After winning the first edition of the Innovation Cup in 2023, we met Homsai to take a closer look at the journey that led them to success.
In this exclusive interview, they told us how the recognition gave a decisive boost to their growth, opening new opportunities and strategic collaborations such as the one with Enegan and transforming their project into an increasingly ambitious and innovative solution.
A direct account that shows how an award can become a real accelerator for development and ideas.
1. How did you first hear about the Innovation Cup, and what motivated you to apply?
We learned about the Innovation Cup thanks to our contact at DigitalMagics - an accelerator and incubator that selected us, among the 35 startups participating in 2022, for the HabiSmart - acceleration program. We immediately welcomed the suggestion, as it represented an excellent opportunity for us to test the level of interest our project, HOMSAI, could generate, as well as to meet and engage with other players in the energy sector.
2. What were your expectations before participating, and what positively surprised you?
We knew our idea was very interesting and matched the contest requirements perfectly, but we were also aware that we would be competing against more mature projects that already had some market positioning, while we had just released our first MVP.
That’s why the best surprise was certainly realizing that we were able to fully convey the potential of HOMSAI ultimately winning the very first edition of the Innovation Cup.
3. What did winning the Innovation Cup mean for you, and how did it impact your growth as a startup?
Winning this award was an important recognition of the work we had done, but above all, it was an indication that we were aligned with a real market need.
4. What concrete opportunities opened up for you after the victory (networking, visibility, investments, customers, etc.)?
Above all, the most important opportunity was meeting and starting a dialogue with Enegan, with whom we launched a project to integrate part of our services into their application.
As I mentioned earlier, winning the Innovation Cup and collaborating with Enegan helped us make HOMSAI not only a B2C solution, but also opened it up to other companies, allowing them to integrate our technology through APIs.
5. What is Homsai’s next big goal for the next 12 months?
HOMSAI is a project that continues to grow by expanding the roster of services that contribute to building energy efficiency. Today, we are looking with great interest at the world of renewable energy communities (RECs). In particular, we are working so that, in the coming months, energy sharing within RECs can be maximized in a simple and effective way just as we are already able to maximize the self-consumption of plants today.
Homsai has proven to be a shining example of success: a project that has managed to stand out, grow rapidly, and turn innovation into concrete opportunities.
It remains to be seen which startups will follow in their footsteps in this year’s Innovation Cup 2025, facing new challenges and seizing equally extraordinary benefits.