As the country moves forward towards clean energy and climate conscious activities, Cleantech Open Northeast will be posting news of our alumni throughout the year. We want to highlight these visionary companies and celebrate the successes they experience as they work towards a better, healthier future for all of us. Alumni startups participating in the Cleantech Open Northeast are especially well-positioned to have real potential for global impact. Read about these companies’ successes and transformative, necessary work below.

*This blog will cover the entire year, so come back often to see the latest updates! 

**The years in parenthesis indicate when the startups participated in the Cleantech Open accelerator.

Featured Alum of the Month

Alumni News:

13 Mari LD (2021) 

• Was a CleanTech Seed Grant Program Awardee. 13 Mari LTD was Awarded $74,578 by NJEDA CSIT. (Article) 

• Presenting and showcasing at the Dual Technology Showcase and Demo Day for Defense and National Security (Article)

Aclarity (2018)

• Invited to showcase the company’s technology at NEWEA’s 2022 annual conference. (Article)

• Chosen to take part in Imagine H2O’s Urban Water Challenge IV Audience Choice Awards. (Link)

• Chosen to speak at the Smart Water Networks Forum (SWAN) International Women’s Day event. (SWAN’s page for the event and more detail)

• Closed $3.3M seed round. (Article)

• Received a $200K stage 2 SBIR grant from MassVentures’s START program. (Article)

Actasys (2013)

• Signed MoU with Webasto Group. (Article) 

• Dr. Marc Rosenmayr joins the Advisory Board. (Article)

ACUA Ocean (2021)

• This past week Net Zero Insights announced that ACUA Ocean was granted approval for its hydrogen system, control engineering system and electrical power distribution systems from Lloyd’s Register! Congratulations to ACUA Ocean! (Article)

• Accepted into the UK Chamber of Shipping and will utilize its Ocean Protector technology to perform security and data collection duties for the Chamber. (Article)

• Joined the Percy Hobart Fellowship, a program that places members of the Royal Navy and Airforce into startups to promote technological innovation within the forces. (Article)

• Chosen to take part in Imagine H2O’s Urban Water Challenge IV Audience Choice Awards. (Link)

• Awarded money by the UK Department of Transport to further its work. (Article)

• Accepted into the UK cohort of PUBLIC’s Gov Start 2022 program. (Article)

• Developed an autonomous surface vessel prototype that will be powered entirely by hydrogen. (Article)

• Made the front cover of Marine Technology Reporter 100th Edition. (Article)

• Signed MoU with Innovate UK and Enterprise Singapore. (Article)

• Joined a manufacturing accelerator in the UK. (Post)

Aeroshield (2019)

• In 2022, Aeroshield was selected by MassCEC and MassVentures who co-manage the Catalyst/DICES grant program, which provides grants of up to $65,000 to researchers and early-stage companies looking to demonstrate initial prototypes of their clean energy technologies (Article)

• Participated in the Saint-Gobain challenge and will conduct R&D to incorporate its products into Saint-Gobain’s line. (Article)

• Awarded a $1M Phase II NSF SBIR grant. (Article)

• Awarded a $100K grant from MassVentures. (Article)

• Received a $200K stage 1 SBIR grant from MassVentures’s START program. (Article)

• Raised $4 million in seed funding from MassCEC and MassVentures. (Article)

Amatec (2022)

• CEO and Co-Founder, Igor Stavrulov, featured in “A North American PropTech View” by Tabitha Francis (Article)

anessa (2019)

• Partnered with CIbiogás, a driver of biogas usage in Brazil, to optimize and propagate use of the resource. (Article)

Ashipa Electric (2021)

• Partnered with the World Bank and Nigeria’s Rural Electrification Agency as part of the Nigeria Electrification Project. (The World Bank’s page for the project)

Atrevida Science (2020)

• Congratulations to Atrevida Science for being selected for the Mass Challenge 2022 U.S. Early Stage Accelerator program! (Article)

• Semi-finalist in American-Made Solar Prize competition. (Article)

• As part of a team, was announced as a semifinalist in the US Department of Energy’s American-Made Solar Competition and won the Justice, Equity, Diversity and Inclusion contest. (Article)

Bevi (2013)

• Raised $70 million in Series D funding (Article) 

Blackburn Energy (2014)

• Partnered with Toyota Tsusho to decrease trucking emissions with its patented RelGen technology. (Article)

BlocPower (2013)

• Received 30 million dollars to expand its operations from Microsoft’s Climate Innovation Fund, which is funded by Goldman Sachs. (Article)

