Stash Energy Receives $250,000 In Funding That Will Help Target New Markets
FREDERICTON – Fredericton-based startup Stash Energy is tapping into pilot projects, incubators, and funding opportunities to grow the market for its energy-store heat pump system.
Stash Energy builds air-source heat pumps that can store energy in off-peak hours to be used during peak hours. They have worked on pilot projects with Saint John Energy, NB Power, and Maritime Electric to bring the pump into homes in the region.
In the last month, the startup has found success in a number of new venues: they announced their first Nova Scotia-based project partnering with NSCC, Housing Nova Scotia, and Solar Nova Scotia; they were selected as a Mission from MaRS climate champion; and they have been selected to be a part of the Wells Fargo Innovation Incubator, which comes with $250,000 in funding.
“All of these projects and accelerators and incubators that we’re doing, they’re not really one-offs. We all try to make sure that there’s a connection there,” said Dan Curwin, Director of Business Development at Stash Energy.
In their Nova Scotia project, the team at Stash spent last winter as part of a unique test to compare heating performance in four similarly sized housing units using different technologies. One used Stash Energy’s heat pump, one used a conventional heat pump, one used Stash Energy’s heat pump in combination with a solar photovoltaic system to generate solar electricity, and the last has only its original electric baseboard heaters.
They completed one winter of testing and will do another winter of testing this year. Curwin says the first winter taught them that the Stash pump works and does help bring savings to power rates compared to a regular heat pump and provide even greater savings when combined with solar panels.
“Nova Scotia really has all of those pieces already built into their energy infrastructure and so for Stash, it proves that it’s a really good market for us,” he said.
The project coincided with the announcement that Stash Energy was named a climate champion by Canada’s Mission from MaRS program, a program dedicated to promoting leading startups that can reduce emissions.
Combined, the companies have the potential to alleviate 2.4 gigatons of greenhouse-gas emissions globally by 2040.
Stash is one of 10 startups named by Mission from MaRS and the only Atlantic Canadian company to make the cut. They are one of three companies named in the real estate sector.
“There is a really good ecosystem on the east coast and so hopefully we’re just the first. This is the first cohort of the program and as they have more cohorts come along, I doubt we’ll be the only Atlantic Canadian company,” said Curwin.
Stash Energy continues to develop and further its product as part of the Wells Fargo Innovation Incubator, which is co-administered by the U.S. Department of Energy’s National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL).
The company will receive up to $250,000 in funding and will conduct research and development activities virtually. Stash is the only Canadian company to be a part of the cohort.
Curwin says the company plans on using the funding and the opportunity to accelerate their timeline for their next steps as a company and allow them to target new markets.
“It’s going to allow us to access different segments of the market,” he said. “Right now we’re focused on single-family homes; this is going to allow us to expand that.”
Curwin says that these developments have been great for Stash’s growth and they are grateful to receive such warm recognition.
“We’ve been working really hard on developing the product and getting it to a point where we’re ready to actually sell it to homeowners and so it’s nice to be recognized externally,” he said. “It’s one thing for us to tell people about how great the staff system is, but anytime we’re getting kind of external validation, it’s great.”
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