Our list of partners continues to grow with the addition of ALD Automotive | Lease Plan! In addition to becoming a European Partner, ALD Automotive | Lease Plan is also sponsoring this year’s Female Entrepreneur special category award.  

A leading global sustainability mobility player, ALD Automotive | Lease Plan provides full-service leasing, flexible subscription services, fleet management services and multi-mobility solutions to a global client base of large corporates, SMEs, professionals and private individuals. 

All of our partners bring added value to our ecosystem of participating startups, meaning more support and opportunities for those who apply; ALD Automotive | Lease Plan is no exception. The company has 15,700 employees worldwide, direct operations in 44 countries, a total fleet of 3.4 million vehicles and EUR 400 million in digital investment firepower. Add to this a focus on innovation and technology-enabled services and a commitment to achieving net zero emissions, shaping the digital transformation and driving the large-scale adoption of sustainable mobility – and it’s clear that ALD Automotive | Lease Plan makes for a perfect match with our mission.     

“To remain the leading global sustainable mobility player we are today, it is essential that we foster a culture of innovation and stay ahead of the trends impacting our industry,” adds John Saffrett, Deputy CEO of ALD Automotive | Lease Plan . “Working with start-ups is not only inspiring but also a sure-fire way to find innovative new inroads to further improving mobility for our customers and partners.”  

ALD Automotive | Lease Plan, whose majority stakeholder is Societe Generale, is the listed company on Compartment A of Euronext Paris (ISIN: FR001328662 / Ticker: ALD).

After a 2-month call for projects, the European Startup Prize for Mobility (EUSP) closed its 5th edition on June 20 with a record number of applications. As co-founder of the EUSP – alongside Karima Delli and the Boston Consulting Group – Via ID has drawn up a portrait of the innovative companies in intelligent and sustainable mobility that are candidates for this edition (based on eligible startups).

The automotive and micromobility sectors well represented

In terms of mobility fields, over 40% of candidate companies specialize in the automotive sector. Also on the podium are micromobility (19%) and air transport (12.8%).

Mobility startups at the forefront of the ecological transition and gender equality

The EUSP gives priority to companies offering innovative sustainable mobility solutions with a positive environmental and societal impact. The candidates are on target: 63% of startups that applied to the EUSP contribute to reducing the carbon footprint of mobility. Over 20% of startups are working to reduce air pollution.

Candidates for the 5th edition are also particularly ahead of the game when it comes to gender parity. This year, 33% of startups that applied have at least one woman in the founding team, well above the European average of 10% (according to the 4th barometer carried out by SISTA and BCG in June 2023 on gender parity in the creation and financing of startups – all fields combined – covering 5 European countries: France, UK, Germany, Spain, Sweden).

France, fertile ground for mobility startups

39 European countries are represented among the EUSP 2023 participants (compared with 32 for the 4th edition). Among the most represented countries are France, Germany, Italy, Spain, the UK, Israel, the Netherlands, Sweden, Norway and Poland.

Discover the full infographic

We were in the neighbourhood. Yes, Israel’s is part of Europe’s Neighbourhood Policy, part of Horizon Europe and… part of the European Startup Prize for Mobility (EUSP). Israeli startups are therefore eligible to apply and win!

That’s why we thought we might as well go and invite them in person to apply during this year’s Tel Aviv EcoMotion Week . It was an opportunity to highlight why EUSP is the best ticket for Israeli startups into the European market.

“The entrepreneurs we met with are looking for ways to export their solutions into a larger market than Israel’s,” says EUSP Managing Director Dan Sobovitz. “Many of them are intuitively oriented towards the US market and they were very interested in hearing more about the advantages of choosing Europe.”

EUSP was active throughout the event, starting with a presentation on the Mobility360 stage that introduced Europe’s largest acceleration programme for clean mobility startups. We also presented at the Side Event of our partner EIT Urban Mobility, where over 100 participants got a first-hand look at EUSP’s suite of advisory, investment, mentorship, networking and visibility boosting services.

“The power of the unicorn”

To close out an action-packed week, we hosted our very own EcoMotion EUSP Side Event, paraphrasing the title of Israel’s Eurovision entry, titled Unicorn.

This was an opportunity to remind Israelis to not only send their unicorn songs to Eurovision, but to let Europe turn their startups into market unicorns. Europe is the world’s biggest market and Israel’s main trading partner – making it a very attractive pasture for Israeli unicorns to grow.

