A dozen start-ups join KPMG accelerator

Twelve start-ups from across Perth and Brisbane have been selected to participate in Energise, an energy and natural resources accelerator program that kicks off today.

To help participating start-ups accelerate the development and commercialisation of their products, Energise – an initiative of tax, audit and advisory firm KPMG Australia – will provide access to a mentor panel made up of international and local entrepreneurs plus innovation specialists. In addition, KPMG will provide start-ups with market insight plus support in areas such as set-up and product development.

The program will culminate with a graduation night, early next year, with start-ups pitching to investors, industry partners and guests for a chance to win awards. Last year saw eight start-ups secure over $450,000 worth of new contracts and pilots within 12 weeks of starting the program.

The program is supported by major energy and natural resources companies including Woodside, Wesfarmers Chemicals Energy & Fertilisers, South32 and Chevron Australia.

Gary Smith, KPMG WA Chairman commented: “We’ve been overwhelmed by the quality of applicants this year, with some excellent start-ups ready to transform the resources and energy sector. We’ve selected the Energise cohort based on feedback from our corporate partners and other experts on how new ideas and technologies can help tackle the industry’s productivity, efficiency and innovation challenges.  Energise is about bridging the innovation gap between startups and industry – and we believe we can build upon last year’s success and bring fresh thinking to established players, whilst similarly paving the way for startups to work with major enterprises within the sector.”

Ashley Brown, KPMG Energise Program Director, commented: “The scale of the success of last year’s Energise participants demonstrated the vast opportunities for startups to solve some of the sector’s major problems. This time, we are continuing the journey by focusing on supporting both startups and our corporate partners on how to make innovation a reality. For both sides of the equation it’s a win-win situation – and we expect to see some really exciting new technology and approaches brought to life during Energise. We are also looking forward to expanding the program’s base to Australia’s East Coast and engaging a national and indeed global energy and resources audience.”

The twelve start-ups selected to participate in Energise, this year, are listed below:

Brisbane:

• Encoin: Using blockchain technology to accelerate adoption of renewable energy, Encoin is an energy token (cryptocurrency) that rewards distributed energy generation and storage.
• Energetique: High performance battery systems designed to deliver next generation motive technologies and leading-edge Internet-of-Things connectivity to primary industries, military, utilities and government.
• MOVUS: Creators of the FitMachine, which allows continuous 24×7 real time monitoring of equipment, without the need for remote inspections.
• Ozius Spatial: Creators of Naxia, a quantum improvement over traditional methods of environmental monitoring, supporting superior Land Management decision making for energy utilities and miners.
• Petra Data Science: Extracts value from mining data assets using machine learning, data science and visualization to develop easy-to-implement analytics and prediction solutions.

Perth:

Artes Global Group: Creator of GotSkill, an online platform where skilled workers manage their verified skills and connect with employers, recruiters and training institutes.

• Clearview Well Services: Developed a multifunction tool for surveying and cleaning of oil & gas wells, and associated equipment in well production and performance that will generate significant cost savings in the drilling and operation of their wells.
• EPC Technologies: Provides select products and services focusing on clean energy optimisation and monetisation.
• Fleet Engineering: developing a software suite for managing fleets of assets, field staff and jobs, to help fleet managers and dispatchers understand and improve the cost and performance of these major areas of their business.
• Safescape: Provides smart and practical solutions to the minerals sector including Edge Protector, a system for improved edge protection in open pit mines.
• Tap into Safety: Interactive hazard perception and safety induction applications, using patented methodology which is underpinned by 10 years of university research. Tap into Safety improves safety knowledge retention by 90% and leads to a reduction in workplace injuries by over 10%.
• Transpiro: provides a patented service of using plant transpiration to detect chemicals in the ground.