KPMG Energise is a program to connect small businesses with customers and mentors. It held its second graduation event last week. Here’s the press release.
Three of Australia’s most promising energy, mining and natural resources startups have taken home awards at KPMG Australia’s Energise accelerator program graduation night. The 12-week national program culminated in a pitch-day and graduation events held in Brisbane and Perth.
- Safescape from Perth took home the Customer Award, judged by representatives of Energise’s corporate supporters.
- MOVUS from Brisbane received the Investor Award, judged by a group of investors with representatives from angel investors, venture capital, private equity, and corporate venture funds.
- Ozius Spatial from Brisbane won the Program Choice Award, judged by the KPMG Energise program team.
Gary Smith, KPMG WA Chairman commented:
“We’re delighted to be recognising not just the three Energise award winners, but all 12 of the fantastic startup teams who are bringing new ideas and technologies to the energy, mining and natural resources sectors. It has been a journey of discovery for both the startups and our corporate participants, who have truly engaged with the program.
“Energise has shown us that Australia has a depth of innovation that can transform some of our most vital national industries, through collaboration with startups that provide a rich source of ideas and capability,” he said.
Supported by major energy and natural resources companies including Woodside, Wesfarmers Chemicals Energy & Fertilisers, South32, BHP Billiton and Chevron Australia, Energise is an intensive program to help startups develop and commercialise their products.
This is the second time the program has run, with 12 startups participating- seven in Perth and five in Brisbane. Through Energise, the startups have gained access to a mentor panel which includes expertise from international and local entrepreneurs and innovation specialists. They were also provided support by KPMG Australia in areas such as company set-up, product development and market insight.
Ashley Brown, KPMG Energise Program Director, commented:
“We are extremely happy with the development we’ve seen in all 12 of the Energise cohort, who are now gaining traction with a national and indeed global energy and resources audience. It has also been fantastic to see the collaboration occurring between the corporate participants from Woodside, Wesfarmers Chemicals Energy & Fertilisers, South32 BHP Billiton and Chevron Australia, and their willingness to engage with the startups.”
“We’ve seen some great results. Some Energise startups have gone from no paying customers to multiple clients in different countries. Others have closed funding rounds. All are leaving the program better-equipped to scale their business, and having built relationships within a broad network of clients and industry participants,” he said.
Wesfarmers Chemicals Energy and Fertilisers CFO Ann Robinson, said being an Energise corporate partner offered an opportunity to access industry thinking, ideas and expertise across multiple layers of business generation and maturity. Ms Robinson said:
“Innovation itself can be nebulous with many and varied definitions. This program’s content and the case studies highlighted the importance of cultivating an innovative culture, generating a strong pipeline of ideas and using staged approaches to give early phase projects the best chance of success”
The ventures graduating the KPMG Energise program are:
Brisbane:
- Encoin: Developing a new energy currency token based on Blockchain tokens, Encoin rewards distributed energy generation and storage.
- Energetique: High performance, heavy duty battery solutions for vehicles and other high powered equipment. Energetique delivers emission efficiencies and leverages a digital platform for remote monitoring and data collection.
- MOVUS: FitMachine by MOVUS – ‘The Fitbit for Industrial Machines’. Allows real time visibility of asset health from anywhere, without the need for remote inspections.
- Ozius Spatial: Using their Naxia software tool, Ozius Spatial helps clients prioritise field efforts and monitor asset risks. Ultimately, the tool supports superior land management decision making for energy utilities and miners.
- PETRA Data Science: Extracts value from mining data using machine learning, data science and visualisation. PETRA can help you turn your data into real-time predictions and optimisations using their engineered data science services.
Perth:
- Artes Global Group: Creator of GotSkill, an online platform where skilled workers manage and verify their skills and qualifications, and engage with a community of skilled workers, employers, recruiters and training institutes. GotSkill verifies the real ability of individuals and provides the full picture to employers.
- Clearview Well Services: Developed a multifunction tool for surveying and cleaning oil & gas wells, and associated equipment in well production. The tool provides superior performance in comparison to traditional methods and will generate significant cost savings in the operation of wells.
- EPC Technologies: Providing smarter energy solutions to grid-connected and self-generating large industrial customers. EPC tailors products and services focusing on clean energy and optimising energy spend.
- Fleet Engineering: Through its product Spatula, Fleet Engineering helps companies manage fleets of assets, field staff and jobs. With real time tracking, dispatchers and customers are able to benefit from improved visibility of a delivery, helping reduce unnecessary downtime when waiting for deliveries and services.
- Safescape: Provides smart and practical solutions to the minerals sector including Edge Protector, a modular cantilever wall designed to improved edge protection in open pit mines. The product improves safety, reduces stripping ratio and can increase an asset’s net present value.
- Tap into Safety: Provides 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 of over 10%.
- Transpiro: Using a patented methodology, Transpiro uses plant transpiration to detect chemicals in the ground that can be applied in mining, agriculture and land management. This approach can replace traditional methods that are typically invasive and expensive.
