Techstars is a global platform that provides investment and innovation. Through the Techstars Worldwide Entrepreneur Network, founders and their teams connect with other entrepreneurs, experts, mentors, alumni, investors, community leaders, and corporate partners who will help their companies grow. Techstars operates four divisions: Techstars Mentorship-Driven Accelerator Program supercharges success and Techstars Startup Programs inspire, educate, and connect entrepreneurs. Techstars Venture Capital Fund invests in innovative and disruptive companies. Techstars Corporate Innovation Partnerships help brands create products and services. Techstars' accelerator portfolio includes more than 1,000 companies with a market cap of $8.1 billion.

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Vortex Bladeless

Vortex Bladeless is a tech startup. Vortex Bladeless developing an environmentally friendly aerogenerator that needs no blades. It is a new wind energy technology specially designed for on-site generation in residential areas, being able to work on-grid, off-grid, or along with regular solar panels or other generators.

Vortex Bladeless is a Spanish startup developing wind turbines that do not require blades, gears, or shafts. Designed to require less space, the company’s Vortex devices are claimed to be made with similar materials as traditional wind turbines and operate under similar conditions in addition to having the same grid compatibility.

Moving industry forward with next-gen advancements in energy storage and transmission

Alternative Energy

Bladeless Wind Energy Market Is Dazzling Worldwide with Major Giant Vortex Bladeless, Saphon Energy, Atmocean,

Vortex Bladeless is a Spanish startup developing wind turbines that do not require blades, gears, or shafts. Designed to require less space, the company’s Vortex devices are claimed to be made with similar materials as traditional wind turbines and operate under similar conditions in addition to having the same grid compatibility.The devices consist of a fixed base and cylindrical mast that are joint by a carbon rod that oscillates freely, perpendicular to the wind direction by a phenomenon known as Vortex Shedding, leading to aeroelastic resonance. Due to the construction and size of the devices, these offer an alternative solution to urban/residential wind power generation as opposed to large wind farms but are not developed as a direct replacement for regular wind turbines.Key customers and partnershipsSince the inception of the company, it has collaborated with multiple partners to develop its technology, with notable partnerships including Barcelona Supercomputing Center, Altair, and SEO BirdLife.Funding and financialsVortex Bladeless was a part of the 2021 class of Equinor &amp; Techstars Energy Accelerator and received USD 120,000 in pre-seed funding for the development of its technology.

Canada-based Carbon Engineering (CE) specializes in Direct Air Capture (DAC) and air-to-fuel (ATF) technologies. ATF technology turns atmospheric carbon dioxide (CO2) DAC facilities into low-carbon fuels. The company’s pilot DAC plant in British Columbia captures one ton of CO2 per day. As of March 2024, CE is working with 1PointFive to commercialize its air-to-fuel processes.Key customers and partnershipsCE has partnered with Oxy Low Carbon Ventures (the venture capital arm of the oil and gas company Occidental Petroleum) to build its first commercial DAC facility in Texas Permian Basin. The proposed facility will capture one million tons of CO2 per year. The construction of the plant is to be completed by 2024. CE has also begun engineering at its <a href="https://sp-edge.com/updates/14178">second DAC facility</a> in Kleberg County, Texas to capture 30 million tons of CO2 per year. The site is expected to begin operations by late 2024. CE also has a partnership with Storegga Geotechnologies to deploy its DAC technology in the UK. In <a href="https://sp-edge.com/updates/10949">June 2022</a>, CE extended its collaboration with 1PointFive to deploy DAC projects globally.CE allows customers to pre-purchase carbon removal quantities from its future projects. In March 2021, Shopify became CE’s first customer, having reserved 10,000 tons of carbon removals. CE has also partnered with BeZero (a British climate asset and liability management company) for a joint retail offering that allows customers to purchase carbon removals through BeZero’s website. In November 2021, CE also signed up BMO Financial Group, a Canadian financial service provider, as a new customer and plans to deliver 1,000 tons of carbon removal units.CE estimates the net cost of its DAC technology to be around USD 94–232 per ton. The net cost of capture from its proposed one-megaton commercial plant is expected to be “little less than USD 200 per ton”. The company has also reported that its net cost of capture needs to fall below USD 150 per ton for the technology to make commercial sense.In October 2021, Carbon Engineering also partnered with Huron Clean Energy (Canada), The Upper Nicola Band (Canada), and Oxy Low Carbon Ventures to develop a large-scale commercial ATF facility in British Columbia. The facility is expected to begin operations in 2026. In November 2021, the company partnered with Air Canada to explore sustainable aviation fuel (SAF) opportunities.Funding and financialsCarbon Engineering's most recent funding event was in<a href="https://sp-edge.com/updates/14763"> November 2022</a> when it raised an undisclosed amount from aviation leaders, Airbus and Air Canada, to support the development of its DAC technology. Prior to this in March 2019, Carbon Engineering raised USD 68 million from Chevron, Occidental Petroleum, and BHP. The company also received a USD 25 million grant from the Canadian government in June 2019. The cash helped speed up development and go-to-market activities for Carbon Engineering’s DAC technology.In <a href="https://sp-edge.com/updates/21044">August 2023</a>, Occidental Petroleum announced a definitive purchase agreement to acquire Carbon Engineering for USD 1.1 billion in cash. The deal was closed in <a href="https://www.blg.com/en/about-us/deals-and-suits/2023/11/occidental-petroleum-completes-us1-1-billion-acquisition-of-carbon-engineering-ltd#:~:text=On%20November%203%2C%202023%2C%20Occidental,equity%20of%20Carbon%20Engineering%20Ltd.">November 2023</a>.

