Robert Ethier

Gradient’s mission is to cool the world by transforming every home to be more comfortable and healthy for the people who inhabit it — without compromising the environment. Today, heating and cooling equipment emits more greenhouse gas emissions than the entire transportation sector, and expansion in the use of cooling is projected to double these emissions in the next 30 years. However, comfortable buildings are critical for health and productivity, especially among communities that are vulnerable to the effects of climate change. Gradient’s vision is a future where everyone has access to comfortable buildings that are fully decarbonized. Our flagship product is a high-efficiency and low-carbon window heat pump suited for moderate climates; our second-generation window heat pump, the All-Weather 120V, is suited for cold climates.

The MicroByre team makes pets out of bacteria. The vast majority of prokaryotes on the planet are not currently considered cultivable, let alone genetically modifiable. MicroByre domesticates and then genetically engineers otherwise reluctant, recalcitrant, and rebellious bacteria. We get them to eat out of our hands. With friends like these, who needs petroleum? Newly cooperative bacteria will help us replace ancient biomass (petrochemicals) with renewable biomass (lawn clippings) efficiently and economically. This isn’t the synthetic biology you’ve read about. We don’t do Escherichia coli and we don’t do Saccharomyces cerevisiae. We don’t do gene circuits and we don’t do heterologous expression. We engineer naturally cool but standoffish bacteria to be cooperative, and thus even cooler. Diversity is strength. We take a lesson from the study of ecology: it takes a lot of different kinds of skills working together with mutual respect to make a dent in the world. We are committed to a maintaining a work environment free of harassment and discrimination. All recruitment, salary, & promotion decisions are based on business need, qualification, and job requirements with no regard to race, ethnicity, gender, sexual orientation, family or parental status, veteran or disability status, religion or belief, or age.

We build hardware to transform telecommunications infrastructure into scalable quantum networks.

Fervo Energy provides 24/7 carbon-free energy through the development of next-generation geothermal power. Fervo’s mission is to leverage innovation in geoscience to accelerate the world’s transition to sustainable energy. Geothermal has a major role to play in the future electric grid, and Fervo’s key advancements in drilling and subsurface analytics bring a full suite of modern technology to make geothermal cost competitive. For more information, please visit www.fervoenergy.com.

Concerto Biosciences reinvents humanity’s relationship with microbes. We envision a future where each of us fine-tunes the microbial communities in us, on us, and around us to stay healthy. To pave the way, Concerto invented a platform to measure, in ultra-high throughput, how microbes behave in the presence of each other. These measurements enable Concerto to see the world as it is: a massive underlying network of microbial interactions that shapes the health of our bodies and our planet. The network reveals new products—“ensembles” of microbes that work in concert to perform tasks that benefit people. Our first ensembles rehabilitate the skin microbiome, providing protection from previously intractable diseases like eczema and restoring health to millions.

We envision a world where we continuously, sustainably, and affordably improve human life with biocatalysis. Our proprietary platform of engineered enzymes and our unique manufacturing approach enables the production of thousands of amino acids that were previously too difficult and expensive to make. Our noncanonical amino acids are catalyzing the creation of revolutionary and innovative products that are good for people and the planet.

Antora Energy delivers affordable, reliable energy to industry, data centers, and the grid. Antora’s thermal batteries turn low-cost electricity into always-on heat and power, without supply-constrained critical minerals or multi-year construction timelines.

Brimstone is on a mission to decarbonize the cement industry, which today is responsible for 7.5% of carbon emissions annually. Founded in 2019, Brimstone developed a breakthrough decarbonized process to produce the same ordinary portland cement and supplementary cementitious materials used today. These materials have the same quality and performance builders have trusted for decades — now with a positive climate impact.

We empower scientists to reinvent the world by bringing their research to market. Founded in 2015, Activate empowers scientists to reinvent the world by launching startups to address climate change and other global challenges. Working between government, philanthropy, universities, and the private sector, Activate transforms scientists into high-impact entrepreneurs through the Activate Fellowship, a two-year immersive experience that equips science entrepreneurs with the skills, networks, infrastructure, and funding they need to quickly and effectively bring their groundbreaking research to market. Activate is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit and does not charge any fee nor equity for fellows to participate. Activate’s entrepreneurial fellowship model originated at Cyclotron Road, the first U.S. Department of Energys Lab Embedded Entrepreneurship Program (LEEP) started at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, and the founding Activate partner. Activate supports fellows in communities across the U.S.: Activate Berkeley, Activate Boston, Activate New York, Activate Houston, and Activate Anywhere. Learn more at Activate.org.

Gradient’s mission is to cool the world by transforming every home to be more comfortable and healthy for the people who inhabit it — without compromising the environment. Today, heating and cooling equipment emits more greenhouse gas emissions than the entire transportation sector, and expansion in the use of cooling is projected to double these emissions in the next 30 years. However, comfortable buildings are critical for health and productivity, especially among communities that are vulnerable to the effects of climate change. Gradient’s vision is a future where everyone has access to comfortable buildings that are fully decarbonized. Our flagship product is a high-efficiency and low-carbon window heat pump suited for moderate climates; our second-generation window heat pump, the All-Weather 120V, is suited for cold climates.

The MicroByre team makes pets out of bacteria. The vast majority of prokaryotes on the planet are not currently considered cultivable, let alone genetically modifiable. MicroByre domesticates and then genetically engineers otherwise reluctant, recalcitrant, and rebellious bacteria. We get them to eat out of our hands. With friends like these, who needs petroleum? Newly cooperative bacteria will help us replace ancient biomass (petrochemicals) with renewable biomass (lawn clippings) efficiently and economically. This isn’t the synthetic biology you’ve read about. We don’t do Escherichia coli and we don’t do Saccharomyces cerevisiae. We don’t do gene circuits and we don’t do heterologous expression. We engineer naturally cool but standoffish bacteria to be cooperative, and thus even cooler. Diversity is strength. We take a lesson from the study of ecology: it takes a lot of different kinds of skills working together with mutual respect to make a dent in the world. We are committed to a maintaining a work environment free of harassment and discrimination. All recruitment, salary, & promotion decisions are based on business need, qualification, and job requirements with no regard to race, ethnicity, gender, sexual orientation, family or parental status, veteran or disability status, religion or belief, or age.

We build hardware to transform telecommunications infrastructure into scalable quantum networks.

Fervo Energy provides 24/7 carbon-free energy through the development of next-generation geothermal power. Fervo’s mission is to leverage innovation in geoscience to accelerate the world’s transition to sustainable energy. Geothermal has a major role to play in the future electric grid, and Fervo’s key advancements in drilling and subsurface analytics bring a full suite of modern technology to make geothermal cost competitive. For more information, please visit www.fervoenergy.com.

Concerto Biosciences reinvents humanity’s relationship with microbes. We envision a future where each of us fine-tunes the microbial communities in us, on us, and around us to stay healthy. To pave the way, Concerto invented a platform to measure, in ultra-high throughput, how microbes behave in the presence of each other. These measurements enable Concerto to see the world as it is: a massive underlying network of microbial interactions that shapes the health of our bodies and our planet. The network reveals new products—“ensembles” of microbes that work in concert to perform tasks that benefit people. Our first ensembles rehabilitate the skin microbiome, providing protection from previously intractable diseases like eczema and restoring health to millions.