Kiwi Start-Up Makes Finals in SF Challenge

Wellington, 19 November 2009 – A kiwi company that has designed a fuel conversion system for cars made the final cut in the San Francisco based International Cleantech Open Ideas Competition – part of Global Entrepreneurship Week.

Nova Eco-Tech Ltd is an Auckland business focused on providing clean fuel conversion solutions for vehicles; designed to provide an ‘intelligent’ switch fuel source using fuels like CNG or biomethane for petrol-fuelled cars.

The competition aims to accelerate the discovery and development of groundbreaking big ideas and cleantech solutions developed by small businesses. Teams from the United States, Brazil, China, Denmark, Israel, Italy and, of course, New Zealand all competed for the $US100,000 grand prize.

For the final presentation, the seven finalists had five minutes to pitch his or her idea to a live audience of over 3000 angel investors, journalists and clean technologists who then voted for the winner via text message.

Since Clean Tech open began in 2006, contestants have walked away with over $130 million in funding from private capital investors to get their green tech ideas off the ground.

Investors include notable start-up investors like Bill Weihl of Google and Vinod Khosla – a venture capitalist well known as a leading investor in ethanol and a major proponent of green legislation.

Nova Eco-Tech was based on a perceived gap in the market for retrofit gaseous alternative fuel systems for cars. Its first product, Eco-Viper, which is designed to automatically switch between fuel sources. The system developed is a non-invasive, easily installed and reliable retrofit conversion system that would reduce harmful emissions and achieve significant fuel savings.

The global natural gas vehicle market is predicted to grow by nearly 20% annually and is likely to comprise almost 10 per cent of the vehicle market by 2020, totaling 50 million vehicles.

“The success of Nova Eco-Tech shows how innovative young ‘green’companies are in New Zealand,” said Global Entrepreneurship Week spokesman Rob Acton. “It also demonstrates how these international competitions can raise awareness of our own entrepreneurial activity and help place some of our companies centre stage in the world. It’s a wonderful tribute.”

About the CleanTech Challenge

More information about the CleanTech Challenge may be found at their website at http://www.cleantechopenmedia.com/

About Global Entrepreneurship Week

From Nov. 16 - 22, 2009, millions of young people around the world will join a growing movement to generate new ideas and seek better ways of doing things. Tens of thousands of activities are being planned in dozens of countries. Global Entrepreneurship Week is founded by the Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation and the Make Your Mark campaign.

ENDS