The companies range from hardware startups that can help customers in developing countries use their phones in new ways, to data companies that are focused on things like identity verification and keeping cloud-based transactions secure. The telco selected companies that were creating a positive impact “on the way we use networks to improve our lives and businesses,” said the Chairman and CEO of Orange, Stephane Richard. The 6 startups were selected out of more than 100 applicants.

Working with startups isn’t really about funding companies — the startups have a potential to receive $20K from the program, but that’s more a token gesture than anything else. The real value of the partnership comes from the startups gaining access to Orange’s massive distribution channels, partner program and marketing heft. For example, startup Fenix International could work with Orange’s African operations to distribute its off-grid batteries.

Because Orange has such a large footprint in the developing world, the company has a particular focus on building apps and hardware for “the bottom of the pyramid.” Orange’s Executive Director of Business Services, Vivek Badrinath, told me in an interview at the launch event on Monday night that the mobile phone is often times the first branded product that a customer in a developing country has, and that brand then has the unique ability to transition into offering core services, like mobile banking, and credit.

During the accelerator program, called Orange Fab, the startups will have a chance to visit Paris, and at the end of the program will have a demo day to feature their progress. Here’s the first 6 out of Orange Fab:

1). Fenix International: We’ve covered this four-year-old San Francisco-based startup many times. The team has built a battery that can be used off grid to charge mobile phones and other electronics, and which can connect to various mini power generation systems like small solar panels, a bike charger, or the grid. The target customer is an entrepreneur in a village that sells cell phone charging, and SIM cards (hence why Orange is interested). These entrepreneurs are already selling these services but often times use shoddy and toxic car batteries for charging. Fenix already has distribution deals with carriers Vodafone and MTN.

2). Re-char: Re-char is a startup that makes a kiln that turns bio waste — woodchips, agricultural waste or leaves — into a bio-based charcoal. The startup has delivered about 1,200 “climate kilns” to farmers in Western Kenya. But with the Orange accelerator program, Re-char plans to build an Android-based device that can connect to a cell phone and can test the quality of the soil, including water content, and pH levels. Farmers would use these devices, and accompanying data service, to test and figure out which plots of land are arable and how much fertilizer to buy and where to use it. Beyond the services and product for farmers, the data from the testing and field mapping could create a valuable data base that could potentially be used by fertilizer companies, non-profits or government programs.

3). Phone Halo: This startup has built a location-based system that can use your phone to find lost belongings, like your keys or your wallet. The company uses quarter-sized button trackers that can be placed on devices — or potentially embedded in devices — to deliver an auditory ring when you need to find one of the lost items. The company has been working with consumer electronics companies to make third-party branded products.

4). AlephCloud: The team at AlephCloud is focused on creating secure connections between devices and across systems from Dropbox to box to email to Amazon. With the growth in the consumerization of IT (you know, like everyone in your office buying their own iPhone and using their own Dropbox account), distributed security systems will increasingly be needed.

5). Virtrue: Virtrue has developed an identification verification system that uses data and algorithms to verify identities across platforms. The service is intended to help companies and consumers reduce fraud and is prefaced on the idea that verified data is much more valuable than unverified data.

6). Talkdesk: Talkdesk is software that can enable a company to set up and operate a distributed call center. The software is browser-based and offers support for sales and marketing.

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The deal has nothing to do with charity. Vodafone sees a major opportunity in getting more electricity — in whatever form — to its customers in areas like Tanzania that have a large percentage of the population living off the grid. More electricity means more cell phone use. There are 46 million people in Tanzania and only 14 percent of them have access to grid power — the rest of them use a combination of car batteries and diesel generators when they need access to power. Vodafone has about 10 million subscribers in Tanzania.

Fenix’s ReadySet battery can be sold with a solar panel charger as well as a bicycle charger (riding the bike in stationary mode charges the battery), and the simple design of the battery is what makes it so accessible to customers. Users can charge cell phones and plug in lights using basic connectors like USB and car lighter ports. (Check out Kevin Tofel’s review of the ReadySet).

The device costs around $200, which is a relatively high price for that area. But the people who will buy the ReadySets are mostly entrepreneurs in villages that will use the battery to sell cell phone charging services and charge their shops after it gets dark. Entrepreneurs can make $40 to $50 per month from offering cell phone charging services.

Vodafone is already working with these types of entrepreneurs on other services. Vodafone created a mobile payment system called M-Pesa, where people can exchange cell phones minutes for goods and services. There are 4.5 million people in Tanzania using the M-Pesa service, and there are 40,000 agents that operate as M-Pesa entrepreneurs (like human ATMs with cell phone minutes).

