On March 12th, 18 startup teams gathered in the new atrium at . After a long day of asking and answering every possible detail about their proposals, just ten teams–one of them being UBIK Solutions–had the right answers and will enter the program starting April 9. This is the story of how we got there.

The candidate startups were gatered at the facilities of HighTechXL in the HighTech Campus of Eindhoven one day before, on March 11th.

There, Eric Broekhuizen, COO & program Director, gave an overview of what was waiting for us in the upcominf two days. A perfect mix of pitches, workshops and meetings was created in order to prepare us for the "D day" at ASML's headquarters.

Our CEO, Andre Lindvest, gives business cards to the Intellectual Property Experts of HighTechXL.

The insights were extremely valuable, getting a "demo" of what the full accelerator would be, getting us more prepared for the finals of next day but also more eager to be one of the 10 lucky start-ups being selected for the program. Without knowing it, we were already writing the first page of our upcoming participation in the HighTechXL Accelerator.

But that day was relaxed if we compared it with the Impact Finals: The intense 10-hour day started at 9:30, after the welcome words by HighTechXL CEO Anique Soetermeer-Gabriels. Rob van der Werf, Director of New Business Development of ASML, also welcomed the attendants. By this time, we had no idea how intensive this day was going to be, no matter of how many warnings about it we had the previous day.

Presenting UBIK's proposal, our New Product Implementation & BD Manager, Gerardo García Díaz, explained why the world needs to foster the usage of solar energy... and why our S350 OptiVerter® is the perfect device to achieve a sustainable energy economy.

The 18 teams were carefully observed by the

At this point, is understandable that all startups were vying for the right to enter the seventh cohort of the five-year-old HighTechXL Accelerator, that in this time has shaped 56 teams–soon to be 66–and helped those companies raise about 41 million euros in early-stage funding.

The only brief break in this intensive schedule was lunch–made of sandwiches, as the Dutch tradition states–not being some of the start-ups being able to get a moment of relax even after the eight rounds came to an end.

UBIK Solutions was in that last group, since we were also selected as one of the four start-ups that made it into the pitch battle. In front of the attendants and a jury of four experts, Gerardo tried his best to answer the incisive questions made by Thibaut Decré, Speaker of the Pitch Battle and Program Lead & Tooling Manager of HighTechXL. In the other side of the ring was Adel Arigue, CEO of Airbliss+.

Even tough UBIK's answers got the favour of the crowd, Airbliss+'s proposal was more convincing for the jury, that granted him a ticket to the final round. Though he didn't make it to the first place in the end, the general feeling was "at least we don't need to answer questions anymore".

The selected teams to enter the Accelerator were revealed by Anique Soetermeer-Gabriels at 19h. She rated the new HighTechXL Class of 2018 “a very diverse batch, with some very early-stage startups, and some later-stage firms. And it’s a very international batch again.”

"When it comes to startups, the Eindhoven model is not so different from The Valley Model: Ultimately, it’s not so much about the tech as it is about the people", Soetermeer-Gabriels said.

The ten teams that made it to the HighTechXL Accelerator received an award and an invitation to come back on April 9th.

“It’s all about how enthusiastic these people are,” she said. “How well can we coach them? Can we coach them in areas where we’re most knowledgeable? Do they have the network to help them further in their journey of building a business?”

With this, UBIK Solution will benefit from all the advantages of the programme, some of them being:

A 3-month result-oriented program run by the experienced HighTechXL Team with focus on customer traction and funding.Hundreds of hours of expert support from not only ASML, Philips and NTS-Group, but also specialists from EY, ABN AMRO Bank and other partners in sales, engineering, manufacturing, IP, supply chain, finance, legal, internationalization and investment.Pilots with partnering companies.Support from hundreds of mentors formally connected to HighTechXL.Access to potential customers, partners and suppliers.Professional workspace at the High Tech Campus Eindhoven, the prime tech campus in Europe, where 160 companies and institutes are based.

With us, other nine teams will be accelerated during the next three month (and will for sure become good friends of UBIK). They are:

AirBliss+: Based in the United Kingdom, AirBliss+ created a smart air pollution breathing mask. AirBliss+ emphasizes excellent user-experiences such as fit, ease of cleaning and ease in breathing, eliminating heat and humidity.

