This futuristic pavement turns your footsteps into electrical energy, UK startup scores millions of investment from Hinduja Brothers

As there is increased awareness of global warming and its consequences, several companies are coming up with alternative energy and solutions that reduce carbon emissions. Well, alternative energy is a rising concept and it uses an energy source instead of fossil fuel.

Pavegen is a UK startup, which has created futuristic concrete pavement that captures the movement of the people who walk on it, capturing the energy of footfall. It uses a set of triangular composite tiles that rest on electromagnetic generators. Each footstep on a Pavegen walkway generates 2 to 4 joules of off-grid electrical energy or up to 7 watts of power for the duration of a footstep. Bluetooth beacons in the system connect to smartphones too, rewarding pedestrians for each step they take.

Pavegen was founded in 2009 by Laurence Kemball-Cook to create cities that work for people and is focused on sustainability.

Raised €2.9M funding

Now recently, the UK-based startup has raised £2.6 million (nearly €2.9 million) on a crowdfunding campaign on Crowdcube. It has raised over twice the initial target of £950k. Also, it raised investments from more than 1400 investors including anchor investment from Tamar Capital, a family investment firm and Hinduja Group, a major global engineering conglomerate.

To be deployed in Asia

The co-chairmen at Hinduja Group, who topped the UK 2019 Rich List aims to make use of the technology to reduce the overall cost of manufacturing and provide access to rapidly growing markets in South East Asia and India.

Joined hands with Siemens!

Pavegen’s funding round follows the company’s expansion into 36 countries across the world. This startup generated £1 million revenue last year with installations including retail destinations, smart city developments, educational institutions and transport hubs in India, Thailand, Korea, Hong Kong, USA, UK and UAE.

Also, the company signed a Memorandum of Understanding with Siemens, the global technology and engineering giant to develop smart city projects together.

Earn rewards for steps you walk

Besides generating electricity by installing panels on walkways, Pavegen converts the kinetic energy generated by the footsteps into both data and electricity. Also, the company is working on an ecosystem letting people to be rewarded for the steps they walk on Pavegen walkways.

Increased engagement

Moreover, this technique helps increase engagement at the venue. It is touted that at the first shopping centre deployment at The Mercury mall in London, the engagement with the site increased by 15% due to the Pavegen walkways.

Laurence Kemball-Cook, CEO of Pavegen, said: “We believe in placing people at the heart of the smart city. With the support of Hinduja Group, Siemens and Tamar Capital, our plan of making our technology ubiquitous for all cities becomes achievable.”

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