TechPipe™ · About & how it works
Pursue a territory. Compete for exclusivity.
The TechPipe™ platform is designed to help identify, qualify, and select participants for breakthrough technology opportunities, territory by territory. If you are the successful bidder and enter into a definitive agreement, the applicable terms may give you exclusive distribution-related rights in your approved territory. First up: FastOx® gasification technology by Sierra Energy.
What the TechPipe™ platform is
One technology, many participants pursuing opportunities in parallel.
Instead of one company pursuing one opportunity at a time, the TechPipe™ platform helps make deployment-related distribution opportunities available to multiple qualified participants at once. Available opportunities may include exclusive, territory-level distribution rights, so approved distributors can pursue sites, permits, and financing with defined territorial protection under the applicable definitive agreement.
Beyond the territory-award process itself, the TechPipe™ platform connects qualified participants across the industry, and is built to welcome more technology partners over time.
Why this model
Great technology can sit on the shelf because one company can only pursue so many opportunities at once. The TechPipe™ platform changes that by making high-potential distribution opportunities available to qualified participants in parallel, each pursuing opportunity terms for its own approved territory.
What you're bidding for
Each auction may offer potential exclusive distribution rights for one technology category within one approved territory. If awarded under a definitive agreement, your exclusivity is territory-wide, not tied to a specific city or site, subject to the applicable opportunity terms and definitive agreement. While your distribution rights remain active and in good standing, the applicable terms may restrict other approved distributors from receiving overlapping distribution rights inside your territory. There are more than 3,100 counties and county-equivalents in the U.S., with potential to expand beyond the U.S. where legally and commercially available.
Good to know
Bid from anywhere
No residency requirement. Subject to eligibility and applicable law, you may bid on available territories wherever you are based.
Your identity stays private
Your name and company are not shown publicly to other bidders through the TechPipe™ platform's bidding interface, whether you win or lose.
Proxy bidding, built in
Set your maximum bid once. The TechPipe™ platform's proxy-bidding feature is designed to bid for you only as needed to keep you in the lead, up to your maximum bid.
One approved distributor per approved territory
Only one set of exclusive distribution rights will be available per technology category, per approved territory, at a time, as specified in the applicable opportunity terms and definitive agreement.
Starting bids scale with population
US$0.10 per resident (U.S. Census Bureau figures), rounded up to the nearest US$100, with a US$5,000 minimum, unless the applicable opportunity terms state otherwise.
No development required
Keep any awarded distribution rights active by paying the applicable annual fee and following the applicable definitive agreement. You are not required to build solely because you place a winning bid.
The process, step by step
A territory opens up
Once enough companies show interest in a territory, the TechPipe™ platform may open a bidding window and add it to the interactive map.
You explore the territory
Check available population, state, and useful geographic layers, such as energy infrastructure, landfills, and water treatment, plus the opening bid, current high bid, and time remaining.
You place your bid
Set the maximum you are willing to pay. The TechPipe™ platform's proxy-bidding feature is designed to bid on your behalf only as needed to keep you in front, and not above your maximum bid. No deposit is required to participate, unless the applicable opportunity terms state otherwise.
You stay in the running
If someone outbids your maximum, the TechPipe™ platform is designed to email you so you can decide whether to raise it and re-enter. Outbid alerts are a convenience, not a guarantee. See the opportunity terms below.
Anti-sniping keeps it fair
A bid placed in the final 5 minutes is designed to extend the window by another 5 minutes and trigger notice to active bidders, reducing the risk that a last-second bid decides the auction.
Bidding closes
When the window ends without a further bid, the highest bidder is the winning bidder, subject to the TechPipe™ platform's right not to award distribution rights even if the opening bid is met.
You sign and pay
Sign your definitive agreement within the period stated in the applicable opportunity terms, then pay the applicable fee within the required payment period. Unless the applicable opportunity terms state otherwise, full payment must be completed within 10 days after auction close. No deposit is required to bid, unless the applicable opportunity terms state otherwise.
Your rights are awarded
Once payment clears and all required conditions are satisfied, your exclusive distribution rights are awarded, and you become the approved distributor for that technology category in your approved territory, subject to the applicable definitive agreement.
You renew each year
As your renewal date approaches, the TechPipe™ platform is designed to remind you and offer you the chance to renew before the territory is re-listed. If you do not renew, the territory may return to bidding.
Background
Built to solve a deployment problem.
After nearly two decades of conversations with developers from almost every country, Sierra Energy designed the TechPipe™ platform as the answer to a deployment problem: great technology is not moving fast enough. The platform is built to host more partners over time, helping bring high-impact technologies to market faster, from waste-to-energy projects to hydrogen-powered locomotives, and beyond.
