Somerville, MA – October 23, 2024 – Hundreds of people in the cleantech innovation ecosystem convened at Greentown Labs in Somerville, MA, for the 2024 Cleantech Open Northeast Regional Finals. Over 40 climatetech startups competed for $70,000 in prizes and an opportunity to advance to the National Semi-Finals at the end of the month. This year’s cohort had the highest representation of diverse founders – 70% of the startups in this cohort have a founder who is a woman, non-binary, and/or a member of an underserved community. This cohort is one of the most advanced in the accelerator’s history, with many startups conducting pilots and raising equity funding for their ventures.

"The 2024 Cleantech Open Northeast cohort graduates are the key to our future. These innovators are tackling the most pressing challenges of our time—climate change, economic growth, and environmental justice—with incredible determination and ingenuity. Their success is our success, as they drive the transition to a clean energy future and contribute to a more diverse, equitable climate economy,” said Joe Curtatone, ACT President. He concluded, “At ACT, we are proud to partner with these entrepreneurs on their journey to build solutions that will shape the future of clean energy, not only in the Northeast but across the country."

“We are honored to have the opportunity to support so many smart, creative, hard-working entrepreneurs as they develop their startups that are designed to solve many important environmental challenges. The strategies and plans they developed and the connections they made during the accelerator will serve them well as they build and grow their ventures,” said Beth Zonis, Senior Director, Cleantech Open Northeast, ACT. “We can’t wait to see them make an impact.”

“The Cleantech Open Northeast finals represent a significant milestone for some of our region’s most promising clean energy and climatetech startups. This accelerator delivers essential support to a diverse array of entrepreneurs, empowering them to drive their innovative solutions forward,” said Emily Reichert, CEO of Massachusetts Clean Energy Center. “By connecting these innovators with resources, mentorship, and industry experts, they foster a vibrant ecosystem that propels groundbreaking climate solutions into the marketplace. Initiatives like Cleantech Open Northeast are instrumental to ensuring a sustainable future for all.”

New York State Energy Research and Development Authority (NYSERDA) Vice President of Innovation Brandon Owens said, “Cleantech Open Northeast’s finalists are leading the way on innovation technologies that will lead to a more sustainable future for New York State and the Northeast. It is exciting to see these cutting-edge startups rising to meet our climate needs and continue a legacy of success.”  

The 2024 cohort startups represent nine cleantech categories: Energy Generation; Information & Communications Technology; Water; Energy Distribution; Chemicals & Advanced Materials; Transportation; Green Building; and Agriculture. They are from 10 states as well as Canada: Massachusetts; New Jersey, New York; Maryland, New Hampshire, Pennsylvania, Vermont, Maine, Rhode Island, and Canada. 

The final judges were Betty Francisco of Boston Impact Initiative, David Miller of Clean Energy Ventures, Swapnil Shah of Energy Impact Partners, Susan Stewart of MassCEC, and Kristin Taylor of Closed Loop Partners. John Jaddou of Orbia Ventures and Jonathan Klavens of the Klavens Law Group, Co-Chairs of the Judging Committee, led the judging process.

The Regional Winners are Arculus from Virginia, Green Spear from Virginia, hydroGel from Massachusetts, and Turnover Labs from New York. Green Spear also won the Carbon Sequestration/CCUS Prize sponsored by the Sire Foundation. hydroGel also won the Ag/Food/Land Use Prize sponsored by the Sire Foundation. HydroPhos of New Hampshire won the Water Prize sponsored by Xylem. The People's Choice Award went to Turnover Labs.

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Arculus Solutions

Regional Winner

At Arculus we want to help the World reach net zero. To do this, we developed a hydrogen-barrier coating at MIT that enables retrofitting natural gas transmission pipelines to safely transport hydrogen. With our coating applied on the internal surface of pipelines, it is possible to transport a mix of hydrogen and natural gas or even pure hydrogen, without embrittling the steel. We are currently advancing an autonomous robot able to travel inside natural gas pipelines while applying the coating.

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Finev

Regional Finalist

Finev helps a diverse set of small to medium businesses (SMBs) transition to electric vehicles (EVs), through access to lending, incentives, and education.  Our platform provides EV loans that are more affordable than traditional lenders, enables SMB owners to find the right EVs and chargers for their needs, and surfaces incentives to reduce their cost of going electric. 

