Shell launches startup accelerator in Singapore

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Oil and gas giant Shell has launched a startup accelerator program in Singapore focusing on energy-related startups.

Called IdeaRefinery, the program will last 20 weeks and is open to Singapore-registered companies who have “not received Series A funding of more than US$1 million,” according to the FAQ.

In contrast to accelerators like Y Combinator or Techstars, IdeaRefinery will not invest in startups in exchange for equity. However, it will provide these benefits:

• Mentorships with senior Shell executives
• Access to industry leaders
• Free office space
• Media coverage
• Exposure to investors during a final demo day during Make the Future Singapore 2018.

It defines “energy-related” endeavors as:

• Clean energy generation via renewable, low-carbon, and waste-capturing technologies
• Energy efficient technologies
• Energy usage monitoring using sensors
• Energy storage
• Energy transportation via gas and bitumen

Interested startups must apply here by October 2017.

Shell calls IdeaRefinery a “no-strings attached” program. “Neither Shell nor its partners retain any equity or benefit commercially from the growth of the startups,” says Thio Chin-Wui, social performance and social investment advisor at Shell Singapore. IdeaRefinery also contributes to Shell’s goal of becoming a lab to test and commercialize clean energy solutions.

Nonetheless, Shell has a corporate venture capital arm called Shell Technology Ventures. The VC firm’s head, Steve McGrath, is an advisor in IdeaRefinery.

Many corporations in Singapore have set up their own accelerators. Daimler, the company that owns Mercedes Benz, runs the Startup Autobahn Singapore Fintech Accelerator. The program gathers problems faced by teams throughout Daimler, and then invites startups to help solve them. The largest newspaper publisher in the country, Singapore Press Holdings, ran its own accelerator, although the program has died.