florrent

?? Seed Round Announcement from florrent! ?? We are very excited to share that florrent has secured $3.6M in Seed funding, led by MassVentures, in addition to over $650K in recent grant awards, to advance our mission of revolutionizing supercapacitor technology while building an economically sustainable business that innovates for the well-being of people and the planet. ?? Our success is fueled by the support of an incredible group of Seed investors, including Raven Indigenous Capital Partners, MassMutual Catalyst Fund, Boston Impact Initiative, Maroon Venture Partners Fund, Collaborative Fund, Elbezius, and The Sky Foundation. We’re also thankful to have non-dilutive grant funding from Massachusetts Clean Energy Center, Activate, and others to be announced. This funding will help us scale our activated carbon production facilities in Western Massachusetts, expand our team, and invest in essential capital expenditures. Over the next 24 months, we plan to complete customer proof-of-concept testing with our cylindrical cell and module products and further validate our innovation’s techno-economics with customers ready for commercial offtake in high-volume markets. We’re excited about the journey ahead and grateful to our ecosystem of investors, advisors, and partners for making it possible. To read the full press release, follow the link below: https://lnkd.in/etcFqyW5 #SeedFunding #Innovation #Sustainability #Deeptech #florrent #CleanEnergy #EnergyJustice #ThroughPowerWeEmpower

As we prepare to turn the page from Summer to Fall, we want to take a moment to appreciate all that our Summer Interns brought to florrent this year: ?? Faviola Villariny-Rosado spent a 6-month R&D co-op with us, working alongside Emily Carino in the florrent labs. Reflecting on her time, Faviola had this to say about her experience: “This internship experience at florrent has been very rewarding and motivational. In the past 6 months, I have developed a wide variety of experimental techniques and problem-solving skills, shaping me into a better researcher and professional. Working with individuals who are passionate and hard-working has inspired me to continue pursuing a career in energy storage research. I am grateful for this amazing opportunity and to have been part of the florrent team! “ ?? Pankaj Toppo was florrent's Summer Marketing & Operations Intern, who worked closely with Jose LaSalle and Joe Hastry, MSA CPA across a number of projects. Pankaj shared his thoughts: "Interning with florrent this summer was an incredible experience for me as a green energy and sustainability enthusiast. I had the chance to work on impactful projects in fundraising, grant management, partnership agreements, supply chain optimization, and dashboard building, all of which significantly sharpened my strategic and operational skills. I'm deeply grateful to florrent for providing me with this unique opportunity, with a perfect blend of culture and motivation, making my internship truly fulfilling." Thank you both for being exceptional team members and good luck back at the University of Massachusetts Amherst this semester! #InternAppreciation #climatetech #deeptech #florrent #ThroughPowerWeEmpower

Thank you to our incredible People Consultant, Nupur Amin, for coming out to Western Mass with us for a full-team training day last month! Pictured here is the florrent team with Nupur (and a guest appearance from Ryan's dog, Charlie!) in front of our 5,000 sq. ft. lab + office facility in Sunderland. The trainings were focused on ensuring we maintain efficiency and consistency across our organization as florrent grows, and these sessions specifically were about providing frameworks related to efficient meeting design and applying the #culturemap to learn more about interpersonal work styles. At florrent, we believe diverse teams generate more innovative solutions to the world’s greatest challenges.?Understanding cultural differences is a key step in decoding how people think, lead, and get things done, and is essential for a diverse organization. You can learn more about the other services Nupur and her firm, Beyond Scale, offer by heading to her LinkedIn profile. #team #personaldevelopment #diversity #florrent #growth

?? Meet Adam Bickerstaff, florrent's R&D Cell Engineer! Adam was born in Baltimore, MD and raised in Southbury, CT. He graduated with a B.S. in Chemical Engineering from the University of Maryland, where he concentrated on photovoltaics. Adam also worked at The Hebrew University of Jerusalem in Israel researching perovskite solar cells and spent time at The Duracell Company working on their AA and AAA alkaline cell products. He then matriculated into the realm of polymer and adhesive coating as a product development engineer, developing new adhesive products and coating processes, using comma, slot die, gravure, reverse roll, meyer rod, and flexographic coating methods. A desire to work once again in the real of renewable energy and electrochemistry while applying his unique skill set obtained through the polymer and adhesive coating industry attracted him to florrent. In his free time Adam likes to go to the gym, play golf, read, cook, and hike. Welcome to the team, Adam! #NewHire #florrent #ThroughPowerWeEmpower #cleantech #climatetech #cellengineer #researchanddevelopment