Carbon Engineering

TAE Technologies is a next-generation renewable energy company focusing on fusion technology. The company’s technology attempts to fuse hydrogen and boron to produce light to generate heat for power generation. TAE aims to connect the first hydrogen-boron fusion power plant to the grid in the 2030s and expects to demonstrate net energy on its next research reactor Copernicus around mid-decade.TAE Technologies has obtained more than 1,400 patents and launched several spin-off technologies in sectors such as electric mobility, power management, and life sciences. In <a href="https://sp-edge.com/updates/15971">January 2023</a>, formed a new subsidiary known as TAE Power Solutions. This subsidiary is developing a unique technology platform derived from fusion research to improve the reliability, efficiency, longevity, and affordability of electric-powered products, including EVs and renewable energy storage.Key customers and partnershipsIn <a href="https://sp-edge.com/updates/6255">October 2021</a>, TAE Technologies partnered with the National Institute for Fusion Science (NIFS), a Japanese research institute, to test hydrogen-boron (p-B11) fusion reactions. Furthermore, in <a href="https://sp-edge.com/updates/16848">March 2023</a>, TAW and NIFS carried out the world’s first hydrogen-boron fusion experiments in a magnetically confined fusion plasma.Since 2014, TAE Technologies has worked with Google to apply machine learning, data science, and advanced computations to jointly develop the Optometrist Algorithm to speed up experiments involving plasma, the core ingredient in a fusion reaction.Funding and financialsThe company’s most recent funding event was a <a href="https://sp-edge.com/updates/11710">July 2022</a> USD 250 million round led by Google. The company planned to use the funds to construct its research reactor “Copernicus.” Prior to this, in April 2021 TAE Technologies raised USD 280 million led by Google and New Enterprise Associates. Funds were expected to be used to further the company’s fusion experiments and to build a new reactor-scale facility.

TAE Technologies

Canada-based Enerkem converts waste into transportation fuels and chemicals. The company produces renewable methanol and ethanol from non-recyclable and compostable solid waste. Ethanol produced by Enerkem is used as a high octane oxygenate in gasoline to reduce its toxicity.Enerkem operated a pilot biofuel facility in Edmonton, Canada, which was capable of recycling upto 40,000 metric tons of waste, annually. As of January 2024, the facility has produced ~5 million liters of ethanol and methanol. As part of this project, Enerkem had a 25-year agreement with the city of Edmonton to recycle 100,000 dry metric tons of waste per year. In February 2024, the company reported plans to retire the facility and focus on the deployment and commercialization of its technology.Key customers and partnershipsEnerkem is developing a biofuel facility at Varennes (Canada) in partnership with Hydro-Quebec. The facility, which is set to come online in 2025, will couple Enerkem’s technology with a 90 MW proton exchange membrane (PEM) electrolyzer system to produce 125 million liters of biofuels and circular chemicals from 200,000 metric tons of waste per year.Enerkem is also developing a facility in Tarragona, Spain in partnership with Repsol to manufacture 290 million liters of methanol from non-recyclable waste and residual biomass per year. In <a href="https://sp-edge.com/updates/20773">July 2023</a>, Enerkem partnered with Dimeta to begin a feasibility study to examine the development of two large-scale projects to convert waste into renewable and recycled carbon dimethyl ether (DME). The projects are to be developed in Northwest Europe and in the Gulf Coast of the US, with each project expected to produce ~165,000 tons of DME annually from mixed residual waste.In <a href="https://sp-edge.com/updates/20774">August 2023</a>, Enerkem partnered with Technip Energies where the latter agreed to contribute its expertise in engineering, technology integration, and project delivery to support projects developed by Enerkem.Funding and financialsEnerkem’s <a href="https://sp-edge.com/updates/9646">most recent funding </a>event was an April 2022 CAD 255 million (USD 203 million) round led by Repsol. The funds were to be used to expand Enerkem’s geographical footprint in Europe and to scale up the deployments of its gasification technology.