• Working on an electric van service that will provide clean mass transit to New York communities without mass transit using funding from phase one of the New York Clean Transportation Prizes in its Clean Neighborhoods Challenge for its CTAP initiative. (Article)

• Partnered with the city of Ithaca to electrify the entire city. Received a $5M grant from Jeff Bezos to digitally map 125 million buildings, giving each a free plan to become sustainable. (Article)

• Named fourth most innovative company by Fast Company. (Article)

• Nominated for the tech assistance program offered by Wells Fargo’s Innovation Incubator. (Article)

• Partnered with Steffes as part of Wells Fargo’s Innovation Incubator. (Article)

• CEO and founder, Donnel Baird, spoke at The Aspen Institute's climate conference. (Video of the event)

• Won the climate category of Fast Company’s world Changing Ideas Awards. (Article)

• CEO and founder, Donnel Baird, spoke at the Washington Post’s Protecting our Planet: Energy Efficiency event. (Article)

• Created Civilian Climate Corps, a program providing work and cleantech training to individuals in disadvantaged communities. (Article)

• Won a $10 million grant from NYSERDA. (Article)

• CEO and founder, Donnel Baird, awarded “Dreamer of the Year” by TIME. (Article)

• Featured in an Amazon Web Service Case Study. (Article)

Capro-X (2018)

• Congratulations to Capro-X for being selected for the Mass Challenge 2022 U.S. Early Stage Accelerator program! (Article)

• Featured in the Cornell News; received $100,000 from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency; received $1.374 million in National Science Foundation Small Business Innovation Research grants. (Article)

change:WATER Labs (2017)

• Chosen to take part in Imagine H2O’s Urban Water Challenge IV Audience Choice Awards. (Link)

• Featured in The Kids Should See This. (Article)

• Listed as a startup working in sustainable water solutions by Green Tech Online. (Article)

• Won Imagine H2O’s “Croc Tank Competition'' at WEFTEC’22. (Article)

CLIP (2020)

• Named a finalist in the transportation category of Fast Company’s World Changing Ideas Awards. (Article)

• Featured in The Henry Ford’s Innovation Nation with Mo Rocca. (Video)

DrinkWell (2014)

• Joined the Decentralized Safe Water for Asia partnership, which will distribute clean water in Bangladesh while generating little waste and using no electricity. (Article)

• Partnered with the World Bank to deploy 2,000 units of its technology by 2030. (Video)

Ecolectro (2017)

• Closed a funding round of over $4.5M. (Article)

• Became a member of a multi-state clean energy consortium formed by New York Governor Kathy Hochul. (Article)

• Brian Bauer, who previously served in various leadership roles at BP, joined their team as COO. (Article)

• Featured in the Cornell News; closed $4.5M funding round led by Starshot Capital with support from Toyota Ventures. (Article)

Ecotone Renewables (2021)

• Placed first in the US Composting Council’s Composter Competition. (Article)

• Featured in The Impact. (Article)

• Won first place at the Evolving Energy Technology Showcase. (Article)
• Received investments from Peach Tree Minority Venture Fund. (Tweet)

eHempHouse (2021)

• Begun implementing its hemp-processing technology with eight units in Africa. (Article)

Elateq, Inc. (2020)

• Was awarded an SBIR grant by the NSF in the Environmental Technologies category. (Article)

• One of the three recipients to be awarded the FORGE Product Development Grant. (Article)

Embue (2012)

• Partnered with 2Life Communities to work on their affordable housing program. (Article)

EMPEQ (2016)

• Partnered with the City of Ithaca in their effort to become the first carbon-neutral city in the US. (Article)

Energysage (2012)

• Acquired by Schneider Electric to support Energysage’s mission of increasing solar usage. (Article)

Enersion, Inc. (2019)

• Invited to present at Incubatenergy Labs’s Pitch Day, the first step of their 2022 program to support cleantech innovators. (The program’s timeline)

Enviro Power (2014)

• Enviropower a Cleantech Open Northeast 2014 alumni on graduating from the DeltaClimeVT Energy 2022 climate economy business accelerator! (Article) 

• Debuted their new heating system that also generates electricity. (Article) 

• Featured in Business Insider. (Article) 

ExoCell (2021) 

• Was a CleanTech Seed Grant Program Awardee. ExoCell was Awarded $74,993 by NJEDA CSIT. (Article)

• Binghamton University and NYSERDA selected ExoCell as 1 of 2 Fellows for empowerST Program under guidance of Nobel Laureate M. Stanley Whittingham. (Article) 

EvTek (2021)

• Selected as finalist in the Oak-D-Lite Contest run by OpenCV with Intel and Microsoft Azure. (Article)