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Green Spear

Regional Winner and the Winner of the Carbon Sequestration, Utilization and Storage Prize

Green Spear is revolutionizing graphite space by transforming sustainably sourced CO2 directly into graphite for the EV battery and grid storage space and dramatically increasing supply chain resilience by producing it in the USA. We work to sequester tons of CO2 and offset significantly more all while adding significant value to the carbon chain.

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hydroGel 

Regional Winner and Winner of the Sunstein Ag/Food/Land Use Prize

hydroGel is an MIT spinout improving industrial separations using novel polymeric resins. Their goal is to create more sustainable purification processes that reduce overall processing costs and increase product yields. Their current focus on purification of fermentation products for food and biopharmaceutical industries has led them to a promising paid proof-of-concept with a large South Korean customer for amino acid purification. The vision is to become the TSMC for resin manufacturing and make an impact in the biologics, small molecule pharmaceutical industries. 

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HydroPhos Solutions

Winner of Xylem Water Prize

HydroPhos Solutions is a circular economy social venture that simultaneously addresses water impairment and phosphorus depletion as a function of its core business model. HydroPhos utilizes phosphorus filtration technology to extract phosphorus from wastewater, subsequently reselling this phosphorus into the fertilizer industry. This reduces water contamination, recycles the nutrients, and extends the lifespan of our global food supply. 

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Next Marine Solutions

Regional Finalist

NxMar is a debt-free, privately held company using investor funding to support R&D, systems engineering, patent development, early-stage manufacturing, market development, and general operations. NxMar’s initial approach focuses on developing a 10kW Portable Underwater Generator (PUGÒ) using NxMar patented technology. Our interest in CleanTech Open is to prepare for and identify Series B opportunities, and to establish exposure with Venture Capital and related communities.

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Turnover Labs

Regional Winner and Winner of the People’s Choice Award

Turnover Labs is a carbon utilization company building the most durable CO2 electrolyzer systems on the market today. Using proprietary technology, their process converts mixed emissions from chemicals manufacturing into basic chemical building blocks. By recycling customers' emissions back into their processes onsite, Turnover Labs' technology can utilize CO2 from hard-to-abate processes and use that as feeds for the overall facility, helping reduce CO2 footprint and increase facility capacity.

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About Cleantech Open Northeast

Cleantech Open Northeast is the Northeast region of Cleantech Open and is managed by ACT | The Alliance for Climate Transition, the regional affiliate. Cleantech Open is the world’s oldest and largest cleantech accelerator and is dedicated to providing entrepreneurs and technologists with the resources needed to launch a successful cleantech company. Its mission is to find, fund, and foster entrepreneurs with big ideas that address today’s most urgent energy, environmental, and economic challenges. Cleantech Open provides the infrastructure, expertise, and strategic relationships that turn clever ideas into successful global cleantech companies. Fueled by a network of more than 2,000 volunteers, Cleantech Open unites the public and private sectors in a shared vision for making America’s cleantech sector a thriving economic engine. Since 2005, Cleantech Open Northeast has trained 642 early-stage clean technology startups through its annual business accelerator. Over 25 have had a successful exit. Cleantech Open Northeast alumni have raised more than $2 billion, created more than 4,400 clean economy jobs, and generated more than $700 million in revenue. 

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About ACT:

ACT (The Alliance for Climate Transition) leads the just, equitable, and rapid transition to a clean energy future and a diverse climate economy. ACT members span the broad spectrum of the clean energy industry, including clean transportation, energy efficiency, wind, solar, energy storage, microgrids, fuel cells, and advanced and “smart” technologies. ACT is dedicated to growing the climate economy across the region.

ACT includes The Alliance for Climate Transition, a nonprofit business member organization, and ACT Institute, a nonprofit focused on industry research, innovation, policy development, and strategic communications. ACT’s innovation program includes Cleantech Open Northeast, the Northeast affiliate of the national cleantech accelerator Cleantech Open, and Cleantech Navigate, which provides cleantech startups with curated connections to mentors, test sites, customers, corporate partners, and investors. ACT brings together business leaders and key stakeholders to engage in influential policy discussions and business initiatives while building connections that propel the clean energy industry forward. http://joinact.org 

If you are interested in being involved with Cleantech Open Northeast or learning more about ACT, please contact our VP of Communications - Natasha Perez at nperez@joinact.org.