Nov 2 2015
Climate-KIC has announced cleantech start-up Nerdalize from the Netherlands as the winner of the European finals of the Venture Competition 2015 last night in Birmingham (UK).
Nerdalize at awards
Nerdalize was awarded the title of Europe’s best climate venture and €40,000 to help take their climate venture, which is about heating buildings with computing power, to the next level.
The Venture Competition is hosted byClimate-KIC, the EU’s main climate innovation initiative. Competitors at the event are drawn from Climate-KIC’s Accelerator programme, which identifies and nurtures cleantech entrepreneurs with a primary focus on solving climate change from idea to start-up. The most promising 23 participants of the Accelerator from across Europe were selected for the European semi-finals. The best eight teams progressed to the final with cash awards for the three best teams: 1st – €40,000, 2nd – €20,000, 3rd – €5,000; the third prize being an audience award.
The winners of the Climate-KIC Venture Competition European Final 2015 are:
- First prize: Nerdalize
- Second prize: Mobile Solarkraftwerke Afrika
- Third prize: Fleet Cleaner
Boaz Leupe and Florian Schneider, co-founders of Nerdalize:
“We are absolutely over the moon with winning this competition. We would like to thank our coaches at Climate-KIC who have pushed us, challenged us, but most of all; supported us. Winning this prize will enable us to grow our team and scale our business.”
During the European final the eight finalists pitched to a renowned jury that judged the entrepreneurs on real-world criteria including feasibility, scalability, job creation and climate impact.
Marga Hoek, CEO of The Dutch Sustainable Business Association and chair of the jury, on why Nerdalize was selected as winner: “ The climate venture Nerdalize features breakthrough technology, combining ICT/telecom with energy, creating the opportunity for every telecom company to enter the energy market. Their solution cuts through business sectors and has huge potential impact. We as the jury have great faith that they will be successful.”
Working on solutions for COP21
The Venture Competition is part of Climate-KIC’s Journey to Paris for COP21, with these start-ups from Climate-KIC’s Accelerator providing proof that there are many profitable possibilities for building a zero carbon economy and climate resilient society. The next generation of cleantech start-ups is giving a clear message to the COP21 negotiations in Paris: We can have a planet with an abundance of cheap, clean industry and consumption within 20 years, provided that start-ups that are developing scalable, disruptive clean technologies are supported. Cleantech is the single biggest business opportunity of the 21st century.