Activate Opens Applications for Cohort 2025 Fellows

Activate seeks visionary scientists and engineers to build their startups and tackle global challenges with the Activate Fellowship.

We are expecting another year of record applicants as we open applications today for Cohort 2025 of the Activate Fellowship, a two-year program for early-stage science entrepreneurs offering funding, technical resources, and unparalleled support. The deadline to apply is October 23, 2024.

“The Activate Fellowship provides an opportunity for approximately 50 scientists and engineers annually to transform into entrepreneurial leaders, derisk their technologies, define first markets, build teams, and secure follow-on funding,” says Activate Executive Managing Director, Aimee Rose. “With an average 30 percent annual growth in applications since 2015, we know there is high demand for what we do, and we’re excited to see the talent and impactful ideas that come through the pipeline this year.”

Successful applicants for Cohort 2025 will join a community of 249 Activate Fellows and alumni who have collectively raised more than $2.4B in follow-on funding from public and private sources since Activate’s founding in 2015—a nearly 38X leverage on every dollar spent to support fellowships. With 95 percent of Activate companies still active after a decade, there are few programs with as strong a record of success.

In 2024 alone, Activate Fellows have received $380M in state and federal funding awards for their boundary-pushing innovations. For example, the U.S. Department of Energy awarded Brimstone (Cody Finke, Cohort 2019) $189M and Sublime Systems (Leah Ellis, Cohort 2020) $87M to accelerate decarbonized cement production, and Electrified Thermal Solutions (Joey Kabel and Dan Stack, Cohort 2021) was awarded $37.5M for decarbonizing industrial heat. The Advanced Research Projects Agency-Energy awarded AeroShield Materials (Elise Strobach and Kyle Wilke, Cohort 2020) $14.5M to manufacture aerogel materials for energy-efficient windows and awarded Antora Energy (David Bierman, Cohort 2017, Justin Briggs and Andrew Ponec, Cohort 2018) the same amount to accelerate the launch of its heat and power thermal battery product.

“The success of Activate Fellows is ample evidence that scientists and engineers have the talent and drive to face global challenges head-on,” says Activate Chief Fellowship Officer Brenna Teigler. “Our diverse fellows are transforming technical breakthroughs into businesses in 26 U.S. states across a range of sectors spanning carbon management, semiconductors, manufacturing, energy, chemicals, ocean tech, and more.”

Learn more and apply to become an Activate Fellow.