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Today, we’re adding a new small section in The Climate Scout called Cool Tools where we’ll share tools related to climate, fundraising, startups, or investing that you might find valuable, fun, or interesting! Know any cool tools? Share them with us here! We have a few more updates coming soon, stay tuned 🚀

Today at a glance:

• Introducing Wayside Energy

• Detailing their business model, tech, traction and team

• Why do we need this now?

• How you can help them!

-  Angelica 💜

Featured Startup: Wayside Energy

Today’s climate startup feature is Wayside Energy. Wayside believes that with the right tools, we can all come together to build a future we can be proud of. One of the most important tools we'll use in the coming decades is energy storage, and Wayside has developed the worlds first commercial immersion cooled stationary storage system that's safer and more efficient than anything else on the market.

Wayside Energy Fast Facts

How was Wayside Energy Born?

Wayside was born out of the mass uncertainty about the future during the pandemic. Both James (CEO) and friends felt a lack of urgency over the solutions that would shape the road forward. So, James started Wayside to help provide some of those tools to the world, starting with the safest and most reliable stationary energy storage system.

Headquarters

Los Angeles, California

Technology

The Wayside Energy team sees ethical and sustainable design as the core principle to their approach to build their tech. This concept permeates every aspect of their business. A design that's built around a biodegradable immersion cooling system is the holy grail of station energy storage. It provides the opportunity for sustainable designs that are not only safe, but hyper performant. Immersion cooling as a concept has already made a name for itself in the datacenter space for its high efficiency and reliability, and it's only a matter of time before its commercialized in the energy storage market. That is what Wayside has done.

Business Model

Based on the current Cost of Goods Sold and Operating Expenses of the company, it is projected that Wayside will achieve profitability from the very first day of manufacturing. Wayside primarily sells its products directly to Engineering, Procurement, and Construction companies (EPCs) in a B2B model. The company's success is determined by the efficiency of their manufacturing process, the level of safety they ensure, and the durability of the tools they offer.

Competition

Traction

• Total funding: $320,000

• Raised an excellent pre-seed round from the Los Angeles CleanTech Incubator

• Won major university grants

• Accepted into both the Innovators and Incubation programs at the Los Angeles CleanTech Incubator

• Their customer feedback has been stelar so far

• The industry is watching them closely for their final pilot tests and UL certification

Founding Team

Their founding team comes from a range of disciplines that creates a whole greater than the sum of its parts.

• James Werbe: CEO - a lifelong creative and engineer with previous startups and exits under his belt with a deep passion for building a future we can all be proud of

• Bob Woskow: CTO - worked on high profile design jobs for NASA, DOE, and other previous startups

• Eve Werbe: CFO - has managed billions in logistics and construction

• Bob Spunt: COO - has designed tools and optimizing systems for Adobe, Oracle, Snap, and more!

Why Now?

Energy storage is being deployed at a rapidly growing rate (deployments will 16x in the next 15 years), and yet there is no clear path towards systems that have no probability of catching fire.

Wayside's patent pending immersion cooling architecture means we have zero risk of catastrophic battery fires while maintaining better energy density, performance, and reliability.

Support Wayside Energy

Wayside is looking to accelerate their development and pilot testing endeavors to prepare for their first customer deliveries and UL certification.

Connect with Wayside about:

• Advisors

• Investor chats

• Customers

• Beta users

• Internships

• Grants

Today’s Cool Tools

• Climate Capital Stack - Learn about alternative sources of capital for startups

• Net Zero Insights - Market Intelligence on Climate Tech Startups

• Moonarch - Meet investors for your startup for free

*This section is a mix of paid sponsorships and cool things we use, discovered or built for you.

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