Farm to Flame Energy (2020)

• Farm to Flame a Cleantech Open Northeast 2020 alumni graduated from the DeltaClimeVT Energy 2022 climate economy business accelerator! (Article) 

• Awarded $200K by the RK Mellon Foundation for the positive impact its biofuel work has on the environment. (Article)

• Selected to participate in the NYCEDC and New Labs’ 2022 Founder Fellowship cohort. (Article)

• Featured in The Impact. (Article)

• Selected as a semi-finalist for the Black Ambition prize.(Article)

• Received investment from Capital Innovators Group (Article)

Feedback Solutions (2019)

• J.A. Colantonio joined their team as an advisory board member. (Post)

FINSULATE (2021)

• Selected as a startup for Top Gun’s accelerator program. (Article)

• Selected to participate in the 2022 cohort of NYCEDC and Newlab’s founder fellowship. (Article)

• Won Top Gun’s 2022 Showcase competition. (Article)

• Established its US HQ in Portland, ME. (Article)

Flux Marine (2019)

• Gained $15M in series A funding.

  • Electrive’s article

  • Charged EVs’s article

  • Boat Test’s article

  • Clean Technica’s article

  • Tech Crunch’s article

  • The Boston Globe’s article

  • The Associated Press’s article

• Featured in The Impact. (Article)

• Selected as a 2022 Rhode Island Inno on Fire honoree (Article)

• Featured in the Island Institute; its electric outboard motors are helping to revitalize Maine’s fishing community. (Article)

GenH (2010) 

• Congratulations to GenH for being selected for the Mass Challenge 2022 U.S. Early Stage Accelerator program! (Article)

• GenH a Cleantech Open Northeast 2010 alumni graduated from the DeltaClimeVT Energy 2022 climate economy business accelerator. (Article)

GRAIN Ecosystem (2022) 

• Raised capital from SE Ventures to accelerate carbon offset market disruption. (Article)

Gridtwin (2019) 

• Awarded Partnership of the Year in 2022 by NECEC. (Article)

Heat Inverse (2018)

• Finalist at the 2022 Urban Future Summit (About the competition)

• Second successful pilot installation (Post)

• Recognized in the 2022 Cleantech 50 to Watch (Article)

• CEO and Founder, Romy Fain, featured in a FuzeHub article. (Article) 

HEVO (2013)

• Working on an electric van service that will provide clean mass transit to New York communities without mass transit using funding from phase one of the New York Clean Transportation Prizes in its Clean Neighborhoods Challenge for its CTAP initiative. (Article)

• Won a $10 million grant from NYSERDA. (Article)

• HEVO wins the 2022 PACEpilot Innovations to Watch award. (Article)

Harmony Desalination (2020)

• Presenting and showcasing at the Dual Technology Showcase and Demo Day for Defense and National Security. (Article)

• Won the More Water Less Concentrate Challenge, continues development with support of the Massachusetts Clean Energy Center Catalyst program. (Article) 
• Commenced a 113 day test of batch RO at the Water Quality Improvement Center of the Yuma Desalting Plant. (Article)
• The Olin-Harmony-MIT team concluded a week-long demonstration of batch RO at the Yuma Desalting Plant as part of the More Water Less Concentrate Challenge. Its 1 gpm system reduced RO brine volume by 83% with 92% uptime. (Test Data)
• Accepted into the second cohort of the BLUE Excelerator. (More about the accelerator )

Haystack Ag (2018)

• A part of the 2022 Sustainability Subscribed Cohort. (More about the accelerator)

InfiSense (2021)

• Featured in The Impact. (Article)

Innovia GEO (2021)

• Co-founder is using two companies he co-founded to expand high voltage direct current (HVDC) technologies that allow for fast, non-wasteful transmission of clean energy in South American countries. (Article)

• Invited to present at Incubatenergy Labs’s Pitch Day, the first step of their 2022 program to support clean tech innovators. (The program’s timeline)

• Received multi-year grant award from the Natural Sciences and Engineering Council of Canada. (Article)

• Featured in The Impact. (Article)

Joro (2017)

• Gained over $3.5M in seed funding (Article)

• Featured in Business Insider. (Article)

• Launched in Canada, making it an international company. (Article)

• Featured in Sequoia. (Article) 

• Huge accomplishment for Joro App for being shown on the Nasdaq sign! They have been recognized by Norrsken's #Impact100 list of the world's most impactful startups, with ideas that can change one billion lives!  (Article) 

• Raised $10 million in Series A funding. (Article)
  
  

Kara Water (2019)

• Expanded its operations into India. (Article)

