Innosphere Ventures selects 2024 cleantech cohort

FORT COLLINS — Innosphere Ventures, a Fort Collins-based incubator for science- and technology-based startup companies, has selected eight startup and scaleup companies to join its 2024 Innosphere Ventures Cleantech Incubator Program.

Two of the companies are based in Boulder, and another two are from Arvada, with one each from Fort Collins, Loveland, Broomfield, Arvada and Los Angeles.

Innosphere Ventures’ incubation program accelerates the success of high-impact startup companies, focusing on ensuring that companies are investor-ready, connecting entrepreneurs with experienced advisers and early hires, making introductions to corporate partners, exit planning, and accelerating top-line revenue growth. Once accepted into the program, companies receive ongoing support to ensure they’re getting the know-how to raise the right kind of capital and all the resources to grow.

The 2024 cohort includes Otoro Energy and Danaher Cryogenics from Boulder, Fort Collins-based CDR Biosolutions, Loveland-based Cargador Co., Broomfield-based Fluent Renewables Inc., Arvada-based Integrated Electric Drives Inc.(IEdrives) and Thermofilic, and Los Angeles-based Centroid Lab.

“Situated within the dynamic landscape of the Rocky Mountains Great Plains region, innovation in the cleantech sector thrives,” Mike Freeman, CEO of Innosphere Ventures, said in a prepared statement. “This expansive 15-state territory boasts world-class research universities, esteemed Department of Energy national labs, and an abundance of entrepreneurial talent, making it a fertile ground for pioneering cleantech startups. Nonetheless, despite the wealth of resources, there exists a notable absence of cohesive support systems for emerging early-stage founders within the region. This is precisely where Innosphere Ventures can make a significant impact.”

Otoro Energy, led by CEO Michael Marshak, builds flow batteries that feature a water-based chemistry for community, commercial and utility projects.

Danaher Cryogenics, led by CEO Charlie Dannaher, is commercializing a cryocooler invention developed by the University of Colorado Boulder in conjunction with the National Institute of Standards and Technology. It also is developing a line of research cryostats for physicists and experimentalists.

CDR Biosolutions, led by CEO Richard Conant, is developing a durable soil-carbon sequestration process through decomposition-resistant carbon compounds that can be synthesized by plants.

Cargador Co., led by CEO Jaysen Lopez and touting the slogan “Your Happily EV After,” supplies equipment for electric vehicles.

Fluent Renewables, led by CEO Lucas Loetscher, has developed a hybrid biorefinery technology to transform organic-waste management and energy production.

IEdrives, led by CEO Jeffrey Barber, designs, builds and sells one-speed and multi-speed transmissions for commercial electric trucks and buses.

Thermofilic, led by CEO Sebnem Duzgun, has created an artificial intelligence-based prediction system that supports investment decisions in geothermal energy by using remote sensing data and other data types to scan large areas that produce accurate and targeted footprints of potential subsurface geothermal resources.

Centroid Lab, led by CEO Ram Sampath, is an independent engineering services and solutions company established in 2015 that solves a wide range of industry-specific problems that involve dynamic simulations, computational fluid dynamics and analysis, 3D modeling and visualization.

Innosphere, which just received a $160 million National Science Foundation grant, is a 24-year-old 501(c)(3) organization that works to create jobs and grow the region’s entrepreneurship ecosystem by offering its clients access to a broad network of specialized resources.

It has submitted a conceptual design to Fort Collins’ planning department for a new two-story administrative office building at 232 E. Vine Drive, adjacent to two of its other buildings on a tract it bought for $1.1 million in 2021 that includes a historic farmhouse that will be renovated.

In partnership with bioscience trade associations and universities across six states, Innosphere in December won a $2 million Build to Scale Venture Challenge grant from the Office of Innovation and Entrepreneurship, part of the U.S. Economic Development Administration.

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