MiniFab3D: From Mexico, Mini Fab3D designs and manufactures high-end 3D printers, robotic arms, computer numerical control devices and laser cutters. Their goal is to develop new technology including bringing a high-resolution stereo lithography printer to market at an accessible price.

Applied BioTech: Their core technology is a sustainable enzymatic process for the production of capsaicinoids, the spicy molecules from chili peppers. That’s right, hot peppers. In turn, those capsaicinoids are used as organic pest repellants, coatings, in making pharmaceuticals and, of course, pepper sprays for self-defense. The team is from Mexico.

Tusti: Tusti is a high-tech recycling company, founded in 2015 by the cooperation of Technical University of Eindhoven, Holding and Stiphout (Stiphout Industries, Stip Recycling and Stiphout Plastics). Among other innovations, Tusti has developed a cleaning process to remove frying oil from high-density polyethylene, a polyethylene thermoplastic made from petroleum, making it easier to recycle.

Hipermotion: From Eindhoven, Hipermotion developed a new medical rehabilitation and training machine, the MaxDFM, using patented dynamic force modulation technology.

Recath: From Eindhoven Medical Robotics, Recath has developed a minimally invasive robotic catheterization technology. The steerable device utilizes Bluetooth.

Flow Matters: Flow Matters is from the Technical University of Eindhoven in the Netherlands. Flow Matters offers consultancy services and software for fluid dynamics simulations to help engineers at high-tech companies design products effectively with state-of- the-art numerical models translated from fundamental and applied research into the industrial practice.

StormRam 4: From the University of Twente in the Netherlands, StormRam 4 is the world’s smallest and most accurate 3D-printed biopsy robot. Driven by air pressure, the plastic 3D printed StormRam 4 can be used in MRI machines, which increases the accuracy of the procedures.

MindYour Pass: MindYour Pass from the Netherlands is a security startup that has developed a system allowing people to access all digital accounts with one password while still maintaining security. Their slogan is: “No more difficult passwords to remember, yet all your external accounts secured with a strong password.”

See you all in few weeks!

The Eindhoven-based HighTechXLaccelerator has confirmed that UBIK Solutions has been invited, after careful considerations, to the Impact Summit to be held in the High Tech Campus of the city between March 11 and 13th.

During the 3-day event, we will have the opportunity to meet the Eindhoven startup ecosystem and connect to crucial actors in the industry.

The program includes round-table sessions with corporate executives and industry experts, and a pitch battle. But most importunately, it would give UBIK Solutions and HighTechXL the chance to get to know each other and explore working together.

If we succeed in the Impact Finals, a place in the HighTechXL accelerator 3-month programme will be granted.

May the force be with us!

On the night of October 31st, the SEB Innovation Centre of Tallinn was home to the , where the six top energy start-ups of the country pitched their innovations in order to get a ticket for the Grand Finals of Budapest.

The PowerUP! Competition is the biggest regional competition for energy start-ups in central and eastern Europe (CEE), launched by continent’s largest sustainable energy accelerator, InnoEnergy. With this competition, Innoenergy is offering the opportunity to take part in its flagship Highway programme, which offers support worth €150k to the most promising sustainable energy start-ups, along with three cash prizes of up to €20k.

October 31st event was the culmination of the Estonian round of the competition, that included Business and Pitching training delivered by Petri Kajander and Gleb Maltsev, respectively.

"It was a very well organized event. I mean not only Estonia's final event itself, but also preparatory training and team support, all of which helped to reach the peak and made the performance appealing to the final event", said Andre Lindvest, CEO of UBIK Solutions.

Conducted by the Australian comedian Louis Zezeran, the event included an inspirational presentation given by Jesper Parve, a blogger, writer and world traveler, who spoke of his own example of how important it is to have something to do or to dream of acting on it following his life-motto "if you want something, go get it".

But the core of the gathering was to allow the the six companies that made it to the National Finals to present their innovations in the hope of represent Estonia in the Grand Finals of Budapest:

Following the alphabetical order determined by the organisation, our CEO, Andre Lindvest, was the last one to take the stage and to the attendees with a presentation that enhanced the need of a sustainable energy economy by making solar harvesting more affordable and efficient.

During a break that allowed attendants to networking (and approach us to get ore information about the S350 OPTIVERTER®), the jury discussed about their final decision. It was composed by the following experts:

Finally, FuseBox (on-demandreduction of energy consumption for grid operators) won the Prototron Award given by Jana Pavlenkova, while Tomasz Jastrzębski awarded UBIK Solutions as the winner of the Estonian Finals.

