AUSTIN, Texas — November 24, 2020
Yotta Energy Was Selected as the Grand Finale Winner of the Starter Business Acceleration 2020 and Was Awarded 50 Thousand Euros
On Wednesday, November 18, 2020, during a live virtual ceremony, Starter Business Acceleration (Starter) announced Yotta Energy (Yotta) as the winner of its 2020 program, the second edition of its international program. As the Grand Finale Winner of Starter, Yotta was selected from over 800 startups representing 74 countries and was awarded the grand prize of 50 thousand euros to invest in its business. Starter was founded to bring innovation to the energy industry by pairing innovative startups with top energy utilities.
As part of its participation in Starter, Yotta partnered with EDP for an initial, small-scale pilot to test its energy storage solution in both laboratory and real-world environments. Yotta will continue working with EDP on a longer-term project to further validate its technology in real-world environments. EDP Ventures, the investment arm of EDP, also recently announced its participation in Yotta’s $5 million Seed Round.
“It’s great to be recognized by leading utilities for the work our team is pioneering in the energy storage space,” said Omeed Badkoobeh, CEO of Yotta, when he heard the announcement that Yotta was the winner of Starter 2020. Jenn Gallegos, Director of Programs and Communications, said “This is an honor. We are very grateful for the opportunity to participate and grateful that we’ve been able to partner with EDP. We look forward to continuing that relationship and building on the relationships that we’ve got with Verbund and also Turning Tables,” upon hearing the announcement that Yotta was selected as the winner of Starter 2020 during the live virtual ceremony.
“We valued your determination and hard work through the Starter 2020 edition, and I am sure that this is only one of the great moments that you [will] have in the future, Yotta,” said Carla Pimenta, Head of Startup Engagement at EDP, during the live ceremony. Ed Feltman, Startup Engagement Manager at Verbund, also congratulated the Yotta team and added, “The scalability and the modular design of [Yotta’s] solution and its easy installation is something that’s very attractive to, not only Verbund, but all of the partners...we really look forward to working and developing this technology more with [Yotta] in the future.”
You can read the full press release from EDP and learn more about the other finalists here. Congratulations to the other finalists who participated in the Starter Business Acceleration 2020 Edition!
About Yotta Energy
Yotta Energy (Yotta) is a renewable energy storage company headquartered in Austin, Texas. Yotta has developed PV-Coupled™ architecture, a smart energy storage solution designed to effortlessly scale with rooftop solar PV projects. At about the size of a briefcase, Yotta's patented panel-level energy storage solution can fit under any industry standard solar module, neatly integrating with the solar racking array. Yotta's technology features advanced thermal management to maintain an optimal working temperature even under extreme outdoor conditions. Yotta's solution is also designed to UL 9540, making it one of the safest energy storage options available for urban environments. As an integrated software plus hardware solution, Yotta's unique PV-Coupled™ architecture also helps address grid outages by enhancing grid resilience and reliability. Yotta’s technology allows for a much lower total cost of installation for rooftop solar plus storage than any other current energy storage systems available today. Join Yotta in building the grid of the future.
Learn more at www.yottaenergy.com.
About Starter Business Acceleration
Starter Business Acceleration (Starter) was created for startups and small-to-medium-sized companies (SMEs) working in the energy industry. With pilot project development as the main focus, the program connects participants with different business units and technology experts from EDP (Portugal, Spain, Brazil, USA), Verbund, and Turning Tables (Grupo Cuerva).
Startups selected to participate in the program are invited to participate in one of three modules, according to where they are based, or through partners’ selection: Latin America, North America, and Europe. Participation in the modules exposes the most innovative startups to deal opportunities, in a direct and personal connection with the program partners.
In the previous Edition, Starter attracted close to 500 startups, with 30 startups from 13 different countries being selected to work alongside program partners. This resulted in a pipeline of 50 pilots, and 10 potential investments.
Potential applicants for the next cohort are encouraged to check the Starter website at https://theenergystarter.com/ for more information.