During the side event, our local partners echoed our message on what makes the EU such an attractive market, noting that Europe is both culturally and geographically closer to Israel than the US and, in some ways, even less regulated. Jan Hauser from EIT Urban Mobility spoke the way in which they are looking for startups to invest in via the EUSP candidates. Gosia Kowalczy from the EU Delegation to Israel encouraged Israeli entrepreneurs to apply and elaborated on the European opportunities. Dina Pasca-Raz from KPMG Israel advised startups to diversify and experiment in the EU market. Ron Stern from OurCrowd highlighted that as an investor, he recognises the EUSP quality label on potential startups. Finally, past prize winner, Andrea Mocellin from Revolve Air shared the winning experience with the audience, and Vincent Cabanel  from our co-founder Via ID who spoke about the evaluation procedure of the applicants and the acceleration programme for the winners.

Apply today!

Most importantly, don’t forget to apply for the European Startup Prize for Mobility today!

All submissions must be received by 20 June. Miss that deadline and you’ll have to wait an entire year for another shot at bringing your Israeli unicorn to Europe.

Please join us in saying Kia ora New Zealand, Marhaba Morocco! We are excited to announce that the European Startup Prize for Mobility is expanding its scope of eligible countries of origins.

As you may know, eligibility in our Prize is for all startups, based in the EU or countries associated with Horizon Europe in the present, past, or future. This means that startups from Tel Aviv, Reykjavik, Oslo or Kyiv are also part of the game.

Switzerland regrettably is no longer part of Horizon Europe but as we tend to get attached easily, we’re not ready to let the Alpine nation go. Swiss startups, whatever language you speak don’t miss your chance, schickt jetzt eure Bewerbungen, envoyez vos candidatures; inviate subito le vostre candidature!

But now there’s more! The UK, Morocco and even New Zealand are all in the process of negotiating their membership in Horizon Europe and already have respective provisional agreements in force. Forget the institutional lingo; what matters is that startups from these countries are now welcome to apply!

So wherever you are in the EU, Europe, Israel, Morocco or down under in New Zealand – if you have a brilliant clean mobility solution, Europe is your playground! We offer you a one-stop-shop to the European market; massive visibility, abundant financing opportunities, access to policy-makers, tailored business consultancy, acceleration programme, and more!

Don’t waste your time, registration for the 5th edition is open until 20 June 2023!

Color legend of the map

If your country is in one of these colors, you are part of the game!
Blue: EU countries
Green : Horizon Europe associated country

These partnerships bring added value to all participating startups, meaning more support and opportunities for those who apply! Give your startup a jump-start! Making startups a success story for 5 years in a row now, is what keeps this initiative a success! Always great to stand with our co-founders Boston Consulting Group (BCG), Via ID – Mobivia, and we welcome those returning for more startup action or joining us for the first of many!

We welcome on board EIT Urban Mobility, Voies navigables de France, Roland Berger, CA Auto Bank, European Climate Foundation, ECTA – European Clean Trucking Alliance, Volta Trucks, Die Autobahn GmbH des Bundes, Shift4Good!

No matter what stage you find yourself in your startup, with this all-star team, we can take your sustainable mobility vision all the way up! to new EU heights! Get support, coaching, financing, find your audience, advocate at EU level and curate your market opportunities.

Bigger, smarter, cleaner and more powerful. The European Startup Prize for Mobility is back for its 5th (!) edition. With new and returning partners, EU institutions, multinational corporations, and influential non-for-profit organisations; we are jointly offering startups in clean mobility a one stop shop European booster for their business. Apply once and benefit from all the participating partners!

Our new call for applications is opening 19 April 2023 and will remain open until 20 June. This goes out to all mobility startups in Europe, and in countries which are part of the Horizon programme! So regardless of which sector of mobility you are in, wherever in Europe you are based (in or outside the EU), or how advanced your startup is – we are waiting for your application. 

Learn more about the Prize, its partners, conditions, process, and more at our upcoming Opening Ceremony of the 5th edition, broadcast live from the  French Ministry of Transport in Paris by the Brussels Times. The opening ceremony is also an opportunity to hear from Europe’s  experts and leaders in clean mobility discussing and reflecting on the future of clean mobility in Europe.