Aside from Andre Lindvest, also Roman Kosenko, one of our Control Software Engineers, and Gerardo García Díaz, our New Product Implementation Manager, supported our CEO with their presence during the event.

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With this award, UBIK Solutions will represent Estonia on November 22nd at the PowerUp! Grand Final in Budapest, where we will face competition against the other 11 regional winners. The winners of the Finals can get a cash prize of up to 20k€ and access to the influential InnoEnergy Highway Accelerator (with an investment of up to 150k€), which will bring real ideas and projects to the market and develop into successful companies.

Next stop: RaM Colosseum, Budapest, Hungary.

Pictures of the event are available in the Facebook page of Tehnopol.

Tehnopol, regional organizer of InnoEnergy's PowerUp! Competition, has recently announced that , intermediate stage in the way to the Regional Final to be held in Budapest in November.

The PowerUP! Competition is the biggest regional competition for energy start-ups in central and eastern Europe (CEE), launched by continent’s largest sustainable energy accelerator, InnoEnergy. The competition looks for for start-ups working in one of the company's eight areas of focus:

· Renewable energy

· Smart electric grid

· Electricity storage

· Smart and efficient building and cities

· Energy efficiency

· Clean coal technologies

· Energy from chemicals fuels

· Sustainable nuclear and renewable convergence

With this competition, Innoenergy is offering the opportunity to take part in its flagship Highway programme, which offers support worth €150k to the most promising sustainable energy start-ups, along with three cash prizes of up to €20k.

After successfully passing Stage I (applications round), and prior to participate in the National Final, UBIK Solutions will attend the bootcamp workshops organized by Tehnopol, intended to hone our ideas and develop skills to accelerate our businesses towards commercialization. They will include professional mentoring given by Petri Kajander (business coaching) and Gleb Maltsev (pitching training).

Only 15 start-ups will advance to the grand final in Budapest in November to battle for the top cash prize of €20k and the opportunity to join InnoEnergy’s exclusive Highway programme. The Highway is a unique accelerator programme worth up for €150k for early stage start-ups with a time to market of less than two years.

Jakub Miller, CEO of InnoEnergy Poland Plus, says:

“CEE has huge innovation potential and we’re on a mission to realise that. We want to find the biggest, best and brightest innovations that can make Europe’s sustainable energy future a reality. By offering them bootcamp workshops, professional mentoring, and business and financial support we hope to empower these companies to make a real difference to CEE’s economy.”

The Estonian Final will be held on October 31st, where UBIK Solutions will pitch its disruptive proposal to a panel of CEE industry, start-up and energy experts.

Last week, UBIK Solutions's team members successfully accomplished the installation of the first 18 UBIK S350 OPTIVERTER® devices that are part of the Interreg GreenPE Project in Tartu, Estonia.

The project consisting of 6 research institutions with expertise in Advanced PE, 18 companies from the energy supply chain (4 project partners, 14 associated partners) as well as 7 partners from business development associations, technology transfer institutions and cluster organisations. The consortium establishes an effective collaboration in the Baltic Sea region which accelerates the market uptake of energy efficient Advanced PE.

In that context, UBIK Solutions has in order to test the new S350 in the the roof of the Faculty of Science and Technology (Physicum). Up to 24 UBIK devices will share space with three string inverters with the intention of monitoring the production results of both technologies, showing the advantages of solar energy and research institutions-company cooperation.

UBIK Solutions will also attend the upcoming Interreg Joint Project Meeting taking place on 21st and 22nd of September in Tartu.

About the project:

The GreenPE will enhance the capacity of Baltic Sea Region companies to take up advanced power electronics into their R&D strategies and investment planning. Advanced power electronics is based on new materials and is a disruptive technology enabling the energy supply chain to increase energy efficiency.

Green Power Electronics provides a collaboration platform in the Baltic Sea Region for research institutions, established companies, and start-ups. It initiates training workshops, on-company demonstrations, as well as consulting and marketing events.

For more information visit: http://balticgreenpower.eu/

Äripäev, the leading and oldest business newspaper in Estonia, interviewed our board and published in its latest issue in both its Estonian- and Russian-written editions.

