Dear Friends of Greentown,
Late last year, we announced the Advancing Climatetech and Clean Energy Leaders Program (ACCEL)—a new accelerator from Greentown and Browning the Green Space designed to bolster BIPOC-led climatetech startups by offering access to funding, networking connections, resources, and opportunities that structural inequities put out of reach.
Today, we are thrilled to introduce you to the inaugural ACCEL cohort. This exceptional group of six startups was selected from nearly 80 applicants. Hailing from the Boston and Houston metro areas where Greentown’s incubators are located, these teams are working on innovations from bio-based polymers to solar technology.
- Active Surfaces (Salem, MA) unlocks dual land-use applications through its ultra-thin-film, flexible solar technology. Its co-founders are Shivam Bhakta and Richard Swartwout.
- DrinKicks (Houston, TX) is a sneaker-themed consumer-products company that is focused on repurposing food waste and recycled materials into sustainable goods such as shoes, sports equipment, and clothing, all while educating consumers on the power of the circular economy. Its co-founders are Kristeen Reynolds, Michael Fletcher, and Kristen Lee.
- EarthBond (Cambridge, MA) leverages group financing and carbon accounting to lower costs and risk in the energy transition of Nigeria’s $14B fuel-based, off-grid generator market. Its founder is Chidalu Onyenso.
- florrent (Amherst, MA) is a bio-based materials and energy storage company providing solutions to address critical bottlenecks to the global decarbonization and electrification of utilities, transportation, and buildings. Its co-founders are Jose LaSalle, Joe Hastry, and Alexander Nichols.
- frakktal (Houston, TX) is a B2B materials company developing bio-based polymer processes for the replacement of fossil-fuel-based feedstocks across industries. Its founder is Jhana Porter.
- SpadXTech (Worcester, MA) is contributing to the reduction of CO2 emissions impacting several industries such as packaging, textiles, transportation, filtration, and construction through the manufacturing of its core and versatile material platform technology. Its co-founders are Lina M. González and Connor Crawford.
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