Meet Concept’s aspiring startup companies
Concept, Velocity’s pre-incubator program, announce their winners of the $5K Grant Competition and the Pandemic Challenge Fund
While many live events are being cancelled due to restrictions for in-person gatherings, Concept continues to showcase their achievements and successes by hosting virtual competitions. Similar to Velocity’s virtual Fund Pitch Competition (VFPC), Concept pivoted two of their major in-person events to video submissions which garnered more than one hundred applicants combined. Audiences were then invited to virtually attend each event where a panel of local startup founders scored and selected the final winners.
The Concept $5K grant supports undergraduate and graduate students at the University of Waterloo who have creative, technological ideas.
Concept also unveiled their Pandemic Challenge Fund where Waterloo students could participate in virtual workshops and connect with innovation coaches. Afterwards, these students had the opportunity to develop and pitch their ideas at the Pandemic Challenge Fund to potentially receive $3,000 in funding support.
Meet Concept’s latest recipients.
Concept’s $5K Fund winners
Below are four winning teams who successfully pitched their business idea and received $5,000 in funds to support their startup companies.
Aqua-Cell Energy
Aqua-Cell Energy is revolutionizing affordable, large scale batteries that uses saltwater to store renewable energy for continuous solar and wind power. The company’s target audience focuses on small industrial facilities who already have solar panels installed. By using Aqua-Cell Energy, these companies can expect to save energy costs during the night.
Its founder, Keith Cleland, is a master’s student in Chemical Engineering. Cleland is working alongside two mentors — Waterloo professor, Jeff Gostick, and Anne Benneker, who is also a Chemical Engineering professor at the University of Calgary. Aqua-Cell Energy highlights a collaborative team effort between both universities.
By December 2021, Aqua-Cell Energy hopes to use the $5,000 fund to move forward with the pilot system in developing these larger scale batteries that can store renewable energy and produce clean electricity.