Meet the Startups Poised to Make Waves in 2024

Dear Friends of Greentown Labs,

2024 is here, and it’s full of promise for the climatetech industry. 

We’re only a handful of weeks into the new year, but Greentown startups are hitting the ground running. Just take a look at Sublime Systems—developer of a fossil-fuel-free, scalable, drop-in replacement for traditional cement in concrete—which announced its first commercial, kiloton-scale manufacturing site, or Sol Clarity, which successfully installed solar panels with its electrodynamic screen technology at a Nexamp location in its largest-scale field trial to date.

Our community of 200+ startups is poised to continue making waves in the name of climate action, and to help you navigate some of the technologies experts say will take center stage this year, we’ve put together an article featuring our members innovating in key climatetech areas. Read it to learn about entrepreneurs working on cell-based meat, clean hydrogen, decarbonized steel, enhanced geothermal, and more.

Want to meet and work with these startups? Our packed lineup of February and March events offers myriad networking opportunities—including a hydrogen industry event, intern fair, CERAWeek Transition On Tap, and ACCEL kickoff—and you can explore more ways to connect with our community here.

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

Warmly,

The Greentown Labs Team

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:

• AeroShield won a $610k Massachusetts Manufacturing Innovation Initiative grant to support manufacturing of its super-insulating, porous glass for energy-efficient windows.
• Imperium Technologies, whose electrochemical solution reduces industrial heating’s GHG emissions by addressing steam systems’ failures, received an SBIR Phase I award.
• Circularise, a Go Make 2023 participant, successfully completed its traceability project for recycling with the Japan Circular Economy Partnership, AMITA Corporation, and Marubeni Corporation.
• Monadnock Energy won $50k from Phase 1 of the American-Made Community Power Accelerator Prize and will advance to Phase 2 of the solar-focused competition.
• Greentown alum Advent Technologies, maker of HT-PEM fuel cells that convert hydrogen and other renewable fuels to electricity, secured funding from the Danish Energy Technology Development and Demonstration Program for an R&D project.

Read + Watch

Fleet Robotics is tackling biofouling in the shipping industry—which can increase ships’ fuel consumption by up to 30 percent—with a new category of autonomous mobile robots that can easily scale and clean vertical surfaces underwater. Read more.

Go Build 2023 with Saint-Gobain—a Greentown Go startup-corporate partnerships accelerator focused on technologies to advance circularity and decarbonize the built environment—announced its six-startup cohort.

Micronic Technologies’ Tornadic One-Pass™ technology cleans industrial wastewater with no filters, membranes, or chemicals. Watch a pitch from its co-founder Karen Sorber!

Mark Your Calendar for These Upcoming Events

Feb. 1: EnergyBar: Kicking Off 2024 [Greentown Boston]Join us for the first EnergyBar of the year to network with entrepreneurs, investors, students, and friends of climatetech.

Feb. 13: 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.

Feb. 15: Climatetech Intern Fair [Greentown Boston]Calling all students and soon-to-be graduates! Please join our annual Greentown Boston Intern Fair, which focuses on connecting rockstar interns with Greentown’s cutting-edge climatetech startups.

Feb. 20: Hydrogen Industry Networking [Greentown Houston]Meet and network with Greentown startups that are innovating in the hydrogen industry at this afternoon event.

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.

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 weeks.

March 11-12: MIT Energy Conference [Ecosystem Event]Attendees will gain real-world insights from expert speakers from throughout the climate and energy ecosystem, witness the breakthroughs in the energy and climatetech industries at a climatetech showcase, and connect with energy professionals from all over the world. Grab your early-bird ticket before prices increase on Jan. 29.

March 20: Transition On Tap [Greentown Houston]Join us during CERAWeek at Greentown Houston’s signature Transition On Tap networking event!

March 27: Go Make Final 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.

Updates from TEX-E

The Texas Entrepreneurship Exchange for Energy (TEX-E) is a first-of-a-kind collaboration among The University of Texas at Austin, Texas A&M University, University of Houston, Rice University, and Prairie View A&M University—powered by Greentown and MIT’s Martin Trust Center for Entrepreneurship—to create a powerful, student-driven entrepreneurship ecosystem in Texas. 

Here’s the latest news from the program:

• Applications are open through Feb. 9 for the TEX-E Prize, a multi-round startup competition for Texas students with climatetech solutions hosted in partnership with the Houston Energy Transition Initiative (HETI) and the Rice Alliance for Technology and Entrepreneurship. Winners will receive a total of $50,000 in cash prizes.
• The program named David Pruner as its first-ever executive director. David brings more than 30 years of experience across energy, management consulting, financial services, and higher education to TEX-E.

Greentown is Hiring!

• Accounting Manager (Boston, MA or Houston, TX)
• TEX-E Director of University Engagement (Houston, TX)

Thank You to Our Partners 🌍