One step, 2 Watts. Two steps, 4 watts. And so on. An Italian start-up, Veranu, has designed and built a revolutionary floor that trampling transforms into an electricity generator. More precisely, it converts the kinetic energy of footsteps into clean electrical energy by means of the piezoelectric effect. Veranu was initially financed by the Italian crowdfunding platform Eppela and then by the equity crowdfunding promoted by Equinvest and successfully closed by Clhub, an international incubator.
The building component, which also includes IoT, Internet of Things services, must be installed under or over traditional flooring and also in prestigious urban areas since it is invisible. It is very efficient because with 20 steps you can turn on a LED street lamp and with 10 thousand you can charge the battery of a smartphone. Obviously it is intended for large public and private areas and is made with recycled materials that reduce CO2 emissions, cutting production costs.
Thanks to IoT components, it will be possible to establish a functional interactivity between the floor and the customer to control, verify and make the best use of the energy generated. The project was born in 2012 from a thesis in electronic engineering at the University of Cagliari by Alessio Calcagni, who became CEO of Veranu and supported since 2016 by Antonio Chiarello as senior advisor, manager with proven and brilliant experience in private banking and in the asset management.
After having obtained numerous awards for its high added value content, Veranu was selected for the European final in Brussels of the StarUp Europe Awards, promoted by the European Commission, the European Parliament and SartUp Europe. The support of Veranu by ClHub, which in turn has a recent but particularly dynamic history, has accelerated the definitive fine-tuning of the smart floor thanks also to the fact that ClHub is an international venture incubator focused on Clean, Agri, IoT and digital.
“Veranu raised 184 thousand euros on Equinvest, equal to 2,4x the required capital - declares Riccardo Sanna, co-founder together with Giovanni Sanna of ClHub - and represents a record on the platform in terms of ratio between funding and required capital”. Veranu's wholly hi-tech story - which condenses an exceptional clot of digital, electronic and electrotechnical technologies - actually represents one of the many cases of development of innovations with "green" purposes that are multiplying especially in Europe.
The same ClHub founded by the Sannas in 2015 in Cagliari with offices in Cagliari and in California, and offices in Milan, has chosen as its area of activity the growing market of lifestyles - as Giovanni Sanna underlines - energetically sustainable with respect for the environment. “Italian green technology is increasingly appreciated internationally”.
ClHub, which is a member of Italia Startup, is the creator of the "Startup Battle" format where the selected startups compete in front of a jury of experts to win the prize for the development of the business idea during the incubation period. In 2016 the Apodaca family, owner of the Californian group Westport Construction Inc. (Real estate) entered the capital of ClHub which also closed collaboration agreements with other companies operating as capital accelerators.
