ST. LOUIS, June 22, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- Six startup
companies have been selected by Ameren Corporation (NYSE: AEE) to
come to St. Louis to participate
in the 2018 Ameren Accelerator, an innovative public-private
partnership with the University of
Missouri System, UMSL Accelerate and Capital Innovators,
that assesses, mentors and invests in energy technology startup
companies. The selected companies – from Canada, Israel and the
United States – include Applied Particle, Jrop, Narya
Security, ResilientGrid, Ryvit and TouchLight.
"Being on the leading edge of energy innovation and technology
is essential for Ameren as we continue to find valuable solutions
for our customers and our industry," said Warner Baxter, chairman, president and CEO,
Ameren Corporation. "Now in its second year, the Accelerator has
shown its potential to meet evolving customer needs and
expectations, as well as attract companies and jobs to the
St. Louis region. We look forward
to collaborating with these promising startups as we continue our
investment in the region and technologies of tomorrow."
More than 300 companies from 49 countries and 24 states applied
for the 12-week Ameren program. The companies were selected through
a series of interviews and evaluations, which culminated at a
private Pitch Day event where the final six applicants were
selected. The selection process was spearheaded by Capital
Innovators with input from the Accelerator partners.
"We had an extraordinary applicant response to the 2018 Ameren
Accelerator program," said Judy
Sindecuse, CEO of Capital Innovators. "The six companies
selected offer promising innovations in the energy sector and we
look forward to helping them take their energy-related innovations
to the next level."
Each company will receive up to $100,000 in seed funding in addition to intensive
mentoring, technical assistance, facilities and networking
connections from the Ameren Accelerator partners. The participants
will be based out of UMSL Accelerate and Capital Innovators
co-working spaces located in Cortex Innovation Community, a vibrant
200-acre innovation hub and technology district in St. Louis.
"The Ameren Accelerator program provides our students and
faculty from the four campuses of the University of Missouri System the opportunity to
positively affect the energy industry," said Dan Lauer, director of UMSL Accelerate. "We look
forward to supporting these latest startups, offering meaningful
assistance and contributing to their overall success."
At the conclusion of the program, participants will be invited
to showcase their efforts to the mentoring teams, potential
third-party investors and the general public during the Ameren
Accelerator Demo Day in September. Ameren may select the most
promising projects for ongoing mentoring and engagement beyond the
program.
One of the first of its kind in the nation, the Ameren
Accelerator was launched in 2017 to better position Ameren to meet
its customers' future energy needs and expectations, create new
jobs through these startup companies and provide university
students opportunities to be more engaged in the energy
business.
About the 2018 Ameren Accelerator companies
Six
startup companies have been selected to participate in the 2018
Ameren Accelerator program. The companies include:
- Applied Particle (based in St.
Louis) has developed a wearable exposure-monitoring system
for employees working in potentially hazardous spaces.
- Jrop (based in Toronto)
is redesigning logistical infrastructure for mass-adoption of
ridesharing and autonomous vehicles.
- Narya Security (based in Tel
Aviv) has developed a remediation tool for ransomware
infections that decrypts infected data and removes malware.
- ResilientGrid (based in Austin, Texas) has developed a visualization
software that integrates all data streams and delivers them as
viewable maps to control room consoles.
- Ryvit (based in St.
Louis) has developed a platform that provides turn-key
integrations, which enables uninterrupted data exchanges between
commonly used applications.
- TouchLight (based in New
York) is developing electricity-generating floor tiles to
harvest energy from footsteps and help businesses achieve energy
independence.
About Ameren Corporation
St.
Louis-based Ameren Corporation powers the quality of life
for 2.4 million electric customers and more than 900,000 natural
gas customers in a 64,000-square-mile area through its Ameren
Missouri and Ameren Illinois rate-regulated utility subsidiaries.
Ameren Illinois provides electric distribution and transmission
service, as well as natural gas distribution service, while Ameren
Missouri provides vertically integrated electric service, with
generating capacity of nearly 10,300 megawatts, and natural gas
distribution service. Ameren Transmission Company of Illinois develops regional electric
transmission projects. For more information, visit Ameren.com, or
follow us on Twitter at @AmerenCorp, Facebook.com/AmerenCorp, or
LinkedIn.com/company/Ameren.
About the University of Missouri
System
The University of
Missouri System is the State of
Missouri's largest public university, with four campuses
serving more than 76,000 students, a health care system, an
extension program, and more than 500,000 alumni worldwide. The UM
System was created in 1963 when the University
of Missouri (founded in 1839 in Columbia) and the Missouri School of Mines
(now the Missouri University of Science
and Technology, founded in 1870 in Rolla), were combined with the formerly
private University of Kansas City (now
University of Missouri–Kansas City, founded in 1933), and a newly
created campus in suburban St. Louis
(University of Missouri–St. Louis).
About the University of Missouri-St.
Louis and UMSL Accelerate
The University of
Missouri–St. Louis is the largest public research university in
eastern Missouri with the greatest
concentration of alumni in the region. Their UMSL Accelerate
initiative fosters entrepreneurism and innovative thinking in and
outside the classroom and helps bring concepts from mind to market.
For more information, visit http://umsl.edu/accelerate/.
About Capital Innovators
Capital Innovators is an
innovation engine that creates practical solutions across
industries that can shape the future of organizations. Capital
Innovators provides innovation consulting, entrepreneurial-based
programs, acts as a liaison between Corporations, Universities and
Startups and investment into attractive early-stage businesses.
Capital Innovators has in-depth knowledge into the most
cutting-edge solutions through the Accelerator division of its
business, which has been ranked as a top Accelerator in the country
for four years in a row and has invested in and guided 70 companies
to date. Capital Innovators model is simple and effective:
Innovation, Iteration, and Implementation.
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SOURCE Ameren Corporation