Illinois-based tech startup wins inaugural Fort Collins innovation challenge

FORT COLLINS — A tech startup based in Berwyn, Ill., has won the first Innovate Fort Collins competition, earning the opportunity to test and demonstrate its electric-car charging technology within Fort Collins Utilities’ electric-grid.

Qmulus, headed by Matt Raymond, has an adapter that connects electric-vehicle supply equipment with a plug-in electric vehicle that collects data about charging habits. Utilities can also use the adapter for load control and metering, Raymond said.

“The adapter will allow residents, communities, workplaces, fleets, multiunit dwellings, retailers and utilities gain more detailed information about PEV charging behavior,” he said.

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The competition, organized by the city of Fort Collins, Colorado State University and Innosphere, a Fort Collins-based technology incubator, was focused on solving electric-vehicle charging challenges. Applications were collected from companies and entrepreneurs that focused on data acquisition from vehicles, installed metering or monitoring, or advanced meter data.

Qmulus was announced the winner Sept. 26 at Colorado State University’s 21st Century Energy Transition Symposium.

“Innovate Fort Collins is specifically designed to help innovators bring relevant technologies to market that are going to help communities like Fort Collins meet its climate action goals,” said Mike Freeman, Innosphere’s chief executive.

In future Innovate Fort Collins competitions, Innosphere will help the city with technology scouting in order to find new innovations to meet the city’s Road to 2020 goals concerning water, buildings, mobility solutions, energy and waste reduction.

For more information about the city’s implementation of the Road to 2020, click here.