For the duration of the program, cohort meetings are held online weekly to accommodate founders’ schedules. Additionally, industry mentor and coaches meet individually with founders for a virtual one-on-one coaching session.

Startups who successfully complete the Pre-Seed Accelerator program may be invited to apply to the Launch Blue Incubator program.

Click here to read about our previous cohort from Spring 2023.

The following information reflects the Areas of Interest for the accelerator program.

AgTech
Agtech refers to technologies making an impact in the agricultural industry to improve yield, efficiency, and profitability. AgTech encompasses a wide range of technologies, including automation, biotechnology, precision farming, and data analysis.

• Examples: (PhytoGensis leverages plant-based compounds to develop safe and non-toxic alternatives to fungicides and other pesticides, Stocket bridges information, and beef cattle producers to a better way of farming.)

Circular Economy and Sustainability
Circular Economy and Sustainability focus on creating new technologies, strategies, practices, or policies to achieve principles or product materials that reduce, reuse, recycle, redesign, repurpose, remanufacture, etc.

• Examples: (Green Copper Recycling developed an envio-friendly (zero carbon emission and heat and acid-free) method of harvesting copper from end-use products and materials, ElectraMet speciates and removes dissolved metals with onsite recovery for material purification industries and enables a circular economy and reduces the effective carbon footprint of your facility. Spirited repurposes distillery waste, Water Warriors created a natural, affordable pellet material to remove harmful levels of nutrients to keep the algae blooms from forming. Once the material cleans a body of water, the pellets can then be reused as a slow-release nutrient-rich soil amendment.)

Energy: Green, Renewable, and Clean
Together, green, renewable, and clean energy are increasingly used to generate electricity in order to phase out the use of fossil fuels, like coal and gas. Individually, green energy is energy that causes no harm to the natural environment through its source and production methods. Renewable energy is from energy sources that are replenished naturally, such as the sun or wind. Clean energy refers to clean air. For energy definitions and information, visit National Grid

• Examples: (Qilo leverages AMI data to help utilities select the best energy solutions for their grid and pinpoint households with the greatest potential value and probability of solution adoption.)

Human Health & Equity
Innovative solutions and technologies that improve human health outcomes and health equity. Human health technologies are centered on human needs through technological advances such as devices and therapeutics. Health equity means helping people overcome healthcare barriers based on social determinants of health.

• Examples: (NonBinary Solutions is a technology & consulting firm for behavioral health and ABA providers; Decurmed is helping immigrants navigate the U.S. healthcare system and get the care they need; Medical Physics Innovations is creating a transformative approach to cancer care through a new generation of Radiation Therapy Quality Assurance technologies, Malaria Drug: SJ733 is developing a safe, rapid-acting anti-malarial medicine.)

Materials Innovations
Materials Innovations focuses on advancing the next generation of materials through science and technology. This process focuses on meeting user needs through improvements in existing products or processes by creating something new. (i.e. metals and critical materials)

• Examples: (Green Copper Recycling developed an enviro-friendly (zero carbon emission and heat and acid-free) method of harvesting copper from end-use products and materials, LIB is developing a process to extract and recover battery metals with a more economical and environmental approach to recycling)

Our accelerator offers three different Program Tracks to provide a more cohesive experience for startups in the cohort. Once accepted into the program, startups will be placed in one of the following tracks based on the type of startup technology. (For example, we can have multiple Energy startups: one may be a deep tech in the Lab to Impact Track, and one may be a Saas in the Industry Transformation Track. This way, Industry Mentors could engage with both.)

Program Tracks:

• Lab to Impact Track: For deep technology startups based on advanced scientific research and innovations in engineering. These startups are highly disruptive scientific and engineering technologies looking to solve our world’s most urgent and difficult problems. Typically, these startups are spinouts of research institutions. (Examples: Medical Physics Innovations, Green Copper Recycling, PhytoGensis, Spirited, LIB) 

• Industry Transformation Track: For innovative tech startups that provide solutions for industries with urgent needs but complex ecosystems or complicated long purchasing processes. (Examples: Qilo, RSET, Water Warriors, VerraGlo)  

• Social Innovation Track: For startups building innovations from the center of community engagement to provide sustainable social impact. These startups are designed with, by, and/or for the community, where the community is the foundation of discovery and implementation. (Examples: NonBinary Solutions, Decurmed, The Graham Test, BumptUp, Cellie Coping Kit, ColiGlow)

Attractive candidates for our program will have demonstrated success in one or more of the following areas:

• Early sales / Revenue

• Investment / Funding Raised

• Grants (SBIR, STTR, etc.)

• Active Users

• Minimum Viable Product / Beta Product

• Strong Founding Team / Founder Market Fit

• Other forms of credible traction