Imperial College’s Climate Pre-Accelerator: Lessons from Cohort #1

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The Green Techpreneur is a proud partner of Imperial College’s Climate Entrepreneurs Club (CEC), we share a common mission to support and inspire climate entrepreneurs in bringing their innovation into the world.

CEC are the masterminds behind the world-first Climate Pre-Accelerator programme - it supports entrepreneurial students to build start-ups that address the climate crisis. You can read about how they got started in my interview with the co-founders here .

In the pre-accelerator, university students form teams to develop a sustainable startup over a 4-month period. They’re supported by workshops and a personal mentor.

The 2023 inaugural pre-accelerator empowered 102 students from over 5 universities with the tools and platform to develop a sustainable startup from scratch.

13 teams presented their startups in Pitch Day, varying from the Built Environment & Circular Economy, Energy & Food use and Climate Change & Natural Capital sectors. About 50% of these teams have gone on to launch a climate tech startup with spin-outs including Cyanoskin, Treeva, InXtech, Candela, Biofonic, Algain and Carboneye.

The amount of issues that need to be addressed is limitless. However, so is the energy of these young founders.?The range of issues in the climate crisis is also what makes it an amazing industry as there are endless opportunities for startups to grow.

As they prepare for round two in 2024 and refine the programme, they’re at the forefront of a much needed trend, where universities act as springboards to cultivate the talent, ideas and entrepreneurialism needed to drive climate momentum.

In this Green Techpreneur edition, CEC shares what they learnt after completing their world-first Climate Pre-accelerator programme.

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What was key to the programme’s success?

Pre-accelerator media and marketing manager, Abby Lam: One bedrock of CEC's triumph was the outpouring of support from the climate-conscious community. We discovered the climate community’s kindness and willingness to share information; every single mentor and partner and sponsor we have worked with has been so supportive of every entrepreneur in the cohort.

It is undeniable that it is a huge time sacrifice for students to build a pre-accelerator in parallel with their studies. Having a strong student team to lead the pre-accelerator was essential: the committee was made of 9 incredibly passionate people with values that align.

For the student entrepreneurs in the programme, having to balance their respective degrees along side the demanding nature of this programme shows the impressive discipline and passion students have towards making a difference in society. We were truly amazed by each and every team in their commitment towards their startup.

Which areas did the student founders need support in?

We saw key areas for which early stage start-ups need support, notably customer discovery to validate their ideas and pitch preparation. Most teams had concrete ideas, but lacked the experience, support and network. The help and guidance of mentors was one of the biggest strengths of?the Climate Pre-Accelerator.

What’s your vision for the future?

Pre-accelerator manager, Lina Rhmari Tlemcani: In terms of vision, the first learning is the most important to me: creating that community where people share ideas and transfer knowledge, and instead of every individual trying to save the planet on their own, working all together for that mission. Not me, us. My success is our success. Putting people together to work on solutions that can be implemented is the way to make an impact.

My vision as a pre-accelerator manager is to create a world beyond the Climate Crisis, where every aspect of our lives, from energy to transportation, is optimized for sustainability and efficiency. I envision a future where innovative climate solutions are integrated seamlessly into our daily lives, ensuring a thriving and resilient planet for future generations.

Takeaways from student founders

InXtech

Aryan Shah is the co-founder and CEO of one of the programme’s spin-outs, InXtech, a startup pioneering the next generation of high-endurance, zero-emissions autonomous underwater vehicles (AUVs) by combining the low-power, long-range capability of underwater gliding technology with the high-powered capacity of hydrogen-Fuel-Cells for better ocean data-collection. InXTech has already built their first product prototype, and won a Best Team award in accelerator Kickstart Global’s demo day.

Shah: “We learnt about how to take a product from zero to one in an effective, yet flexible pace that allowed us to get to know the problems we were solving better and also to understand our customers better and what they want.

Our belief that our startup may die if we don't provide something that customers want and need was validated and we'll keep following this idea to keep our innovations up to date and our technology to a high standard!

Our experience was brilliant, we often had workshops, we were assigned mentors who really did help us and even gave us some funding to kickstart our proof of concept design and build! We had a lot of fun whilst learning so much that made us better founders and more proud to work on our team.”

Farming 3.0

Naman Sharma is co-founder of Farming 3.0, a startup that seeks to aid farmers’ decision-making on how to adapt their use of land in a changing climate.

My biggest learning in the Climate Pre-Accelerator was the focus on not only trying to build the best business but also to build a network, and think of longevity in other ways. If you just focus on the business you might not even do well as a business, but worse you won’t leave with a stronger network and wider contacts.

Having that narrow view means that you won’t build the network and community feeling that you wanted to get out of the programme. Having a wider outlook is an important thing I learned.

I find that it’s very hard to achieve scale for any solution in climate tech. It’s very hard to generate value because people don’t pay extra for climate-friendly solutions.

You have to create value for the price people pay, which often comes from cheaper technical solutions. If not, there might be?no point in doing it. We should only work on a climate solution if we can implement it, it can only protect our planet if people are willing to adopt it.

EcoElevate

Tia Advani, is the co-founder of EcoElevate, which is investigating carbon capture solutions that rely on microbes as an innovative and more sustainable alternative to traditional carbon capture method.

Advani: Participating in the Climate Pre-Accelerator has been a valuable learning experience for me: I acquired essential industry insights, developed networking and team-building skills, and honed my abilities in creating pitch decks and conducting market analysis. This project matters to me because I am deeply passionate about sustainability and making a positive impact on the planet.

I believe in the potential of climate tech because our collective well-being is intrinsically tied to the health of our planet.

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