Incubator updates: Meet Terrapin
Our partnership with The Ebico Trust has reached another exciting milestone as two companies progress to the third and final stage of our 2022/23 Ebico Affordable Warmth Incubator. Both teams have successfully pitched for investment from The Ebico Trust, which comes with an additional three months of venture development support from our team here at Sustainable Ventures.
One of the teams to successfully progress to this stage is Terrapin. We caught up with founder Neil to see how things are going.
What’s the idea behind Terrapin?
Much of UK’s housing stock is old, poorly insulated, heated by fossil fuels and requires substantial investment to meet efficient, zero-carbon standards. There is limited support – financial, technical, or even just general advice – for owners undertaking a highly invasive and potentially expensive change to their home, despite the multiple benefits.
So, how will it work?
Terrapin is building a platform to bring together innovative assessment, installation, support and financing solutions to accelerate the take-up of energy efficiency measures in people’s homes, particularly their heating systems. Our goal is to eliminate carbon emissions from people’s homes and make warmth and comfort affordable to all.
What are your plans for the final phase of the incubator programme?
We are currently developing the core technology architecture to handle a multi-sided business model, assess requirements and analyse outcomes.
The goal is to deliver an attractive and easy-to-use interface for homeowners to facilitate customer acquisition and initial data capture. We’ll do this by developing models to recommend actions, and estimate costs and savings for energy and carbon.
We are also working to establish partnerships with contributors to the project journey and develop minimum viable product to test our value proposition to homeowners and sponsors. This will lead to establishing pilot schemes in companies to understand better the requirements to set up and manage employer contributions to home energy improvements via reward and benefit structures.
How have you found the incubator so far?
When I first started out, I had no preconception of the direction my venture would take. It has led me to a highly challenging and invigorating experience in which I am constantly learning – about the industry, socioeconomics, technologies – but also about myself and how I deal with inevitable obstacles and frustrations. The support from peers and the ecosystem, their advice and experience have been invaluable.