Cleantech Open Northeast Accelerator Program Announces Top Cleantech and Energy Startups of 2017
Friday, October 6, 2017
Friday, October 6, 2017
Cleantech Open Northeast, the Northeast division of Cleantech Open, the world’s largest cleantech accelerator, announced its 2017 regional winners:, change:WATER Labs, CoolComposites, Joro, and P2S Technologies. Each of these companies will receive $10,000 in cash plus additional in-kind services and will go on to represent the Northeast at the Cleantech Open Global Forum in Los Angeles, CA in January, where they will compete with emerging environmental and energy technology firms throughout the nation for the national grand prize.
The four regional winners were selected and announced by a judging panel of top cleantech and business leaders at the Cleantech Open Northeast Regional Finals at the New York University School of Law. The evening featured top startups from Massachusetts, New York, Pennsylvania, and New Jersey. Over 50 expert judges from around the Northeast vetted 26 teams by reviewing curriculum and investor pitch presentations. The judges selected the top 8 teams to have the opportunity to pitch in front of a live audience and VIP judges.
Nearly 200 attended the event, including entrepreneurs, business leaders and public officials. The VIP judges included Jiong Ma of Braemar Energy, Ed Greer of The Dow Chemical Company, Margarett Jolly of conEdison, Stephen Pike of the Massachusetts Clean Energy Center (MassCEC), Mathew Sachs of National Grid, June Choi of and Michael Shimazu of the New York State Energy Research and Development Authority (NYSERDA).
The winning teams demonstrated a strong trend towards information and communications technologies, chemicals and advanced materials, and water and waste. Of the 26 companies graduating from the 2017 Cleantech Open Northeast accelerator, 15 hailed from Massachusetts, six from New York, two from Pennsylvania, and one from New Jersey.
Audience members voted change:WATER Labs the Cleantech Open Northeast 2017 Crowd Favorite.
“Cleantech Open Northeast plays a significant role in driving Massachusetts’ vibrant clean energy industry forward,” said MassCEC CEO Stephen Pike. “A robust clean energy ecosystem is critical to developing a marketplace where innovative ideas flourish, and Cleantech Open has been an invaluable resource to entrepreneurs across the region working to develop solutions to our most pressing energy challenges.”
Alicia Barton, President and CEO of NYSERDA, said, “Congratulations to the winners of the Cleantech Open and especially to the participants from New York State. As a long-standing sponsor of Cleantech Open Northeast, we are thrilled to see so many innovative clean energy companies participating and we look forward to watching the New York companies grow as they help advance Governor Cuomo’s nation-leading clean energy goals.”
“We are proud to support Cleantech Open and NECEC’s efforts to accelerate growth and development in the energy and cleantech sectors,” said Mathew Sachs of National Grid. “We are continually impressed by the vibrant start-up scene in the Northeast US as well as the ingenuity, fearlessness and passion of the participants. We wish all today’s contenders good luck and hope to have opportunities to work alongside yourself and peers to create a better future for our customers, communities and the planet at large, now and for generations to come.”
About the 2017 Cleantech Open Northeast Regional Winners:
Category: Agriculture, Water, and Waste
Based in: Cambridge, MA
Summary: change:WATER Labs is developing a toilet that can be deployed to every vulnerable household. We are developing a revolutionary evaporative ("self-flushing") toilet-a low-cost, compact, off-grid, portable solution that decouples household toilet access from sewerage infrastructure. Our evaporative toilet rapidly shrinks onsite sewage accumulations down to 5-10% of produced daily volumes. Sewage is 85-99% water. By cheaply, quickly eliminating that water, we eliminate 90% of the sewage problem.
Category: Chemicals and Advanced Materials
Based in: Waltham, MA
Summary: CoolComposites is improving the thermal performance of buildings with an additive called CoolFlux. By storing energy when heated and releasing that energy when cooled, CoolFlux automatically lowers the use of air conditioning by 50%. Competing products require substantial building modifications, are very expensive, or both. Their additive doesn’t change the look, feel or installation of materials that architects and contractors are already using, and is priced for a payback period of under five years.
Category: Information and Communications Technologies
Based in: Cambridge, MA
Summary: Joro provides real-time, automated, holistic carbon emissions tracking and tailored feedback to help citizens make energy-saving choices about everyday activities and purchases. The Joro platform enables users to compete and engage with friends and family, in order to earn rewards for environmentally conscious consumption, to save money, and to reduce their overall carbon footprints.
Category: Information and Communications Technologies
Based in: Framingham, MA
Summary: Our innovation is building the first comprehensive and user-friendly, system for corrosion monitoring and detection in pipelines, integrating both hardware and software components. These hardware devices attach to existing wires inside each test point. When a survey device using Lync Reader software is in range, the hardware device broadcasts the calculated AC/DC output values to the reader. Those survey devices then use their internet connection to send the data to our servers. The cathodic protection data is captured and stored in digital form, making it very accessible for reporting and analysis.
About The Cleantech Open
The Cleantech Open is the world’s largest cleantech accelerator and is dedicated to providing entrepreneurs and technologists the resources needed to launch a successful cleantech company. Our mission is to find, fund and foster entrepreneurs with big ideas that address today’s most urgent energy, environmental, and economic challenges. A 501(c)(3) not-for-profit organization, the Cleantech Open provides the infrastructure, expertise and strategic relationships that turn clever ideas into successful global cleantech companies. Over the past seven years, the Cleantech Open has awarded over $5 million in cash and services. During that time, our 880 alumni companies have raised more than $1 billion in external funding. Fueled by a network of more than 2,000 volunteers, the Cleantech Open unites the public and private sectors in a shared vision for making America’s cleantech sector a thriving economic engine. For more information, visit www.northeast.cleantechopen.org, or follow us on Twitter.
About NECEC
NECEC is the Northeast regional affiliate for Cleantech Open. NECEC executes the Cleantech Open Northeast accelerator and business plan competition in Massachusetts, New York, Maine, Vermont, New Hampshire, Connecticut, Rhode Island, New Jersey and Pennsylvania and builds the region’s innovation network for Cleantech Open and NECEC’s successor program for cleantech entrepreneurs Cleantech Navigate Northeast. Cleantech Navigate Northeast program helps better connect accelerator participants and alumni with financiers, strategic partners, and early adoption customers. Learn more at: http://navigate.necec.org/en/
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