CATAL1.5°T Climate Entrepreneurship Pre-Acceleration Program

The Monterrey Institute of Technology and Higher Education (Tecnológico de Monterrey) through the Eugenio Garza Lagüera Entrepreneurship Institute (IEEGL), in collaboration with the German Technical Cooperation (GIZ) in Mexico they call to climate ventures established in Latin America that have the potential to mitigate greenhouse gas emissions.

Objective

• Through the Climate Entrepreneurship Pre-Acceleration program, they seek to validate the business model, improve technical aspects, strengthen the climate impact of the ventures and provide resources to boost those ventures with high business potential and climate impact. These ventures may be individuals or legal entities.

Focus Areas

• Energy access and energy generation ventures: Energy generated with biomass, Energy storage, Renewable energy systems, Small scale solar energy, and Smart grids.
• Low-emission transport ventures: Electromobility, Shared mobility and Smart mobility
• Building, city, industrial and household appliance developments: Energy efficiency, Alternative materials, Solutions for smart cities, Smart manufacturing, Sustainable building materials, Smart buildings, Urban planning, Sustainable consumption, Clean water / water availability, Clean air, Sanitation and Waste management
• Forestry and land use ventures: Agrotech (Land), Agrotech (Nutrients/production), Alternative proteins, Food safety, Food waste, Land use monitoring and Conservation, restoration and monitoring of ecosystems.

Benefits

• Program: For up to 4 months, the selected ventures will have access to business workshops and training, goal tracking, access to mentoring, experts on climate issues, training on gender and diversity issues, ESG, digitalization and technological, legal and tax strategy, and leadership that support the growth and consolidation of their ventures. Such benefits may be provided as follows:
  • Up to 48 hours of workshops, training and thematic business content,technology, climate change, among others.
  • Up to 28 hours of advice on business issues.
  • Up to 4 hours of advice on gender and inclusion issues.
  • Up to 8 hours of advice on climate change and sustainability issues.
  • Mentoring throughout the pre-acceleration process.
  • Final presentation “Pitch contest-demo day”: before relevant actors of the climate and technological entrepreneurship ecosystem.
• Networking: The selected ventures will have the opportunity to connect with a network of actors in the climate entrepreneurship ecosystem throughout the different activities that make up the program.

Funding Information

• Grant: the selected ventures will be eligible to receive an amount of up to €15,000 (fifteen thousand euros) to be used exclusively for the development and promotion of the venture.

Eligibility Criteria

• Profile of the participants:
  • Applicants may be individuals or start-up companies with growth potential and that have a product or service in the prototype or pre-commercialization phase. in one of the GCF outcome areas described above. Startups must appoint a representative as the application leader. The application leader must be at least 18 years old and have an active role within the startup (being a partner, co-founder and/or collaborator).
  • In the event that the project is selected, the person leading the application must have time available to participate in the activities designated as part of the pre-acceleration program.
• Profile of startups:
  • Incorporation and location: The individual or company must be legally constituted/incorporated as a legal entity with business activity and/or commercial company, in accordance with the legislation of the country where it operates. To be eligible to participate in the program, the enterprise must have residence in one of the following countries: Argentina, Colombia, Costa Rica, El Salvador, Honduras, Mexico, Peru and/or Dominican Republic.
  • The undertaking must comply with the definition criteria established by the International Finance Corporation (IFC) for Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs):
    • Have fewer than 50 employees.
    • Have less than the equivalent of $3 million USD in total assets.
    • Have generated less than the equivalent of $3 million USD in annual sales.
  • Development stage: Have a prototype (TRL 2 to TRL 4 technology) 1 of a product, service or solution for mitigating greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions and having a positive climate impact in the pre-commercialization or prototype phase.
  • Team: Have a work team or person with experience in the industry or technology to be developed, as well as experience in business and/or financial management. At least one person must dedicate at least 50% of their time to the venture. It is desirable that the co-founders dedicate 100% of their time to the venture.
  • The participation of women as founding partners, in management positions or in decision making positions within the enterprise will be positively valued.

For more information, visit Monterrey Institute of Technology and Higher Education.