Kiwi Start-Up Makes Finals in SF Challenge
Wellington, 19 November 2009 – A kiwi company that has designed a fuel conversion system for cars made the final cut in the San Francisco based International Cleantech Open Ideas Competition – part of Global Entrepreneurship Week.
Nova Eco-Tech Ltd is an Auckland business
focused on providing clean fuel conversion solutions for
vehicles; designed to provide an ‘intelligent’ switch
fuel source using fuels like CNG or biomethane for
petrol-fuelled cars.
The competition aims to
accelerate the discovery and development of groundbreaking
big ideas and cleantech solutions developed by small
businesses. Teams from the United States, Brazil, China,
Denmark, Israel, Italy and, of course, New Zealand all
competed for the $US100,000 grand prize.
For the
final presentation, the seven finalists had five minutes to
pitch his or her idea to a live audience of over 3000 angel
investors, journalists and clean technologists who then
voted for the winner via text message.
Since Clean
Tech open began in 2006, contestants have walked away with
over $130 million in funding from private capital investors
to get their green tech ideas off the
ground.
Investors include notable start-up investors
like Bill Weihl of Google and Vinod Khosla – a venture
capitalist well known as a leading investor in ethanol and a
major proponent of green legislation.
Nova Eco-Tech
was based on a perceived gap in the market for retrofit
gaseous alternative fuel systems for cars. Its first
product, Eco-Viper, which is designed to automatically
switch between fuel sources. The system developed is a
non-invasive, easily installed and reliable retrofit
conversion system that would reduce harmful emissions and
achieve significant fuel savings.
The global natural
gas vehicle market is predicted to grow by nearly 20%
annually and is likely to comprise almost 10 per cent of the
vehicle market by 2020, totaling 50 million
vehicles.
“The success of Nova Eco-Tech shows how
innovative young ‘green’companies are in New Zealand,”
said Global Entrepreneurship Week spokesman Rob Acton.
“It also demonstrates how these international competitions
can raise awareness of our own entrepreneurial activity and
help place some of our companies centre stage in the world.
It’s a wonderful tribute.”
About the CleanTech
Challenge
More information about the CleanTech
Challenge may be found at their website at http://www.cleantechopenmedia.com/
About
Global Entrepreneurship Week
From Nov. 16 - 22, 2009,
millions of young people around the world will join a
growing movement to generate new ideas and seek better ways
of doing things. Tens of thousands of activities are being
planned in dozens of countries. Global Entrepreneurship Week
is founded by the Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation and the
Make Your Mark
campaign.
ENDS