It’s these 40,000 M-Pesa entrepreneurs that Vodafone thinks will be particularly attracted to ReadySets. With reliable off-grid power, these local business people can keep their phones charged longer — and provide more mobile banking services — and also they can start selling cell phone charging as well. Vodafone said that in a pilot in Tanzania with the ReadySets, it saw 14 percent more average revenue per user across the M-Pesa system, because more people’s phones were charged to receive and give money.

Scoring a deal with Vodafone is a game changer for Fenix. Vodafone has some 400 million subscribers globally, and 100 million of those are off-grid customers. Globally 1.3 billion people live off-grid, and 600 million of those are cell phone subscribers. Fenix also is working with MTN, the largest telco in Africa with 180 million subscribers.

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Disclosure: I just bought one. I’ve wanted one since I first wrote about the company back in 2010. My dream is to spend a full day blogging in the park, using the battery power and the solar panel. But I digress.

Fenix is using Kickstarter to test the waters for a U.S. market. Up to this point the startup has been selling its batteries through African telecom MTN in Uganda. Last month CEO Mike Lin told me that Fenix had shipped 2,000 of its batteries to MTN in Uganda. On Wednesday in an interview Lin told me that MTN Rwanda had also just signed up with Fenix as well to ship its batteries, and the company has pilots in Kenya and Tanzania.

In developing countries where there’s sporadic grid power, entrepreneurs can use the batteries to sell applications like cell phone charging. There’s already entrepreneurs doing this, but mostly they use old car batteries for charging, which can be costly and unsafe.

There’s some really interesting applications emerging around the battery, says Lin. For example, in places where peer-to-peer mobile payments, via SMS, is popular, a job has emerged called a mobile money agent — like a human ATM — and these entrepreneurs have been using Fenix’s off-grid battery to increase the amount of time they can provide that payment exchange service. Other applications include powering things like a refrigerator for vaccines, or lighting at night.

Telecoms in developing countries are interested in promoting off-grid batteries as a way to increase cell phone usage and penetration. In the way that mobile phone networks have leap-frogged wired phone connections in the developing world, off-grid power could eventually one day overcome grid power in these nations. Maybe — we’ll see. For that to happen they need energy storage, like Fenix’s productized lead acid battery.

Fenix sees its battery — and the secret sauce of the software that manages the charging — as a platform for enabling these energy applications. In the U.S., Fenix wants to encourage the creation of a developer community that will use its open hardware API to develop new applications like micro wind and water energy generation. That’s partly who Fenix expects to buy these early ones in the U.S. off of Kickstarter. The other interested customers in the battery could be the recreational types — imagine this on the shelf in REI next to camping equipment and emergency kits.

Beyond the Kickstarter campaign, Fenix is in the process of raising a $10 million Series B round to help it scale up and start cranking out its orders in Africa and potentially the U.S. Fenix will probably only start a big sales push in the U.S. if the Kickstarter campaign shows there’s a big market for it. However, just two days after the campaign was launched, Fenix has already hit close to $15,000 of its $20,000 order goal (with 29 more days to go), so I think it’s safe to say that it’s got some interest here in the U.S.

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Fenix’s battery device is called the ReadySet (see photo), and it comes in a protective casing, with all the basic connectors for charging devices like cell phones, lights, fans and TVs. The ReadySet has a set of smart circuitry that enables the battery to last up to three years (2 years longer than many of the car batteries that are being used in the ecosystem) and it also comes with power generation options, like a bike generator (up to 100 watt hours) and a solar panel (15 watt hours), which can recharge the battery with clean power.

The ReadySet, which cost around $150 when it was initially launched, is targeting an off-grid market of  entrepreneurs that commonly use junky car batteries to charge villager’s cell phones. For the about 2.6 billion people in the world who don’t have regular access to grid power, an ad-hoc economy has emerged around these car batteries. The ReadySet is a more long lasting, better designed and safer version of the car battery.

Around $150 is still pretty high for a product for the developing world, but Fenix is selling and giving the ReadySet to entrepreneurs that tend to have a little more access to capital than an average consumer is these regions. About 2.5 percent of the populations of these villages is some kind of entrepreneur, Fenix CEO Mike Lin told me in an interview when the company launched.

Fenix has decided to partner with the major telcos in the developing world for distribution, along with other partners like NGOs and service providers, to effectively and economically sell and market its devices. The telcos could benefit from the proliferation of the energy storage devices and distributed cell phone charging, and could white-label the ReadySets with their brands. MTN brands the ReadySet for its users.

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Big Ideas Winner Mike Lin of Fenix International

Fenix International — one of our 10 Green:Net Big Ideas winners– has designed a safe and simple battery that can be plugged into various power sources and uses smart software to manage the charge. The idea is to replace an ad hoc market that emerged in off-grid communities where village entrepreneurs are using car batteries to sell mobile phone charges and power lighting devices. Listen to Fenix International founder and CEO Mike Lin talk about Fenix’s ReadySet energy storage device for the off-grid world:

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Here are some of the key insights from their presentations. We’ll update this post as the day goes on.

