Massachusetts Clean Energy Center’s (MassCEC) interim CEO, Stephen Pike, has announced $250,000 in funding for five early-stage cleantech companies.
Under its new AccelerateMass program, MassCEC will help new graduates of business accelerator programs develop new technologies and business plans, as well as attract additional sources of funding. This round of funding was open to recent Massachusetts-based clean energy graduates of MassChallenge and Cleantech Open Northeast.
The AccelerateMass winners will receive $50,000 each, and if the companies meet specific milestones – such as manufacturing prototypes, raising capital or securing customers – they are eligible to apply for an additional $100,000 each in funding. The following three winning companies are focused specifically on renewable energy, such as solar:
Tessolar (Cambridge) is developing a solar panel manufacturing process that allows for the economical use of high-performance materials and lean, low-cost, fully automated assembly – potentially saving up to 30% of the capital expense to install a solar electric system and reducing the lifetime cost of solar-generated electricity by 35%, according to MassCEC.
PSM Clean Energy (Cambridge) is developing an online platform that enables accredited investors to make direct impact investments in local commercial solar projects. PSM intends to use its user base, standards and platform to accelerate capital flow to other underserved clean energy projects.
EverVest (Boston) is developing a software platform that provides financial risk analysis and cashflow modeling information to renewable energy investors – allowing for new forms of capital to efficiently participate in the growing renewable energy market.
