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Greentown Labs Startup News Roundup — August 2026

Ella Wander

Our 260+ startups never fail to impress us with their hard work and commitment to scaling their climatetech solutions! Check out their latest accomplishments below.

Interested in engaging with or joining our community of climatetech startups? Learn about how you can take action with our members or apply for startup membership!

Funding

  • Form Energy, developer of iron-air battery systems for long-duration grid storage, raised $750M in Series G financing, bringing its total equity raised to date to more than $2 billion. The funding will accelerate manufacturing in Weirton, West Virginia, and speed deployment of its 100-hour battery systems.
  • Nine Greentown members and alumni were named recipients of Massachusetts’ first-ever Climatetech Tax Incentives Program, part of $27.2 million awarded across 18 companies statewide. Recipients include Lydian ($1.8 million toward its Charlestown R&D hub), AeroShield Materials, Eden GeoPower, Florrent, REON Technology, Vertical Semiconductor, Electric Hydrogen, and alum Mantel Capture.
  • Newfound Materials, the predictive engine for materials R&D, received an ARPA-E award to apply its AI-enabled synthesis tools to the discovery of next-generation permanent magnets.
  • Capwell, which captures methane emissions from low-flow vents and flares that conventional equipment can’t reach, received a follow-on investment from SWAN Impact Network to scale its methane-capture technology, which returns captured natural gas to operators as additional revenue while reducing emissions.
  • Greentown alum Mantel Capture, whose molten-borate technology captures carbon at high industrial temperatures, raised an $18 million strategic investment from Constellation Technology Ventures and Azimut, bringing its total funding to $50 million as it scales commercial deployments across power generation and heavy industry.
  • Fleet Robotics ($150,000), whose autonomous robots clean ship hulls to cut drag and fuel use; Anvil Capture ($200,000), developing a mineralization process to capture CO2 using alkaline-bearing ores; Orien Energy ($150,000), building a sorption heat pump to recover industrial waste heat; and Respire Energy ($200,000), developing long-duration metal-air batteries free of critical minerals, all received AmplifyMass funding from MassCEC this week.
  • SWERV, maker of a window-mounted energy recovery ventilator, picked up $75,000 in Catalyst/DICES funding to advance its product.
  • Gaia AI, using LiDAR and computer vision to assess forest and vegetation risk, landed $344,254 through an InnovateMass Gridtech Spotlight award to pilot its platform with Eversource.
  • HKG Energy ($350,000), developing silicon anode material for higher-performance batteries, and rStream ($349,861), using AI-powered robotics to sort waste, both won InnovateMass awards.
  • Allium Engineering, maker of stainless-clad rebar that prevents corrosion in infrastructure, received $919,580 in CriticalMass funding to demonstrate the product on a Moon Island seawall project with the City of Boston.
  • FAST Metals, which recovers critical minerals from red mud, was selected for DOE Critical Materials Innovation Hub funding to develop new domestic sources of gallium and rare earth oxides from industrial waste streams.
  • Diffraqtion, which is creating a first-of-its-kind Quantum Camera that enables satellites and telescopes to see farther and process images faster, capped its pre-seed round with strategic investments from Lockheed Martin Ventures and Presidio Ventures, bringing total funding to $10 million. The company was also selected by NASA for an SBIR Phase I award to advance orbital debris tracking.
  • Reframe Systems, whose robotics-powered microfactories build homes faster and cheaper than traditional construction, closed $40 million in financing led by Energy Impact Partners, with co-investments from Counterpart Ventures, E12 Ventures, Global Brain Corporation, Thin Line Capital, UP.Partners, and LACI. The raise follows an $800,000 Climatetech Tax Incentive award toward its new Billerica microfactory.
  • HEXAspec, which develops high-thermal-conductivity semiconductor molding compounds for chip heat dissipation, was awarded $1.55 million through the NSF’s SBIR Fast-Track program to accelerate commercialization.
  • rStream, which uses AI-powered robotics to sort waste, Optigon, which builds measurement tools for the photovoltaic industry, and Greentown alum RISE Robotics, whose fluid-free actuation systems replace hydraulics in heavy machinery, also won MassVentures START awards.

Partnerships + Deployments

  • Harmony Desalting, an MIT-spun-out developer of batch reverse osmosis desalination systems, announced a strategic collaboration with Greentown alum Neuralix to integrate its AI-powered predictive-maintenance platform with Harmony’s desalting units, giving operators real-time visibility ahead of upcoming pilot and commercial deployments.
  • Kausalyze, which applies causal AI to map cause-and-effect relationships in industrial systems, partnered with Huntsman Polyurethanes to tackle one of process manufacturing’s most persistent challenges: understanding and managing heat exchanger fouling.
  • Syzygy Plasmonics, a leader in light-driven Sustainable Aviation Fuel technology, signed a framework agreement with the International Finance Corporation to support its SAF project pipeline across Latin America.
  • SolarMantle, which creates solar paneling systems that provide passive cooling for people and equipment, was selected for LACI’s Pilots at BAT program, bringing its radiative cooling technology to a real-world deployment at the Brooklyn Army Terminal in New York City.

Awards + Recognition

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