• Crowd funded over $1M to further develop and deploy its air-to-water filter technology. (Campaign)

• Named one of the Best Inventions in 2022 in TIME Magazine. (Article)

MicroEra Power (2016)

• MicroEra Power a Cleantech Open Northeast 2016 alumni graduated from the DeltaClimeVT Energy 2022 business accelerator and was awarded a pilot project by the Burlington Electric Department! (Article) 

MicrOrganic Technologies Inc. (2016)

• Invited to showcase the company’s technology at NEWEA’s 2022 annual conference. (Article)

• Chosen to speak at the Smart Water Networks Forum (SWAN) International Women’s Day event. (SWAN’s page for the event and more detail)

MIMic Systems (2017)

• Part of the 11th URBAN-X cohort (Cohort Site)

Muon Vision (2020)

• Awarded a competitive NSF grant (Article)

NBD Nanotechnologies (2012 and 2013)

• NBD Nano was acquired by Henkel (article)

NTP Technologies (2022)

• Won second place at the Big Launch Challenge. (Article)

Optimus Technologies (2016)

• Published a report titled Immediate Decarbonization of Class 8 Trucking. (Full Report)

Natel Energy (2005)

• Selected out of 10,000 companies to be a Cleantech 100 company by the Cleantech Group. (The Cleantech Group’s report)

• Featured by ENECHANGE Insight Venture’s as part of a series highlighting their 2021 EIV cohort’s members. (Article)

• Featured by the Department of Energy as part of its Clean Energy Champion’s series. (Article)

• Featured on TechCrunch Live. (Video)

• Featured in POWER Magazine for its fish-friendly hydro turbines. (Article)

• Featured on the cover of the Ontario Waterpower Association’s 2022 Year in Review (Article)

Osmoses (2021)

• Selected for the Carbon2V Initiative Cohort for Carbontech Accelerator Program (Article)

• Featured by the MIT Energy Initiative. (Article)

• Featured in The Impact. (Article)

• Listed as a clean tech company to watch by MIT. (Article)

• Featured in MIT News. (Article)

• Work was published in Science Magazine. (Article)

• Joined the Carbon to Value Year 2 Cohort at Urban Future Labs (Website)

• Recognized in the 2022 Cleantech 50 to Watch (Article)

Ourobio (2021)

• Accepted into Braid Theory’s Celsius Pod 1 cohort. (About the program)

• Took top honors at Lighthouse Labs Demo Day (Article)

Princeton NuEnergy (2021)

• Selected to participate in Pitch Stop, where the company will present in front of a board of investors, competing with other companies. (Article)

• Featured on the front page of Princeton University’s website. (Article featured)

• Partnered with the Greenland Technologies Holding Corporation to create sustainable solutions for recycling the batteries of Greenland’s electric industrial vehicles. (Article)

• Featured in The Impact. (Article)

• Princeton NuEnergy Raises $7M in Seed Funding for Lithium-ion Battery Recycling (Article)

• Grand opening of its Lithium-Ion Battery Recycling Pilot Line in McKinney, Texas. (Article)

• Awarded a $12 million grant from the U.S. Department of Energy (article)

Prisere (2020)

• Accepted into the second cohort of Venture for ClimateTech. (Article)

• Awarded the Center for Women & Enterprise’s Andrea C. Silbert Rising Star Award. (Article)

Pulsenics (2018)

• Accepted as a 2022 Activate Fellow (Article)

Radical Plastics (2018)

• Received a $100K stage 1 SBIR grant from MassVentures’s START program. (Article)

Renew CO2 (2020)

• Selected for a U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) SBIR/STTR Programs award. (Article, about the DOE program)

• Spins out of Rutgers University with seed round from Energy Transition Ventures. (Article)

• Karin Calvinho is an innovator in Chain Reaction Innovations’ Cohort 4. (Article)

• Renew CO2 is one of the “five startup participants for Greentown Go Make 2022, a Greentown Go program designed to accelerate startup-corporate partnerships to decarbonize points across traditional industrial supply chains”. (Article)

River Cleaning (2021)

• Featured in Tondo Tech. (Article)

• Featured in the January 2022 issue of the African Review. (Article)

rStream Recycling (2021)

• Selected to participate in VentureWell’s Propel workshop at the Cambridge Innovation Center, as well as received a grant from the program. (Article)

SeaH4 (2022)

• Named among the top 50 most promising Climate Tech startups from Sub Saharan Africa in HolonIQ. (Article)

• Accepted into the Climate Finance Accelerator. (Article)

Sealed (2013)

• Featured in Bloomberg Green. (Article)

