The Carbon to Value Initiative announces year three startup cohort for Carbontech Accelerator Program

The Carbon to Value Initiative (C2V Initiative)—a multi-year collaboration of the Urban Future Lab at NYU Tandon School of Engineering (UFL), Greentown Labs, and Fraunhofer USA, which is supported by the New York State Energy Research and Development Authority (NYSERDA)—has selected eight startups for the third year of its carbontech accelerator program.

The C2V Initiative received 161 applications from 26 countries, representing a wide variety of carbontech innovations, including point source and direct air capture, carbon conversion into added-value products such as fuels, chemicals and materials, carbon dioxide removal (CDR), biomass-based technologies, carbon markets, and measurement, reporting and verification (MRV) for carbontech. After a highly competitive deliberation and selection process, eight companies were chosen to participate in the third cohort of the C2V Initiative’s accelerator program:

• C-Quester (Los Angeles, California, U.S.) delivers a solution for carbon capture using dry granular metal carbonate (GMC) purification technology with integrated measurement, reporting, and verification.
• Capro-X (Ithaca, New York, U.S.) deploys a biorefining platform that upcycles organic waste to fatty-acid biochemicals that can be used in a wide range of applications.
• Capture6 (Oakland, California, U.S.) removes carbon from the atmosphere while producing clean water and other industrial products from seawater or other saltwater inputs.
• Carbon To Stone (Ithaca, New York, U.S.) is developing a carbon mineralization technology coupled with high-value minerals and metals recovery.
• Dioxycle (Paris, France / Menlo Park, U.S.) is building an electrolysis platform to convert carbon emissions into chemicals and fuel building blocks.
• enaDyne (Freiberg, Germany) develops non-thermal plasma catalysis reactors to convert CO₂ into chemicals and fuels.
• Global Algae Innovations (San Diego, California, U.S.) grows algae that capture CO₂ from the atmosphere to produce protein and oil for food and industrial use.
• TerraFixing (Ottawa, Canada) develops a direct-air-capture technology for cold climates using zeolite-based adsorbent materials.

Over the six-month accelerator, which is designed to advance the startups’ commercialization efforts and de-risk their carbontech innovations, the cohort will gain access to the C2V Initiative’s Carbontech Leadership Council (CLC). The CLC is an invitation-only group of corporate, nonprofit, and government thought leaders across diverse industry sectors who foster commercialization opportunities and identify avenues for technology validation, testing, and demonstration. Year 3 of the initiative will feature active involvement from all CLC member companies, offering startups exposure to a diverse array of market and business verticals in addition to tailored professional mentorship from some of the industry’s leading professionals. The goal of these startup-corporate engagements is to foster collaboration opportunities across the carbontech ecosystem.

Current CLC members include NYSERDA, BASF, Carbon180, Carbon Direct, CarbonPlan, Circular Carbon Network, the Consulate General of Canada in New York, Fluor, Johnson Matthey, NRG, Unilever, Gore, and XPRIZE. The council is expected to continue to grow in 2023 and beyond.

Each selected startup will also receive a $10,000 stipend to support their participation in the accelerator.

Since the C2V Initiative’s inception, the program has supported 18 groundbreaking startups that have raised over $350M in follow-on funding, leading to partnership engagements, technology advancement, and industry growth. Detailed results from Year 1 and Year 2 are available and include more than 150 curated business connections, seven startup-corporate partnership announcements, and more.

"Carbon is a waste product, suspended in the air we breathe," said Pat Sapinsely, Managing Director of the Urban Future Lab. "These innovative companies use it as a feedstock, capture the accumulated waste of the past 150 years, and convert it into useful products. Carbontech is a $3 trillion market opportunity that we're only just beginning to scratch the surface of. We are thrilled that our program is shaping the ecosystem of a new carbontech economy.”

With over a decade of experience supporting cleantech startups, UFL aligns with NYU Tandon’s Sustainable Engineering Initiative, a collaborative effort among researchers seeking engineering solutions to climate change and environmental contamination.

