News

11/4-2008
Søren Houmøller to talk about CSR on Iceland on May 8th

On the Søren Houmøller from 1st Mile will speak about integrating climate change with your business strategy.

At Global Compact Nordic Network Meeting Søren Houmøller from 1stMile will address the following questions:

• What are the various business motivations to focus on climate change?
• How do you integrate climate change in to the core business?
• How can a life cycle analysis help you develop a climate strategy?

25/2-2008
Søren Houmøller on expert panel on recycling

On March 5th, a panel of 5 experts will debate if recycling can be the next growth industry for Danish companies at a conference held at H. J. Hansen in the city of Odense.

3/1-2008
Danish company with the ambition to list on the stock exchange through an IPO choses 1st Mile as consultant

After evaluating and improving the company's value proposition and business plan, it is now in the process of calculating its valuation before approaching investors.

21/12-2007
1st Mile to identify sustainable solution for local energy company

At the town of Gjøl, a EU funded gasification demonstration project has been concluded unsuccesfully. 1st Mile has been asked by the Danish Energy Authority to screen for options for the local energy company supplying heat and power to the community.

18/12-2007
Consortium with AQUAporin, DHI and 1st Mile will develop a new energy source

The Danish R&D programme, PSO, managed by Energinet.dk, has awarded the consortium a project to develop salinity power. In salinity power, the difference in osmotic pressure of up to 28 bars between seawater and freshwater is utilized to drive a turbine to generate electricity.

The major barrier for a commercial breakthrough of salinity power is the membrane separating seawater and freshwater. The consortium will take advantage of the unique AQUAporin membrane, originally designed to clean water to an extremely high level.

First step of the development is to investigate the potentials for salinity power in Denmark. The project will commence in February 2007.

See more on salinity power at Statkraft and at Ingeniøren (Danish only).

7/12-2007
1st Mile celebrates Christmas and invites friends, partners and customers to drop by on December 18th 2007 from 15 to 17.

6/12-2007
Gitte Videcrantz joins 1st Mile as senior consultant
See Gittes credentials here.

1/12-2007
1st Mile develops criteria for the Danish EUDP demo program
By early 2008 a new demonstration program supported by the Danish state will be implemented. A strong commercial focus requires a new set of criteria for funding decisions.

The EUDP secretariat and board will use the criteria for commercialisation and implementation developed by 1st Mile to allocate at least DKK900m (€120m) in public funding over the next four years.

21/10-2007
New course: Business plans for project applicants
1st Mile has designed a course for project applicants who need to improve their skills on writing and implementing business plans.

In Denmark, the market for energy and environmental projects is increasing very fast. In 2010 the volume will be doubled compared to the 2007 level.

At the same time, project providers like Energinet.dk (PSO-projects), The Danish Energy Authority (EUDP), EU FP7 and Højteknologifonden ask for clear business plans for commercialisation.

Consequently, project applicants now need to add new competences regarding business creation to be successful with new projects.

1st Mile has now created and held a new course. Click to download pdf.

13/07-2007
Another new contract for 1st Mile
1st Mile has signed a contract with a publicly listed significant company in the cleantech industry. 1st Mile will work with business strategy in a specific market segment.

11/07-2007
New contract for 1st Mile
1st Mile has been chosen to assist PriceWaterhouseCoopers to give advice on a group of investors looking at the cleantech area.

28/06-2007
1st Mile has struck a nerve
Implementing new, clean technologies is top of mind both politically and economically.

1st Mile has had a lot of press coverage on our knowledge in media such as Børsen, Berlingske Tidende (twice), El & Energi, Erhvervsbladet, Søndagsavisen and more. See the press section for details.

8/05-2007
Opening reception at Scion-DTU
With the other companies in "Investor's Corner", 1st Mile hosts a welcoming reception at May 31st. See the invitation here.

1/05-2007
1st Mile now at Scion-DTU
1st Mile has formed an "Investor's Corner" at the research park Scion-DTU together with other companies working with investments.

With Øresund Health Care and Gate2Growth, 1st Mile has established an "Investor's Corner", aiming at bringing capital and technology together.

15/04-2007
Houmøller joins Advisory Board
The European Venture Summit has added Søren Houmøller of 1st Mile to it's Advisory Board for the up-coming New Energy Forum conference

The New Energy Forum is a conference held under the European Venture Summit, a conference and meeting place for investors and new businessess. The New Energy Forum was established in 2006 as a reply to the fast growing importance of new energy technologies in the minds of venture capital investors.

The time and venue of the conference is yet to be confirmed. It is expected to take place in December 2007.

More information at the European Venture Summit web page.

