XTC Startup Competitions @ CES 2023 Finalists: Sustainable Smart Cities
This KITE Analyst report addresses the overall growth and size of the Smart City vertical, the eight finalists selected within the Smart City category for the XTC Startup Competition @ CES 2023, and comparable startups building within the greater Smart City Ecosystem. The twenty-three companies were narrowed down to the top three, which had the most compelling value propositions with the largest total addressable markets. The Top 3 companies are Enexor BioEnergy, Ionate, and Watersight.
Enexor BioEnergy has the most compelling value proposition out of all the companies in this report. The company deploys an Energy-as-a-Service (EaaS) model that sells renewable energy to customers. They do this by providing a freight-like unit that enables the client to store garbage of all kinds, which the unit then transforms into electricity and thermal power. Due to its unique business model where the customers buy energy instead of the product, clients are not investing in renewable energy, thereby not exposing themselves to risk. They get the immediate upside of using renewable energy.
Ionate presents a relatively unique value proposition and technology offering. For context, anywhere electricity is consumed, generated, or moved, a machine called a “Transformer” is used to transfer the energy. While the technology works, it has been over 100 since its last upgrade. Ionate is looking to change this by developing a more energy and cost-efficient version of a transformer. With electricity being widely used worldwide, this start-up has a large addressable market.
Watersight, like the other two top companies chosen for this report, has a significant addressable market. Their product consists of a device that attaches to water pipes and monitors water quality in real-time. As a joint venture with the Israeli national water company, they have a big customer from the get-go and have an excellent source for feedback to develop their market-product fit. Like Ionate, this product can be used world-wide.
