SXSW Startups: ENSO
The Forrest Four-Cast: March 1, 2019
Fifty diverse startups will aim to impress a panel of judges and a live audience with their skills, creativity and innovation at SXSW Pitch Presented by Cyndx. Winners in 10 categories will be announced at the Pitch Award Ceremony at 6:30 pm Sunday, March 10, at the Hilton Austin.
A finalist in Transportation and Delivery, which will pitch at 9:30 am Saturday, March 9, ENSO innovates in the tire industry by developing sustainable tires for electric vehicles. They are driven by sustainability and creating a balance in how we live and move — today and tomorrow. Their energy efficient and highly durable tires extend the range of electric cars and reduce tire emissions, delivering the highest level of safety without costing the environment, moving electric vehicles to a truly sustainable future.
Gunnlaugur Erlendsson, founder and CEO, answered some questions about the London-based company.
What are your goals for ENSO in 2019?
ENSO is fortunate to have a solid network and support within the automotive industry and we are looking forward to launching our tires in 2019. We have set our sights on growing our team rapidly, hiring the best minds to deliver our tires to as many customers as possible. We aim to build a conscious movement that addresses the impact that tires have on our planet and its passengers.
What are tire emissions and how does ENSO combat them?
Tires wear down during use, creating tire emissions that end up and remain in our environment. A typical tire will release 4 lbs. of tire emissions which impacts our air quality, our soil, waterways and eventually our oceans.
Why is this bad? Tires still contain toxic fossil-fuel based materials and their related tire emissions are small enough to penetrate human lungs and skin. These tire emissions also do not biodegrade and account for over 28 percent of all primary micro-plastics floating in our oceans.
ENSO addresses tire emissions in two ways, volume and toxicity. First, ENSO improves durability, so our tires will produce less emissions over their life. Second, ENSO uses sustainable and bio-based raw materials, reducing tire toxicity and improving tire wear biodegradability.
What are the performance benefits that come with using ENSO tires?ENSO’s tires directly address range anxiety by allowing electric cars to go further on a single charge. Our energy efficient designs extend electric driving range, while delivering the highest levels of performance and safety. Alternatively, the reduction in energy consumption per mile directly reduces electricity costs. Either way there is a natural reduction of CO2 emissions.
How are ENSO tires discarded?
Every year, over 2 billion tires are discarded worldwide, with most going to landfill or burnt for energy, polluting our environment even after their use. ENSO has a no burn guarantee for its tires. In fact, ENSOs are designed to be recycled, allowing us to harvest materials and reuse them to make new tires.
Has ENSO been involved with other pitch events and tech conference?
In its early stages ENSO was selected by the Ellen MacArthur Foundation to become one of its CE100 Emerging Innovators, a great honor. Subsequently, we were invited by His Royal Highness Prince Andrew, Duke of York, to pitch in at his Pitch@Palace event, leading us to an engagement with Jaguar Land Rover. Following these successes, ENSO participated in several accelerators; working with Renault/Nissan via the RocketSpace Tech Mobility Program and recently pitching to Daimler at the StartUp Autobahn in Germany. ENSO was also recently nominated for the Mondial.Tech Startup Award at the Paris Motor Show, and we are very grateful to present ENSO at SXSW Pitch.
How and when did your team come together?
ENSO was established in London just over three years ago and was founded by an experienced team of tire industry experts and business professionals from various start-up backgrounds, all wanting to make a difference. The ENSO team brings together their unique skills and insights to achieve our vision of sustainable mobility, delivering uncompromised performance for electric vehicles.
What’s one piece of advice you wish you’d had that you’d give to others wanting to join the startup journey?
Move fast and tread lightly…
Look for more interviews with other SXSW Pitch finalists in this space between now and March.
Click here to see all 50 finalists for SXSW Pitch 2019, along with the links to their interviews on Medium.
Also, if you are an entrepreneur, check out all the cool panels and presentations in the Entrepreneurship and Startups Track, which runs March 8–12 at SXSW.
Hugh Forrest serves as Chief Programming Officer at SXSW, the world’s most unique gathering of creative professionals. He also tries to write at least four paragraphs per day on Medium. These posts often cover tech-related trends; other times they focus on books, pop culture, sports and other current events.
