Announcing Year 3 of ACCEL, Our Accelerator for BIPOC-led Startups

Dear Friends of Greentown,?

This week, we were thrilled to announce the third year of ACCEL—an accelerator from Greentown and Browning the Green Space (BGS) designed to bolster BIPOC-led climatetech startups by offering access to funding, networking connections, resources, and opportunities that structural inequities put out of reach.?

The year-long program combines acceleration with a curated curriculum, incubation at Greentown, and extensive mentorship from Greentown and BGS’s networks of industry experts. Startups selected for ACCEL will:

• Receive non-dilutive grant funding up to $25,000 to support their development
• Participate in trainings led by Curriculum + Resources Partner VentureWell, including its Ascend and Aspire programs, covering customer discovery, pitch decks, financial models, and fundraising
• Engage in additional workshops spanning product development, market strategy, capital raising, legal guidance, and team building
• Gain valuable mentorship from experienced industry experts
• Experience fundraising and investment support, including pitch-deck development and investor introductions
• Receive desk space and membership within Greentown for the duration of the program, which grants access to $1M+ of in-kind resources, including software and legal support; 75+ corporate partners; community resources; and more
• Receive BGS membership to unlock opportunities to learn, connect, and engage with practitioners in the clean-energy sector on a just energy transition for Black and Brown communities
• Present to investors and industry leaders at public kickoff and showcase events
• Experience enhanced visibility through ACCEL marketing

We’re seeking applications from innovative startups at Technology Readiness Level (TRL) 2-4 that are developing climate solutions for the agriculture, buildings, electricity, manufacturing, resiliency + adaptation, and transportation sectors.? The first two years of ACCEL have supported more than a dozen early-stage climatetech startups, supplying $325k in grant funding, hosting more than 50 workshop sessions, and engaging 20 expert mentors. Check out the participants’ progress during the first two years of ACCEL here and here! Thank you to ACCEL’s funders—the Massachusetts Clean Energy Center, Microsoft, and the Barr Foundation—for making this important program possible.?

Apply by Jan. 7 here!

Interested in becoming an ACCEL funder? Reach out to our team!

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Member Milestones

What does climate action look like? Climatetech startups receiving funding, winning awards, deploying their tech around the world, and more! Read a roundup of our members’ recent milestones here and check out some highlights below:

• Transaera, a startup pioneering a novel, energy-efficient approach to cooling and dehumidification, raised an $8.2M Seed-2 round led by Greentown partner Clean Energy Ventures, augmented by $2.3M in grants from the U.S. Department of Energy.
• Phytoform Labs announced a new tomato variety optimized for vertical farms that's one-sixth the size of a traditional tomato plant and yields five times the amount of produce.
• Greentown members and alumni De-Ice, Fervo Energy, and Electra were featured in TIME's list of the Best Inventions of 2024.?
• Helix Earth Technologies, which is revolutionizing air conditioning and carbon capture and sequestration with cutting-edge tech developed at NASA, closed a $5.6M seed round.?
• Greentown alum Ebb Carbon signed a marine-CO2-removal deal with Microsoft that commissions the removal of 350,000 tonnes of CO2 over 10 years.
• The CEOs of Greentown members and alumni Nth Cycle, Fervo Energy, and Electra were selected for the TIME100 Climate list of influential climate business leaders.?
• Advanced Ionics announced an investment from Lummus Technology that involves a partnership to advance the startup’s green-hydrogen platform.

Recent Reads

Greentown member NOC Energy is solving heavy industry’s heat problem with technology that electrifies the production of high temperatures while staying cost-competitive with fossil fuels and allowing manufacturers to keep their existing infrastructure. Its NOC Cell delivers hot gas up to 1500°C to power boilers and kilns and can store energy in the form of heat. Read more.

This week, we were excited to announce Sabanci Climate Technologies as our newest Terawatt Partner! The three-year partnership will foster deep connections and opportunities for collaboration between Sabanci’s businesses and venture capital arm and Greentown’s startups. Learn more.

Mark Your Calendar for These Upcoming Events

Dec. 5: EnergyBar: Celebrating a Year of Climate Action [Greentown Boston]

Greentown Boston’s final EnergyBar of 2024 will celebrate a fantastic year of climate action! In partnership with Siemens, we’re inviting entrepreneurs, investors, students, and friends of climatetech for a night of impactful networking. Let’s look back at the progress we’ve made together over the past year and inspire continued action for a decarbonized future in 2025.

Dec. 10: ACT’s Direct Air Capture Academy Finale [Greentown Boston]

Join the Alliance for Climate Transition (ACT) for the finale of its DAC Academy accelerator, which supported seven direct-air-capture startups at TRL 3-5.

Jan. 30: Canary Live Houston [Greentown Houston]

Canary Media is bringing its live event series to Greentown Houston! Join us at Canary Live Houston for an exploration of Texas’s clean-hydrogen economy and how the state became the United States’s largest clean-energy market.

Greentown is Hiring!

• Sales and Customer Relationship Manager (Somerville, MA)

Thank You to Our Partners

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