Activate Updates: December 2022

Activate Updates

Dec 15

Written By Leanna Yu

This Month's Features

2022 by the Numbers
Managing Directors: Highlights from 2022
A Playlist for Innovation

Plus

Activate Fellow wins
Ecosystem news
Job opportunities

Dear Friends of Activate,

In April 2014, I met Ilan Gur, who would become Activate’s founding CEO. He shared a vision with me: “create an entrepreneurial science fellowship to get some of the world’s best STEM scientists out of post-doc laboratories and help them commercialize their science with private capital.” I was skeptical for two reasons.

First, there was no such thing as an entrepreneurial science fellowship. Anywhere.

And second, I lived through the post-Solyndra meltdown of private capital funding for (what was called at the time) “clean-tech” innovation. I simply didn’t believe that hard science solutions, with the large capital expenditures required for their commercialization, could again attract private investors.

Thankfully, Ilan was right! (I joined the board shortly after Activate’s founding in 2015.)

Since the first prototype of nine entrepreneurial fellows, Activate has been privileged over the past seven years to partner with incredible philanthropists, government funders, venture capitalists, corporations, and scientists to create a world-class program accelerating science from lab to market, all while focusing intentionally on brilliant scientists with a “fellows-first” mission.

The results are indisputably remarkable—and even a little unexpected.

The 142 fellows and alumni of the Activate Fellowship have created 106 companies, commercializing science innovation with a focus on climate change and other solutions benefiting society and the planet, employing more than 1,200 employees, and attracting $1.1B in follow-on capital. Already, two of those companies have been acquired by large corporations committed to bringing their science innovations to scale. And our funders relish the fact that each dollar of philanthropic support towards Activate’s mission attracts more than $5 of government support and is leveraged into $24 of follow-on funding for cohort companies.

Equally important, Activate Fellows and alumni have become leaders on the front lines of science innovation and climate change. Our fellows have attracted national attention, from the record-breaking appearance of Amanda Stiles (UMARO Foods, Cohort 2020) on Shark Tank, to MIT Technology Review naming Richard Wang (Cuberg, Cohort 2016) and Shannon Nagle (Circe Bioscience, Cohort 2021) to its list of Innovators Under 35, to some truly spectacular raises, including $55M for Brimstone, $130M for Twelve, and $138M for Fervo Energy.

Ambitious as it seems, we’ve set our sights higher! Thanks to a $20M commitment from the National Science Foundation, Activate is planning to double our geographic footprint from four to eight communities and grow our reach from 40 fellows to 100 per year. This summer, we launched a $50M philanthropic capital drive that is nearly two-fifths committed.

For these reasons, when I speak with friends about climate change, I speak with hope and anticipation. And when the UN recently confirmed a reduction by half in five years in the planet’s expected warming, I pointed those conversations to science innovation and the work Activate pursues every day supporting the next generation of science leaders whose solutions are truly transforming the world for the better. We couldn’t be more hopeful and determined.

Onward,

R. Todd Johnson
Interim CEO

Read our 2022 Annual Report

2022 by the Numbers

By any measure, this year was Activate’s biggest yet. In our newly released 2022 Annual Report, we dive deep into how we’ve supported the next generation of science leaders, whose solutions are truly transforming the world for the better.

Here are some of 2022’s biggest wins.

Read On

2022 Highlights from Our Managing Directors

We asked our team of managing directors to share their top memories from the past year. Here's what two of them remembered fondly.

Aimee Rose
Executive Managing Director

Hiring an amazing new team of managing directors
Supporting a record number of fellows
Getting back to in-person fellow retreats

Jill Fuss
Managing Director, Activate Berkeley

Seeing fellows helping fellows
Local programming days
Becoming the managing director of the Activate Berkeley community

A Playlist for Innovation

As the year comes to a close, we’ve asked the Activate Fellows and team about their favorite music of 2022. From their selections, we’ve pulled together the soundtrack to innovation: these are the songs that fellows in each community sang along to, tapped their toes to, and changed the world to.

Listen

This year, seven Activate Fellows were recognized as 2023 Forbes 30 Under 30 honorees! Fellows were named to the following lists:

Energy: Joey Kabel (Electrified Thermal Solutions, Cohort 2021), Olivia Dippo and Andy Zhao (Limelight Steel, Cohort 2022), and Yajing Zhao (Mesophase, Cohort 2022)
Manufacturing and Industry: Kezi Cheng (FLO Materials, Cohort 2021) and Ally McKinney (SoloPulse, Cohort 2022)
Science: Margaret Lumley (ChloBis Water, Cohort 2022)

This holiday season, cook or bake up some cheer with recipes in our Activate Community Cookbook. Featuring recipes contributed by our collective community—fellows, alumni, and staff—the cookbook is a stellar resource for great food and for learning more about each contributor.