During an interview held at the Power Electronics Group Laboratories of the Tallinn University of Technology (TTÜ), the board of the firm spoke about the founding story, the shareholders and the team

Power Electronics Group Laboratories of the Tallinn University of Technology (TTÜ) - From left to right and from top to bottom: Tanel Jalakas (Senior Hardware Engineer), Hannes Agabus (CBDO), Dmitri Vinnikov (CTO), Gerardo García Díaz (NPI Manager) and Andre Lindvest (CEO).

Our CTO and Scientist of the year 2016 in the TTÜ, Dr.Sc.techn. Dmitry Vinnikov, explained Äripäev how UBIK Solutions is the result of his long scientific work and how in three years we have successfully reached a working product that represents a totally unique approach in the solar industry.

"Our innovative Optiverter, so-called “shadow-tolerant maximum power point tracking”, enables efficient energy production, even with a significantly shaded solar panel. This ensures maximum energy output, even if, for example, two out of three strings of the panel are dirty, covered with snow or wood leaves and therefore completely or partially shaded" noted Vinnikov.

The product is currently in its testing and certification stage in order to enter the European market next Autumn while US release will follow in 2018, as it was explained to Äripäev by Andre Lidvest, our CEO.

He also told the journalists another of the great advantages of the device: that it is suitable for all panel types. “Our biggest competitive advantage lies in the fact that in worst case scenarios, such as solar panel shading, our converter can handle about 30% more energy from the panel," Lindvest said.

Hannes Agabus, our CBDO, explained how the S350 OPTIVERTER® is a truly all-in-one device, integrating the communications gateway and allowing the customer to monitor the system via FlowEM—our web, Android and iOS management application, which name is also registeded.

"Already now, you can monitor the production of electricity and the parameters of the state of solar panels to make sure that everything is in order. Our next step is to offer a deeper analysis to optimize the energy flow and move forward towards an increasingly integrated and experienced consumer" Agabus said.

In the business side, he also acknowledges the challenge that represents the business-academic cooperation, since the company is at the intersection of business and science: "We had to do everything very constructively, and think on many steps forward".

Roman Kosenko, Control Software Engineer, configures the devices that are currently testing at Seljametsa, in Pärnu, Estonia.

Martin Kruus, Chairman of the Board of 4Energia and one of the shareholders of the firm, spoke also in the article about the importance of renewable energies and how the sun and the wind are in some sense rivals, but in practice, operate in many different niches. For Kruus, the advantage of solar energy is not only that it is releatively easy to integrate in buildings, but also that since in that case the production is close to the consumer and the energy produced can be directly consumed, network charges are reduced to a third.

Vinnikov added that everything goes to the fact that the Energy Performance of Buildings Directive, that requires all new buildings to be nearly zero-energyby the end of 2020, will be a great motivation for solar energy since, for small households, windmills are not suitable in a densely built environment. Agabus added also that the product could be integrated without problems into any "smart house".

UBIK Solutions is expected to be, by 2021, a recognised global player in the Module Level Power Electronics (MLPE) market under 10kW with an estimated Compound Anual Grouth Rate (CAGR) of circa 30% and an estimated market share of +10%.

Before that, the firm aims to raise capital “in order to validate the solution for customers, start production and sales, while continuing to develop, make the product more functional, compact, smarter and cheaper”, noted Lindvest.

“We have a good chance to enter the highly popular energy storage world and provide innovative power electronics solutions. Solar energy with storage is an undeniable future. However, it is a very capital intensive and time-consuming development, which many fear.”

Based on the Estonian and Russian articles of Alyona Stadnik. TTÜ Laboratory picture by Andras Kralla.

About the publisher:

Äripäev is the leading B2B publisher and the biggest conference maker for managers in Estonia. Its namesake flaghsip publication is the most read among decision makers in the Nordic country. The mission of Äripäev as a company is to make the Estonian business environment a shiny example in transparency and entrepreneurship on a global scale by being the leading information provider to business professionals.

Between the 10th and 13th of May, our team member Jaanika visited St. Gallen (Switzerland) andKonstanz (Germany), during her trip together with the Ecoinnovation Club of Tartu University. The aim of the trip was increasing cooperation between Estonia, Ukraine, Uzbekistan and Switzerland in the renewable energy sector and visiting the8th St. Gallen Forum for Management of Renewable Energiesin Olma Messen, St. Gallen.

