We're just back from Activate's annual retreat and alumni reunion, and still riding the high.
It's one of our favorite moments of the year. Graduating fellows from Cohort 2024 reflected on two years of growth. Alumni returned to their Activate roots. And our next class of fellows became part of the community.
Next month, we'll formally announce Cohort 2026, and we can hardly wait. They're the kind of innovators that make you believe the hardest problems are actually solvable.
Until then, we're celebrating the wins happening across every cohort, from 2016 to now, and sharing the stories behind the milestones. Read on.
Cella’s ‘Big Swing’ Is Paying Off
Since becoming a founder, Claire Nelson (Cohort 2023) has defied norms. Her company, Cella, skipped the lab scale entirely, going straight from modeling to field demonstration. They took a big swing early, raising a seed round to drill a pilot well in Kenya that’s deeper than the world’s tallest skyscraper is high. And now, after a historic field test, their bold path is paying off.
Root Applied Sciences Helps Farmers ‘See’ Invisible Threats
Without being able to detect airborne threats—from mold spores, to bugs, to other plant pathogens—farmers are subject to a guessing game when it comes to treating their crops for diseases and pests. Root Applied Sciences (Sarah Placella, Cohort 2022) fundamentally changed this by giving farmers the first-ever monitoring system that was robust enough to depend on to make high-stakes decisions.
Praio Offers a New Vision for Biomanufacturing
We rely on chemical processes to make everything from medicines to fuels to screens. These processes are the unseen engine of manufacturing, but they are also energy-intensive and vulnerable to supply chain disruptions. Advait Holkar (Praio, Cohort 2024) envisions a better way to make our essentials—one that is efficient, versatile, and inspired by nature. Now, Praio's first product is in people's hands.
Fellow ‘Ask Me Anything’
Interested in applying for the Activate Fellowship? Tune into our next webinar on July 8 from 12-1 p.m. ET. Hear directly from the Activate team about what the fellowship offers and get your questions answered by a panel of Activate Fellows.
Register here.
Chalk Up Tee Launch Party
Join Supercarb (Hitesh Manglani, Cohort 2024) on July 10 in San Leandro, CA to celebrate the launch of its first-ever product. Try on a Chalk Up Tee and get a behind-the-scenes look at how Supercarb turns seaweed into textile fibers.
Register here.
Upcoming events, relevant opportunities, and what we're reading.
Fellow News
- Etosha Cave (Twelve, Cohort 2015) is ranked number one on the The First 200 list, which recognizes the first 200 Black women founders to raise $1M in VC funding. Cave has raised more than anyone else on the list—including Rihanna.
- Antora Energy (David Bierman, Cohort 2017, Justin Briggs & Andrew Ponec, Cohort 2018) was featured in the Canary Media article, “The hidden innovation behind Antora’s massive new heat battery.” They also welcomed Michigan Governor Gretchen Whitmer to their San Jose, CA gigafactory.
- VERDE Nanomaterials (Danielle Pascoli, Cohort 2022) was selected to join the MassChallenge Switzerland 2026 accelerator program.
- AeroShield (Elise Strobach & Kyle Wilke, Cohort 2020) listed the first-ever aerogel-coated glazing in the International Glazing Database.
- Pulsenics (Mariam Awara & Essam Elsahwi, Cohort 2022) opened for business in South Korea.
- Photonect Interconnect Solutions (Juniyali Nauriyal, Cohort 2023) was awarded a $1.69M Phase II DoD SBIR contract supporting commercialization of its photonic packaging technology for reliable operation in cryogenic temperature ranges.
- CalWave (Marcus Lehmann, Cohort 2015) joined the World Economic Forum's 1000 Ocean Startups coalition.
- Mo Alkhadra (Lithios, Cohort 2022) was featured in the Financial Times as part of the annual FT-Nikkei Investing in America ranking, where Boston came out on top.
- Vellex Computing (Palak Jain, Cohort 2023) won the Plug and Play Taiwan Award at the InnoVEX 2026 pitch contest.
- Tandem PV (Chris Eberspacher and Colin Bailie, Cohort 2016) welcomed Jennifer Granholm, former U.S. Energy Secretary, to its board of directors.
- Fervo Energy (Tim Latimer & Jack Norbeck, Cohort 2018) and Tandem PV (Chris Eberspacher and Colin Bailie, Cohort 2016) have been named on TIME World’s Top GreenTech Companies 2026.
- Mo Alkhandra (Lithios, Cohort 2022) announced an ARPA-E award for up to $20M with coverage by the Boston Globe.
- Steven Jepeal (Allium Engineering, Cohort 2023) has raised a $7.4M Series A announced alongside a new partnership with The New Industrial Corporation and international expansion.
- Vycarb’s (Garrett Boudinot, Cohort 2022) technical validation by Ramboll was covered by Carbon Herald and was also featured in the International Aluminium Journal and The Journal of Ocean Technology.
- Brimstone announced an MOU with Century Aluminum to advance the United States’ first “mine-to-metal” aluminum supply chain.
- Photonect Interconnect Solutions (Juniyali Nauriyal, Cohort 2023) announced a new collaboration with ficonTEC, supported by an NSF Technology Enhancement for Commercial Partnerships grant, to accelerate the industrialization of laser-fusion photonic packaging.
- Drūl (Brent Ifemembi & Nelson Ndahiro, Cohort 2024) joined CareQuest Innovation Partners’ SMILE Health 2026 Cohort, putting Drūl in the room with the stakeholders who can help turn momentum into a national standard of care.
- Still Bright (Jon Vardner, Cohort 2022) is moving its headquarters to The Northeast Science & Technology Center in Kenilworth, NJ, where it will host its pilot system and have room to scale toward building the future of copper.
- Oleo (Gabi Dweck & Kelly Redmond, Cohort 2024) and BioWraptor (Maeva Coste, Cohort 2025) are among ten finalists for Anima Studios’ Out of the Lab Award supporting nature-inspired researchers, with public voting open until June 30 for the Public Recognition Award.
- Fervo Energy (Tim Latimer & Jack Norbeck, Cohort 2018), NVIDIA, and Pacific Northwest National Laboratory announced an agreement to develop a next-generation digital twin platform for Enhanced Geothermal Systems (EGS) technology, known as EGS-Twin.
- Cheri Ackerman Araromi (Concerto Biosciences, Cohort 2020) has been named to Nucleate’s new Nucleate Leadership Council, supporting the next generation of biotech leaders.
- Juno Propulsion (Alexis Harroun, Cohort 2023) successfully closed a $1.4M pre-seed financing round to accelerate development of its Project ISIS, Juno’s rotating detonation combustion propulsion system, as it heads toward its first in-orbit demonstration in Q1 2027.
- Antonio Baclig (Inlyte Energy, Cohort 2021) joined the Curious Pundits Podcast to share how his path from climate-focused research to grid-scale battery innovation was shaped by Stanford University, Activate, and the startup ecosystem.
- Electrified Thermal Solutions (Joey Kabel & Dan Stack, Cohort 2021) received independent validation of the 20-year lifespan of the essential materials in its Joule Hive™ Thermal Battery.
- Tandem PV (Chris Eberspacher and Colin Bailie, Cohort 2016) announced 30.4% conversion efficiency in its perovskite/silicon demonstration module, achieving a longstanding goal of breaking the 30% barrier.
- Twelve (Etosha Cave & Kendra Kuhl, Cohort 2015) held a ribbon cutting event at its new facility in Moses Lake, Washington, almost three years after its groundbreaking ceremony.
Want us to highlight an upcoming event or relevant opportunity in next month's newsletter? Let us know.
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