Hold on tight. This is going to be one hell of a (clean) ride!

Last night we finally all met together, under one roof, like in the good old pre-Covid times for an incredible celebration of innovation, sustainability, and inclusion! Gathered at the ChangeNow summit in Paris as an official event of the French Presidency of the EU, our final ceremony allowed our ten winning startup to pitch their innovation and… compete!

Following live pitching and votes by both a professional jury and the public, a Gold Award was granted to:

– NOWOS(NL): software for predictive maintenance and recycling of electric batteries
– REVOLVE AIR (DE): a foldable wheelchair that makes all public transport accessible
– Storkjet (PL): software that reduces fuel consumption and CO2 emissions in the aviation sector
– Zeleros (SP): a hyperloop technology (1000km/h) for passenger transport and freight transport

Our Silver Award went to:

– BAQME (NL): a platform for shared electric cargo bikes, reducing short distance car trips in cities.
– Bia Power SL (ES): smart electric vehicle charging (EV) software platform.
– GO Sharing  (NL): electric shared transport  app, offering E-scooters, e-bikes and e-cars.
– Heex Technologies (FR): next generation of AI enabler, allowing companies to get to the data that they need.
– OTIV (BE): assistance and autonomous systems for rail vehicles in complex urban/industrial environments.
– Vianova (FR): uses connected vehicles data to help cities and mobility operators build more efficient and sustainable transport systems for people and goods.

Our winners will now start their six-month acceleration programme consisting of business mentorship, visibility exercises, funding opportunities, policy impact, and more. 

Final count: 10 startups; 2 Vice Presidents, a dozen EU institutions, private companies and joint undertakings, +100,000 viewers and… one prince. But forget about the numbers, we had an amazing night! Our winners will now start their six-month acceleration programme consisting of business mentorship, visibility exercises, funding opportunities, policy impact, and more.

REPLAY THE CEREMONY 2022

PHOTOS GALLERY

Our yearly highlight is our Award ceremony when we invite the new winning startups to pitch on one stage in front of our entire ecosystem of major companies, EU institutions, VIPs, and investors – all eager to discover Europe’s best clean mobility entrepreneurs. This year, we’ll bring the best of our previous versions; we’re back to a full physical location but we’re still going to broadcast a high level digital version. We’re proud to be part of the ChangeNow Summit and an official event of the French Presidency of the EU. But if you can’t make it to Paris, our media partner, the Brussels Times, will broadcast the event on its Facebook page and website. As always, viewers have an active role to play. Together with our professional jury – YOU will get to vote among the 10 pitches which ones were the best, deserving this year’s GOLD award.

Here’s our programme for the event:

Award Ceremony – 4th edition May 19th, 2022, 16h – 18h CET

Introduction

Dan Sobovitz, Moderator and CCO at the EUSP
Karima Delli, Chairwoman of the Committee on Transport at the European Parliament,
President of the EUSP

Greetings

HSH Prince Albert II of Monaco

First Pitching Session: 3 minutes per pitch + 1 minute for Q&A

Berenice van Gessel, Co-Founder of BAQME

Candace Saffery Neufeld, CEO&Founder of Bia Power SL

Lloyd Drop, Chief Growth Officer of GO Sharing

Bruno Mendez DaSilva, CEO of Heex Technologies

Ambre Eppler, Co-Founder of NOWOS

 
Round-table: What is Europe doing to foster Green innovation in the aftermath of the Covid-19 crisis?

Maroš Šefčovič, Vice-president of the European Commission, in charge of the European Battery Alliance

Lilyana Pavlova, Vice-President of the European Investment Bank

Second Pitching Session: 3 minutes per pitch + 1 minute for Q&A

Sam De smet, CEO of OTIV

Andrea Mocellin, Founder of REVOLVE AIR

Piotr Niedziela, VP Business Development at Storkjet

Thibaud Castagne, CEO and Founder of Vianova

Clémence Lukowski, Chief Financial Officer of Zeleros

Round-table: How can we ensure ethical human-centric innovation according to European values?

