Wells Fargo funds Innosphere's cleantech program to support entrepreneurship and jobs

By: InnovatioNews Tuesday October 14, 2014 0 comments Tags: Ashley Grosh, Fort Collins, Innosphere, Mike Freeman, NREL, Wells Fargo

FORT COLLINS - Wells Fargo has provided a $100,000 grant to Innosphere, Colorado's leading science and technology incubator, to continue to build Innosphere's cleantech program, which supports startups and entrepreneurs who are providing the next generation of technology startups in the energy, water and transportation sectors.

"Given the talent coming out of the University of Colorado, Colorado State University and Colorado School of Mines, combined with the emerging technologies coming out of NREL, this is an ideal time to incubate cleantech startups through Innosphere's incubator model that focuses on mentoring, capital, strategy and growth," said Mike Freeman, Innosphere CEO.

"Wells Fargo has a nationally recognized support program for clean technology, and their investment is a vote of confidence that our cleantech program is headed in the right direction."

Innosphere also provides client companies with access to specialized test-and-demonstration equipment through their partnerships with the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) and CSU's Powerhouse Energy Institute.

Wells Fargo's investment will allow Innosphere to continue to support the most promising cleantech startup companies in the region. In 2013, gross revenues were almost $8 million among the 13 cleantech companies that Innosphere supported, indicating that the cleantech space in Colorado is alive and well.

These 13 companies employed 62 full-time and 37 part-time employees.

"Wells Fargo recognizes that Colorado is an important state for nurturing and developing new clean technologies that benefit us all," said Ashley Grosh, head of Wells Fargo's Environmental Affairs Clean Technology program. "We're pleased to support Innosphere as a critical asset in the state in helping new startups succeed. Our collaboration with Innosphere is part of our ongoing commitment to helping provide long-term solutions to the world's greatest environmental challenges."

Innosphere has an impressive list of graduate cleantech companies they have supported in the past,  and the incubator is currently supporting 10 cleantech startup companies that can all be found at www.innosphere.org/clientcompanies and are listed below:

• concept 3D is commercializing NREL intellectual property in combination with the company's technology. They offer professional media and web services and a map management platform including CampusBird, the leading interactive maps platform for the education market.


• Fabriq is intelligent lighting control and energy management for commercial buildings. This cloud-based software and wireless control technology offers energy reductions of up to 80 percent and has the simplest, lowest cost installation model in the industry.


• OptiEnz Sensors is a spinout from Colorado State University and designs and manufactures portable devices for measuring small organic molecule concentrations. Unlike traditional measurement technologies, OptiEnz sensors are capable of performing real-time, continuous, in-situ measurements, leading to applications in continuous water quality monitoring, process control and process optimization.


• Pneumaticoat Technologies is a materials coating startup focused on the development and industrialization of nano-scale coatings on materials for energy storage and related industries.


• Prieto Battery is a spinout from Colorado State University. Prieto's mission is to commercialize a patented three-dimensional (3D) lithium-ion battery technology that delivers transformational performance at a competitive cost using non-toxic materials.


• Solid Power is a spinout from the University of Colorado and is developing ultra-high energy, safe and low-cost all solid-state rechargeable batteries. This enables batteries that run considerably longer on a single charge as compared to current Li-ion batteries.


• US e-Chromic is a spinout of NREL and will enable the owners of commercial buildings and homes to reduce air conditioning usage by up to 25 percent by commercializing a reflective electrochromic thin film for windows.


• VAIREX Air Systems is a revenue-stage supplier of enabling technology to the global fuel cell industry, with headquarters in Boulder and a sales office in Tokyo.


• WeatherCloud is a Boulder-based startup commercializing NCAR intellectual property in combination with the company's technology. They utilize automobiles as weather sensors to produce hyper-accurate, highly granular road weather forecasts. WeatherCloud technology is the next step in intelligent transportation systems by reducing accidents and saving lives.


• BASiC 3C, Inc has a breakthrough technology that enables a new generation of power devices for existing and new markets.