02/04-2007
Houmøller appointed chairman
In its efforts to promote Danish energy technology, the Energy Industry under the Confederation of Danish Industries has created an Innovation and Research Committee

The committee will increase the innovation capability of the Danish energy sector to facilitate the development of new technologies for the World market. Based on the fact that Danish companies have been in the forefront of the creation of technologies such as wind mills, district heating and combined heat and power, the Energy Industry aims at creating similar new successes in the future.

For the Innovation and Research Committee a four man chairmanship has been appointed: Senior economist Martin Wittrup Hansen of DONG Energy, managing director Allan Berg of Kasmatic, director Gorm Ellegaard Andersen of Sydvest Energi Partner A/S, and managing partner Søren Houmøller of 1st Mile.

The Energy Industry under the Confederation of Danish Industries is a platform for companies that have energy as a business area. The purpose of the Energy Industry is to promote collaboration between companies in the sector. See more at Energy Industry.

02/03-2007
1st Mile chosen to screen R&D portfolio
1st Mile will screen the Energinet.dk project portfolio to identify potential deals for venture investors

Every year, Energinet.dk funds research, development and demonstration projects for clean, environmentally friendly energi procurement. With approx. DKK 130m (€20m) in funding being matched with private contributions, the RD&D effort has an annual value of approx. €40m.

The commercial output of the funding does not, however, meet the potentials in the projects, among other things because there is limited venture capital tradition within the sector in Denmark. In other words, assistance is needed to convert the promising technical potentials to business, creating successful new energy/cleantech companies with global reach.

1st Mile will

• Prepare new business plan templates to be used in future tenders made by Energinet.dk
• Train Energinet.dk project managers on how to evaluate business plans prepared by applicants
• Screen the Energinet.dk project portfolio for potential investor cases
• Create deal flow for investors from the most promising cases
• Bring the technologies with commercial potential to the market place, and in that way go "from research to revenue" for Energinet.dk.

Investors interested in hearing more about the deal flow can contact Søren Houmøller.

26/02-2007
Frida Frost joins 1st Mile
Implementation and people skills are essential to 1st Mile

M. Sc. Frida Frost has joined 1st Mile to strengthen our implementation and people skllls. While many companies settle with analysis, 1st Mile go all the way to create value. In the energy and environmental fields we see huge gaps that need to be covered, if new solutions are to reach the real world.

Frida Frost is dedicated to solutions rather than problems and has a talent for people and organisations, as well as a technical background in energy systems, recycling and waste disposal. Learn more about Frida.

07/02-2007
1st Mile Fund to be established
Investors seek deals - 1st Mile to provide them through new fund

1st Mile has announced the intention to establish the “1st Mile Fund” which is to invest in clean energy and environmental technologies.

05/02-2007
INGenuity
New blog on innovation launched at Engineering Weekly.

Most people in Denmark understand that we depend on knowledge, new solutions, innovation and entrepreneurs to grap the opportunities presented by globalisation. We need to master the art of going form research to revenue - but how are we performing? That is the subject for the new weblog, written in the Danish language.

02/02-2007
Silicon Valley pick-ups
Lots of lessons to be learned on cleantech innovation in the Valley.

Organized by Innovation Center Denmark, the conference "From Agenda to Action" linked cleantech players from Silicon Valley with Danish counterparts.

1st Mile took the opportunity to meet partners from Silicon Valley as well as Denmark, and to get inspiration.

During the week two important news surfaced. First, UC Berkeley received a $500m grant from BP for the Helios biomass project, a stunning $50m annually to develop biomass solutions. Then, a new report on Silicon Valley reveiled that VC investments in cleantech in Silicon Valley in Q3 2006 topped $300m, compared to less than $10m in Denmark in the same period.

While Silicon Valley may outpace Denmark on the financing level, Denmark has past successes as the wind mills, district heating, combined heat and power and clean power plant technology, leaving promises for mutual benefits for a close cooperation between the two regions.

1st Mile founder Søren Houmøller with professor Claus Hviid Christensen with a Mercedes hydrogen car at the Silicon Valley visit.

28/1-2007
1st Mile founded
1st Mile is to bring clean technologies to life.

As a response to the immense needs for bringing much more new, clean technologies to good use, Søren Houmøller has created 1st Mile as a company with the vision to bridge the gap between commercial use and new ideas, research, and technologies. This is what we call the first mile.

The primary target customers will be investors, researchers, start-ups, and R&D program funders.

The company is incorporated in Denmark and aims to be a global player within cleantech innovation. This will be achieved through partnerships in relevant geographies, as well as local 1st Mile presence in relevant places.

1st Mile founder, Søren Houmøller, was the director of the Danish cleantech venture capital company EGJ Development before founding 1st Mile. He holds both an M.Sc. degree in energy engineering as well as an Executive Master of Business Administration.