
Elemental Navigator
Why Work With Elemental
Elemental Navigator helps you find the best growth-stage climate tech startups to accelerate innovation.
We do this by leveraging Elemental Excelerator’s deep pipeline of climate tech startups. We serve as an extension to your team and help you navigate the broad climate tech ecosystem by providing curated access to groundbreaking solutions that address your highest-priority sustainability needs from visionary entrepreneurs across the globe.
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Innovation Challenges
What is an Innovation Challenge?
An Innovation Challenge is a tailored pitch event curated to your organizations needs. Through the Innovation Challenge, we craft an application process and event to find the best startups to partner with on your innovation journey.
What makes for a successful & compelling challenge?
We have found that there are two key components to a successful Innovation Challenge. First, you provide the funds to the winning startup(s) and agree to work together, whether it’s a pilot project or an investment. Second, your judges panel includes senior executives who agree to make handshake offers at the end of the pitch event.
“NextEra Energy partnered with Elemental Excelerator to find technologies that can empower Florida in this new era of energy. We were thrilled by the results - over 120 applicants! We even went over our initial budget to award contracts to the finalists because of the high caliber of contestants. Elemental's exceptional dealflow engine makes them a trusted partner for finding great climate tech companies for NextEra Energy. We are happy to recommend them as a challenge host partner and are looking forward to doing this again in 2022.”
Kara Fuller
Innovation Program Manager,
NextEra Energy
Our members engage with our pipeline and portfolio companies to drive towards four outcomes: investments, acquisitions, pilot projects, and commercial-scale roll outs.


Amazon’s Climate Pledge Fund has joined Elemental Excelerator’s Scale-Up Program. Together, Elemental and Amazon are working to accelerate a pathway to decarbonization that is critical to mitigating the impact of climate change more quickly and equitably across the globe.


NextEra Energy, Inc. is a Fortune 200 energy company with about 45,900 megawatts of generating capacity throughout the United States and Canada. It is the largest electric utility holding company by market capitalization, and together with its affiliated entities, it is the world’s largest generator of renewable energy from the wind and sun.


Schneider Electric’s at the Edge program invests in new ideas, emerging technologies and business models that both challenge and complement the Schneider Electric of today. From partnerships, seeding and accelerating startups, incubations, and joint ventures with established firms, Schneider Electric is covering the globe and working with entrepreneurs to turn bold ideas into reality.


United Airlines believes innovation and sustainability are twin engines that drive progress in seeking to become the most environmentally conscious airline in the world. United’s commitment to a more sustainable future supports research and development focused on reducing carbon in the atmosphere, recycling and redistribution strategies for decommissioned goods and programming that provides environmental education. Learn more at united.com/EveryActionCounts.


Hawaiian Electric Industries (HEI) is the parent of the three largest utilities in the Hawaiian Islands – Hawaiian Electric Company, Inc., Hawaii Electric Light Company, Inc. and Maui Electric Company, Ltd. – and one of Hawaii’s largest financial institutions, American Savings Bank.


Fifth Wall is the largest venture capital firm focused on technology for the global real estate industry. Fifth Wall invests in technology companies tackling some of the most pressing, real world problems, be it climate change, aging buildings and infrastructure, inaccessible housing markets, unreliable supply chains, or the future of work, to name a few.


By 2030, Google is aiming to reach both 24/7 carbon-free energy and net zero emissions. Google is actively collaborating across industries to accelerate innovation in three areas: purchasing and consumption for energy and removals; carbon-free energy technologies; and policy advancements that drive clean energy access and adoption.


Shopify is a leading provider of essential internet infrastructure for commerce. The company’s Sustainability Fund contributes $5 million annually to support tech-driven entrepreneurs. The goal of the Fund is to assist companies that are proving, scaling, and commercializing climate technologies for massive impact in the long term.


PepsiCo products are enjoyed by consumers more than one billion times a day in more than 200 countries and territories around the world. PepsiCo generated more than $70 billion in net revenue in 2020, driven by a complementary food and beverage portfolio that includes Frito-Lay, Gatorade, Pepsi-Cola, Quaker, Tropicana and SodaStream. PepsiCo’s product portfolio includes a wide range of enjoyable foods and beverages, including 23 brands that generate more than $1 billion each in estimated annual retail sales.


Kurita Group, headquartered in Japan, is a global water and environment company. Kurita provides comprehensive solutions by integrating its capabilities in water treatment chemicals, water treatment facilities, and maintenance services.


SK Gas is part of SK Group, the third largest conglomerate in Korea. SK Gas also owns and manages a portfolio of businesses, including power generation, renewable energy development, and property development. SK Gas is looking for technologies that bring innovation to the energy sector and has high interest in service solutions (e.g., energy storage systems, energy efficiency, etc.) that are built around enhancing engagement with end customers.