Enerkem

Commonwealth Fusion Systems (CFS) is an MIT spinoff that focuses on commercializing fusion energy using revolutionary high-temperature superconducting (HTS) magnets to build smaller and lower-cost tokamak fusion systems. The company aims to manufacture these magnets and is building ‘SPARC’, its net energy fusion machine with MIT’s Plasma Science and Fusion Center. Following this, CFS plans to build a fusion power plant named ARC.In February 2023, CFS opened its new 50-acre campus in Massachusetts, US. This will contain the company’s corporate headquarters, advanced manufacturing facility, and the SPARC facility.Key customers and partnershipsIn July 2022, CFS signed a five-year Collaboration Framework Agreement with the United Kingdom Atomic Energy Authority (UKAEA) to carry out a series of work projects to support the development of fusion energy. In March 2023, CFS signed a framework agreement with Eni to carry out a series of work projects to advance fusion energy.Funding and financialsIn August 2023, CFS was awarded three undisclosed grants by the US Department of Energy’s Innovation Network for Fusion Energy (INFUSE) program to fund research and development projects with the University of California at Berkeley, Princeton Plasma Physics Lab, and University of California at Los Angeles. In <a href="https://sp-edge.com/updates/19658">May 2023</a>, CFS was one of eight companies to receive a total of USD 46 million from the US Department of Energy’s Milestone-based Fusion Development Program to advance design, research and development for fusion power plants.In <a href="https://sp-edge.com/updates/7124">November 2021</a>, CFS raised USD 1.8 billion in a Series B funding round led by Tiger Global Management. The company planned to use the proceeds to build and operate SPARC and commence deployment of ARC.

Commonwealth Fusion Systems

General Fusion aims to develop utility-scale fusion power using Magnetized Target Fusion (MTF) technology. In December 2022, the company demonstrated plasma energy confinement times, plasma temperatures, and compression system performance that support its goal of meeting 100 million degrees Celsius in its MTF demonstration.&nbsp;In <a href="https://sp-edge.com/updates/22691">August 2023</a>, General Fusion announced a new MTF machine known as “Lawson Machine 26” (LM26). The company intends to use the machine to achieve fusion conditions of over 100 million degrees Celcius (180 million degrees Fahrenheit) by 2025, and progress toward scientific breakeven by 2026. The LM26 is designed to validate the company’s ability to symmetrically compress magnetized plasmas in a repeatable manner and achieve fusion conditions at scale. It integrates the company's existing operational plasma injector with a new lithium liner compression system.Construction of General Fusion’s demonstration at the United Kingdom Atomic Energy Authority’s (UKAEA) Culham Campus began in 2023 and is expected to be commissioned in 2026 and fully operational by early 2027.Key customers and partnershipsIn June 2021, General Fusion partnered with the UK Atomic Energy Authority (UKAEA) to build and operate a fusion demonstration plant (FDP) at UKAEA’s Culham Campus in Oxfordshire, UK. In July 2021, General Fusion partnered with Canadian Nuclear Laboratories, a nuclear technology laboratory managed by the Canadian National Energy Alliance, to develop tritium extraction technologies for fusion power.&nbsp;In February 2022, General Fusion, Bruce Power, and the Nuclear Innovation Institute partnered to accelerate the delivery of clean fusion power in Canada. In November 2022, the company partnered with Canadian Nuclear Laboratories again to carry out a series of joint projects to accelerate the deployment of commercial fusion power in Canada.In <a href="https://sp-edge.com/updates/22653">October 2023,</a> General Fusion partnered with Kyoto Fusioneering to advance critical systems for MTF commercialization, including the tritium fuel cycle, the liquid metal balance of the plant, and the power conversion cycle. During the same <a href="https://sp-edge.com/updates/23302">month</a>, General Fusion expanded its partnership with TRIUMF to design diagnostics that will advance the former’s technology and prove the performance of its MTF demonstration, LM26. In December 2023, the company partnered with the University of Lisbon to develop a key diagnostic for MTF technology.Funding and financials&nbsp;In March 2024, General Fusion and TRIUMF, Canada’s particle accelerator centre, received a USD 800,000 Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada (NSERC) Alliance grant. The companies intended to use the funds to advance technology to develop an ultra-fast neutron spectrometer system to measure plasma temperatures at fusion conditions of over 100 million degrees Celsius.In <a href="https://sp-edge.com/updates/24966">December 2023</a>, General Fusion received CAD 5 million (~USD 3.7 million) from the Strategic Innovation Fund (SIF). The company planned to invest the funds in the research and development of the company’s MTF demonstration, LM26. The company’s latest funding round was in August 2023, when it raised USD 25 million in the first close of its Series F funding round. Participants of the round included existing investors, BDC Capital, and GIC, as well as new grant funding from the government of British Columbia.In November 2021, the company raised USD 130 million led by Temasek. Previously, in January 2021, General Fusion raised an undisclosed amount from Thistledown Capital, a venture capital firm established by Shopify founder Tobias Lütke.

General Fusion

Companies that facilitate renewable energy generation through next-gen advances in conventional renewable energy technologies such as solar, wind, and hydro

Companies developing long-duration stationary energy storage technologies that are essential to match the intermittent supply of renewable sources with the inflexible demand for energy. Includes utility-scale, industrial, and residential stationary energy storage solutions

Companies that facilitate renewable energy generation through disruptive bioenergy technologies such as waste to energy (WTE) and advanced biofuels

Companies that facilitate renewable energy generation through disruptive technologies such as geothermal, fusion, wave, tidal, etc.

Provides next-gen renewable energy sources and energy storage for sustainable energy consumption

Vortex Bladeless

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