ST. LOUIS, March 1, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- The March 9 application deadline is approaching for the Ameren Accelerator, an innovative public-private partnership between Ameren Corporation, the University of Missouri System, UMSL Accelerate and Capital Innovators that assesses, mentors and invests in energy technology startup companies. Applications are being accepted through March 9 at amerenaccelerator.com from interested entrepreneurs and energy-technology companies.
Selected companies each will receive $100,000 in seed capital to participate in the program, which will be located in Cortex – St. Louis' innovation and technology district. As part of the 12-week program, the selected startup companies will receive intensive mentoring, technical assistance, facilities and networking connections from the Ameren Accelerator partners. Subject-matter experts in the areas of energy, sales, marketing, pricing, technical development, operations, talent development and finance also will provide guidance.
At the conclusion of the program, participants will showcase their efforts to the mentoring teams, potential third-party investors, corporate executives, entrepreneurs, students and the general public during Ameren Accelerator Demo Day in September. Ameren may select the most promising projects for ongoing mentoring and engagement beyond the program.
The Ameren Accelerator is one of the first of its kind in the United States and the first in the St. Louis region to focus solely on emerging energy technologies. The goals of the program are to better position Ameren to meet its customers' future energy needs and expectations, attract job-creating startups to St. Louis and provide university students the opportunity to be more involved and engaged in the energy business.
The call for applicants follows a successful 2017 Ameren Accelerator, which attracted seven startup companies from around the world to participate in the inaugural program. The 2017 program drew more than 200 applicants from 23 states and 31 countries.
For more information about Ameren Accelerator, visit amerenaccelerator.com.
About Ameren Corporation
St. Louis-based Ameren Corporation powers the quality of life for 2.4 million electric customers and more than 900,000 natural gas customers in a 64,000-square-mile area through its Ameren Missouri and Ameren Illinois rate-regulated utility subsidiaries. Ameren Illinois provides electric distribution and transmission service, as well as natural gas distribution service, while Ameren Missouri provides vertically integrated electric service, with generating capacity of over 10,200 megawatts, and natural gas distribution service. Ameren Transmission Company of Illinois develops regional electric transmission projects. Follow the company on Twitter @AmerenCorp. For more information, visit Ameren.com.
About the University of Missouri System
The University of Missouri System is the State of Missouri's largest public university, with four campuses serving more than 76,000 students, a health care system, an extension program, and more than 500,000 alumni worldwide. The UM System was created in 1963 when the University of Missouri (founded in 1839 in Columbia) and the Missouri School of Mines (now the Missouri University of Science and Technology, founded in 1870 in Rolla), were combined with the formerly private University of Kansas City (now University of Missouri–Kansas City, founded in 1933), and a newly created campus in suburban St. Louis (University of Missouri–St. Louis).
About the University of Missouri-St. Louis and UMSL Accelerate
The University of Missouri–St. Louis is the largest public research university in eastern Missouri with the greatest concentration of alumni in the region. Their UMSL Accelerate initiative fosters entrepreneurism and innovative thinking in and outside the classroom and helps bring concepts from mind to market. For more information, visit http://umsl.edu/accelerate/.
About Capital Innovators
Capital Innovators is an innovation engine that creates practical solutions across industries that can shape the future of organizations. Capital Innovators provides innovation consulting, entrepreneurial-based programs, acts as a liaison between Corporations, Universities and Startups and investment into attractive early-stage businesses. Capital Innovators has in-depth knowledge into the most cutting-edge solutions through the Accelerator division of its business, which has been ranked as a Top 10 Accelerator in the country for three years in a row and has invested in and guided 70 companies to date. Capital Innovators model is simple and effective: Innovation, Iteration, and Implementation. For more information, visit capitalinnovators.com.
SOURCE Ameren Corporation