Pratexo Wins 2022 ABB Electrification Startup Challenge

Zurich, Switzerland - May, 17th 2022 | ABB: Digital mavericks revealed as future champions of global energy and climate challenges. Pratexo was named as a champion amongst others in this year's ABB Electrification Startup Challenge awards ceremony in Berlin, Germany. The event featured an exciting finale that saw 20 finalists pitching their digital innovations to tackle a range of global energy challenges.

This year's challenge featured companies building innovative solutions to save energy, lower emissions, and increase climate resilience in buildings, industry, and power supplies. Three winners chosen from over 100 applicants will each win a collaboration project with ABB Electrification worth $30,000 to take to market.

Against a backdrop of high energy prices, energy insecurity, and record emissions, 2022 saw the highest level of entrants to the annual ABB Electrification Startup Challenge with over 100 applications from 34 countries.

Now in its third year, the Startup Challenge in collaboration with Microsoft and SynerLeap has become the go-to event for innovators who are developing solutions to support the world’s safe, smart and sustainable shift towards electrification.

The robust process saw 20 shortlisted startups undertake two weeks of intensive work alongside mentors from ABB, Microsoft, and Synerleap to fine-tune their proposals, before pitching their innovations in early May. From there, nine finalists were chosen to go through to the Grand Finale on 13 May at a live event in Berlin – three from each of the Challenge’s three categories of Smart Buildings, Smart Power, and Distribution Solutions.

Introducing gamification, personalization, and edge computing, this year’s winners impressed their judges with their innovative ideas to tackle the global energy crisis.

MOOST, from Switzerland, will now work closely with the ABB Electrification Smart Building’s team to bring its Software as a Service (SaaS) platform to the market. Using hyper-personalized notifications and gamification, MOOST is all about making energy-saving fun, so that anyone (regardless of experience or qualifications) can understand where the energy issues are in their building and take climate-friendly action to put them right.

Italian startup i-EM won the challenge in the Smart Power category, with its groundbreaking SaaS concept. The innovative tool, x-EM, uses Artificial Intelligence to simulate ‘behind-the-meter’ energy systems. Designed to help operators cope with fluctuations in energy costs, it will allow them to simulate different setups for their energy assets that maximize ROI and reduce emissions, with the potential to sell extra energy back to the grid.

The Distribution Solutions’ judges were impressed with “edge innovation platform” Pratexo, which uses edge computing for intelligent grid optimization. Pratexo’s technology enables the rapid set up of systems that can process huge amounts of data generated by IoT sensors and run advanced analytics in real-time. Through the solution to be co-developed with Pratexo, ABB customers will benefit from unique tools for performing fault causal analysis for their installations, allowing better decisions for future operations.

“The talent this year was outstanding, and it was difficult to pick just three champions. Open innovation and discovery are key to tackling some of the unprecedented issues the energy sector is facing. It is only by collaborating with some of the brightest mavericks in the world that we will develop solutions to solve the world’s energy and climate challenges.”

Anton Kotov, Chief Digital and Strategy Officer at ABB Electrification

"We are stoked to have won and look forward to close collaboration with ABB in the years to come. I am really proud of our Pratexo team: You rocked it!"

Blaine Mathieu, CEO of Pratexo.

Each of the three champions win a collaboration project with ABB worth $30,000, with the goal to launch a common solution for customers on ABB Ability Marketplace later this year, reaching audiences in over 100 countries. Winners will also receive unique mentoring support from SynerLeap – ABB‘s startup accelerator – and from Microsoft’s startup advisors.

To find out more about the winners of the ABB Electrification 2022 StartUp Challenge visit www.collaborateandcommercialize.com.

SynerLeap is ABB’s global innovation growth hub. We support startups to accelerate and expand in a global market together with ABB and partners. SynerLeap opens up for investments and offers a unique mentorship and access to ABB’s network partners, customers, and technology in automation, robotics and energy to company members. Today, more than 130 companies from 21 countries spanning five continents have joined SynerLeap including Graphmatech and MTEK from Sweden, Cassia Networks from USA and NumoCity from India. www.synerleap.com

ABB (ABBN: SIX Swiss Ex) is a leading global technology company that energizes the transformation of society and industry to achieve a more productive, sustainable future. By connecting software to its electrification, robotics, automation and motion portfolio, ABB pushes the boundaries of technology to drive performance to new levels. With a history of excellence stretching back more than 130 years, ABB’s success is driven by about 105,000 talented employees in over 100 countries. www.abb.com

ABB’s Electrification Business Area is a global leader in electrical products and solutions, operating in more than 100 countries, with over 200 manufacturing sites. Our 50,000+ employees are dedicated to transforming how people live, connect and work by delivering safe, smart, and sustainable electrification solutions. We are shaping the future trends of electrification, differentiating through technological and digital innovation while delivering an outstanding experience through operational excellence for our customers across utilities, industry, buildings, infrastructure, and mobility. go.abb/electrification