By combining satellite data with cutting edge AI analytics, Wegaw clearly presents actionable insights for renewable energy stakeholders that enable up to 10% increase in production and approximately +5% MWh trading price optimization.
To accelerate the growth of the startup, Wegaw has successfully raised USD 1.1m from highly rated international investors such as Bstartup (Banco Sabadell), Katapult.vc, Great Stuff Ventures, Business Angels Switzerland and Seedrs, with the objective to further develop the Wegaw climate tech product whilst expanding commercially into new markets.
Wegaw received numerous offers of up to $1.3m, however following diligent consideration, this climate tech startup selected those that most closely complemented its own values.
Since the company was established in 2016, Wegaw has begun operating in five countries, delivering impactful datasets to 15 clients and more than 30 power plants without the need for further investment in infrastructure.
Moreover, Wegaw is working with government bodies and national agencies to reduce CO2 emissions and aid international efforts to attain Net Zero status.
At the moment, Wegaw is helping companies and governments around the world better understand future clean energy production opportunities that support energy market stability and reduce dependency on traditional fossil fuels.
“The current energy crisis in Europe highlights what happens if we do not have the right tools to understand future renewable energy production. Our data and economic insights are key to efficiently planning and operating renewable energy assets, as well as balancing the grid with existing assets.”
CTO @ Wegaw
Wegaw leverages machine learning, AI and geospatial algorithms to process space data and identify various characteristics such as snow, water, soil humidity or waves at different levels of technological maturity, with the aim to more accurately forecast sustainable energy output.
By amalgamating data from remote sensors on satellites (from European Space Agency and NASA constellations) with daily validated ground observations and historic data for instance, bespoke datasets and insightful evaluations are generated for hydropower utilities, government agencies and energy traders.
The beauty of Wegaw’s solution is that the datasets can be scaled as required whilst offering near real-time insights with a 93% accuracy, which is unprecedented when compared to legacy meteorological model based solutions.
Here are just a few snapshots that demonstrate how Wegaw presents Snow Water Equivalent data when applied to different locations:
Wegaw Snow Water Equivalent set over an higher altitude glacial tongue
Wegaw Snow Water Equivalent over a group of fairly low hydrological basins in Valais, CH
Snow Water Equivalent over a full glacier in the Swiss Alps
“Our vision is to enable a completely clean energy transition by delivering a clear understanding of future renewable energy production from space. We are especially proud to have attracted such an incredible line-up of international climate tech investors who support our ambitions and are thrilled to actively collaborate with forward-thinking energy companies across the globe.”
Ion Padilla
CEO @ Wegaw
According to the well-known Swiss Entrepreneur & Investor – Nicolas Bürers – Switzerland will be amongst the top 10 start-up hubs within the next five years with significant growth especially in DeepTech and Environment Tech that could generate 100.000+ jobs and globally recognised and successful companies
VC investment in Spanish startups grew exponentially with $1.9 billion investment in the first half of 2021 and now, Spain ranks 5th in Europe by the number of potential future unicorns. According to Ander Michelena, Founding Partner of All Iron Ventures, international VCs are taking more interest in Spain as deal flow continues to increase and improve due to the ongoing development of the whole Spanish startup ecosystem.
Compared to other regions around the world, investment in impact focused startups has become a major portion of all VC activity in the Nordics, especially over the last decade where investment amounts grew from €65M in 2010 to €1.6B in 2020. There’s a significant pipeline of future impact unicorns emerging in the Nordics and to date the most funding (73%) has been invested within energy and utilities sectors – with the majority going to Norwegian startups in this space.
“Due to the proven results to date, promising aspirations and fantastic team synergy, WeGaw was specifically selected to join a small number of climate tech startups to form the very first Katapult Climate Fund. We screened more than 2700 companies to get to this point and are very proud of our investment in Wegaw as we firmly believe that the company embodies our commitment to create a thriving world for all. We are delighted to have the Wegaw team as key members of our Climate Accelerator Program, working towards a more sustainable future and addressing the UN’s development goals. Wegaw is on-track to have a truly awesome future with a positive impact across many socio-economic areas and we trust that they will continue to break boundaries.”
Nina Heir
CEO @ Katapult Accelerator & Katapult Climate
Wegaw is excited to be part of Europe’s green growth and tech start-up market, and is looking forward to deploying this Seed Round, growing the team world-wide and reaching new commercial heights with the support of like-minded new shareholders.
With Net Zero commitments in place, more countries, investors and businesses are working closely together to speed up affordable clean tech adoption worldwide.
Driven by a rejuvenated focus on ESG in private markets, emerging regulations (such as the EU’s Sustainable Finance Disclosure Regulation) and supporting standards (such as B Corp certification), investment in climate tech has seen a whopping 210% year-on-year growth, with energy and climate dedicated solutions taking a significant piece of the pie.
In total, $18.3 billion was invested in climate tech in Europe and $87.5 billion world-wide over H2 2020 and H1 2021, according to latest figures from PwC.
Watch this video from the Katapult Investor Day 2021 to find out more about Wegaw’s exciting venture and how you could become a part of the revolutionary transition to Net Zero through natural resources efficiency:
Whilst presenting untapped commercial opportunities across the board, climate technology has certainly progressed from concept phase and the need for solutions that utilise data to prioritise emissions reductions is more apparent than ever.
To learn more about Wegaw’s renewable energy optimisation solution and to view the company’s daily unique use of satellite data, please contact our team directly at info@wegaw.com, fill out the Contact Form or subscribe for updates via our News page.
