd (Ceredigion) – developed a Lithium-based technology which provides a zero-carbon, zero noise mobile power solution;
• Upside Energy Ltd (Cheshire) – a cloud-based energy aggregation service that creates a Virtual Energy Store that can be sold to the grid to help balance supply and demand;
• GrowUp Urban Farms (London) – uses aquaponic and vertical farming techniques to produce year-round harvests of leaf salads, herbs and fish;
• Desolenator (London) – developed a clean water technology which purifies water from any source, including seawater and water contaminated with bacteria;
• TRINE Finance Ltd (London) – alternative finance solutions specifically designed for off-grid solar projects in Africa through an engaging crowdfunding model.

The winner would be announced on 6th April at an event in London.