On May 4th, 2021, Sustainable Development Technology Canada (SDTC) announced their most recent round of seed funding for 21 cleantech companies across Canada. “The Seed Fund supports promising early-stage Canadian entrepreneurs with one-time grants of $50,000 to $100,000 for innovative technological projects with environmental benefits.” Nominations are put forth by approved Canadian accelerators periodically and assessed by SDTC before being selected for funding.
Congratulations to all of the companies that received funding through this latest round of SDTC’s seed fund!
We’re happy to share that one of our Alacrity Cleantech Portfolio companies, H2 Portable Power, will receive seed funding through this latest winter round.
H2 Portable Power Providing Zero-Emissions Alternatives
H2 Portable Power will receive $100,000 in funding from SDTC this month. The company is in the business of making clean power available anywhere. They provide uncompromising and competitive zero-emissions alternatives to today’s carbon intensive diesel generators with their industry leading polymer electrolyte membrane fuel cell technology. Their current focus is aligning with industry partners and customers who can benefit from their technology.
“We’re thrilled to have received this funding. It will go towards the advancement and deployment of our state-of-the-art zero-emission generator technology,” explains David Leger, CEO and President of H2 Portable Power.
With fuel alternatives becoming increasingly important in the net-zero emissions transition, companies like H2 Portable Power, Hydrogen In Motion, and other innovative technologies that provide energy sources without producing emissions are entering the spotlight more and more. Canada’s clean technology companies are already recognized globally as leaders in the sector.
“We’re so happy to see SDTC select H2 Portable Power for this funding. Funding like this is so important to providing the crucial support that early-stage entrepreneurs need. I look forward to seeing all the great things that H2 Portable Power will do and I can say that our whole team feels proud and excited to see their work on this pay off,” explains Richard Egli, Managing Director at Alacrity Canada.
Alacrity Canada’s Partnership with SDTC
SDTC supports Canadian companies to develop and demonstrate new environmental technologies that address climate change, clean air, clean water, and clean soil. Working across public and private sectors, the organization helps provide funding to get new ideas to market faster and grow firms to scale sooner, creating economic and environmental prosperity for Canadians.
SDTC partners with accelerators across Canada, like Alacrity Canada, to source high-potential, high-impact companies that need funding support to prove their technologies via pilot projects. Additional funding through SDTC’s Clean Tech Fund is also available.
“The symbiotic relationship between government and accelerator partners only serves to benefit the Canadian cleantech industry and the innovative companies that are coming up with solutions every day to help fight climate change and environmental degradation around the world,” says Burak Evren, Alacrity Canada Advisor and Cleantech Program Director.
H2 Portable Power is not the first Alacrity Cleantech portfolio company to receive SDTC funding. Other portfolio companies have received seed funding in previous rounds and have also been successful in securing additional funding through SDTC’s Clean Tech Fund. These companies are Pani Energy and Swirltex, operating in the water and wastewater treatment space, and Open Ocean Robotics, operating in the ocean technology and Blue Economy vertical.
Pani Energy
Pani Energy received $2.8 million in additional funding from SDTC in 2020 after securing initial seed funding. This investment has helped the company develop and deploy its award-winning industrial plant optimization technology which allows water treatment plant owners and operators to reduce their operating costs, chemical usage, and greenhouse gas emissions. With the funding, Pani Energy has also grown its technology and business development teams and worked with consortium partners to deploy its AI solution at large-scale public and private plants in North America and the Asia Pacific region.
“By utilizing Artificial Intelligence and proprietary models, our optimization technology reduces the resource (energy, chemicals and greenhouse gasses) intensity of industrial and municipal treatment and desalination by up to 30%,” outlines Devesh Bharadwaj, CEO at Pani Energy.
Swirltex
In the same round of 2020 funding that provided $2.8 million to Pani Energy, Swirltex was granted $1.4 million in additional funding after their initial seed grant. Swirltex treats wastewater with its unique process and provides results with less energy and improves on conventional membrane technology.
“The ability to manipulate the buoyancy of contaminants within the liquid stream allows Swirltex to treat a wide range of wastewater types that would otherwise not be reusable,” explains Melanie McClare, CEO at Swirltex.
Open Ocean Robotics
Open Ocean Robotics collects ocean data using proprietary wind and solar-powered unmanned surface vehicles (USVs) equipped with sensors, cameras, and real-time communications offering a safer, more effective and affordable way to gain ocean-related insights and build an ocean Internet of Things. The company received seed funding from SDTC in 2019.
“The support from SDTC’s pilot project is an incredible opportunity for us to accelerate the growth of our company through technology advancements and commercial readiness. It will help us bring our autonomous solar-powered boats to market, which allow us to collect ocean data safely, affordably and without greenhouse gas emissions,” says Julie Angus, CEO at Open Ocean Robotics.
Funding for Cleantech Flows
The recent announcement of the Government of Canada’s Budget 2021 also demonstrates considerable support for Canada’s cleantech sector, with the commitment of $17.6 billion toward a green recovery. Both the 2021 federal and BC provincial budgets have outline significant financial contributions to the clean technology sector.
Congratulations to all of the funding recipients announced in SDTC’s latest seed round! We look forward to continuing our work with the organization to nominate clean technology companies based in BC for funding.
Learn more about SDTC’s funding options and how to apply by reading our blog post or visit SDTC’s website for more information. You can also listen to our Cleantech Talks podcast episode featuring Rustam Sengupta, Investment Lead at SDTC.
