Three of four finalists present in-person at “Sustainability Mobility Reverse Pitch”
Presenters were focused on solving problems related to the future movement of people, goods, energy, and data.
Three of the four start-ups scheduled to present their companies during the “Sustainability Mobility Reverse Pitch” at Tuesday’s “3686” event in Nashville did so in person. The fourth had a last-minute travel challenge and presented itself via a pre-recorded video.
The four were selected from a cadre of 14 applicants and, as a result of being finalists, unlock access to TennSMART’s mentorship programs, top priority in The Company Lab’s (CO.LAB’s) Sustainable Mobility Accelerator diligence process, and introductions to potential corporate partners and investors. Those two organizations sponsored the competition.
Bryan Barringer, TennSMART Director of Entrepreneurship and Commercialization, said the goal was to find “moonshot solutions to moonshot problems,” and he felt the four achieved that goal.
“It is about the future movement of people, goods, energy, and data,” said Tasia Malakasis, CO.LAB Chief Executive Officer.
First up on Tuesday was Chattanooga-based BrdgTRK that provides a cloud-based hardware solution that gives users end-to-end visibility of shipping goods in real time.
“Smart trucking equals smarter logistics,” JT Suggs, Founder, said, explaining that “supply chains are fragmented, hammered by everything from rising operational costs to customer dissatisfaction.
BrdgTRK’s solution involves both hardware and software.
Next up was Rory Roberts, Founder of Minco Technology Labs. The Cookeville-based start-up provides flexible fuel cell propulsion that has a lower cost of ownership than legacy propulsion systems.
Noting that the technology can reduce the operating costs for airlines by 28 percent, he told attendees, “We want to make a modular engine that will fit the form factor” (as an existing engine.
The final in-person pitch came from Naycel, a Lake Mary, FL company that decarbonizes the battery supply chain by converting carbon gas into responsibly manufactured critical battery graphite materials.
Neel Patel reminded individuals of two key facts:
- Fifty-five percent of the material going into batteries is graphite; and
- Eighty-five percent of the graphite produced comes from China.
The start-up has been bootstrapped ahead of a pre-seed round soon that is targeted to raise $600,000.
The last company to pitch via a pre-recorded video was Ganaio, an El Cajon, CA developer of a patented hardware solution that extends the driving range of electric vehicles.
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