Two cleantech startups intensify collaboration with Swisscom

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18.11.2022
Jürgen Biefang, Head of marketing and sales at ECCO2 presenting at a Swisscom Startup Challenge Event

After winning the Swisscom Startup Challenge Cleantech, two startups have started projects with Swisscom. SmartHelio will use its technology to test the company’s solar panels in Ittigen, while Ecco, besides installing their energy solution, became a 3rd party service provider for Swisscom.

During the exploration week, the five startups that won the Swisscom Startup Challenge worked with Swisscom sustainability and ICT experts to fine-tune their business models, define use cases for Swisscom and explore more opportunities within Swisscom’s ecosystem. Two of the five startups have a clear business case for Swisscom that will further be explored as part of their Proof of Concept (PoC) agreement.

SmartHelio, the Lausanne-based startup providing software that helps solar utilities automatically predict and prevent downtime disruptions, is currently managing more than 5GW of solar assets in Europe, USA and India, representing around 800’000 households’ consumption and helping to save 5 million tons of CO2 every year. The company has over 60 customers worldwide, including Schneider, Acciona, EDP and TATA, with 50GW of solar portfolio.

Swisscom has also selected SmartHelio to manage its solar panels in Ittigen. The startup has started analysing the data and conducting health checks on the system. The team will be analyzing its performance for four months. Additionally, ongoing discussions investigate possibilities for the startup to collaborate with Cablex, the leading Swiss company for high-performance ICT and network infrastructures in fixed-wire and wireless networks with the highest bandwidths to de-risk investments in the solar industry.

Customer and Business Platin Partner
ECCO2 Solutions AG, the 2019 established startup with 30 employees, provides data-based IoT/AI solutions through its product ‘Building Intelligence’ to help reduce heat energy consumption in buildings by an average of 15 percent, and collects and manages building-energy data from temperature, humidity and CO2 sensors. To this day, the startup has optimised over 720 facilities, saving over 2000t of CO2. Revenues in 2021 reached CHF 2.1 million with operations in Switzerland, France and the Czech Republic.

Building Intelligence is based mainly on Swisscom server, IoT and connectivity architecture. But beyond that, the startup is also a Swisscom Platin Business Partner, with access to the Swisscom sales channel. As Swisscom’s Platin Business partner, ECCO2 combines the agility of an innovative startup with the reliability of an established ITC provider, according to the startup. Appearing under the strong Swisscom brand is a strong USP for the company and gives them more credibility with major customers such as financial institutions, insurance and pension or investment funds.

“By signing a Platinum Business Partner agreement, we have the option to offer our services under the umbrella of Swisscom as a third-party service provider. Major financial institutions reluctant to enter into long-term agreements with a startup created in 2019 can buy our solution from Swisscom,” says Jürgen Biefang, Head of marketing and sales at ECCO2. “The strong point of this agreement is that it is flexible, allowing us to define the scope of the cooperation on a project basis,” he added.

(Ritah Ayebare Nyakato)
Photo: Jürgen Biefang, Head of marketing and sales at ECCO2 presenting at a Swisscom Startup Challenge Event

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