Fourth Edition of the Green Light Event
The Ecofuel Accelerator has now accelerated 16 startups in the cleantech sector
Montreal, December 9th, 2016 – The Autumn 2016 Cohort of the cleantech startup accelerator Ecofuel ended its journey in front of investors, entrepreneurs and representatives of the industry. Entrepreneurs of AEPONYX, ARDA Power, NB BioMatrix, Electrobac and Jaza Energy presented the improved version of their businesses after participating to a tailored program for them in a highly specialized and effervescent industry, and which will play a strategic role in the Canadian economy and for climate change.
During their four months participation to Ecofuel, the selected entrepreneurs were propelled through personalized coaching adapted to their specific needs. They were counselled by forty mentors renowned for their knowledge and their expertise in the cleantech sector.
“The entrepreneurs of every cohort have confirmed to us the added value we bring as an accelerator for the cleantech startups”, says Richard Cloutier, President and CEO of the Ecofuel Accelerator. “Our role will scale up in the future, considering the strategic importance of the cleantech industry in the Canadian economy and for climate change. Our financial support can be used as leverage in the financial plan of the companies, but what continues to really make an impact is our capacity to provide a personalized and specialized framework for our entrepreneurs, with mentors who have significant knowledge and expertise in the cleantech sector and who invest time and energy to discuss with all of them individually.”
“Most of the 16 startups that we have accelerated since the foundation of Ecofuel have reached important milestones. Some have concluded follow-on financings, others have reached critical operational and strategic objectives in pursuing their growth. These are indicators that confirm the significant value add we bring to entrepreneurs with our acceleration program”, explains Mr. Cloutier.
Ecofuel already launched the recruiting process for the Spring 2017 Cohort. Workshops for this fifth group of cleantech entrepreneurs is targeted to kickoff at the end of January.
Ecofuel entrepreneurs’ quotes
“The Ecofuel Accelerator helped us focus on our customer facing and go to market scale-up plan as well as helping us to identify our business plan weaknesses and turn them into strengths.”
– Keith Brunt, Chief Scientific Officer, BioMatrix
“The Ecofuel accelerator connected us to the North American cleantech community. It was a great experience that helped shape how we think about our company. Now we’re ready to take things to the next level.”
– Jeff Schnurr, Chief Executive Officer, Jaza Energy
“The program exceeded our expectations and helped us reposition our value proposition, made our strategy clearer and we are now working on a more focused execution plan.
– Aleksey Toporkov, Chief Executive Officer, ARDA Power
“Working with Ecofuel was a great experience. The program group sessions which were followed with one on one meetings with great and dedicated mentors significantly helped us tune our business plan and our strategy.”
– Philippe Babin, Chief Executive Officer, AEPONYX
“Ecofuel has definitely helped our company accelerate its growth. We were impressed by the quality of the mentors and their willingness to share their broad experience and knowledge.”
– Philip Bénard, President, Électrobac
About Ecofuel
Ecofuel is a startup accelerator that works with entrepreneurs in clean technology to help build globally competitive companies. Ecofuel offers founders and their team an intensive program of training workshops, networking sessions, an experienced mentor ecosystem, and a potential seed financing of up to $75,000, under certain conditions. The objective of the program is to support entrepreneurs and help in the successful creation of companies.
In addition to financial and operational support from Cycle Capital, Ecofuel is also counting on the support and collaboration of Écotech Quebec and Innovacorp.
