Successful Kellogg Startup To Relocate to St. Louis

The following article was originally sourced from the news piece “Smart Data, Clean Tech” published on Kellogg’s News & Events page. 

We are now in a time when a meter reader checking a spinning dial is no long common practice, and companies rely on automated smart meters to determine how much electricity their customers are using in 15-minute intervals. MeterGenius, a clean-technologies startup, has recently launched an interactive tool that turns smart-meter data into real-time analysis of electrical use and provides homeowners with tips they can use to cut their energy bill.

The startup is comprised up of students and alumni from The Kellogg School of Management as well as Northwestern’s McCormick School of Engineering and Weinberg College of Arts and Sciences. MeterGenius was originally conceived during an NUvention: Energy course.

“We’ll analyze the data and we’ll send the specific recommendations to them on how they can be more energy efficient,” says Ty Benefiel, co-founder of MeterGenius.

The startup has raised $125,000 through various case competitions and grants, including a $50,000 grant from Arch Grants, a St. Louis-based nonprofit.

Now, as part of the Arch Grants win, Benefiel will relocate the company to St. Louis for a year, where he’ll have access to funding, free coworking space, access to legal and marketing services, website hosting and mentorship by local entrepreneurs and professionals.

“We’ve got these great universities in Illinois and a lot of great technologies are being developed by students,” he says, “but a lot of students are leaving to go to the coasts where cleantech is more established and there are more incentives to launch.”

regions: Chicago

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