The Founders of EarthEn are Creating New Ways to Store Energy Using CO2

Hi, climate leaders 👋 

Welcome back to another issue of The Climate Scout!

Today at a glance:

• Introducing EarthEn

• Detailing their business model, tech, traction and team

• Why do we need this now?

• What is the climate impact?

• How you can support them!

-  Angelica 💜

Featured Startup: EarthEn

Today’s climate startup feature is EarthEn. EarthEn is developing novel flexible thermo-mechanical energy storage solutions that use CO2 in a closed loop to store 4-100+ hours of energy at a low cost & highly scalable manner.

EarthEn Fast Facts

Headquarters

Phoenix, AZ

Technology

EarthEn is creating new ways to store energy using CO2. This technology can store energy for 4-100+ hours and is affordable and easy to expand. EarthEn wants to use this storage solution in many different places like utility providers, EV charging stations, and solar and wind farms. These places are important for renewable energy and need energy storage. By using this technology in enough places, we can create a renewable grid that works all the time.

Business Model

EarthEn makes money in three main ways: through one-time sales of their energy storage systems, through a recurring subscription for their SaaS tool, and through licensing agreements. They are currently developing storage systems of different sizes for various customers, with the option to upgrade as needed. They are also creating an AI-based SaaS tool that helps optimize pricing and prevent power loss. Their customers include utility providers, solar and wind farm owners, commercial and industrial sites, microgrid sites, EV fleet charging stations, and CO2 pipelines. They plan to sign licensing agreements with partners and customers to expand internationally. They sell their assets directly to customers and also have power purchase agreements with specific customers.

Traction

• $1.5M in funding into EarthEn

  • $100k from friends, family, and ASU

  • Received $1.3M from the DOE

  • $400k of this DOE was received through a first of a kind funding from the DOE-Office of Electricity through something they didn't apply for rather, the DOE heard about them and considered their tech so groundbreaking that they decided to do a first of a kind grant funding into EarthEn

  • $150k from CalSEED

• Building a 1MW commercial pilot system with one of the largest utility providers & O&G companies which will be made public in 2025.

• EarthEn is being exclusively championed by agencies like EPRI, strategic national labs, T1 OEM suppliers & partners.

• Working with Argonne National Lab & Oak Ridge National Lab developing significant R&D

• Partnered with Black & Veatch as their EPC partner

• Partnered with institutions like ASU, University of Utah, IIT, Prosumer Grid & SwRI for talent & R&D

• Won many competitions domestically & internationally

• Currently participating in numerous accelerators like Rice's Clean Energy Accelerator, Joules Accelerator, Black & Veatch's IgniteX, UT's Spark Cleantech Accelerator & ORNL/DOE's Innovation Crossroads

Founders

Manas Pathak, CEO & Co-Founder

• An Indian immigrant born in a small village, he excelled in school and gained recognition in local newspapers. He attended IIT in India, ranking #1 in geology for his Bachelors and Masters. He completed his PhD in Chemical Engineering at the University of Utah in just 3.5 years, earning the 1/1 PhD excellence award. He quickly advanced at Intel, becoming the Global AI Strategic Lead for Energy in just 2 years. In 2021, he founded EarthEn based on his PhD research. He is a passionate leader and innovator.

Karthi Chakaravarty, COO & Co-Founder

• He grew up competing in different academic, athletic, and musical activities at district, state, and national levels. He was a leader in most of the teams. He is a professional MMA fighter and the youngest person to achieve a 4th degree black belt. He has also won the national championship three times. Fighting has taught Karthi courage, discipline, perseverance, and a strong desire to win. He is a natural fighter, leader, and executor.

Palash Panja, CTO & Co-Founder

• An Indian immigrant who studied at IIT and got a Master's degree in Chemical Engineering. He was born in a poor village with no electricity or water. He had to walk a long distance with his sisters to get water. He didn't experience electricity until he got a scholarship to study at IIT. Later, he went to the University of Utah for his PhD in Chemical Engineering, where he met Manas.

Why Now?

Solar and wind energy are not always available because they depend on the sun and wind. This means we need a way to store the extra energy they produce so we can use it when they are not active. The current solutions for storing energy are expensive, hard to scale, and not very flexible. They also degrade over time and can be dangerous. We have developed a new way to store energy using CO2 that is cheaper and more flexible. It can store energy for a longer period of time and solve the problems that current solutions cannot.

Climate Impact

EarthEn’s systems use CO2 to renewable energy 24/7. When we deploy 100 million MWh of energy storage, we'll be permanently sequestering 5.6 Gigatons accounting to 13% of Global GHG, while mitigating significantly more as with our flexible energy storage systems, customers will be able to dependent on renewable energy 24/7.

Support EarthEn

• Advisors - Non technical who have experience scaling products, overseeing supply chains and closing customers

• Investors - currently raising $20M

   

• Customer - any connections to any utility providers, solar and wind farm owners, commercial & industrials, microgrid sites, EV fleet charging stations, O&G

• Founders - EarthEn is a team of first time founders and any connections to successful founders who can help them navigate the unknown pitfalls that plague early stage startups would be extremely valuable

Cool Tools

• Net Zero Insights - Market Intelligence on Climate Tech Startups

• Moonarch - Meet investors for your startup for free

• Remote Climate Jobs - Get remote jobs delivered to your inbox every Wednesday

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