We are excited to announce the Honourees of the second cohort of EIV 2022. Our Subscribers cast their votes for the ventures they were most interested in and thought were real opportunities for the Japanese market. The three Honourees are Heirloom (US), Ridecell (US), and SINAI Technologies (US).
After scouting for several months, the EIV team invited a dozen finalists to participate. Our selection criteria are informed by the Green Growth Strategy, Japan’s plan to reach net zero as initially set out by the Suga administration in 2020, and streamlined into nine defined target areas. These areas were also shaped by Subscriber interest, to create a strong base from which to select suitable ventures.
The ventures were given the chance to present their solutions and plans via our monthly webinars. After the webinars were completed in March, our Subscribers were asked to vote on the ventures that were most aligned with their interests and would be good candidates to help tackle decarbonisation in the Japanese energy sector.
The three Honourees all offer strong solutions to further the road to net zero, whether through low-cost direct air capture (Heirloom), fleet management automation (Ridecell), or a decarbonisation intelligence platform (SINAI Technologies).
Heirloom
Heirloom is building a low-cost direct air capture (DAC) system that uses carbon mineralisation technology to capture CO2, the lowest peer-reviewed, giga-tonne scale cost of any DAC process in the world.
Alexa Dennett, Head of Marketing & Communications at Heirloom remarked:
Heirloom is pleased to be nominated as an ENECHANGE Insight Ventures Honouree and we look forward to deepening our relationship with Japanese innovators who are committed to taking action on climate change.
Ridecell
Ridecell has developed an automation and mobility platform solution that collects insights from connected vehicle data and existing fleet management systems and turns manual tasks into automated workflows that resolve issues, rather than merely report them.
Babak Khademi, Director of Strategic Business Development at Ridecell, noted:
At Ridecell, our mission is to accelerate the digitisation and intelligent automation of mobility, thereby creating a sustainable, safer, and productive future. We’re thrilled to see that ENECHANGE shares our vision and is impressed by its innovations in making energy more efficient through digitisation. Their goal of achieving a carbon-free society through technology innovation is very much aligned with our own. As the transportation sector is responsible for a significant portion of CO2 emissions from end-use sectors, and with ENECHANGE gearing up to be the largest charge point operator in Japan, our organisations have a unique opportunity to collaborate to drive toward a sustainable and green future. We appreciate ENECHANGE’s efforts to recognise our contributions and are grateful to have been nominated as an Honouree of the ENECHANGE Insight Ventures programme.
SINAI Technologies
SINAI Technologies is a provider of a decarbonisation intelligence platform that automates the process of monitoring, pricing, analysing, and reducing carbon emissions worldwide.
Maria Fujihara, CEO of SINAI Technologies, Inc., commented:
We are excited that SINAI Technologies, Inc. is one of the Honourees of ENECHANGE Insight Ventures. Through ENECHANGE Insight Ventures, we look forward to developing more relationships in Japan’s energy sector to help progress our mission of decarbonizing corporate activities. Our team is excited to work together to continue the enablement of a global transition to a low-carbon economy.
Comment from Yohei Kiguchi, Representative Director & CEO of ENECHANGE Ltd. (organizer of EIV)
We are excited to announce Heirloom, Ridecell, and SINAI Technologies as the honourees of the second cohort of EIV2022. These companies stood out amongst a highly competitive field of applicants, and we believe their innovative solutions will play an important role in driving Japan’s transition to a carbon-free society. We look forward to supporting their expansion into Japan and collaborating to achieve our shared goal of a sustainable future.
Congratulations to all our Honourees, as well as all our EIV 2022 cohort members!
We would also like to extend our thanks to all our Subscribers for their continued support during this edition.
We are now scouting for ENECHANGE Insight Ventures 2023. If you are a venture in the energy tech space and are certain your solution would be a great fit for the Japanese market, apply now through our form or learn more here.