START-UP INCUBATOR
New electro-mobility solutions are a key element for the implementation of the Paris Agreement, the Sustainable Development Goals and the New Urban Agenda. To develop those innovative and integrated solutions, cooperation between cities worldwide, industry and innovators is key. To this end, SOLUTIONSplus has established the SOLUTIONSplus Start-up incubator. Led by ERTICO in close cooperation with FIER, and benefitting from the experience gathered by the ERTICO Start-ups initiative and its “Connect. Innovate. Grow.” approach:
Connect: focuses on “fit-for-use”, connecting SMEs and start-ups with relevant stakeholders to make sure strategic partnership and cooperation can be set in place, and identifies the supporting incubator actions to assure on-time and quality deliveries;
Innovate: focuses on key services offered by the incubator. Such as building competence, expertise and knowledge optimisation, improving business intelligence, focussed marketing, and dissemination;
Grow: focuses on business development and scaling up (both geographical and in terms of portfolio).
Thanks to this approach, the SOLUTIONSplus start-up incubator offers a unique opportunity for collaboration with start-ups, SMEs and industry partners to co-develop e-mobility solutions that can generate economic opportunities across different regions, Africa, Asia and Latin America, and, of course, Europe. More concretely, the SOLUTIONSplus Start-up incubator provides seed funding and guidance to 13 start-ups that participate in nine demonstrations happening in different cities in Africa, Asia and Latin America.
The support for local innovators goes well beyond funding, and includes also:
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Support in drafting their SOLUTIONSplus business plans;
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Local hackathons and start-up events to strengthen the partnership between local companies with European innovators and industry partners;
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Opportunities for project partners to act as customers for the services and the products of identified start-ups, or to act as (co-)investors in these start-ups;
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Scale up opportunities and replication of business models to increase their potential revenue basis after the end of the project;
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Renewed business plans with potential scale-up and investment opportunity;
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Dedicated trainings.
By engaging with and bringing together highly committed cities, industry, research institutes, implementing organisations and finance partners, SMEs and start-ups, SOLUTIONSplus enables cooperation and innovation by establishing a global platform for shared, public and commercial e-mobility solutions to kick start the transition towards low-carbon urban mobility worldwide.
Founded in Kigali – Rwanda, Ampersand builds affordable electric motorcycles (e-motos) and charging systems to help Rwanda and Africa leapfrog towards a zero-carbon future. Ampersand offers local motorcycle taxis drivers a cost-convenient, more profitable and cleaner alternative to petrol motorcycles.
GURARIDE, founded in 2017, is a Green E-mobility public bike-share (PBS) transport system company. GURARIDE is committed to the sustainability of micro-mobility in Africa, with Rwanda being its first entry point. It employs a multimodal micro-mobility solution in a single app to enable users to choose their ride preference. Its main goal is the migration of transportation from fossil fuel-based vehicles to other non-pollutant means of transport using innovative technology. GURARIDE looks at changing the narrative for urban mobility in Africa, aiming to have a long-lasting impact on the environment, communities, transportation, and green jobs, while fostering healthy lifestyles.
Auto-truck prides itself in Mitigating Climate Change through the Adoption of Green Energy Technology by Introduction of Electric 3 wheelers, Mini-cabs for Light Transportation in Major Towns and Cities in Dar, Tanzania as well as offering climate action services among other line products.
Sustainable Energy Service Company (SESCOM) Limited, focused on efficient production and use of electricity, its collaborating with other two partner companies from Tanzania, Dar es Salaam Rapid Transit (DART), and Jiwe-Kubwa Automobile Company to further develop electric mobility in their country. SESCOM and its partners aim to develop electric three wheelers equipped with rechargeable storage batteries. Adapted for both cargo and passenger transport, the e-vehicles’ high flexibility will be guaranteed by the different types of batteries that can be fitted on the vehicle, offering different autonomy and charging options. To respond to the various needs of the users, the vehicles can be charged either at SESCOM’s solar powered charging stations or by connecting them to any other power socket or accessing batteries at swapping stations.
