First of its kind Entrepreneurship Programme Focused on Twin Sustainable Development Goals of Energy + Diversity
About the Accelerator
In the recent years, the energy sector has seen rapid changes with the rise of renewables, decentralization of the energy system, policy modifications and emerging disruptive new technologies. The year 2012 was announced as the International Year for Sustainable Energy for all and although women continue to play a major role in the energy value chain, the number of women-led businesses in the energy sector remains alarmingly low.
Addressing this issue, POWERED Accelerator is a first-of-its-kind accelerator, globally, focusing on women-led businesses in the energy value chain. Set up as a joint initiative of Shell Foundation and Zone Startups, and funded by DFID UK, the objective of the POWERED Accelerator is to support selected ventures, by helping them expand their innovative and consumer-responsive services, products, and financing; with an ultimate goal to increase economic empowerment of women-owned businesses in the energy space.
Some of the themes that are being pursued include Access to Energy, Sustainable Mobility, and Waste to Value. The programme will operate with a tiered approach including multiple stakeholders - Policy Think Tanks, Government, Educational/Research Institutions, Networks & Enablers, Investors, Industry and Regional Partners - with an aim to scale innovative businesses in the energy domain.
Addressing this issue, POWERED Accelerator is a first-of-its-kind accelerator, globally, focusing on women-led businesses in the energy value chain. Set up as a joint initiative of Shell Foundation and Zone Startups, and funded by DFID UK, the objective of the POWERED Accelerator is to support selected ventures, by helping them expand their innovative and consumer-responsive services, products, and financing; with an ultimate goal to increase economic empowerment of women-owned businesses in the energy space.
Some of the themes that are being pursued include Access to Energy, Sustainable Mobility, and Waste to Value. The programme will operate with a tiered approach including multiple stakeholders - Policy Think Tanks, Government, Educational/Research Institutions, Networks & Enablers, Investors, Industry and Regional Partners - with an aim to scale innovative businesses in the energy domain.
The programme is launched jointly in partnership with Shell Foundation, DFID India (Govt of UK) and Zone Startups.
Focus Areas
Access to Energy
Sustainable Mobility
Waste to Value
Our Approach
Ecosystem Development
- Ecosystem activities to discuss challenges and advocate the programme objective capturing interest and mind-share of myriad of organizations.
Grand Challenges
- Challenges/hackathons to foster new innovative solutions on particular problem areas/industry specific use cases.
Bootcamp
- A one-week intensive bootcamp for idea stage businesses to take their MVPs from a ideation phase to beta launch stage. The bootcamp will touch the basic building blocks of running a business including tech, marketing, hiring, legal, finance etc.
Pilots
- Implementation of select businesses in a local economy to validate the model, measure effectiveness and impact.
Accelerator Programme
- A six-week power packed accelerator programme for early stage scalable businesses complete with mentoring, workshops, case studies, industry connects, peer networks and investor connects.
Seed Fund
- USD $10,000 equity-free seed grant to suitable scalable businesses from the programme to scale them further.
Portfolio Startups
Simmi Sareen
Simmi is a veteran in financial services with more than 19 years of experience in credit and lending.linkedin.com/in/simmi-sareen
Loans4SME
Loans4SME is an alternative lending platform that connects businesses with debt providers.loans4sme.com
Awarded seed funding
Srujana Raghupatruni
Srujana has 7 years’ experience in teaching Electrical Engineering.linkedin.com/in/srujana-raghupatruni
Cellerite Systems
Cellerite Systems is developing an innovative Electric Vehicle charger with a focus on faster charging time.cellerite.com
Awarded seed funding
Puspalata Pani
Puspalata has 19 years of experience in youth leadership development.Kumudini Enterprises
Kumudini Enterprise is an all women-run organisation that provides energy services and devices in rural communities.sgfoundation.org.in
Awarded seed funding
Mousumi Medhi
Mousumi has 8 years of experience in project management.linkedin.com/in/mousumi-medhi
HoneyComb Inventions
HoneyComb aims at enhancing the duration of healthcare facilities’ power back up supplies.
Amishi Parasrampuria
Amishi has 4 years of experience as a social entrepreneur in the field of sustainability.linkedin.com/in/amishi-shah
Upcycler’s Lab
Upcycler’s Lab makes sustainability-based learning tools for children above the age of five.upcyclerslab.com
Awarded seed funding
Kavita Aggarwal
Kavita has core experience in Embedded Systems Design, in Building ATC and War-Room Communication Infrastructure for IAF.linkedin.com/in/kavita-aggarwal
BluPrints
BluPrints is an R&D Driven Embedded Systems Technology Company specializing in Retail-Tech and Fin-Tech Devices.bluprints.in
Ruchi Jain
Ruchi is a postgraduate in Environment change and Management from Oxford University who has worked with the MNRE and European Academies Sciences Council.linkedin.com/in/ruchijjain
Taru Naturals
Taru Naturals is a network that connects farmer communities with clean technology and renewable energy.tarunaturals.com
Awarded seed funding
Manvi Dhawan
Manvi, a postgraduate in Aerospace Engineering from IIT Bombay, has 2 years of experience in project management and systems engineering.linkedin.com/in/manvidhawan
Agnij-Adjustable Thermoelectric Power Generator
(Rebranded to GTarang Energy Solutions)
Agnij is a thermo-electric belt which can be placed around any heated vessel or chullahs to use waste heat.
