Clean energy innovators and investors come together for demo day

The Clean Energy Innovation Fund held its first Clean Energy Innovators Demo Day yesterday, providing innovators and start-ups with a platform to showcase their technologies and business plans to potential investors.

The Innovation Fund invests in clean energy businesses that have progressed beyond the research and development stage but are not yet able to attract sufficient private sector capital. Less than one year after commencing operation, the fund has already made three investment commitments across a range of businesses, injecting $25 million into the sector.

“The Innovators Demo Day is one way of helping innovative companies take that next big step to accelerate growth,” said Blair Pritchard, investment development director at the Clean Energy Finance Corporation (CEFC), which finances investments made through the fund.

“We are bringing together 10 shortlisted innovative entrepreneurial companies and some 50 investors, with the aim of accelerating investment in cutting-edge clean energy businesses.”

Pritchard said companies invited to showcase their plans seemed to focus on technology “behind the meter”, referring to rooftop solar generation, localised demand response, grid control and battery storage solutions. Energy efficiency was also a theme, he noted.

The response to the demo day was “overwhelmingly positive”, according to Pritchard, and “a clear sign of the strong potential of the innovative clean energy sector, both entrepreneurs and investors”.

“Not everyone who wanted to attend could be accommodated at this time,” he noted. “We’re already looking to organise follow-up sessions.”