Creating a pathway for growth
The Better Futures Retrofit Accelerator
Unlocking climate solutions in London’s built environment
Better Futures Retrofit Accelerator
The Better Futures Retrofit Accelerator (BFRA) creates a pathway to growth and commercial success for a diverse range of climate startups who are ready to implement and scale up their solutions to the climate crisis across the built environment sector, with a particular focus on decarbonising buildings. It offers a gateway into the London retrofit market, with the aim of unlocking the barriers to market entry, setting the foundation for a successful commercial scale up and reducing London’s greenhouse gas emissions significantly.
Powered by Imperial College London, via Undaunted and Enterprise, the Better Futures Retrofit Accelerator is part of the Greater London Authority’s Better Futures programme, co-funded by the UK government through the UK Shared Prosperity Fund.
Let’s meet the cohorts…
Cohort 1
“The Better Futures Retrofit Accelerator can benefit the startups, firstly, to help revalidate customers that can buy into these solutions,” says Stephen Lorimer, co-founder of Building Atlas, “and secondly, support us in gaining access to data that help support our business models that look towards the future and not the past.”
Cohort 2
An Equitable Climate Innovator
Meet Preethi Jayakumar, who is leading clean tech solutions at Anzen Smart Walls with co-founder Dhruv Shah. Anzen is revolutionising indoor climate control, for healthier, energy efficient, and equitable homes for all.
Dehumidification & Heat Recovery
Isometric Outcomes specialises in bathroom dehumidification and heat recovery. We spoke with its founder, Alain Alban, to learn about his motivations for working in the cleantech space and bringing this climate solution to the built environment sector.
Mission to Reduce AC Emissions
As per the International Energy Agency, by 2050, air conditioning services (A/Cs) are set to contribute 18% of the world’s CO2 emissions. Cosysense is a startup on a mission to reduce energy bills and CO2 emissions by 15%.
From Data to Decarbonisation
“We work with commercial real estate owners. We ask for nothing except the locations of buildings. With that we are able to supply them with the order of priorities for renovating their buildings in the future. We protect the value of their buildings and their investments.”
What to expect from the BFRA programme
The ventures can be developing innovations in physical and digital technologies across the following areas (this is not ax exhaustive list, and we are also interested in SMEs who may not fit into one of the following!):
- building materials
- building systems
- energy solutions
- digital products
- other advisory services
Eligibility
- London-based
- classified as in the LCEGS (Low Carbon Environmental Goods and Services) sector
- developing products or services suitable for the retrofit sector which have the potential to save significant green-house gas emissions
- ready to implement and scale up their solutions
We encourage people from underserved communities to apply and recognise under-representation of women, minority ethnic groups, disabled persons, neurodivergent persons, and the LGBTQI+ community in our startup portfolios.
To bridge this gap, Undaunted encourages applications from people of all races, religions, national origins, genders, sexual orientations, gender identities, gender expressions, and ages, as well as veterans and individuals with disabilities.
Imperial College London and Grantham Institute – Climate Change and the Environment values equity, diversity, and inclusion to improve representation across all its programmes and partnerships.
How do you benefit from being a part of the cohort?
- R&D advice
- internships
- technical workspace
- a network of key industry stakeholders
- demonstration trials and deployment of low-carbon building innovations
Participate: SMEs looking to grow
Applications for SMEs to join our cohorts are now closed for the Better Futures Retrofit Accelerator. Sign up to the Undaunted newsletter to stay in-the-loop on future opportunities.
Participate: stakeholders and partners
To drive this transformative initiative forward, we are also looking for stakeholders to lend their expertise to SMEs and businesses in the built environment. The cohort will be guided through their knowledge to unblock the implementation of climate change solutions in London’s built environment. We are also looking for visionary partners who are willing to use a building project as a frame for the actions of the cohort, and to demonstrate first-of-a-kind innovations.
Please get in touch with us if you are interested in becoming a stakeholder or partner:
The partners behind the Better Futures Retrofit Accelerator
Imperial College London – Enterprise
Imperial’s Enterprise Division has created an entire ecosystem to support startups from the earliest seeds of an idea, via initiatives such as the Climate Entrepreneurs Club and Imperial Enterprise Lab, right through to fostering a flourishing innovation community at its campus in London’s White City Innovation District, where promising young businesses can access incubation support and scale up.
Undaunted
Grown in Imperial’s Grantham Institute for Climate Change and the Environment, Undaunted has climate expertise, science and passion for the planet in its DNA. Its thriving innovation ecosystem aims to make London and the UK a great place to start and scale intelligent, sustainable solutions to the climate challenge at pace. Over 190 exciting climate businesses have graduated from Undaunted’s accelerator programme, The Greenhouse, going on to raise more than $1 billion in investment since 2012 and creating over 2,000 jobs in 30 countries.
Better Futures
Better Futures is a collaborative initiative among leading organisations, led by the Greater London Authority, supporting cleantech SMEs across London to enable innovation, growth, job creation, and the reduction of greenhouse gas emissions to achieve net zero. After a recent £2.3m cash injection from the government’s UK Shared Prosperity Fund (UKSPF), Better Futures is set to embark on its third phase. Imperial’s Retrofit Accelerator programme is part of Better Futures 3.0.
Supported by
The Better Futures Retrofit Accelerator is supported by the Greater London Authority’s Better Futures programme, co-funded by the UK government through the UK Shared Prosperity Fund.