The patent
U.S. Patent No. 10,410,279 B2: "Method and system for creating and managing a community of intellectual property licensees to develop and commercialize a new technology." This patent covers the TechPipe™ platform methodology, not FastOx gasification technology hardware itself.
Filed April 2015. Granted September 2019. Inventor: Mike Hart.
Auction rules & terms
Key rules that govern bidding.
This is a plain-language summary. The full, binding terms are set out in the applicable official opportunity terms and definitive agreement, which control in the event of any conflict with this summary.
Bidding basics
- Bids are binding once submitted. Retractions are permitted only in limited circumstances, such as a clear typographical error reported promptly, before the auction closes, and only with TechPipe's approval.
- Each new bid must exceed the current high bid by at least 5% of the territory's opening bid, rounded up to the nearest US$100, unless the applicable opportunity terms state otherwise.
- If two proxy bids share the exact same maximum, the one received first holds the lead. Ties are broken strictly by order of receipt.
- The current high bid is visible through the TechPipe™ platform's bidding interface so you know what is needed to stay in the lead. No bidder's maximum, or any bidder's identity, is shown publicly to other bidders through the TechPipe™ platform's bidding interface.
- The TechPipe™ platform reserves the right not to award distribution rights, even if the opening bid is met.
- The TechPipe™ platform's system clock and record of when a bid is received and recorded, not when you click submit, is the official time of record.
Timing & notices
- Opening bid: US$0.10 per resident (U.S. Census Bureau figures), rounded up to the nearest US$100, unless the applicable opportunity terms state otherwise.
- Anti-sniping: a bid placed in the final 5 minutes is designed to extend the auction by 5 minutes and notify all active bidders.
- Outbid alerts, reminders, and closing notices are a convenience only. Failure to receive one does not extend the auction, invalidate any bid, or relieve you of your obligations.
- The TechPipe™ platform is not liable for outages, bugs, delayed or duplicate bids, or display errors, beyond correcting them once identified, except to the extent the applicable terms provide otherwise.
After you win
- No deposit is required to bid, unless the applicable opportunity terms state otherwise.
- You will sign your definitive agreement, and any required NDA, within the period stated in the applicable opportunity terms.
- Your applicable fee is due within the required payment period. Unless the applicable opportunity terms state otherwise, full payment must be completed within 10 days after auction close.
- If payment is not completed on time, the TechPipe™ platform may offer the distribution opportunity to the next-highest bidder or re-open the territory for a new auction, at its discretion and subject to the applicable opportunity terms.
Territory & boundaries
- For U.S. county auctions, each awarded territory uses official county boundaries as of the auction's award date. Later boundary changes do not affect an already-awarded territory, unless the applicable definitive agreement states otherwise.
- Cross-border situations are addressed in the full opportunity terms.
Fees, taxes & payment
- Exclusive distributors are responsible for all sales, use, VAT, GST, and similar taxes; payment-processing, wire, and chargeback fees; and currency conversion, all payable in U.S. dollars.
- TechPipe accepts ACH, wire, and credit card. Credit card payments that are later reversed may be challenged.
Eligibility & conduct
- Subject to eligibility, sanctions, anti-corruption, export-control, and other applicable legal requirements, qualified participants may bid without a residency requirement.
- To bid, you will register an account, provide your legal name or entity, address, email, and phone, and accept the applicable opportunity terms through a click-through agreement, including certifying your authority to bind your organization and your compliance with sanctions, anti-corruption, and export-control laws.
- Prohibited: bid rigging, collusive or shill bidding, false identities, multiple accounts, interfering with other bidders, bidding without intent to pay, and bidding by the TechPipe™ platform or its affiliates, employees, or related parties.
- The TechPipe™ platform verifies each bidder's email, phone, and billing address, and keeps an audit log of all bidding activity. Winning bidders undergo additional screening before any distribution rights are finalized.
Definitive agreement terms
- Once awarded rights under a definitive agreement, you are not required to build solely because you placed a winning bid. You keep any awarded exclusive distribution rights as long as you pay the applicable annual fee and follow the definitive agreement.
- Awarded distribution rights may be transferred, subject to the TechPipe™ platform's approval, the same eligibility checks required of new bidders, payment of any outstanding balance, and a transfer fee of 1% of the annual fee (capped at US$5,000).
Disputes
- The TechPipe™ platform's official approved-distributor registry controls in the event of a competing claim, absent a clear error on the platform's part.
- Remedies are tailored to the issue: for example, a short notice-and-cure period for nonpayment, injunctive relief for an exclusivity breach, or immediate suspension for fraud or a sanctions violation.
Ready to explore your territory?
Explore the interactive map, find an available territory, and place your first bid when an auction is open.