Chemicals Made from Plastic Waste, a Long-duration CO2 Battery, and More Startup News

Dear Friends of Greentown Labs,

It’s been a busy month here at Greentown, with hundreds of climatetech champions convening, networking, and collaborating at our first EnergyBar of the year, annual intern fair, and Hydrogen Industry Pitch Day!  We’ve also had several pieces of exciting news to share:

• Our annual Impact Report published last week, encapsulating Greentown’s work to advance our mission in 2023. Check it out to learn about our member startups’ accomplishments, Greentown’s various programs and accelerators, partnerships across the climatetech ecosystem, and more. 
• We also announced a new initiative to strengthen Houston’s energy-transition ecosystem—the Houston Ion District Investor Activation Program. Run by Greentown Houston in partnership with the Ion District and with support from the U.S. Economic Development Administration, this program is helping build an equitable climatetech industry capable of rapid deployment by addressing a fundamental challenge: the region’s lack of funding for early-stage climatetech startups, and especially for those led by underrepresented founders. The Investor Activation Program program is free to join and open to Houston-area accredited investors.
• Greentown, Halliburton Labs, and The Rice Alliance for Technology and Entrepreneurship are joining forces to launch the inaugural Houston Climate and Energy Startup Week on Sept. 9-13! The week will bring together energy and climate investors, industry leaders, and startups from across the globe to showcase and discuss the most innovative and promising companies and technologies that are transforming the energy industry and driving a sustainable, low-carbon energy future. Stay tuned for more details and registration information!

Want to be part of this growing momentum for climatetech?

• Climatetech startups: join our community.
• Investors: get connected with our world-changing entrepreneurs.
• Corporates: explore partnering with Greentown and our startups.
• Industry experts: mentor a startup.
• Job seekers: work at one of our startups—there’s a place for you, no matter your background or skill set. Greentown is hiring, too!
• Other climate champions: donate to support Greentown’s mission of bolstering climatetech startups and attend an event with our community.

As always, thank you for your commitment to climate action! 

Warmly,

The Greentown Labs Team

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Member Milestones

What does climate action look like? Climatetech startups receiving funding, winning awards, deploying their tech around the world, and more! Read a roundup of our members’ recent milestones here and check out some highlights below:

• A Fervo Energy pilot was selected by the Biden-Harris Administration as one of three projects to receive up to $60M in funding from the U.S. Department of Energy to scale enhanced geothermal systems. 
• SolarKal facilitated the acceptance of 13 commercial solar projects in the New Jersey Community Solar program, contributing a total of 12 MW of renewable energy. 
• Eden, which breaks rocks with electricity to increase subsurface permeability, received $1.4M in ARPA-E Awards to develop stimulated geologic hydrogen technologies. 
• Energy Toolbase, a startup aiding solar and energy storage developers to deploy projects more efficiently, finalized commissioning on Ventura Energy’s 3.7-MWh energy-storage portfolio in California for emergency water backup. 
• DrinKicks, focused on repurposing food waste and recycled materials into sustainable goods, won the NFL Players Association Pitch Day and will receive $25k in NFLPA marketing consultation, services, and player activations.
• FluxWorks, a startup creating frictionless magnetic gears, received the Technology in Space Prize, funded by Boeing and the Center for the Advancement of Science in Space, which manages the International Space Station.

Read + Watch

EarthEn's efficient, cost-effective CO2 battery system can store energy for four to 100 hours, has a lifespan of 30 years, and isn’t prone to battery fires or explosions. Learn more about the startup and its thermo-mechanical energy-storage system!

Polymer-X is developing an innovative process to transform plastic waste into valuable chemicals that are typically derived from petroleum, including fuels, diesel, hydrogen, and more. Watch a pitch from the startup’s founder!

Ever wonder what happens during a Greentown Go program? We asked the five startups and two corporate partners from Go Move 2022 how they worked together to decarbonize the automotive industry through the intensive six-month partnerships accelerator program—see what they had to say.

Over the last six months, six carbontech startups have been working closely with top industry leaders and expert mentors through the Carbon to Value (C2V) Initiative to de-risk and accelerate their tech’s path to commercialization. Check out results from the program’s third year.

Climate solutions are being developed at a rapid pace, but there’s little chance of achieving net-zero goals without uncovering the business incentive to expedite investment in climatetech. Read insights from our SVP of Partnerships Aisling Carlson on how we can incentivize climatetech investments through “catalytic government,” a coalition with incumbents, accelerators like the C2V Initiative that leverage corporate involvement and startup incubation, and more.

Mark Your Calendar for These Upcoming Events

Feb. 27: Empowerment Through Investment [Greentown Houston] Join this Black History Month event with The Ion and Greentown, which will feature a panel of Black climatetech investors and information on our new Houston Ion District Investor Activation Program for angel and early-stage investors.

Feb. 29: H-Town Roundup 2024: Climatetech and Energy Transition Session [Greentown Houston] We’re excited to host this H-Town Roundup session and Transition On Tap networking event, featuring workshops, a panel on carbon-capture technologies, a fireside chat between the Greater Houston Partnership’s Jane Stricker and our Houston General Manager and SVP Timmeko Moore Love, and more.

March 6: ACCEL Kickoff [Greentown Boston] We’re kicking off Year 2 of ACCEL, an accelerator program from Greentown and Browning the Green Space designed to support BIPOC-led climatetech startups! You’ll have the chance to hear from and network with ACCEL’s second startup cohort, which will be announced in the coming days.

March 20: Transition On Tap [Greentown Houston] If you’re attending CERAWeek, join us at Greentown Houston for our signature Transition On Tap networking event, sponsored by Baker Botts!

March 27: Accelerating Net-Zero Solutions: CCUS Innovation and Startup Showcase [Greentown Houston] Watch the Go Make 2023 cohort pitch their innovations in carbon utilization, storage, and traceability; hear about their work with Shell throughout the startup-corporate-partnerships accelerator; and learn from CCUS industry experts.

March 27: 2024 Cleantech Open Northeast Boston Kickoff Party [Greentown Boston] Attend this event to learn how Cleantech Open Northeast helps startups advance their cleantech ventures, hear from the accelerator’s alumni, and network.

April 4: EnergyBar: New Member Spotlight [Greentown Boston] Meet and hear pitches from some of Greentown Boston’s newest members at our signature networking event!

Want even more climatetech events? Check out these upcoming events from across the ecosystem!

• March 20: CERAWeek Panel: How Universities and Incubators Provide Early-stage Support for Startups — Greentown’s CEO Kevin Knobloch will be speaking
• March 20: TEX-E Prize Pitch Competition
• April 23-25: EarthX’s E-Capital Summit — Greentown’s Houston General Manager and SVP Timmeko Moore Love will be speaking
• May 1-3: NREL Industry Growth Forum

Greentown is Hiring!

• VP of Philanthropy (Boston, MA or Houston, TX)
• Grant Writer (Boston, MA or Houston, TX)

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