OREANDA-NEWS. Wells Fargo & Company (NYSE: WFC) today announced it has selected the third round of clean technology startup companies to join the Wells Fargo Innovation Incubator (IN2), a five-year, $10 million program which helps advance energy efficiency by accelerating sustainable commercial-building technologies. The 10 early-stage companies in Round 3 will each receive up to $250,000 in cash and in-kind technical assistance to advance their technologies and an opportunity to beta test within Wells Fargo’s real estate footprint. Launched in 2014, IN2 is funded by the Wells Fargo Foundation and co-administered by the U.S. Department of Energy’s National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL).

The 10 early-stage companies include a diverse mix of technologies designed to advance energy and water efficiency through HVAC system innovation, building management and controls software, advanced lighting, water-data technologies and more. They join 10 other companies selected for IN2 in prior rounds, bringing the total to 20 early stage companies now participating in the highly selective program.

In addition to receiving non-dilutive funding from the Wells Fargo Foundation, IN2 participants receive financial and technical consultation from a network of experts, as well as research and testing support at NREL’s world-class facility in Golden, Colo. Clean-tech startups participating in IN2 will have their technologies validated at NREL’s facilities, and many will follow the lab validation with beta testing at select Wells Fargo locations. The real-world beta testing is a signature component of the IN2 program and an important validation exercise for startups to learn how their technologies will perform and integrate with other systems.

"As an organization managing nearly 100 million square feet of real estate, we know that efficiency matters, and we are pleased that our efforts to build and foster an ecosystem that accelerates the commercialization of clean technologies for commercial buildings is bearing fruit," said Ashley Grosh, vice president and IN2 co-lead for Wells Fargo. "Companies from rounds one and two have achieved significant milestones on their way to the commercial marketplace. We are pleased to add this third round of innovators to IN2 and expect the momentum we’ve seen to date continue across the program."

The 10 clean technology startups joining Round 3 of the IN2 program are:

Transformative Wave: (Kent, Wash/Boulder, Colo.) HVAC, light, and battery storage retrofit kit for commercial buildings

Software Motor Corporation: (Sunnyvale, Calif.) Super high-efficiency Internet-enabled motor for HVAC applications

PowerFlex Systems: (Los Altos, Calif.) Adaptive EV charging network for demand response and renewable integration

simuwatt®: (Boulder, Colo.) Rapid energy auditing software and platform.

Maalka: (New York, N.Y.) Open modeling platform for managing large scale building sustainability initiatives

Geli: (San Francisco, Calif.) Software platform to design, automate, and manage energy storage systems

APANA: (Bellingham, Wash.) C&II smart water management systems using IoT and prescriptive analytics

EdgePower: (Aspen, Colo.) Cloud-hosted energy simulation application for analyzing and enhancing building performance

Ibis Networks: (Honolulu, Hawaii) Plug load management for the enterprise.

J2 Innovations: (Chino, Calif.) Building automation and operating system for connecting and controlling devices

"IN2 continues to attract high quality applicants and companies, and is proving out the model that we had envisioned; participating companies have been acquired by successful clean-technology corporations, received follow-on funding, and beta demonstrations are underway within the program," said Richard Adams, Director of NREL’s Innovation and Entrepreneurship Center. "We are enthusiastic about the opportunity to advance these early stage technologies as well as to offer real-world test conditions in order to optimize their potential for success in the market."