Second cohort of the “Sustainable Mobility Accelerator” wrapped up Wednesday evening
The five participants - two from outside the U.S. - spent most of 12 weeks in Chattanooga.
They came from near and far away – the closest called the Atlanta area home, but they all expressed their appreciation in one way or another for their 12-week experience in Chattanooga as the second cohort of the “Sustainable Mobility Accelerator” wrapped up Wednesday.
Powered by Chattanooga’s The Company Lab (CO.LAB) and gener8tor, a national organization operating accelerators across the country, the second cohort featured five companies. In addition to the Atlanta area, the others came from Indianapolis, IN; La Jolla, CA; Mexico City; and Montreal. They all were working on different business plans but shared a common goal: a focus on the future movement of people, goods, energy, or data.
The event was long on networking opportunities for the five start-ups with the formal program lasting a little more than 30 minutes.
In kicking it off, Tasia Malakasis, Chief Executive Officer (CEO) at CO.LAB, reminded attendees that the Accelerator and, for that matter, everything that CO.LAB does, is focused on one or more of three legs: (1) supporting start-ups; (2) creating value for corporate partners that provide support for the programming; and (3) impacting the community in a positive way.
Donna Ehart, Managing Director of the Accelerator, noted that there are two interrelated milestones that were achieved:
- 120 hours of one-on-one meetings; and
- 120 people met in 12 weeks.
SensFlo
We previously spotlighted four of the five companies. The one that we did not preview was SensFlo, the La Jolla-based company, and its Co-Founder and CEO was first up as a presenter.
Zakary Smith explained that the start-up is at the forefront of transforming industries through advanced technology solutions in precision controls, robotics, and artificial intelligence (AI). “We move beyond industry 4.0 to 5.0,” he said.
Drawing on Co-Founder Dr. Yen Chang’s technical prowess in AI and robotics, the company delivers solutions that bridge gaps between machinery, departments, and roles. “We create the future of optimized production,” Smith told us in a separate conversation. “We have seen a 20 to 40 percent increased machine utilization within a few months.”
The company is raising a $1 million round and has raised nearly one-half of the total.
Ruedata
Ruedata is a Mexico City-based company that has as its tagline a goal to “Redefine the Tire Industry.” As noted in our earlier teknovation.biz article, Sebastian Baquero, Ruedata’s Co-Founder and CEO, says simply, “We want to be a one-stop shop for tires for fleets.” That includes everything from the company’s Software-as-a-Service offering that can increase the life of a tire by as much as 30 percent to routine maintenance and even lending and insurance solutions.
Baquero says the company has analyzed nearly 260,000 tires since its founding on more than 37,000 commercial vehicles. From a revenue perspective, 80 percent of the company’s current income is generated from Mexico and another 15 percent from Brazil.
Why participate in the “Sustainable Mobility Accelerator”? Gaining a better understanding of the U.S. market.
Motoring Labs
The big news from Scott Williston, CEO of Motoring Labs, was a new pilot that will start next month with Volkswagen supplier and Chattanooga-based Tranco Logistics. Like all of the participants, getting traction frequently involves securing pilots to prove the value of the technology.
In our earlier teknovation.biz article about Motoring Labs, Williston said that the company’s Logisite™ truck scanning technology uses a camera array at the entrances and exits of a logistics business to extract up to 120 points of unique data, as well as catalog damage from each vehicle. That provides the customers of Motoring Labs with a holistic view of their fleet operations. This data includes critical information about fleet location, time stamps, visit frequency, truck ownership, drivetrain details, and even damage comparisons from last viewed event.
Earlier, he launched a pilot with Renewable Transport Services in Indianapolis where Williston lives.
Moduly
One of two international companies in the second cohort, Moduly empowers consumers to manage their own energy, reducing peak utility demand, lowering CO2 emissions, and relieving strain on local transformers, ensuring a smoother transition to renewable energy.
The company offers an innovative Distributed Energy Resource Management System (DERMS) platform called Moduly Hubz, for residential and commercial users. The system centralizes energy consumption, production, and storage into one ecosystem by integrating smart thermostats, electric vehicle chargers, solar panels, and a unique storage solution – Moduly Nødz.
Jonathan Lamer, CEO of Moduly, says the system has a four- to 10-year payback, is 30 percent cheaper than the competition, and is 10 times faster to install. You can read our earlier article on Moduly here.
WEAV3D
As a former helicopter pilot, Lewis Motion, Co-Founder of WEAV3D, says, “Weight was the life and death concern.” He and his Co-Founder have patented a process called WEAV3D® that is based on a woven composite lattice reinforcement called Rebar for Plastics® that enables the company’s lattice forming machines to produce custom lattice structures from unidirectional, fiber-reinforced composite tapes. The composite lattices are then overmolded into a finished structural component using conventional molding processes.
“We are still moving to automotive, but need to find something sooner,” Motion said, indicating it needs to be in the upcoming year. What are some candidates? He identified three.
- One option could be pallets that are used by shippers.
- Another is pickleball paddles.
- The final idea is for asphalt.
“Want to eliminate potholes?” Motion received a resounding “yes” in response.
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