Cambridge Cluster

Image by Ivan Makarov via Flickr

Watching the TV the other night, I was amazed to watch James May of Top Gear fame plug Aerofix for one hour as he built a full scale model of a Spitfire.  Wonder what will happen to the sales of model planes?  A week ago, I met an author of Economics books who told me that one quick “expert comment” on TV would “spike” the sales of his books.

Has Pilgrim Beart done one better linking up his latest start-up, Alertme.com, with Google.  This will allow users to monitor their energy use at home on Google using the Alertme.com hardware:

They don’t need to inform their utility, or do anything more than plug the devices — called the Meter Reader and Hub — into their corresponding sockets. Together, this equipment (see image above) costs about $113 (£69) upfront and $4.90 (£2.99) a month for online access; or a lump payment of $162.14 (£99) for the hardware and 12 months of online service.

Does Google share in the monthly fee?

Pilgrim Beart has attracted some great investors with the Cambridge Angels leading the early way and a series B round of £8million in June 2009 including Index Ventures.   Hope he incorporated a business plan tool such as Equity Fingerprint in his proposals.

Pilgrim Beart returned to his home town of Cambridge in 1999 after a few years immersed in the world of Silicon Valley.  Not an alumni of the University of Cambridge, Beart has always thought big and global.  However his first forays struggled.   ActiveRF briefly blossomed, Antenova moved away and then a short spell at the ill-fated Splashpower provided more experience.  Let us hope that Alertme will be his much deserved home run!

Hat tip: #geoffjones on Twitter