gtarangenergy.com
Neha Upadhyaya
Neha is an organic macrobiotic coach based in New Delhi.linkedin.com/in/neha-upadhyay
Guna Organics
Guna Organics trains rural women farmers in Ladakh and Sikkim to develop eco model villages through a focus on organic farming and the use of solar energy in post-harvest management.gunaorganics.org
Nidhi Pant
Nidhi is a social entrepreneur who holds a Bachelor’s Degree in Chemical Engineering.linkedin.com/in/nidhi-pant
S4S Technologies
S4S Technologies manufactures solar dehydrators that are used by farmers for food preservation.s4stechnologies.com
Dr. Vanita Prasad
Dr. Vanita is the Director of Product and Technology R&D at REVY Environmental Solutions and an Environmental Biotechnologist with over 20 years of experience in the field. She holds patents for specific innovations in the field of waste management and renewable energy.linkedin.com/in/vanita-prasad
REVY Environmental Solutions
REVY Environmental Solutions has developed a cost effective and indigenous process of making Anaerobic Granulated Sludge optimized to enable quick start-up and easy operation of UASB in wastewater treatment. The system generates biogas which can be commercialized.revy.co.in
Awarded seed funding
Monika Jha
Monika is an Electrical and Electronics Graduate from Bangalore, passionate about developing relevant technologies to solve the energy and waste crisis. She is the Founder and CEO of Cydee Technologies.linkedin.com/in/monika-jha
Cydee Technologies
Cydee Technologies is developing unique patented streetlights to help public and private sectors reduce the number of light poles by 60%, saving 60% material, manufacturing, deployment and maintenance cost along with 30% Extra Energy Saving compared to conventional LED Streetlights.linkedin.com/company/cydee-technologies
Awarded seed funding
Dr. Susmita Bhattacharjee
Dr. Susmita holds a Ph.D. in Polymer Science from IIT Kharagpur and a master’s degree in chemistry from North Eastern Hill University, Shillong, Meghalaya. She has spent 13+ years working with international companies like Bayer in Canada & US, Lanxess in North America and Germany and DSM in The Netherlands.linkedin.com/in/susmitabhattacharjee
Pushan Renewable Energy
Pushan Renewable Energy , is a social enterprise that brings solar power to people’s homes and raises awareness on benefits of energy availability and how solar power can meet people’s energy demands. They develop local entrepreneurs and put special emphasis on the energy needs of women at home. They also provide innovative solar powered systems for income generation of rural Indian women.pushan.in
Awarded seed funding
Rukmani Katara
Rukmani started as an installer of solar systems under the MNREGA project, then moving on to become a part of Durga Energy, a project initiated by IIT Bombay. She formed the team and shaped it as an entity. She now runs Durga Energy as its CEO.Durga Energy
Durga Energy is a solar module manufacturing company that is established through investments from four Cluster Level Federations. It is a first-of-its-kind solar module manufacturing company that is managed and operated by local tribal women who undergo rigorous training in technology and operations.durgaenergy.com
Awarded seed funding
Bhavana Chittawar
Bhavana is an experienced Director with a demonstrated history of working in Energy Efficiency, Data Analytics, Software Development, and Renewable Energy. She is a strong professional having experience in developing Computer based training modules, knowledge-based software, and training engineering students.linkedin.com/in/bhavana-chittawar
FinEffi Energy Solutions
FinEffi Energy Solutions aims to save energy in the residential and commercial sector and make the end user aware of their energy consumption, using IOT devices and data analytics.fineffi.com
Awarded seed funding
Manvi Dhawan
Manvi has 2 years of experience in project management and systems engineering, she has done her B.Tech and M.Tech in Aerospace Engineering from IIT Bombay.linkedin.com/in/manvidhawan
GTarang Energy Solutions
GTarang Energy Solutions is developing devices to convert waste energy from day to day activities at individual and industrial setups into useful energy. They currently have a product - a belt to convert waste thermal energy in various processing industries into electricity.gtarangenergy.com
Awarded seed funding
Debashree Padhi
Debashree has a B.Tech in Mechanical engineering and M.Tech in Polymer Nanotechnology. She has completed three innovative projects for MSME, Govt of India and is the CEO of DD Bio Solution Technology.linkedin.com/in/debashree-padhi
DD Bio Solution Technology
DD Bio Solution Technology produces green energy from agro waste providing livelihood for rural women & an optimized supply chain of agro waste utilization. It has developed prototypes for eight products in line for commercialization. The three Main products of the company are smokeless combustion chamber, pellet machine, and bio pellets with stoves catering to rural householdsddbiosolutiontechnology.com
Awarded seed funding
Vidya Amarnath
Vidya Amarnath is the Founder and Managing Director of Paterson Energy. She is a commerce Graduate from University of Mumbai and has worked with various multinational banks like Standard Chartered Bank, Bank of America and ABN Amro Bank.linkedin.com/in/vidya-amarnath
Paterson Energy
Paterson Energy is a Plastic Waste to Fuel Company (W2F) manufacturing plants for recycling plastic waste into quality Plastic Oil using a continuous type Thermochemical Depolymerisation Technology, with a processing capacity of 3TPD – 20TPD (Tons /Day).patersonenergy.com
Dr. Disha Ahuja
Dr. Disha is the Co-founder of Prakriti Biosystems Engineering. She has a Ph.D. in Chemical Engineering from RPI in Troy, NY (Enzyme catalysis and solid phase chemistry). She has over 10 years of experience in the Biotech industry and has been selected as the Top 100 Women entrepreneurs by IIMB.linkedin.com/in/dr-disha-ahuja
Prakriti Biosystems Engineering
Prakriti Biosystems Engineering convert organic waste into energy by using membrane based modular solutions. A turnkey solution to purify Biogas to Bio-CNG (vehicular fuel and PNG) and industrial carbon dioxide.prakritibio.com
Awarded seed funding
Programme Participants get Access to
Seed Fund up to INR 7 Lakhs available for select portfolio startups.
