A Fellowship with Proven Impact and No Limits

Since our founding in 2015, Activate has been increasingly recognized as the gold standard of support for hard tech innovation. As a result, our model has been replicated around the country and even around the world, offering a compelling validation of Activate’s leadership in shaping the innovation landscape.

Our 249 Activate Fellows have created 196 science-based companies, some of which will go on to change the world.

The Activate Fellowship works

$3.2B in follow-on-funding was raised by cohort companies during and after the fellowship

39x leverage on every dollar spent to support the fellowships

2800K new jobs created in the U.S. by Activate Fellows

Over $70M in total revenue earned by Activate companies 

4K+ scientists applied worldwide since 2015

33 countries & 45 U.S. states streamed applicants to our 2023 pipeline

249 Activate Fellows have been accepted to date—a 7.24 percent acceptance rate

From groundbreaking research to cutting-edge technologies, Activate Fellows are reinventing the world by bringing their research to market.

Each year, we showcase these science leaders and highlight their impact. We also track the growth of our organization and the ever-evolving ways in which we support our fellows.

Please join us on this exciting journey and check out our latest annual report to see how the story of Activate and our fellows continues to unfold.

Take the first step to effecting real change in the world by partnering with us

Through strategic partnerships and donations of time, money, equipment, or services, our partners and sponsors allow us to advance our mission while furthering our aligned strategic priorities

A national ecosystem at work

Academia

National labs and universities provide the backbone of our fellowship, yielding immense opportunities for scientist-turned-entrepreneurs to find product-market fit for their scientific discoveries.

Government

Agencies charged with setting long-term investment strategies, aligned with federal or local interests, work with Activate to increase the size of high-risk, high-reward markets.

Corporations

Activate connects startups to the private sector. Corporate partners and investors can propel a new venture’s early growth into the market.

Philanthropy

World-class foundations partner with Activate to advance their missions around climate, energy, science, and environment by catalyzing their capital into growing our fellows’ companies.