Helena Dalli, EU Commissioner for  Equality

Carlo Borghini, Executive Director Europe’s Rail Joint Undertaking

Jury vote & announcement of winners of the special prizes

• Maros Sefcovic, European Commission Vice-President for Interinstitutional Relations and Foresight | Coordinating the EU Battery Alliance >> Special Prize “Electro-Mobility”
• Helena Dalli, European Commissioner for Equality >> Special Prize “Accessibility and Inclusive Mobility”
• Karima Delli, Chairwoman of the European Parliament’s Transport and Tourism Committee >> Special Prize “Smart Territories”
• Lilyana Pavlova, Vice President at European Investment Bank (EIB) >> Special Prize “Scale-Ups”
• Carlo Borghini, Executive Director Europe’s Rail Joint Undertaking >> Special Prize “Rail Mobility”
• Edward Arkwright, Deputy CEO Groupe ADP >> Special Prize “Smart City”
• Catherine Leboul Proust, Chief Strategy Officer at GRDF >> Special Prize “Logistic and freight”
• Côme Berbain, Head of Innovation at RATP Group >> Special Prize “Urban experience and services”
• Alain Siebert, SESAR JU Chief Economist & Master Planning >> Special Prize “Future Skies”
• Jehan de Thé, Group Public Affairs Director at Europcar Mobility Group
• Claire Baritaud, Director of the French Agency of Transport Innovation (Agence de l’Innovation dans les Transports)
• Joël Hazan, Managing Director & Partner, Boston Consulting Group
• Marie Bonniol, Ecosystem & Marketing Director, VIA ID

Announcing the 4 Gold Winners of the 2022 edition.
Inviting winners and our jury on stage.

+++

18:30 – 20:00 Ceremony will be followed by a cocktail at the Earth Village

The time has come! We are thrilled to announce the 10 most promising European startups in clean mobility of our 4th edition. These startups stood out among the 563 applications that we received this year and went through a long and rigorous vetting process; the first phase consisted of 60 independent evaluators who ranked all the valid applications. The top 50 startups then went through in-depth interviews with our professional jury where they had to pitch their business; showing their ability to make mobility more sustainable and inclusive. The following ten are the grand winners (in alphabetical order).

	BAQME is a platform for shared electric cargo bikes, on a mission to reduce short distance car trips in cities. We currently operate with a fleet of >200 bikes in 2 cities in the Netherlands.	🇳🇱
	Bia Power SL offers smart electric vehicle charging (EV) software platform featuring high-performing forecasting algorithms and a powerful optimization engine to intelligently manage, predict, and optimize EV charging.	🇪🇸
	GO Sharing offers 100% electric shared transport all via one app. E-scooters, e-bikes and e-cars are all available to reduce private owned transport and make more sustainable transport accessible.	🇳🇱
	Heex Technologies enables the next generation of AI companies to get to the data that they need and deliver on the promise of ground-breaking innovations.	🇫🇷
	NOWOS aims to support the circular economy for lithium-ion batteries. NOWOS extend the life of products by repairing damaged and defective batteries, by reusing and recycling the raw material.	🇳🇱
	OTIV offers assistance and autonomous systems for rail vehicles in complex urban/industrial environments. We disrupt the industry by upgrading existing fleets with smart sensors and algorithms.	🇧🇪
	REVOLVE AIR is a revolutionary foldable active wheelchair that saves up to 60% of its space when both frame and unique 24 inches foldable wheels are folded.	🇩🇪
	Storkjet is producing software for the aviation industry which helps airlines save 4% of fuel and reducing CO2 emissions.	🇵🇱
	Vianova uses connected vehicles data to help cities and mobility operators build more efficient and sustainable transport systems for people and goods.	🇫🇷
	Zeleros is the EU company leading the development of a scalable hyperloop, a new transport system to connect cities and logistics hubs at 1000km/h, 0 direct emissions and high energy efficiency.	🇪🇸

What’s next? On 19.5.22 we will hold our Final Ceremony, which is an official event of the current French Presidency of the EU. During the event, the ten winners will present their technology, we will reveal the ten additional winners of special category prizes, and of course  you will hear from our VIPs and market leaders who are part of the Prize ecosystem. If you can’t make it to Paris, worry not, the event will also be livestreamed by the Brussels Times.

The ten winners will present their technology in front of our grand jury and the general public at our Final Ceremony on 19/5 at the ChangeNow fair in Paris. Our ceremony, an official event of the French Presidency of the EU, will  It will also be livestreamed by the Brussels Times, so stay tuned!