BP Funds Smart Mobility Track, Leads New Round of Sponsorship for Urban Future Lab Competition

NEW YORK, October 16, 2017 – The NYU Tandon School of Engineering Urban Future Lab, New York City’s hub for smart cities, smart grid, and clean energy startups, announced today that its 2017 Urban Future Competition received a total of $185,000 in new sponsorship, with $100,000 from The New York Community Trust, $50,000 from BP Ventures, and $60,000 from the New York State Energy Research and Development Authority (NYSERDA).

The $50,000 provided by BP Ventures, the corporate investment arm of the global energy business, will fund the new BP Smart Mobility track, which seeks to enable a cleaner and more autonomous future of mobility services.

The Urban Future Competition debuts the world’s most revolutionary technologies by bringing the brightest entrepreneurs together with mission-driven investors, policy leaders, and corporate sponsors for a prestigious pitch competition in New York City. Non-dilutive, non-equity, cash prizes of $50,000 will be awarded to the top companies selected from three tracks: Smart City, Smart Grid and BP Smart Mobility.

“By opening this new BP Smart Mobility track within the Urban Future Competition our goal is to help discover and develop the world’s most promising technologies, companies and entrepreneurs to support the advancement of global mobility,” said David Gilmour, vice president of business development at BP Group Technology. “We are looking for breakthrough thinking and innovation that will help shape the way we move around cities in the near future. By working with the Urban Future Lab we believe we can access new and untapped technologies that will make a real, positive contribution to the future of mobility in cities as we move to a lower carbon future.”

Over the last decade, BP Ventures has identified and invested more than $350 million in private, high-growth, game-changing technology companies across the energy spectrum.

“Too many promising innovations wither on the vine because they fail to attract enough attention from customers and investors at critical moments in their development,” said Arturo Garcia-Costas of the New York Community Trust. “These Urban Future Prizes will showcase companies and technologies that can help New York maintain its leadership in urban sustainability.”

"We are grateful to all of our sponsors for their invaluable support amidst the global transition to a cleaner, smarter, more energy-efficient urban future,” said Pat Sapinsley, managing director of cleantech initiatives at the NYU Tandon School of Engineering. “The Urban Future Lab’s internationally recognized cleantech incubator program, ACRE, houses companies that are integral to this future. With our support, these companies have raised more than $340 million in follow-on funding and have had a survival rate of more than 90 percent since the program's inception in 2009.”

In addition to the prize money, Urban Future Competition winners get the opportunity to grow their business into a successful venture at ACRE, which is housed in the Urban Future Lab in Downtown Brooklyn.

“Since joining the ACRE incubator at the Urban Future Lab we successfully raised a seed investment round,” said Jon Garrity, founder and CEO of Tagup. “Also, the incubator facilitated our joint project with ConEdison and NYSERDA, two of the leading organizations in our nation’s energy transition. Winning the 2016 Urban Future Competition is what set all of that in motion.”

About the NYU Urban Future Lab and ACRE
The Urban Future Lab (UFL) at the NYU Tandon School of Engineering is New York City’s premier innovation hub for smart cities, the smart grid, and clean energy. The UFL is home to programs focused on policy, education, and market solutions for the green economy. ACRE, the UFL’s flagship program, is a business incubator that supports the growth of high-impact early-stage venture companies addressing climate change. ACRE incubator companies receive 24/7 access to desk space and conference rooms at an office in Downtown Brooklyn, in addition to professional business advisory and support services (legal, accounting, design) and introductions to ACRE’s network of market partners, investors, mentors, and startup resources. The UFL and all its programs are supported by NYSERDA, National Grid, Wells Fargo, Empire State Development Corporation, Daikin, and Orrick. More at ufl.nyc.

About the New York University Tandon School of Engineering
The NYU Tandon School of Engineering dates to 1854, the founding date for both the New York University School of Civil Engineering and Architecture and the Brooklyn Collegiate and Polytechnic Institute (widely known as Brooklyn Poly). A January 2014 merger created a comprehensive school of education and research in engineering and applied sciences, rooted in a tradition of invention and entrepreneurship and dedicated to furthering technology in service to society. In addition to its main location in Brooklyn, NYU Tandon collaborates with other schools within NYU, the country’s largest private research university, and is closely connected to engineering programs at NYU Abu Dhabi and NYU Shanghai. It operates Future Labs focused on start-up businesses in downtown Manhattan and Brooklyn and an award-winning online graduate program. For more information, visit engineering.nyu.edu.

About BP Ventures
BP Ventures identifies and invests in private, high growth, game-changing technology companies, accelerating cutting edge innovations across the entire energy spectrum.  Since 2006, BP Ventures has invested over $350 million in corporate venturing and has 42 active investments in its current portfolio. Since 2016 BP Ventures has invested in 9 new companies, committing to over $100 million of capital. BP Ventures’ portfolio is primarily focused on emerging technologies in oil and gas exploration and production and downstream conversion processes. In addition, it has a renewed strategic focus on five key areas: bio and low carbon products, carbon management, power and storage, advanced mobility, and digital transformation.

About The New York Community Trust
Through the generosity of New Yorkers who have set up charitable funds with us, we are able to make grants for a huge range of charitable activity so important to the well-being and vitality of our city.  We are New York City’s community foundation and one of the largest funders of City nonprofits.  Since 1924, The Trust has helped make donors’ charitable dreams come true by funding the nonprofits that make our city a vital and secure place. See nycommunitytrust.org.