QIQ – Elevate Mobility has a mission: to build a green, sustainable, shared transportation system for Vietnam. It is passionate about making a positive change in transportation in a sustainable and climate friendly way and they do this by providing shared micro-mobility across a connected mobile app. Users will be able to book, rent, use and travel with electric micro-mobility vehicle across Vietnam and eventually South East Asia (SEA). QIQ – Elevate Mobility believes in helping the cities’ transit into a climate friendly transport infrastructure.
ToJo Motors Corporation (‘ToJo Motors’) is a 100% Filipino-owned company that develops modern technologies, operates after-sales facilities and service centres, and sells key components for green transportation. ToJo Motors specialises in the production of electric vehicles (three and four-wheelers) that can be used to cover the needs of hotel and resorts, cities municipalities and barangays, real estate developments, or of schools and campuses.
Shree Eco Visionary Pvt. Ltd (SEV) was established in Nepal in 2008. Its goal is the promotion of electric vehicles that can be fuelled by clean hydro power produced domestically. This would lower the Nepal’s dependency on imported fossil fuel while preventing the release of harmful greenhouse gasses into the atmosphere.
Clean Energy International Private Limited, a Nepali start-up working on electric two and three-wheelers, leads a consortium of Nepali companies involved in electric mobility [Abhiyantriki Karmashala, Aeloi, and Electric Vehicles Association of Nepal (EVAN)]. The objective of the consortium is to design, develop and deploy an improved and sustainable Safa Tempo. Structured on three phases, the project will initially design, develop, and demonstrate clean and sustainable Safa Tempo. Secondly, partner companies will improve the new Safa Tempo through trials. Finally, the consortium will develop a roadmap for scaling up production.
Carbo Bike was founded in Montevideo, Uruguay, and its objective is to promote cargo bikes as mobility alternative in Uruguay. To tackle the lack of affordable cargo bikes in Montevideo, Cargo Bike aims to develop and produce Long John type cargo bikes for the local market. To this end, it designs its vehicles by repurposing disused bicycles and combining them with standard components available locally. A first prototype has been developed and tested for over a year with excellent results. Cargo Bike has now developed two different models of bikes, produced 5 E-cargo bikes and created a monitoring app.
Wheele’s proposal encompasses the manufacturing of 3 cargo tricycles; the tricycles are made with imported parts and national assembly recycled from cigarette butts. For example, the cargo box is made in Uruguay with 100% recycled material. At a second stage, a local plan of adaptations to the box (also made with 100% recycled material) will be developed to accommodate different types of uses. It is technically feasible to manufacture the drawer or container from recycled materials. Pressing is the right technique to create the plates that make up the walls of the drawers: cigarette butts, being a small waste of low volume and weight, could not be used in their entirety to make the plates.
Green Star – Montevideo, Uruguay
Green Star aims to develop two utility e-tricycles with a unique design based on two front wheels and one rear wheel. To reduce the environmental footprint of transport, Green Star will convert their highly successful internal combustion engine tricycle in a e-vehicle. Moreover, Green Star’s choice to use second life batteries will increase the sustainability of their e-vehicles even more. Finally, Green Star will introduce a use case on provision of services.
Launched in 2008, Sidertech’s main business focuses on engineering, manufacturing and services for steel production plants located in Latin America.
Plural – Quito, Ecuador
PLURAL is an ecuadorian firm with more than 10 years of experience in applied social research, social development projects, social intervention and public policy construction, from a human rights, gender, sustainability and innovation, inclusion and social participation perspective. Together with Bixi Cargo and Tacuri Bicycle, Plural has created “E-Cargo bike”, a strategic alliance that, through knowledge transfer, aims to improve the technical capacity of local actors and existing organisations in the field of urban micro-logistic.