It was a proud moment for the 3DEXPERIENCE Lab last week, on October 16 (Friday), as one of our startups, SparkCharge, opened ABC’s Shark Tank Season 12 in front of over 3.8 million total viewers from across the world, as per TV Line. They ended up walking away with a deal with not just one but two sharks - Mark Cuban and Lori Greiner, worth \\\$1M for a 10% stake + 4% advisory shares and a board seat.
SparkCharge was first spotted by @GS at a ‘Mentoring with Techstars’ event at Boston in 2018. They were part of the SOLIDWORKS for Entrepreneurs Program. In 2019, Josh Aviv, CEO – SparkCharge, was flown in to Dallas to pitch his idea at the 3DEXPERIENCE Pitch during SOLIDWORKS World 2019 He ended up winning the competitive pitch that had around a thousand attendees voting on the 3DEXPERIENCE Platform SWYM Community.
Watch the nail-biting part of the pitch
Video here : https://youtu.be/wByvHFTHdGs
SparkCharge subsequently applied to the 3DEXPERIENCE Lab, since their innovation directly mapped with Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 7 – Affordable and Clean Energy. They were already part of Greentown Labs in Somerville MA, one of the largest Cleantech Accelerators in the world, which is a close partner accelerator of the 3DEXPERIENCE Lab.
What does SparkCharge do!
SparkCharge makes the world’s first and only portable ultra-fast charging units for Electric Vehicles. Their charging units are:
- Modular: battery units can be stacked on top of each other, increasing the amount of range delivered.
- Portable: units are able to fit in the trunk of any car and can be delivered to a vehicle in need, wherever it be.
- Powerful: with the ability to charge at a rate of one mile every 60 seconds, SparkCharge is 14x faster than level one charging, and 6x faster than level two charging.
Christopher Ellis, CTO of SparkCharge, pitched in front of the Innovation Committee at Velizy HQ Amphitheatre on April 4, 2019. Bernard Charles and other esteemed members of the Committee unanimously selected the project for entry into the 3DEXPERIENCE Lab accelerator program.
We have been supporting SparkCharge all along not only with mentoring but also by providing them a stage to showcase their technology. At CES 2020, they were featured at 3DEXPERIENCE Lab’s Media Event and also were part of DS booth proceedings. We recommended their name for Startup Stage at Startupfest Montreal in 2019, where they ended up winning close to \\\$0.5M award money.
We, at the 3DEXPERIENCE Lab, are committed to accelerating startups like SparkCharge who are working on disruptive technologies for a better sustainable world.
Thanks to @BC @FV @GB @SM @PJ @VM @FV @SJ @SM @GS @MP for constant support and guidance
Thanks to the Core Lab team @FM @MB @SR @GG @WS @OL @FB @SG @EV @MC for their hard work and effort towards helping SparkCharge and all other amazing startups
Thanks to Lab Mentors @JR @PJ @AS @GB for their help, in the past, present and future :)