Through its support of the C2V Initiative, NYSERDA helps to meet New York State’s climate and clean energy goals by accelerating the development and deployment of carbontech across the state, along with making New York State a globally recognized center for carbontech leadership.

Doreen M. Harris, NYSERDA President and CEO, said, "NYSERDA’s support for the Carbon to Value Initiative reflects our commitment to invest in pioneering technologies that will provide next-generation solutions to address our most pressing climate challenges. The startups selected will be encouraged to collaborate in advancing carbontech innovation to decarbonize the hardest-to-reach areas of our economy and lower greenhouse gas emissions across the state.”

“Greentown is proud to be part of this initiative for the third straight year,” said Jason Hanna, Interim CEO at Greentown Labs. “The C2V Initiative takes an all-hands-on-deck approach to tackling climate change and connects entrepreneurs with leaders from diverse industries to build a thriving carbontech ecosystem. We look forward to helping this exceptional startup cohort engage with the CLC and make meaningful progress toward commercializing their carbon capture and conversion technologies.”

“The depth and breadth of the technologies these organizations bring to the market continues to impress,” said Thomas Schuelke, president of Fraunhofer USA. “We’re excited to continue supporting these unique and innovative carbontech startups and guiding them toward success in our global pursuit of decarbonization.”

The C2V Initiative hosted a Year 3 kickoff event last month. View a recording of the event.

About the Urban Future Lab at NYU Tandon School of Engineering

The Urban Future Lab (UFL) at NYU Tandon School of Engineering is New York City’s premier innovation hub for smart cities, the smart grid, and clean energy.  As an integral part of Tandon’s Sustainable Engineering Initiative and NYU Tandon Future Labs network, the UFL is home to programs focused on policy, education, and market solutions for the green economy. Due to generous funding from our sponsors, UFL provides unmatched access to industry stakeholders, strategic advice, marketing and branding support, investor networks, and a community of like-minded founders. Our portfolio includes industry-leading startups in the areas of renewable energy, smart buildings, transportation and resource-efficiency. The Urban Future Lab is leading the way to a more sustainable world by connecting people, capital, and purpose to advance market-ready solutions to address climate change. For more information about UFL, visit ufl.nyc and follow us on Twitter and LinkedIn. For more information about NYU Tandon, visit engineering.nyu.edu.

About Greentown Labs

Greentown Labs is a community of climate action pioneers working to design a more sustainable world. As the largest climatetech startup incubator in North America, Greentown Labs brings together startups, corporates, investors, policymakers, and many others with a focus on scaling climate solutions. Driven by the mission of providing startups the resources, knowledge, connections, and equipment they need to thrive, Greentown Labs offers lab space, shared office space, a machine shop, an electronics lab, software and business resources, and a large network of corporate customers, investors, and more. With incubators in Somerville, Mass. and Houston, Texas, Greentown Labs is home to more than 200 startups and has supported more than 500 since the incubator’s founding in 2011. These startups have collectively created more than 24,000 jobs, raised more than $4 billion in funding, and generated more than $9.8 billion in regional economic impact. For more information, please visit www.greentownlabs.com or Twitter, Facebook, and LinkedIn.

About Fraunhofer USA

Fraunhofer USA, Inc. is a 501 (c) (3) non-profit organization that is dedicated to the advancement of applied research. Fraunhofer USA was founded in 1994 to conduct applied R&D for customers from industry and state governments and the federal government in the United States. Fraunhofer USA develops and validates scientific applications and technologies for industrial innovation in the USA. Fraunhofer USA’s research centers in the United States and the Fraunhofer institutes of Fraunhofer-Gesellschaft in Germany work together to provide the most versatile cutting-edge technologies to a global market. Fraunhofer USA offers unique transatlantic business opportunities to close the innovation gap from the lab to the real market. The research centers of Fraunhofer USA pursue strategic alliances with one or more of the numerous Fraunhofer institutes of Fraunhofer-Gesellschaft in Germany and with major research universities in the USA. For more information, please visit www.fraunhofer.org or LinkedIn and Twitter.