The forum concentrated on topics like: drivers and barriers to customer acceptance of e-mobility; investing in renewable energies in a risky policy environment; local ownership and community financing for renewable energy projects; energy storage and smart grid solutions; visualization and gamification approaches for making sustainable energy consumption fun and meaningful; and managing diversity for a successful energy transition. Being a part of power electronics and solar power sector, UBIK was especially interested in smart grid solutions and successful energy transition topics, but was also happy to see that this year's Zurich Climate Prize ''Buildings & Housing'' category winner (Solaxess SA) came from the field of solar energy (PV modules).

The project also included visits to International Solar Energy Research Center (ISC) Konstanz; Behavioral Lab-HSG and Center for Entrepreneurship (CfE) of University of St. Gallen. All in all, during the forum and the visits, the topics regarding renewable energies were mainly viewed from the academical aspect, but there were also many practical tips included, starting with the question of: ''Which matters the most when creating acceptance of renewable energies in Estonia, Ukraine and Switzerland'' or ''What actual VR experience really means'' and finishing with creativity tips on using gamification in solar energy sector. Not to mention life hacks like ''where to get the best Swiss cheese fondue'' or ''how to achieve laser-sharp focus when there is unusually great amount of sunshine and beautiful mountains right beside you''.

Between May 4th and 6th, UBIK Solutions was present at the second edition of Innova Barcelona, the International Exhibition of Innovation that gathered 200 innovation projects from 10 different countries alongside with networking, round tables and speeches on industry and industrial processes, energy and sustainability, medicine and health, and services and tourism.

The firm showcased in world premiere the S350 OptiVerter®, catching the attention of companies, institutions and investors due to its advantages regarding energy harvest, safety and plug & play capability. Useful contacts were made, and future cooperations are one of the main outputs that the company brought back to Estonia from the exhibition.

In addition to the showcasing, our NPI Manager, Gerardo García Díaz, presented the device and its technology in front of 50 private investors as a part of the Innova Investment Forum organised by BANC, the Business Angels Network of Catalonia.

Our project was selected among the 60 candidates to be part of the six finalists that presented at the Investment Forum, receiving positive feedback and being quoted as "solid project with big potential" by the President of BANC, Albert Colomer i Espinet, who encouraged UBIK Solutions to apply in the upcoming EBAN Málaga Investment Forum as a part of the Málaga Innovation Week that will take place in the Andalusian city next June.

Member of our board, Dr. Dmitri Vinnikov was honored as the Scientist of the Year 2016 of Tallinn University of Technology. In addition, tight cooperation with UBIK lead to achieving victorious 2nd place in the "Applied Research Project of the Year 2016” competition by the Power Electronics Group members lead by Dr Vinnikov.

Focus was on the development of our OPTIVERTER® Technology—the revolutionary power conversion technology for residential and small-to-medium commercial photovoltaic installations.

OPTIVERTER® is a pioneering hybrid technology that merges the key features of recently popular photovoltaic (PV) power optimizers and PV microinverters, such as shade-tolerant maximum power point tracking (MPPT), galvanic isolation, direct and safe AC grid connectivity, monitoring of energy production and state of health of a PV module, safety cut-off as well as low cost of installation, and flexible scaling up of a PV power system.

Congratulations for those honourable achievements also from UBIK! It’s another proof that great cooperation brings fruitful results!

We are glad to announce that our first test site with two of UBIK S350 OPTIVERTER® is now up and running at the Kuuvalguse farm in Seljametsa village, Pärnu!

We would also like to thank Mr. Gunnar Möldre for the cooperation.

We are happy to announce that UBIK Solutions has reached Nordic Cleantech Open Top 25 of the most promising Scandinavian cleantech start-up companies from around 100 tech companies!

The Nordic Cleantech Open is a business competition aiming to identify, upgrade and display the top 25 early stage cleantech companies in the Nordic region each year. The jury consisted of about 40 influential professionals from multinational companies and venture capitalists.

In addition to Ubik Solutions, the Top 25 included also: DanSolar; Dlaboratory; Drinor; EnergyNest; Flow-Loop; Greater Than; iFoodbag; Infuser; Kube Energy; Luxmet; Modvion; pool.farm; Resen Waves; Sansox; Scandinavian Water Technology; SiOx; Soil Scout; Strongcrete; Swedish Algae Factory; Sympower; W-Rix; Windmaster Technologies; Winfoor; and Ximantis.

Next pitching and event will take place from 10th to 12th February in Trolleholm, Sweden.

Congratulations from UBIK to all the companies! See you at the competition and further gatherings!

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