MaRS Cleantech’s 12 highlights of 2013

MaRS Cleantech’s 12 highlights of 2013

There are far more than a dozen reasons why 2013 was a triumphant year, but in the spirit of the holiday season, here are the cleantech practice’s 12 highlights of 2013.

For the first highlight of 2013, MaRS Cleantech gave to me: 61 valuable ventures. The new companies that joined the cleantech practice this year bring innovative ideas that are fostering the growth of cleantech in general and the MaRS ecosystem in particular.

For the second highlight of 2013, MaRS Cleantech gave to me: over 20 nifty networking events. These networking events were for clients, investors, industry and strategic partners, and focused on diverse topics relevant to cleantech entrepreneurs.

For the third highlight of 2013, MaRS Cleantech gave to me: one helpful hackathon. The MaRS Energy Hackathon was a weekend-long event that brought 100 developers together with London Hydro, MaRS client Energent and Affinity Systems to develop innovative ideas for the energy data space as part of Ontario’s Green Button initiative.

MaRS Energy Hackathon brought 100 developers together at MaRS

For the fourth highlight of 2013, MaRS Cleantech gave to me: nearly 25 special speaking opportunities. At any given time this year you could find at least one cleantech staff member speaking at a conference or event around Canada, the United States, Europe, Asia or South America, developing international relationships and promoting the ventures that we work with.

For the fifth highlight of 2013, MaRS Cleantech gave to me: over 100 media mentions. Many of the articles about cleantech companies and initiatives were featured in leading newspapers and journals.

For the sixth highlight of 2013, MaRS Cleantech gave to me: seven impactful investments. The MaRS Cleantech Fund made three new investments and four follow-on investments this year.

For the seventh highlight of 2013, MaRS Cleantech gave to me: one crowdfunding campaign. Revelo Bikes launched an Indiegogo campaign and raised over $25,000 for its revolutionary electric bike.

The Revelo Bikes team shows off its LIFE Bike

For the eighth highlight of 2013, MaRS Cleantech gave to me: over 30 thorough thought leadership pieces. Blogs, articles and insight papers were written targeting cleantech issues, clients and solutions, with the goal of raising awareness and generating conversation. Read the MaRS blog and MaRS reports.

For the ninth highlight of 2013, MaRS Cleantech gave to me: one anticipated announcement. Smart Energy Instruments launched its first smart-grid chipset product line in partnership with Hitachi High-Technologies Corporation.

For the 10th highlight of 2013, MaRS Cleantech gave to me: three engaging episodes. Green Energy Futures highlighted MaRS companies Morgan Solar, eCAMION and Temporal Power, as well as the MaRS Cleantech Fund with blogs and episodes.

For the 11th highlight of 2013, MaRS Cleantech gave to me: five honourable honorees. This year, the Clean50 honorees included three MaRS companies, Pulse Energy, Sylleta and Zerofootprint, as well as MaRS advisor Peter Love and strategic partner Tower Labs @ MaRS.

For the 12th highlight of 2013, MaRS Cleantech gave to me: Tom Rand. Tom was the winner of the 2013 Outstanding Commitment to the Environment Award and is a great advisor and managing partner of the MaRS Cleantech Fund.

I can’t wait to see the term sheets, commercial sales, expanding teams and other successes that 2014 will bring! Happy Holidays from the MaRS Cleantech team! And now, for a little extra holiday cheer, I present a cleantech-ified Jingle Bells:

♫♬♪Dashing all around,
In an entrepreneurial way,
Helping our firms grow,
In a cleantech-friendly way.
Making intros grow,
And providing mentorship,
What fun it was to advise and watch
Our ventures grow this year!

Cleantech firms, cleantech firms,
Greening all the way.
Oh what fun it is to grow
In an Earth-improving way!
Cleantech firms, cleantech firms,
Greening all the way.
Oh what fun it is to grow
In an Earth-improving way! ♫♬♪