• CEO Lauren Salz featured in a Vox article as an expert in green buildings (Article) 

Sensible Photonics (2022)

• Won third place at the Evolving Energy Technology Showcase. (Article)

Sol Clarity (2020)

• Raised 920K in seed funding from Equinor Ventures and Techstars. (Post)

Soli Points (2019)

• Is collaborating with AT&T to offer carbon neutral devices and network usage to customers in Austin, Texas. (Article)

Solstice (2015)

• Acquired by MyPower, an affiliate of Mitsui. (Solstice Article, Mitsui ArticleMyPower Article)

• Awarded Clean Energy Company of the Year in 2022 by NECEC. (Article)

SparkCharge (2016)

• Made over 1,500 EV charger deliveries with its app, Currently. (Article)

• Partnered with Kia to provide drivers of Kia’s EVs with easy, accessible charging via the Currently app. (Article)

• Bought $2.4M worth of AllCell battery storage units to support its rapid expansion, which has made it the largest mobile EV charging network. (Article)

• Featured in Forbes. (Article)

• Featured in The Impact. (Article)

• NECEC Clean Energy Company of the Year. (Article)

• Engineer Timothy McCusker was named one of the 35 under 35 by Business Insider. (Article)

• Raised $23M to scale Currently. (Article)

• Featured in The Business Journals. (Article)

• Featured in Business Insider. (Article)

• 2016 Cleantech Open Northeast alumni Joshua Aviv, Founder & CEO of SparkCharge  introduced President Biden on August 9th during the official signing ceremony for H.R. 4346, the CHIPS and Science Act of 2022. (Article)

• Selected as a finalist in LG’s ‘Mission for the Future’ Challenge. (Article)

• Josh Aviv, CEO and founder, featured in a Boston Globe article. (Article)

• Boston Globe: A year in Bold Types: Innovators trying to combat climate change, from here in New England (Article)

• CNBC Make It: Founder Effect featuring Joshua Aviv (Article)

Sunthetics (2020)

• Received investment from REFASHIOND Ventures. (Article)

• Daniela Blanco (CEO, co-founder) was a commencement speaker at NYU Tandon. (Video)

• Was awarded an SBIR grant by the NSF in the Advanced Manufacturing category. (Article)

• Co-founder and CEO Daniela Blanco featured USPTO September edition of the Journeys of Innovation Series. (Article)

• Fundraising during Hispanic Heritage Month. (Post)

Technocarbon (2021)

• Won La Tribune’s Change the World prize in the Environment and Energy category (Article)

• Selected as an awardee of Evolven Up’s accelerator program. (Article)

TendOcean (2018)

• Under C.A. Goudey & Associates, was awarded almost $200K in grants from the DOE. (Article) 

T-Omega Wind (2020)

• Chosen to participate in the 2022 TechX CleanEnergy Accelerator program by the Net Zero Technology Centre. (Page)

• Designed a cost-saving floating offshore wind turbine. (Article)

• T-Omega Wind, Inc. Awarded Competitive Grant from the U.S. National Science Foundation. (Article)

Verde Technologies Incorporated (2022) 

• Selected as a finalist for the Perovskite Startup Prize. (Article)

Verified Water, Inc. (2021)

• Invited to showcase the company’s technology at NEWEA’s 2022 annual conference. (Article)

Voltpost (2021)

• Gained 1.3 million dollars in fundraising through contracts and venture capital investors. (Article)

• Featured on Columbia University’s website. (Article)

• Selected to present at the 2022 NREL Industry Growth Forum. (Article)

• Won the WeWorks Changemakers: Sustainability Series New York City competition. (About the competition)

• COO and co-founder Luke Mairo was featured on the University of Pennsylvania’s Wharton Current podcast. (Spotify, Apple Music, Soundcloud)

• Co-founder and CEO featured in a Tech 4 Climate Podcast. (Podcast)

• Selected as a finalist for the Urban Future Prize Competition. (Post)

• Finalist at the 2022 Urban Future Summit. (About the competition)

• Debuted a lamppost retrofit electric vehicle charging system at Climate Week NYC 2022. (Article)

• CEO and co-founder, Jeff Prosserman, featured in a Ladderworks exclusive. (Article)

• COO Luke Mairo wrote an article for Columbia Climate School. (Article)

• Winner of the $50,000 grant in the 2022 Sustainability Subscribed accelerator. (Article)

Zero (2021)

• Participated in the Saint-Gobain challenge and will conduct a tech demonstration with CertainTeed and two pilot tests, one of which is with the MassCEC’s Decarbonation Pathways program. (Article)