One signature impact startup from central Brabant is Meterd. The startup, founded by three Polish IBA alumni Alan Fiszerowicz, Bartlomiej Babinski and Sebastian Panak, helps companies get a grip on their energy consumption.
Meterd has been for a while up and running, but the young company is looking for more patronage to test and optimise their platform. Name recognition and networking is therefore an important part of the business process.
Through the business coach at Tilburg University (one of Startups for Society's partners), they found a great entry point through the networking event The Connection. Alan and Bartlomiej look back on their participation in this with pleasure. Alan: the connection with "Startups for Society was a perfect opportunity for us to present ourselves and connect with companies in the immediate region. We got some good leads out of this and are even already in talks with some of them to start a collaboration. For us, it's scaling up now: we are now out of a successful pilot phase, so any new customer is more than welcome."
The idea came about two years ago when, as an entrepreneur in the renewable energy sector, Bartlomiej noticed how difficult companies found it to monitor their new installations properly. Together with Alan Fiszerowicz and Sebastian Panak, he built a solution: a platform that bundles everything into a convenient overview, making it easy to get real-time data, analyse it and put it into reports.
To achieve this, the three founders not only came up with an app, but also install smart meters and offer 'energy audits' for their clients.
Meterd's approach starts with an energy audit, Alan explains. "Here we look at what kind of smart meters are needed at the customer's premises. Then we put our team to work installing those meters or linking them to already existing meters. Then the data is collected: this can be about energy consumption, energy production, water consumption, but also heating, CO2 levels or ventilation. Basically everything the customer needs, we can measure.
Bartlomiej complements him: "We analyse this data, with the help of AI. From that, an advice follows. This can consist of easy-to-solve things like turning off the lights on some, unused floors or adjusting the temperature. But we can also give long-term advice, which may include measures such as a heat pump or solar panels. The installation of these is up to the companies themselves, we can assist if necessary to find a company in our network that can help with this."
As an impact startup, Meterd seeks to contribute to the green energy transition. Bartlomiej: "All our activities are in line with the UN's sustainability development goals. We give our customers real solutions, which are not only good for the environment, but can also save costs. We have all noticed in recent years what the impact of different events on the world stage can be."
His colleague Alan complements him: "There is another factor that is often not mentioned. I think reducing carbon emissions and switching to new energy solutions is something we can all agree on. For our customers in the public sector, for example municipalities or schools, every euro saved also means that more money can go to projects that benefit local communities or the quality of education."
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