Twelve startups. A new season of the CREDIT4CE journey. On September 8th, the programme’s second cohort held its kick-off workshop, picking up where the first group of founders left off in summer and carrying the same spirit forward: learning, connections, and concrete growth for startups working toward industrial decarbonization.
The first cohort closed its three-month journey with lessons that are now shaping this second edition. Feedback gathered along the way pointed to funding access, market fragmentation, and a lack of dedicated support structures as the obstacles founders feel most acutely, and the new cohort’s programme has been adjusted with these findings in mind. Running from September to November and led by the Slovak Innovation and Energy Agency together with 10 international partners, it again combines thematic workshops, peer-to-peer exchange sessions, one-to-one mentoring, and fireside chats with investors and industry customers.
As with the first cohort, mentoring remains a core pillar: each startup will receive six sessions of 30 to 60 minutes, with at least one founder required to attend each meeting. Progress will be tracked through a dedicated startup pack, where teams log KPIs, session notes, and action items, and if a mentor isn’t the right fit for a specific challenge, startups can call on additional support from across the wider consortium of partners.
Meet the second cohort
Where the first cohort explored ideas spanning nature intelligence, active building panels, repairable design, and carbon data sharing, this new group brings its own diverse mix of green energy and circular economy solutions to the table, including:
- Rolio – a cloud-based digital energy ecosystem for battery storage, powered by blockchain and AI.
- Bio-Phosphate – upcycling industrial biomass into water purification and bio-fertilizer products.
- Simrise – an AI-enabled electrical panel that breaks down household electricity consumption by appliance.
- Envirro Trust – a SaaS platform combining satellite data and AI to optimize energy system yields and mitigate climate risk.
- Atonor – a circular economy venture producing bio-stimulants from insect waste streams.
- Geht-e – a retrofit device for water heaters to optimize grid power consumption.
- Revitria – recyclable carbon fiber resin technology derived from wine waste.
- Zilacy – a platform for managing energy communities and sharing surplus solar electricity.
- Surion Technologies – industrial absorption chillers that convert factory waste heat into cooling.
- Bativa – a digital orchestration system for EV charging and energy market trading.
Carrying the programme forward
What emerged from this second kick-off echoes much of what the first cohort experienced: founders navigating fragmented markets, limited access to capital, and networks still to be built, met by a programme that continues to position itself as a companion along the way rather than a source of ready-made answers.
Stay tuned for more updates as Cohort 2 continues its journey through the CREDIT4CE Startup Acceleration Programme.