Microsoft (Nasdaq “MSFT” @microsoft) enables digital transformation for the era of an intelligent cloud and an intelligent edge. Its mission is to empower every person and every organization on the planet to achieve more.


Based in Silicon Valley and operating globally, Honda Innovations drives corporate transformation within all areas of Honda. Its open innovation program, Honda Xcelerator, serves as a catalyst to jumpstart new businesses and back early-stage technologies. From strategic partnerships and investments to co-development with startups, the focus of Honda Innovations is all aspects of the mobility ecosystem of the future.


EDF (Électricité de France) is a global, integrated energy company, one of the world’s largest electricity producers, with 90% of its electricity carbon free. EDF is the largest renewable energy producer in Europe and amongst the largest in North America. With 140 GW of generation capacity across more than 30 countries, EDF generates, transports, distributes and sells electricity to 38 million customers worldwide.


PTT, a Fortune 500 and a member of World DJSI, is a fully integrated energy and petrochemical company in Thailand. Aside from traditional energy, petrochemical, and trading businesses, PTT invests in New S-Curve businesses under the ‘Design Now’ strategy. PTT’s Innovation Team and Corporate Venture Capital identifies, partners, and invests globally in technologies for energy and sustainability, which can solve developing countries’ challenges.


Chubu Electric Power has been establishing new revenue growth areas as global markets undergo rapid change. The company strives to solve societal issues that local communities are facing by combining its strength cultivated in its energy business and the latest technologies that can meet customer demand.


As a Group with a large reach in the traditional sector, GS is looking to expand and improve beyond their core business. GS is searching for ways to invest in sustainability, and hope to expedite these goals through a partnership with Elemental Excelerator.


Acario is the Silicon Valley based Corporate Venture and Open Innovation arm of Tokyo Gas, the largest gas utility in Japan. Upon the deregulation of the electricity and gas markets in Japan, Acario was created to explore and invest in emerging technologies in the new energy and sustainability sectors. Their current investment focus areas include mobility solutions, renewables and energy storage, next-generation grid infrastructure and services, and sustainability.


Arup is the creative force at the heart of many of the world’s most prominent projects in the built environment and across industry. Working in more than 140 countries, the firm’s designers, engineers, architects, planners, consultants and technical specialists work with our clients on innovative projects of the highest quality and impact. Arup Ventures brings that experience to support solutions for the built environment – developed by Arup or our startup collaborators – that shape a better world. www.arup.com


Grubb Properties, founded in 1963, is a vertically integrated real estate fund manager focused on the Essential Housing space through its Link ApartmentsSM brand. Link ApartmentsSM targets residents earning between 60% and 140% of area median income (AMI), directly addressing a growing crisis for essential housing, while providing residents with exceptional living spaces. Grubb Properties maintains a long-term perspective and its careful and measured approach to real estate investment has delivered resilient and impressive returns. Grubb Properties has received numerous sustainability designations and recognitions, and undergoes annual ESG assessments through GRESB. For more information, visit www.grubbproperties.com.


Ara Ake is New Zealand’s national new energy development centre, leading and facilitating the development of low-emissions energy innovation. Ara Ake’s area of impact is the demonstration and commercialisation stage of the energy innovation lifecycle. Through their network of local and global connections, they identify opportunities and technology with change-making potential and collaborate with the right expertise, infrastructure and capital to develop, test and commercialise low-emissions energy solutions (www.araake.co.nz).


National Grid Partners (NPG) makes and manages strategically and financially attractive investments and leads company-wide innovation efforts. The organization focuses on innovation, incubation, corporate venture capital and business development providing a multi-functional approach to change the status quo. NGP is based in Silicon Valley with offices and team members in Los Gatos, San Francisco, Boston, London, and New York.


Ulupono is a Hawaii-focused impact investing firm working to improve the quality of life for island residents in four key areas: locally produced food; clean, renewable energy; and better management of water and waste.


Future Energy Ventures is the venture capital investment and collaboration platform of E.ON, with €250 million invested capital in its portfolio. It invests in digital and digitally enabled technologies and business models that have the potential to redefine the future energy landscape. Typically focusing on digital, scalable and asset-light companies seeking Series A and beyond funding, Future Energy Ventures seeks to capitalise on the investment opportunities presented by the transition to this new energy future and maximise scaling opportunities for its portfolio.


Hawai’i Energy educates island families and businesses about the many, lasting benefits of clean energy. They encourage and reward practical energy-saving decisions and believe that together, we can save money, grow our economy and reduce the demand for electricity imports.


Aliaxis is a leader in advanced piping systems for building, infrastructure, industrial and agriculture applications; providing sustainable and innovative solutions that make clean water, sanitation and energy accessible to communities across the globe. Aliaxis Ventures invests in and partners with innovative and collaborative companies active in solving water-related challenges.