Activate Fellows are #ScientistsOnAMission.

Track our fellows' progress in real-time on our social media feeds.

IN OUR ECOSYSTEM
Upcoming events, relevant opportunities, and what we're reading.

Upcoming Events

The Hello Tomorrow Global Summit will take place in Paris from March 9-10, 2023. The Summit brings together founders and innovators presenting solutions to the greatest challenges of our time alongside investors, thought leaders, and industry experts. Let us know if you’re planning to attend!
The thirteenth annual Advanced Research Projects Agency-Energy (ARPA-E) Energy Innovation Summit will be March 22-24, 2023 in Washington, DC. The ARPA-E Summit is the preeminent event of the year for professionals addressing America’s top energy challenges and supporting the latest energy technologies as they build a path to the marketplace. Let us know if you’re planning to attend and would like to connect!

Relevant Opportunities

Carbon removal founders can apply to the seventh batch of AirMiners Launchpad by December 16 to participate in the accelerator program running from January 10 to February 17, 2023.
The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE)’s Industrial Efficiency and Decarbonization funding opportunity announcement (FOA) will advance decarbonization technologies that will reduce the carbon footprint of the industrial sector. Full applications are due December 20.
Greentown Labs' ACCEL (Advancing Climatetech and Clean Energy Leaders) is seeking applications from innovative startups with founding and executive teams that are primarily made up of BIPOC leaders who are developing climate solutions for the electricity, transportation, buildings, manufacturing, and agriculture sectors. Apply by December 23.
The DOE issued its FOA for its Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) and Small Business Technology Transfer (STTR) Programs, intended to help small business conduct R&D through grants. Letters of intent are due on January 3, 2023.
Southern California clean-tech founders can apply to the Los Angeles Cleantech Incubator’s Cohort 6 for hands-on coaching, strategic support, and pitch opportunities to propel startup growth. Applications are due January 6, 2023.
The UNICEF Venture Fund has an open call for climate solutions and is looking to make up to $100K in equity-free investments to provide early-stage (seed) finance to for-profit technology startups that have the potential to address climate change. Apply by January 9, 2023.
The 10-week, equity-free Google for Startups Accelerator: Climate Change program provides mentorship and technical project support, as well as support for product design, customer acquisition, and leadership development for founders. Applications are open until January 19, 2023.
The TEX-E Prize is a startup competition for Texas students who are developing innovative technologies and business models to advance the energy transition and address climate change. Applicants must include at least one team member who is an actively enrolled student at a university located in Texas. Winners will receive a total of $50K in cash prizes to advance their ventures.
The EnergyTech University Prize (UP), sponsored by DOE’s Office of Technology Transitions, is awarding $370K to collegiate students who successfully identify a promising energy technology, assess its market potential, and create a business plan for commercialization. If you or a student you know would be a good fit for EnergyTech UP, encourage them to explore possible energy technologies from the DOE national labs and register a team by January 26, 2023.
Nominations are open for the 2023 C3E awards, which recognize outstanding leadership and extraordinary achievement by mid-career women in clean energy. Submit nominations by February 22, 2023.
The first stage of CalSEED’s Concept Award applications open February 17, 2023. This California program supports the next generation of clean energy entrepreneurs through early-stage grants of up to $600K. Applications will be open through March 5, 2023.

Activate Voices

Leah Ellis (Cohort 2020) met the Prince and Princess of Wales at Greentown Labs during their visit to Boston, which culminated in the 2022 Earthshot Prize Ceremony.
Still looking for unique and sustainable holiday gifts? Two Activate Fellow companies made Incite’s 2022 Green Gift Guide. Gradient, co-founded by Vince Romanin (Cohort 2017), produces a sleek, easy-to-install replacement for traditional air conditioner units. For the skincare enthusiast in your life, Ameva, in partnership with Visolis (founded by Deepak Dugar, Cohort 2015), makes plant-based, carbon-negative skincare products with hydrating and anti-aging properties.
Hello Tomorrow selected several Activate Fellows as Deep Tech Pioneers from their Global Challenge this year: Anvil Diagnostics (Pavan Kota, Cohort 2022), BluumBio (Katherine French, Cohort 2022), LintrinsIC (Cameron Hill, Cohort 2021), CalWave (Marcus Lehmann, Cohort 2015), Cypris Materials (Ryan Pearson and Matthew Ryan, Cohort 2019), Ivu Biologics (Auggie Zvinavashe, Cohort 2022), Osmoses (Francesco Benedetti and Holden Lai, Cohort 2021), and SiTration, Inc. (Brendan Smith, Cohort 2020) have been recognized as leaders unlocking the power of deep tech to solve the world’s toughest challenges.

Want us to highlight an upcoming event or relevant opportunity in next month's newsletter? Let us know.

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