Bord na Móna’s sustainable accelerator programme, Accelerate Green, is a unique opportunity designed for Irish businesses in the climate solutions sector to gain new perspectives, challenge their thinking and make their strategies more robust, while learning to scale their operations and support Ireland’s sustainability transformation.
Accelerate Green is an executive programme, delivered by Bord na Móna in partnership with Resolve Partners, to support early-stage businesses and SMEs focused on sustainability.
The programme provides expert guidance from world renowned leaders, access to valuable networks and the latest relevant business resources and thinking to ensure participants grow and thrive.
By equipping participants with important tools to develop strong strategies, navigate competitive markets, and form critical connections, Bord na Móna’s Accelerate Green programme fosters growth and innovation in Ireland’s sustainability sector.
Bord na Móna offers its START programme for early-stage green businesses specifically, guiding them through a combination of workshops, one-on-one coaching, and networking opportunities.
The latest START programme which commenced in October, culminated in a pitch event on November 27th, where participants presented their innovative ideas to an audience of investors, industry leaders, and sustainability experts, including Bord na Móna Chief Executive Tom Donnellan.
This event provided participants with a platform to engage with industry leaders, build connections with partners and mentors, and explore opportunities for investment and collaboration within Ireland’s growing green innovation ecosystem.
This year’s Autumn cohort consisted of startups and early-stage enterprises offering diverse and creative solutions to address a wide range of sustainability challenges.
Three of these, WindCapture Technologies, Restore Innovation and Volta Robotics are all providing standout, sustainable solutions across Ireland and beyond.
- WindCapture Technologies (Dublin/ Westmeath): WindCapture Technologies, co-founded by Ronan Hearne and Aaron Boylan, integrates wind power with carbon capture to combat climate change. Its innovative solution employs wind turbines to extract CO2 from the atmosphere, enabling a self-powered and scalable process. The captured carbon can either be permanently stored or transformed into valuable feedstock, offering a sustainable solution for industries globally.
- Restore Innovation (Sligo): Restore Innovation, founded by Sarah Cosgrove, provides support to the offshore energy sector in identifying the most suitable Nature-based Solution (NbS) for project sites and planning for their integration. Its two primary software services include a matchmaking platform that evaluates both site design and NbS criteria, and a spatial planning tool that assesses suitability using marine data.
- Volta Robotics (Cork): Volta Robotics, founded by Elvis Seporaitis, enables energy storage providers to reduce battery costs by 40% and expand sustainable storage solutions through the use of repurposed EV batteries. Their process involves disassembling battery packs, identifying usable components, assessing performance, and repackaging them for deployment, thereby unlocking the scalability of second-life batteries.
Sarah Cosgrove, founder of Restore Innovation, shared her thoughts after participating in the programme:
“I really appreciated [that Accelerate Green] is sector specific, so your peers and your mentors are all really familiar with the green energy, green tech sector.
“When talking about your businesses and your challenges, they can very easily relate to that. Having the cohorts and the support of the others going into the same challenges in the same sector has been really beneficial.
“So, anybody that’s in this space, I think it’s the best accelerator to be considering.”
Ronan Hearne, co-founder of WindCapture, similarly found the programme beneficial:
“What is amazing about the programme is the number of tools they provide us, enabling us to go ahead and test things like value propositions to build pitch decks.
“Already we have integrated that directly into what we’re doing today: we changed our pitch; we changed our business model and now we’re proactive with our value propositions.”
Elvis Seporaitis of Volta Robotics said:
“I cannot recommend Accelerate Green more to anyone in the sustainability space, any startups or new companies looking to get into sustainability in Ireland, or any business where there is the sustainability focus.
“I think it’s been very beneficial, especially from the perspective of just getting other people with the same focus, with the same mindset, in the same room, sharing ideas, sharing their concepts, sharing their struggles and helping each other out.”
Since its launch in 2022, the programme has supported 51 businesses, helping them collectively secure over €20million in funding.
These companies are addressing some of the most pressing environmental challenges, focusing on renewable energy, carbon reduction, sustainable agriculture, eco-friendly materials and much more.
As Bord na Móna Chief Executive, Tom Donnellan explained:
“Accelerate Green START is all about equipping new green entrepreneurs with the resources they need to realise their ambitions and grow.
“Supporting these ventures is crucial in helping to build a strong and thriving network of green businesses that are contributing to Ireland’s progression towards a greener future.”
The Accelerate Green Programme illustrates how targeted support for startups can lead to scalable solutions for global challenges.
The programme highlights the importance of collaboration between private companies, public initiatives, and innovative entrepreneurs in creating a more sustainable future.
