Fundación Repsol presents the new startups that will take part in its business accelerator program

Fundación Repsol has announced the six businesses that have been chosen to form part of its business accelerator, the Entrepreneur's Fund. This initiative, which is already in its eighth year, aims to offer support to the most innovative energy projects so they can get on the market as soon as possible and contribute to energy transition challenges.

The start-ups chosen to participate in the eighth edition of the Entrepreneur's Fund were chosen from the 649 proposals presented. Following an exhaustive evaluation and selection process, ten businesses were finalists, among which an expert jury selected six to become a part of Fundación Repsol’s accelerator.

The selected projects will receive up to 144 000 euros for one year, which can be extended by one more year. In addition to the financial support, the projects will be assisted by a team of mentors who will support them during the acceleration stage, in addition to technical and legal counselling and specialised training adapted to their needs. The startups will have the possibility of testing prototypes in industrial facilities and, if possible, developing pilots in collaboration with Repsol professionals. This support does not entail any transfer of company capital or intellectual property rights to Fundación Repsol.

The presentation event took place on the Repsol Campus and was attended by Antonio Brufau, Chairman of Repsol and Fundación Repsol, who noted that “the energy sector is immersed in a transformation process in which research, knowledge, and innovation are key to creating a new ecosystem for future businesses.” António Calçada, the General Director of Fundación Repsol, was also in attendance. He presented this entity's new strategy, which is to focus on energy transition and society, maintaining the Entrepreneur’s Fund as one of its action lines.

There was a round table discussion during the event in which Nuria Ávalos, Director of Blockchain, RPA & Digital Experimentation at Repsol, Eduardo García Director of Entrepreneurship at Fundación Repsol, Tomás Malango, Director of Experimentation & Technology Support at Repsol, and Luis Casado, Director of Corporate Venturing at Repsol addressed the transformational power of new technologies in the energy sector.

Additionally, Juan Miguel Pérez, CEO and founder of Finboot, expert blockchain company, talked about his experience with the Entrepreneur’s Fund. During the acceleration, Finboot team carried out a pilot with the help of the Repsol's Techlab professionals and has recently become Repsol’s official provider with its blocklabs project and has been invested in by the energy company. 

Selected startups

The entrepreneurs also had the opportunity to present their solutions. The selected proposals stand out because of their innovative nature in the energy industry's environment and come from Canada, Norway and Spain.  

• Alerion Technologies (San Sebastián – Spain): intelligent drones with non-destructive testing (NDT) technology for industrial equipment testing and data analysis in real-time.
• Nextmol (Bytelab Solutions) (Barcelona – Spain): B2B (business to business) platform to accelerate the discovery of new materials and chemical molecules.
• Carbon Upcycling Technologies (Calgary – Canada): obtaining new, quality materials and a smaller carbon footprint using nanoparticles derived from discarded CO2.
• Compact Carbon Capture (Bergen – Norway): low-cost CO2 capture technology and compact engineering.
• Linc World (Madrid – Spain): hardware and software solution to improve the energy efficiency in any building.
• Orchestra Scientific (Tarragona – Spain): production of highly selective CO2 membranes.

The Entrepreneur's Fund

As part of its commitment to a more sustainable energy future, in 2011 Fundación Repsol launched the Entrepreneur's Fund, an accelerator for startups that aims to encourage talent and support the best and most sustainable technological solutions in the energy industry and advanced mobility. The fund has received more than 3,000 proposals over the eight editions.

Since its launch, it has accelerated 48 startups, to which we can add the six newly selected initiatives. All together, the accelerated companies have received almost 30 million euros in public and private investment and have created over 400 prototypes, with a collective turnover of more than 3 million euros.

This year the internationalisation of the initiative stands out, with almost 50% of the proposals coming from outside of Spain which translates into an increase of 25% with respect to 2018. The most notable cases are the United States, Canada, or Norway. In total, projects from 60 different countries have been received.

The eighth call stands out due to the maturity of presented start-ups, with 55% declaring to be in either pre-commercialization or even early sales stages. The Entrepreneur Fund is ideal for these companies that are one or two years from entering the market, counting with technologies or business models that have been tested in controlled environments. It is in these stages where we can help most.