?? Meet Han Zong, Ph. D., florrent's Process Engineer! Han was born and raised in China and has been living and studying in the United States for over 12 years now. Han earned his Ph.D. and M.S. in Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering from The Johns Hopkins University, as well as an M.S. in Computer Science and a B.S. in Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering from Georgia Tech College of Engineering. He has been doing research in renewable energy, sustainability, and catalysis since 2016. Han plays basketball regularly and enjoys watching sports, following One Piece, building PC's, and exploring new restaurants. Welcome to the team, Han! #NewHire #florrent #ThroughPowerWeEmpower #cleantech #climatetech #processengineer

We're looking forward to Boston's first Climatetech in the City event next week! Thanks to Schneider Electric, Massachusetts Clean Energy Center, NECEC, City of Boston, and Downtown Boston for creating the space to showcase the city's booming climatetech ecosystem. Stop by the florrent table to learn more about how we're turning biomass waste streams into high performance supercapacitor solutions right here in Massachusetts? Climate Tech on the Plaza ?? Date: July 24th ?? Time: 10:00 AM - 4:00 PM ?? Location: Boston City Hall Plaza See you there! #ClimateTech #BostonEvents #CleanEnergy #Innovation #florrent #ThroughPowerWeEmpower

We're excited to be a part of the BioMADE community! BioMADE is a Federally funded Institute, whose mission is to build a sustainable, domestic, end-to-end bioindustrial manufacturing ecosystem. Valorizing biomass waste as feedstock for manufacturing is a key focus for the Institute, and something that aligns directly with what we're building at florrent. We look forward to connecting with fellow members, industry partners, and experts within the network. #biomass #biomanufacturing #florrent #ThroughPowerWeEmpower

There was a lot going on here in Boston last week with various Juneteenth Celebrations, the 50th Anniversary of Busing, and the Boston Celtics Rolling Championship Parade!?These events and the recent articles on the further reduction of investments?in Black #entrepreneurs reminded me of how far Black people have come here in the US and how far we still have to go... At the beginning of May, I?had the pleasure?of?moderating?a "Debunking Myths & Diversifying Portfolios" Panel/Workshop at the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) International Growth Forum (IGF) in Denver: - Kerry Bowie, General Partner, Malaika Ventures, and Executive Director, Browning the Green Space (BGS) - Moderator - Ryan D. Taylor, Associate, Azolla Ventures? - Danya Hakeem, Vice President of Portfolio, Elemental Excelerator - Martha Montoya, CEO, Agtools Inc. - Jose LaSalle, Founder & CEO, florrent - Drew Reid, Co-Founder & CEO, Maple Materials - Aumri Esdaille, Vice President, Energy Impact Partners I facilitated?a redux of a "3 Myths" session that my friend and partner, Julianne Zimmerman of Adasina Social Capital and Malaika Ventures, did virtually with me for the Massachusetts Clean Energy Center (MassCEC) CEO/ Investor Fireside Chat back in the fall of 2020 at the height of the pandemic.?We had three lightning rounds fielded by both an entrepreneur and investor quickly debunking 3 myths that cause investors to "suboptimize" their practices and portfolios: 1. “the pipeline problem” 2. “can’t find talent” 3. “too high risk” As part of joining the Autodesk Foundation’s Inclusive Climate Innovation Initiative (ICII) we (BGS) are looking at "The need for data on investment gaps and underrepresentation in climate tech."?We know that the numbers are woefully low for women, African Americans, and other people of color in general, but we would like to have a better understanding of what those numbers look like specifically in the #climatetech?and/or #cleantech investment?space. We don't want to duplicate efforts and also want to amplify any great work that is already taking place to identify the specific numbers in this space.?To that end, we'd love it if you'd let us know if you are aware of any individuals or organizations that have or are currently doing this work or planning to do so and also share your thoughts on why it’s important to gather this information. Thank you for your assistance, and you can share your thoughts in the comments here; complete this quick survey (https://lnkd.in/eYBxXZVm); and/or reach out to me directly or our deputy?director, Hadas Webb, at?[email protected].

Thank you Massachusetts Innovation Network for welcoming florrent to your community as a 2024 Eddies Finalist! We're excited to continue strengthening partnerships within the Massachusetts innovation ecosystem at large, and look forward to growing alongside this cohort of leaders. #ThroughPowerWeEmpower #climatetech #cleantech #deeptech #florrent

Our CEO, Jose LaSalle, was recently featured in an article by the Activate team, highlighting the model we are working to realize at florrent - building a profitable business that's economically sustainable, is built upon an innovative technology, and contributes to the well-being of people and the planet. When making key decisions, as Jose notes in the article, to ensure a just energy transition we need to start by asking “Who will benefit? Who will bear the costs? And will it reduce or reinforce inequalities?” To learn more about Jose's perspective and what drives us as a company, you can find the full feature here: https://lnkd.in/gCj8j6EA #florrent #ThroughPowerWeEmpower #energyjustice #energytransition #cleanenergy