Greenstart Accelerator Gets a Kickstart

Mitch Lowe, cofounder of Greenstart, is looking to the companies his incubator grows to change the world.

Image: Greenstart

Entrepreneurs with dreams of creating the next big eco-friendly—and profitable—company might want to keep an eye on what happens in San Francisco over the next 12 weeks.

Greenstart, a new accelerator program, last week welcomed four budding companies with focuses on energy efficiency and alternative fuels to the work space they will share in the city's financial district. The companies are getting $25,000 in initial funding, office space, and mentorship from experienced entrepreneurs.

Started with an investment of $2.5 million from entrepreneurs Mitch Lowe, Dave Graham, and Dillon McDonald, Greenstart is focused not on its founders’ expertise, but on their passion.

“It’s pretty simple. The entire purpose of what we’re trying to do is foster entrepreneurship in cleantech,” Lowe told Portfolio.com earlier this year. “The world hasn’t seen a problem of this magnitude. Entrepreneurs have proven time and again that they’re the best innovators out there. This is just something we just care a lot about.”

Among the startups in the inaugural class are:

• Smartershade, a company with a technology for glass that allows varying amounts of light to enter a room based on user controls.
• Sylvatex, which uses biomass to augment diesel fuel.
• Tenrehte Technologies, maker of a WiFi-enabled plug for real-time monitoring of energy use.
• Wa.tt, which brings together information from various accounts to help monitor energy consumption.

To learn more about Greenstart, click here for a Portfolio.com profile.

Week One at Greenstart from Greenstart on Vimeo.

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