Fredericton-based startup accelerator Energia Ventures held a demo day for its latest cohort Wednesday, highlighting its status as a draw for international entrepreneurs, with four of the five companies hailing from Africa.
The accelerator is run by the University of New Brunswick’s J. Herbert Smith Centre for Technology Management & Entrepreneurship, commonly known as TME. Energia accepts companies from around the world that are involved in energy, cleantech, cybersecurity and artificial intelligence.
“I’m absolutely thrilled with the cohort, with the types of diversity we have in the current cohort,” said Dhirendra Shukla, chair of the J. Herbert Smith Centre, during the event.
“I love being part of their journey, and their momentum, and the changes they are going to make.”
Participants in the program, which lasts about three months, received access to educational programming, business support and funding to help them develop their ventures.
Energia last year switched from running one cohort a year to two in response to increased demand. The five companies that pitched Wednesday were selected for the accelerator out of a field of about 100 applicants.
Here’s a look at the latest alumni:
Fredericton
Pascal McCarthy
Parados is developing a hardware and software suite that will track athlete’s behaviour and body movement to help predict injuries or underperformance before they happen. The software can operate based solely on computer vision, with the sensors being an optional extra.
Cleanmeter
Fredericton and Ibadan, Nigeria
Favour Afolayan
Cleanmeter is developing smart metre systems for leased renewable energy equipment, allowing people in Africa who may struggle to afford electricity the ability to gradually pay off residential energy generation equipment, like solar panels, based on their usage.
ADADK
Amman, Jordan
Bayan AlAbdullat
ADADK is developing a wireless sensor and software system to allow homeowners and hotels to identify and locate leaks in their water pipes via a smartphone app. The company’s beachead market will be hotels in Jordan.
Enugu, Nigeria
Emmanuel Ezenwere
AroneEnergy is developing The Illuminar, a solar-powered battery pack large enough to power homes or small businesses in Nigeria, where the product will also be manufactured, instead of outsourcing the work.
Johannesburg, South Africa
Tumi Frazier
FourthWave is developing a platform that promises to use “fourth wave” technologies like blockchain, the internet-of-things and machine learning to help farmers in Africa modernize their practices with the help of funding from the United States Agency for International Development.
