Four SFU mechatronics alumni from the Charles Chang Institute of Entrepreneurship have won the 2021 National Impact Investor Challenge with their cleantech startup, Moment Energy. The $100,000 investment prize was awarded on June 17, 2021, at the virtual finale.

The challenge, hosted by Spring Activator, is a 10-week program that brings together investors looking for purpose-driven entrepreneurs. The entrepreneurs deliver a series of pitches and the investors collectively award $100,000 in investments to their chosen company at the finale. Moment Energy was announced as the top team out of 150 applicants across Canada and also took home the People’s Choice Award through a public vote.

Moment Energy, founded by Sumreen Rattan, Gurmesh Sidhu, Gabriel Soares, and Edward Chiang, receives entrepreneurship support from Coast Capital Venture Connection, SFU’s early-stage startup incubator.  The company gained notoriety for repurposing used electric vehicle (EV) batteries to provide access to clean and reliable electricity. Since launching in 2019, Moment continues to improve access to high-quality lithium batteries for off-grid communities and on-grid commercial industries. On the evening of the finale, the team was in Alberta deploying 20kWh of energy storage for an off-grid residential project.

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