Pilot opportunities
Support from multiple partners
Mentorship from domain experts
Industry and investor connect
Peer community
We support businesses in the energy value chain with a woman in the core team.
Mentors
Partners
We wish is to collaborate with, and acquire mindshare among myriad of organizations, including Policy Think Tanks, Government, Educational/Research Institutions, Networks & Enablers, Investors, Industry and Regional Partners.
Portfolio Case Study
Portfolio Case Studies are an attempt to showcase the work of startups POWERED Accelerator works with and the impact of the program on the startup journey.
Light a Home, Brighten Lives
#EnergyForAll
240 million Indians have no access to power. Access to modern, cleaner energy is essential to human development. In a bid to accelerate energy reaching all POWERED is lightening 40 homes and brightening several lives.
OSCE days
In collaboration with BlackForest Solutions GmbH, a German waste management company, POWERED Accelerator hosted an open source knowledge transfer day on Waste to Value.
The Open Source Economy Days (OSCE Days) is an open group of people that started in 2015 with a global event promoting Open Source as the key driver for a Circular Economy. In the past years, OSCE days as a knowledge transfer platform has managed to gather people from politics, business, science, tech & startup scene and NGOs to share, discuss and develop circularity solutions together.
The Open Source Economy Days (OSCE Days) is an open group of people that started in 2015 with a global event promoting Open Source as the key driver for a Circular Economy. In the past years, OSCE days as a knowledge transfer platform has managed to gather people from politics, business, science, tech & startup scene and NGOs to share, discuss and develop circularity solutions together.
Event Partners
FAQs
How do I apply? Do I need to submit a business plan?
You can apply through the Application button. You don’t need to submit a formal business plan at this moment, just fill in the fields in the application form.
Why should I join POWERED Accelerator Programme?
POWERED is one of its kind Entrepreneurship programme focussed on twin Sustainable
Development Goals’ of Energy + Diversity. The programme offers world class mentorship, networking opportunities, industry connects, investor faceoff , peer community and a seed grant upto INR 7 Lakhs to select portfolio startups. If selected, the programme will be a launchpad for you to scale your business further and faster.
We are an early stage startup. Can we apply?
Yes! We’re on the lookout for early stage, scalable and value-driven companies that have direct solutions for the broader energy space.
What’s the eligibility criteria of the programme?
If you have women in your core team and you are creating solution in the broader energy domain, you are eligible for the programme.
Please elaborate on the given focus areas of the programme?
Below are the 3 defined focus areas, along with multiple sub-areas.
Access to Energy
- Energy Efficiency
- Productive use of energy
- Energy in Agriculture
- Access to Finance for Energy products/consumers/entrepreneurs
- Clean Energy
- Energy for access to health, education, water, etc
- Energy related payments
- Micro-insurance
- Tech solutions to manage/increase use of clean energy production (for
example – load management system for off-grids)
- Services related to Energy sector (for example – servicing of Solar Panels)
- Last mile distribution of energy related impact products
- Blockchain/other technology solutions enabling use of (energy) impact products
Sustainable Mobility
- Electric Vehicles using Clean Energy
- Integration of EV + Mini-grids/off-grids
- Optimization of Transport systems (reducing overall energy
consumption)
Waste to Value
- Collection
- Segregation
- Value generation
I wish to associate/partner with the programme. What is the process for it?
Please send us an email with your queries to [email protected]. We will be more than happy to take up your questions there.
I still have more questions. What do I do?
Please send us an email with your queries to [email protected]. We will be more than happy to take up your questions there.
