Activate Updates: November 2025

November 20, 2025

Last month we announced Activate’s international expansion with the launch of the Activate Global - Singapore Fellowship—part of our expanded impact through Activate’s Innovation Labs, a newly launched initiative to pilot new approaches for broadening participation in science entrepreneurship.

We are excited to keep up the momentum as we hire for two new positions related to the Activate Global - Singapore Fellowship and prepare to open fellow applications in 2026.

We’re also kicking off our new Moments That Matter, a new series, celebrating the turning points that define our current and alumni fellows’ journeys. Over the past year, they’ve expanded into new regions, secured transformative funding, validated potentially world-changing technologies, and built the foundations for lasting impact. We’re kicking off the series by interviewing Garrett Boudinot (Vycarb, Cohort 2022), whose journey has led him to Singapore and other locations around the world where Vycarb’s carbon capture and storage technology can plug in and advance worldwide decarbonization efforts.

Read on for more inspiring fellow stories, job opportunities at Activate, and the latest in hard tech for good.

From Military Service to Science Entrepreneurship

Earlier this month, we honored two Activate Fellows who are veterans: Jason Hoffman-Bice (Fourier, Cohort 2025) and Kelly Redmond (Oleo, Cohort 2024). Both have leveraged their military service, STEM training, and passion for solving hard problems as innovators and startup founders.

Moments that Matter: From Local Waters to Global Impact

Garrett Boudinot (Cohort 2022) is the founder and CEO of Vycarb, a startup on a mission to empower the world with high-quality, high-impact carbon dioxide removal. According to Boudinot, Vycarb’s solution “has the potential to be the largest carbon storage technology in the world” when deployed at scale. The company is on its way, building relationships across the United States and around the world.

Activate is Hiring

Join Activate for our exciting next chapter, and help build a future where science serves the world. We’re currently hiring for five open roles: Managing Director, Singapore; Managing Director, New York; Senior Program Manager, Global Programs (Asia – U.S. Based); Data Solutions Engineer; and Government Relations Associate. Explore jobs here.

Showcasing Breakthroughs at Tough Tech Demo Day

Tough Tech Week once again mobilized the hard-tech ecosystem in Boston through a great line-up of events. Activate co-hosted Tough Tech Demo Day alongside Greentown Labs, MassChallenge, MassRobotics, and The Engine, with nearly 100 companies exhibiting visionary technologies, including 30 Activate Fellow-led companies representing all five of Activate’s communities across the United States. This was a milestone for some early-stage companies, like Elysium, which is making muscle-inspired devices for robotics. “We ran our first public live demo at Tough Tech Demo Day and got a lot of traffic and investor interest,” said Elysium Founder and CEO Rodrigo Alvarez (Cohort 2024).

In Our Ecosystem

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

Fellow News

Activate Fellow alumni Richard Wang (Cohort 2016) and Steven Kaye (Cohort 2015) join forces to launch Voya Energy, which has already raised $13M to commercialize a new zero-emissions energy system based on recyclable metal fuels.
Electrified Thermal Solutions (Dan Stack & Joey Kabel, Cohort 2021) and Kano Therapeutics (Floris Engelhardt, Cohort 2021) win a grant through the Massachusetts Manufacturing Innovation Initiative, a statewide effort to boost innovation and commercialization within manufacturing.
Flux XII (Patrick Sullivan, Cohort 2023) announces a $3.95M seed round led by The Grantham Foundation to scale next-generation grid energy storage.
REEgen (Alexa Schmitz, Cohort 2022) wins the $150K grand prize at the FuzeHub Commercialization Competition, accelerating the company’s path to deliver on its mission of revitalizing critical mineral recovery and enabling widespread energy security.
Brekland (Eric Bellefroid, Cohort 2023) wins the $1M grand prize at the 2025 Grow-NY competition, marking a major milestone for its climate-ag innovation.
Solidec (Ryan DuChanois & Yang Xia, Cohort 2024) partners with Lynas Rare Earths to launch an Australian pilot advancing sustainable critical mineral processing.
Pulsenics (Essam Elsahwi & Mariam Awara, Cohort 2022) announces the world’s first deployment of AI-powered electrolyser monitoring to optimize green hydrogen production.
Sublime Systems (Leah Ellis, Cohort 2020) is named a 2025 BostInno Fire Award honoree by the Boston Business Journal, recognizing companies “that have set the standard for excellence in innovation and growth while making a meaningful impact on the local hashtag Boston community and innovation ecosystem.” Sublime is also featured in The Innovator on how green cement and other emerging technologies can drive planetary health.
Brendan Hermalyn (Thalo Labs, Cohort 2021) appears on the Building HVAC Science podcast to discuss predictive maintenance and smart heat pump monitoring.
Turnover Labs (Marissa Beatty, Cohort 2022) wins $20K (CHF) at MassChallenge Switzerland’s 10th annual awards, taking home an overall gold prize.
Laura Hodgkiss of HackGroup names Anthro, Antora, Brekland, Fervo, Nitricity, and SirenOpt among 75 climate frontrunners in a roundup of top startups to watch.
Generate releases an “Expert View” on thermal energy storage, highlighting Antora Energy (David Bierman, Justin Briggs & Andrew Ponec, Cohort 2018) as an example of expanding U.S. manufacturing capacity and the sector’s shift into the infrastructure phase.
Concerto Biosciences (Jared Kehe & Cheri Ackerman, Cohort 2020) surpasses 100 million microbial droplets loaded onto its screening device kChip, marking a major experimental-scale milestone for its microbial product discovery engine.
SiTration (Brendan Smith, Cohort 2020) is highlighted in the Australian Financial Review for its role in recovering critical minerals as part of a major U.S.–Australia deal.
Rapid Radicals (Paige Peters, Cohort 2024) celebrates its Torrent3 Treatment System surpassing one million gallons of water treated, advancing high-rate wastewater treatment.
Garrett Boudinot (Vycarb, Cohort 2022) is quoted in the New York Post responding to Bill Gates’ “Three Tough Truths About Climate” and broader climate optimism.
Claire Nelson (Cella Mineral Storage, Cohort 2023) is featured in the 2025 film Legion 44 on the visionaries behind the rise of carbon dioxide removal. She is interviewed on Legion 44 Conversations, sharing updates on Cella’s Kenya outreach and carbon mineralization project.
Pulsenics (Essam Elsahwi & Mariam Awara, Cohort 2022) is profiled in Hydrogen Standard for its real-time diagnostic technology that acts like a “heartbeat monitor” for hydrogen and electrochemical systems.
Fervo Energy (Tim Latimer & Jack Norbeck, Cohort 2018) is featured in The Economist on geothermal’s shift “from niche to necessary” and the coming geothermal renaissance.
Bairitione Health (Meagan Pitcher, Cohort 2024) announces an oversubscribed first close, securing $700K toward its $2M round.
CalWave (Marcus Lehmann, Cohort 2015) makes a historic agreement between the Bonneville Power Administration and PacWave, administered by Oregon State University, bringing the company one step closer to exporting and selling wave-generated power to American homes and businesses.
The Carbon to Value Initiative announces the ten startups in its Year 5 cohort, including Turnover Labs (Marissa Beatty, Cohort 2022), Arbon (Yang Shi & Elvis Cao, Cohort 2023), and Cella Mineral Storage (Claire Nelson, Cohort 2023).