Wells Fargo has announced that its newest cohort for its innovation incubator program will focus on building decarbonization. The cohort is part of the program’s emerging tech track and consists of three North American-based startups. Each startup will receive $250,000 and support from the Department of Energy’s National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL).
The three selected startups—Chicago-based Blip Energy, Ontario-based Evercloak, and Somerville, Massachusetts-based Transaera—will work on different aspects of building decarbonization, including energy management and building cooling. Sarah Derdowski, IN² program manager, highlighted that the companies were chosen for their “market-ready technologies poised to make a meaningful impact” on building energy management. She emphasized the importance of addressing energy demands and building resilience due to increasing urbanization.
Blip Energy focuses on a smart battery platform designed for energy management of building appliances. Evercloak aims to reduce energy used in building cooling with refrigerant-free dehumidification systems.
Building decarbonization initiatives funded
Transaera addresses building cooling through dehumidification solutions integrated with standard HVAC systems. Each startup will collaborate with research engineers from NREL’s Building Energy Science Group. Blip Energy will work with Ravi Kishore, Evercloak with Jason Woods, and Transaera with Nelson James.
The building decarbonization cohort will also receive feedback from another Wells Fargo incubator program, the Scalable Tech Track, which launched in August. This program provides practical implementation guidance for clean energy technologies. Jeff Schub, Wells Fargo Interim Co-Head of Sustainability, expressed excitement over continuing work with innovative companies focusing on building energy and resilience challenges.
He noted the growing demand for solutions in this space and the importance of supporting companies ready to meet this need. An analysis from BloombergNEF found that electrification could bridge up to 33% of the gap between a 2050 economic transition scenario aligned with a 2.6 degrees Celsius temperature rise and achieving net-zero by 2050.