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1). Evolution of the Smart Grid Ecosystem: The smart grid isn’t just about smart meters, no matter what some of the press or the small group of protesters focus on. It’s also about connected cities, trouble-shooting grid problems (ie, keeping the lights on), plugging in electric vehicles and clean power generation, and developing the next-generation of smart grid applications. At Green:Net you’ll hear about how solar power and the smart grid intersect from NRG Energy CEO David Crane, and Silver Spring Networks EVP and CMO Eric Dresselhuys. Silver Spring Networks has also brought together a panel of industry and research thought leaders to look at how the smart grid will effect entire communities and potentially change consumer behavior.

If you want to sell a startup in greentech, the smart grid will be your best bet. We’re bringing together the key M&A players, including power gear companies like GE, ABB, and Schneider Electric, and IT giants like Cisco, as well as innovative startups that could make solid purchases, including those in our Big Ideas Section.

2). Speaking of Big Ideas: We’ve collected 10 of the most innovative companies that are developing technologies around digital energy, and we’re having them show-off their innovations throughout the day at Green:Net. It’s a mix of growing players building technology around low power data centers, like Calxeda and SeaMicro, to a startup like Fenix International that’s created battery management software for energy storage devices for the developing world. Other Big Ideas companies include an older firm with a new idea, and Earth Networks is building the world’s largest greenhouse gas sensing network.

3). Lower Power Computing & Energy Efficient Data Centers: With the growth of always-on devices and ubiquitous networks, computing is consuming an ever-growing amount of energy. Companies that build and operate their own data centers from Google, to Yahoo to Facebook know this and have been investing significant resources into reducing both the energy and carbon footprints of the data centers that run their services. Google’s Green Energy Czar Bill Weihl and Yahoo’s Director, Climate and Energy Strategy Christina Page will be discussing their green data center plays with GigaOM founder Om Malik. Microsoft’s Chief Environmental Strategist Rob Bernard will also give a talk on Microsoft’s green data center designs.

4). The Web As a Platform For Sharing Things: Web 2.0 might have been about the rise of social networks, one-click applications, and location based services, but the next-generation of the web is also enabling an entire sharing economy. Using the web and mobile technology, startups like RelayRides and AirBnB (both will speak at Green:Net) are developing services that enable the more efficient use of stuff — from cars to housing to goods.

5). Mobile Networks and Connected Cars: Ubiquitous networks means another thing: our cars are the next device ripe for a wireless connection and for new types of applications. The next-generation of developers will be working with platforms like Ford’s Sync (made by Microsoft) and GM’s Onstar to create both mobile and in-vehicle applications. In particular, electric cars will have even more digital functionality to help drivers manage their battery charge and to find the nearest charging station. Our Big Ideas company Virtual Vehicle Company is working on how to tap into the mobile data off of cell phones to provide more intelligence for car companies.

6). Cleantech Investing 2.0: Using IT for greentech aims is one of the chief areas that will continue to get investment from cleantech investors: it’s more capital efficient, it’s less risky, and there’s quicker returns on investments, compared to investing in clean power. The leaders of Silverlake’s brand new greentech fund Silverlake Kraftwerk — Adam Grosser (former a Foundation Partner) and Cathy Zoi (formerly the DOE’s Under-Secretary for Energy) — will talk with me for the first time publicly about how Silverlake Kraftwerk will take a different approach to clean investing. Spring Venture’s founder Sunil Paul will also detail his ideas on investing in the “CleanWeb,” or using the web and mobile to more efficiently manage constrained resources.

7). Clean Power & The Internet: In addition to our discussion of energy efficient data centers, Greenpeace plans to unveil a report on how Internet players stack up when it comes to using clean power to run their data centers and networks. No Internet companies are really powering their services with any significant amount of renewable energy yet, but some companies like Google are leading via innovation more than others.

8). How the DOE Can Help: Cleantech investors will continue to fund these types of capital-efficient companies, but the Department of Energy will also play its part via the various programs that it’s enacted over the past few years. At Green:Net, the Chief of the DOE Loan Program, Jonathan Silver, will give us an update on the loan and loan guarantee programs, what types of awards are in the pipeline and how the program could change in the face of the budget crunch.

9). Energy Efficiency Through Design: The most energy efficient systems are designed from the ground up to be energy efficient. Autodesk CEO Carl Bass and GreenBiz founder Joel Makower will have a discussion about how design plays a key role in reducing energy consumption.

10). You & Me: Networking, media interviews, heated debates, provocative questions — we’ll have it all for our event, which is on one day, on one stage. It’s like a party, but you learn how to make money and save the planet at the same time.

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