utilizes eco-friendly energy storage technology that stores solar heat in sand batteries to provide clean energy for drying agricultural products.

🔖 Basic Info

• Establishment Date: 2023.02
• CEO: Hai Ho
• Address: Vietnam
• Website: https://alterno.net/

🙎Team

• (CEO) Hai Ho
  • Former Vice Chairman of Pacific Asia Travel Association
• (CTO) Nam Nguyen
  • Major in mechanical and electronic engineering
  • Worked at Samsung and ABB

💵 Round Target

• Investment Round: Series A
• Funding Period : ‘24 4Q - ‘25 1Q

🌍Impact

• Agricultural drying systems in Vietnam that use fossil fuels and electricity are highly affected by the weather and have low technical efficiency, which reduces agricultural productivity and thus farmers' income.
• The sand battery is an eco-friendly energy storage system that reduces dependence on fossil fuels, contributes to carbon emissions reduction, and increases farmers' income through uniform drying of produce.

💼Business Model

• Develop sand batteries as a thermal energy storage solution and sell a unit consisting of solar panels, a sand battery, a control box, and a dryer for agricultural product drying and residential heating systems with sand batteries

🚀Competitiveness

• Enable centralized monitoring and control through IoT technology

• Stole heat up to 600 degrees for months at one-twentieth the cost of lithium batteries with sand battery technology

• Won the PepsiCo Greenhouse Accelerator APAC and the Net Zero Challenge, co-organized by the Temasek Foundation.

• Successfully collaborating with PepsiCo Vietnam through upgraded industrial drying systems at Hung Yen factory with improved capacity and efficiency, while developing enhanced oil preheating systems for the Binh Duong factory.

  

• Secured supply contracts with four Vietnamese agricultural companies (Pepsico Foods Vietnam, My viet international Group, Dotea, EcoVilage).

• Got granted a U.S. patent.

🌐 Expansion into global markets

• Current Presence - Started in Vietnam and is targeting Japan as the main market of 2025
• Market Exploration

  • Japan - Potential collaboration discussion with:

    • Honda:
      • Exploring collaboration opportunities including both investment and non-investment opportunities(e.g. PoC).
      • Will prepare a DDQ for Honda and share relevant information by mid-February
      • Honda will review materials and share their feedback by March 2025.
    • Asahi:
      • Exploring sustainability-focused collaborations and financial flexibility
      • Discussing green financing options and plans for pilot projects in Japan
      • Tailored proposal to be submitted by December 20th for February project launch
    • Euglena:
      • Exploring the integration of thermal energy storage system into biofuel production
      • Focusing on sustainable microalgae drying solutions and energy cost optimization
      • Emphasize the need for detailed cost and GHG emission analysis for zero-emission goals
    • Marubeni:
      • Exploring opportunities for collaboration in renewable energy and battery storage solutions
    • Tokyo Gas:
      • Discussing research partnerships for waste heat collection and battery storage

  • Mongolia

    

    • Conducting a pilot project in Bao Loc, Vietnam, to prepare for the Sustainable Renewable Heating Infrastructure Project in Ulaanbaatar, in collaboration with Impact Square