Spark Mobility Lab puts five startups through a three-day deep dive
The participating companies included Fuel Daddy, ThermoVerse, Electrovia, PRSVR Systems, and PF DesignLab.
In a three-day sprint, five mobility companies convened in Knoxville for an intensive look at techno-economic analysis (TEA) and life cycle assessment (LCA) through the Spark Mobility Lab.
One of the five companies was based out of Knoxville, and the other four traveled in from states like Kentucky, Michigan, and Georgia.
The program defined ‘mobility’ broadly — any technology that assists the movement of people, goods, or services. For example, the inaugural cohort included a fleet fueling business, a composite innovation company, and a logistics routing SaaS startup.
FuelDaddy
Krishna and Hari Chawla are siblings and co-founders of FuelDaddy. They found their sweet spot in providing on-demand fuel solutions for fleets.
The siblings launched FuelDaddy in June 2025, shortly after Hari graduated from Georgia Tech. Before he graduated, Hari held an internship in private equity, where he spent his days analyzing profit and loss statements for fleets. That’s when he noticed a major gap.
“I saw that fuel was the second biggest expense, consistently,” Hari said. “When I asked about it, they would say it’s just the cost of doing business.”
Hari became obsessed and curious about this gap. He and Krishna went on to interview 300 truck drivers at gas stops in person. Those conversations led to some invaluable customer discovery.
“The cost of fueling is not just the price per gallon. It’s the time it takes these drivers to get to the pump, the time they’re spending at the pump, and the time they’re wasting to fill their vehicles,” Hari said.
FuelDaddy launched as a consumer service — customers could order fuel delivered directly to their garage, similar to HelloFresh or Uber Eats. You could order gas through FuelDaddy. And, on day one, they made revenue.
Before long, Krishna and Hari realized that the company was not scalable due to the travel time it took to get around the city of Atlanta. Filling three orders could take all day in Atlanta traffic. So, they pivoted away from B2C and moved toward B2B, working with fleets.
“We learned we can save between $90 and $120 per vehicle per month through efficient refueling practices, and reduce carbon emissions by 25%,” Krishna said, sharing that these were figures validated through the Spark Mobility program.
She said their goal is to help fleet operators move from reactive to proactive fueling practices.
And so far, it’s been pretty effective. The siblings said they’ve landed pilots with several large organizations, including about 60 ambulances in Georgia. They also closed a seed round in late March, led by Mucker Capital.
“We’re very thankful that we got selected for the Spark Mobility Lab. It has been great to learn so much about the industry,” Krishna added.
Back in Knoxville
Another team that joined the Spark Mobility Lab is no stranger to East Tennessee. Now based in Michigan, ThermoVerse sent manufacturing engineer Mani Venkata Sainadh Reddy Sathi to participate in the three-day program.
The founder, Shantonio Birch, is an Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL) Innovation Crossroads alumnus and former participant in the Spark Cleantech Accelerator.
ThermoVerse invented ceiling tiles that reduce HVAC loads by 20-60%, and aims to save energy for commercial and residential building owners, particularly those with AI data centers or EV infrastructure needs.
“Right now, we have a small-scale field demonstration at the UTX facility, which is called Urban Tech Exchange in downtown Detroit. The demonstration involves four of our patented ceiling tiles,” Reddy said. “We are looking for the next three commercial pilots this year. This Spark program helps prepare us for that.”
A learning sprint
The three other teams that participated in the 2026 three-day cohort included Thomas Rush, the founder of Electrovia; Marcella Kpalan, the founder of PRSVR Systems, who is on faculty at the University of Tennessee, Knoxville (UTK); and Patrick Flaherty, the founder of PF DesignLab.
Bill Malkes, the Executive Director of the Spark Innovation Center, said the Spark Mobility Lab program, though short and sweet, is pivotal for startups to chart an efficient pathway toward growth.
“When you do your TEA and LCA, you identify things like supply chain risk, economic risk, and manufacturing risk, and then you can address those needs up front,” Malkes said. “It’s a great opportunity for these young companies to start one step ahead.”
Now, the Spark Innovation Center is pivoting toward its main bi-annual programming: the Spark Cleantech Accelerator. Applications for that program are open now.
Learn more about the Spark Innovation Center.
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