Lower Austria ClimAccelerator

Call for startups

Deadline for application: 27. March 2024

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What is the Lower Austria Clim Accelerator?

Lower Austria like the rest of the world faces an enormous challenge: It must become more resilient and stay a healthy place for all people and future generations to live while reaching net-zero-emissions in just a few years.

The Lower Austria ClimAccelerator is a 3-month accelerator programme with a focus on the impact of climate change in Lower Austria and beyond as well as the commercialization of clean technologies (clean tech). It targets impact-driven start-ups that are developing solutions with special focus on transforming society and systems to become climate neutral.

The Lower Austria ClimAccelerator is operated in a joint approach of accent Inkubator GmbH supported by EIT Climate-KIC as well as the EU’s Just Transition Fund and the government of Lower Austria.

accent Inkubator GmbH is Lower Austria’s deep-tech incubator supporting highly innovative startups and spin-offs for almost 20 years and, as an EUBIC (EU-Business Incubator), operates incubation services on an excellence level.

EIT Climate-KIC is EU’s Climate knowledge and innovation community working to accelerate the transition towards a zero-carbon and climate-resilient society.

The Clim Accelerator focuses on startups. scale-ups and young companies and their technologies that have potential to promote climate mitigation, climate adaption or enivornmental protection.

If you are a startup or a small business that is acting upon or that can provide solutions in this direction and you also meet the following requirements, this is your accelerator!

  • Startups/small businesses must offer a scalable solution

  • Potential high climate impact or solutions for climate adaptation

  • Your company has to be incorporated (no longer than 5 years) in Lower Austria

  • A dedicated team of minimum 2, which together hold at least 60% of equity and are committed to working full-time on their venture

  • Technology Readiness Level: min. TRL 4[1] at the start of the programme


[1] https://ec.europa.eu/research/participants/data/ref/h2020/wp/2014_2015/annexes/h2020-wp1415-annex-g-trl_en.pdf

What do we offer?

Our 3-month programme offers insights into highly relevant knowledge pools that aim to improve tomorrow’s economy in terms of climate impact. The programme participants will receive important knowledge on options where and how to seek financial support and access a range of further EIT Climate-KIC services in subsequent stages.

The awareness measures include:

  • Preliminary assessment of the technology’s / product’s / service’s impact on the climate

  • Knowledge on business assessment criteria

  • Sessions with international experts from business and sustainability

  • Webinars and workshops to understand the concept of ESG, EU Green Deal, EU Taxonomy, Sustainability Reporting, Sustainability Communication (Green Claims Directive), supply chain legislation and work towards sustainability in your start-up/company

  • Peer-to-peer learning

  • Access to the EIT Climate-KIC alumni community

  • Marketing and Communication

These services constitute state aid in an amount of 2.000 Euros and are thus subject to the European Union de-minimis rule.

Subsequently, the programme will bring awareness to advanced options for the participants such as:

  • Access to the EIT Climate-KIC ecosystem to boost your startup.*

  • Access to EIT Climate-KIC sustainability tool: Climate SAFE.*

* Note: these services will be covered only if you have signed the Climate SAFE agreement which is an offer from EIT Climate-KIC and can be applied for following the participation in the ClimAccelerator programme.

Criteria & Jury

The criteria in order to be selected and join this program is indicated in the table below. The jury is comprised of members of accent, EIT and external experts.

PDF Criteria for Application

Application

How do I apply?

The application form is available via the following Google Form. Within this application form you will be requested to complete several fields regarding your startup and submit a pitch deck.

Apply now

Tentative timeline

  • Call start: January 5th , 2024

  • Q&A webinar to discuss questions: January 22th, 2024

  • Application deadline: March 27th , 2024

  • Online pitches from shortlisted teams: beginning of April 2024

  • Announcement of selected teams: April 2024

  • Kick-off of the ClimAccelerator: mid of April 2024

  • Demo Day: June 2024

    The final agenda will be sent to the selected startups and small companies.

    Important note: Most of the activities will be online or hybrid. However, we reserve the right to carry out the activities in person.

Number of selected startups

A maximum of 20 startups and small companies will be selected for the programme.

Climate-SAFE Tool

The Climate-SAFE (as a subsequent option after taking part in the ClimAccelerator) has been designed as a founder-friendly and efficient means for Climate-KIC to invest in Europe’s most exciting Climate-tech companies. The Climate-SAFE is a simple agreement for future equity - a convertible investment.

The key terms of the Climate-SAFE are:

- €50,000 value

- 24 month longstop

- No valuation cap - we don’t want to limit the valuation of any future funding rounds!

- 20% discount rate

- No most-favoured nation clause

 

The Climate-SAFE is structured as a cash + services investment and grants access to the following package of support:

- Carbon Impact Forecasting, Modelling and Validation

- Access to ClimateHIVE community

- Fundraising support & connections to Climate-KIC investor network

- Commercialisation Opportunities

- EU Policy & Affairs support

- A dedicated portfolio manager

 

This tool is optional. No mandatory request to join this agreement needed for this call. If you have any questions about this please contact the Climate-KIC Investment team on investments@climate-kic.org

Any questions?

I have a question that is not answered here. Who can I ask?

No problem, just send an email to: clim.accelerator@accent.at