Meet PowerUP Energy Technologies (PowerUP), an Estonian scale-up that builds innovative, hydrogen fuel cell-based backup generators. These generators have various applications, from construction and telecommunications to security, defence, healthcare, and many more industries.

PowerUP is a member of the EIC Scaling Club’s Clean Fuels & Hydrogen group.

During the Scale 100 Forum in Athens, Greece, we met the company’s Founder and CEO, Ivar Kruusenberg, to learn more about his scale-up and its inspirational work in the clean energy sector. 

Read the article or listen to the interview with Ivar!

Addressing grid vulnerability with hydrogen power

As today's outdated electrical grids are failing, leaving communities vulnerable to crippling power outages, PowerUP offers a powerful solution: a hybrid energy system powered by hydrogen fuel cells and batteries, ensuring reliable, resilient power when it's needed most.

“We are capable of making lightweight systems with an extremely low footprint. And we can make them both efficient and reasonably priced so that everyone can have them,” Ivar emphasizes the real-world viability of the company’s innovative systems.

Headquartered in Estonia, PowerUP has entities in Poland and Finland and offices in the Netherlands and the US. The company has been revolutionising clean energy with hydrogen-based technology since 2016.

Ivar himself has over 20 years of experience in fuel cells and batteries, having worked as a scientist. Plus, he’s a serial entrepreneur with a desire to help humankind solve its most pressing issues – which is precisely how PowerUP’s innovations came to life.

PowerUP's core strength – its team

PowerUP takes pride in its mature team. “Team is our biggest asset,” Ivar tells us. Some of the scale-up’s workers have been core employees at big companies like Verizon, Tele2, and others. This experience goes hand in hand with extensive knowledge of fuel cells and energy solutions:

“We have team members who have been in the fuel cell business since its beginning. They know the challenges and the solutions and serve as the fundamentals for execution in our company.” 

Ivar adds that PowerUP has a unique advisory board: “Our team boasts extensive experience in grid technology and scientific research, including a Nobel Prize nominee.”

In addition to the outstanding team, PowerUP is proud to have its product certified – again, made possible by talented employees. Ivar adds that the scale-up has finalized assembly agreements, removing production constraints and equipping it to scale production to meet any demand.

“We’re also proud partners of the European Space Agency with four ongoing projects. Hopefully, our energy solutions will land on the Dark Side of the Moon and be deployed in the Moon rovers,” Ivar shares another exciting ambition of the scale-up.

Challenges and the EIC Scaling Club dream

Asked to share the scale-up’s challenges, Ivar responds quickly: “We have many technical challenges, as we’re working with complicated energy solutions. Hybridization is always extremely difficult.” Moreover, being a deeptech company, PowerUp faces many scientific challenges. 

The company also proactively addresses pressing needs by offering its solutions to the most critical sectors: “We have been focusing on the defence industry, as our energy solutions are quiet and they have low heat map, even lower than the batteries,” says Ivar, adding that the demanding requirements of the defence industry are a considerable challenge for expansion in the sector.

Regarding PowerUP’s participation in the EIC Scaling Club, the scale-up’s CEO says it was their dream.

“EIC Scaling Club is one of the most prestigious programs in the European Union. [The members] are companies with huge potential.”

Seeing fellow Estonian companies join the Club convinced Ivar of the significant opportunity to be among Europe’s most-promising deeptech scale-ups: “I told the marketing team that we need to make it happen. And we did. I’m super happy about that.”

Speaking of PowerUP’s mission, Ivar wants people to remember that we already live in the future regarding available energy solutions: “Replace the diesel generators. And remember that PowerUP is happy to help you with that.”

Watch the full interview with Ivar Kruusenberg below, or visit our YouTube channel to explore our other videos:

About the EIC Scaling Club

The EIC Scaling Club is a curated community where 120+ European deep tech scale-ups with the potential to build world-class businesses and solve major global challenges come together with investors, corporate innovators and other industry stakeholders to spur growth.

The top 120+ European deep tech companies will be carefully selected from a pool of high-growth scale-ups that have benefitted from EIC financial schemes, other European and national innovation programmes, and beyond.

The EIC Scaling Club is an EIC-funded initiative run in partnership by Tech Tour, Bpifrance (EuroQuity), Hello Tomorrow, Tech.eu (Webrazzi), EurA and IESE Business School.

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