Massachusetts Awards $4.5 Million to Advance Climatetech Companies and Innovations

MassCEC funding supports 23 projects across 13 communities

BOSTON – The Massachusetts Clean Energy Center (MassCEC) today announced $4.5 million in funding for 23 clean energy and climate technology projects. This investment will accelerate innovation and business growth in 13 cities and towns across Massachusetts.

The grants are awarded through four of MassCEC’s programs: AmplifyMass, Catalyst, Diversity in Climatetech - Early Stage (DICES), and InnovateMass. MassVentures also supports Catalyst, DICES, and InnovateMass. 

“Massachusetts continues to lead by moving innovation out of the lab and into the marketplace,” said Governor Maura Healey. “These awards help promising technologies reach customers faster and strengthen our economy.”

“These investments are about scale and local impact,” said Lt. Governor Kim Driscoll. “By making it easier for startups to grow roots in our cities and towns, we’re creating the conditions for long-term business success and job creation.”

“Massachusetts excels at turning world-class research into real-world solutions,” said Energy and Environmental Affairs Secretary Rebecca Tepper. “With this round of funding, we’re helping innovators bridge the hardest gap, so families, businesses, and communities see the benefits of these technologies sooner.”

“The pathway these awards create for innovators is essential to economic development,” said MassCEC Interim CEO Dr. Jennifer Le Blond. “Early-stage companies often face the highest risks on the road to commercialization. These programs provide a launchpad to reduce those risks so projects can accelerate, reach the market sooner, and build strong, successful companies in Massachusetts.”

“Together with MassCEC, we are removing key commercialization hurdles like customer validation, first pilots, and access to follow-on capital,” said MassVentures CEO Charlie Hipwood. “That’s how diverse founders scale faster, how innovations get into the field, and how Massachusetts continues to set the pace for climatetech.”

AmplifyMass provides cost-share or adder funding for federal and non-federal prime award recipients, supporting both clean energy technology academic researchers and companies. Including this latest round of awards, since its launch in 2015, the program has awarded over $24 million to 150 academic research projects and startups, resulting in over $308 million in leveraged funding.

AmplifyMass Awardees:

• Cubic PV – Bedford, MA

  • $300,000 to improve material quality in solar cells, which will improve performance for solar panels.

• Elateq, Inc. (Dr. Ljiljana Rajic) – Northampton, MA

  • $300,000 to further the development of novel electrochemical technologies to treat water systems effectively and efficiently, including the removal of the toxic “forever chemicals”, PFAS.

• Gencores – Somerville, MA

  • $300,000 to develop novel material technology to enable vehicle manufacturers to produce ultra-lightweight, high-efficiency vehicles.

• Prospect Growth Inc. – Boston, MA

  • $240,000 to test and deploy novel nanoparticle-based phosphorus fertilizers that will reduce fertilizer runoff and environmental impacts in the state of Massachusetts. 

• University of Massachusetts Amherst (Dr. Yahya Modarres-Sadeghi) – Amherst, MA

  • $299,997 to model and then experimentally validate innovative designs that minimize the impact of extreme weather on offshore wind turbine blades.

• Worcester Polytechnic Institute (Dr. Jamal Yagoobi) – Worcester, MA

  • $50,000 to support industry-sponsored and translational research and development of energy-efficient industrial drying processes through its Center for Advanced Research in Drying.  

The Catalyst program funds researchers and early-stage companies looking to demonstrate initial prototypes of clean energy technologies, while DICES supports projects led by applicants who are underrepresented in the climatetech industry or those who face economic barriers to entry. Including this latest round of awards, since its launch in 2010, Catalyst and DICES have collectively awarded over $13 million to 225 companies and research teams, with past recipients raising over $852 million in follow-on investment.

Catalyst/DICES Awardees: 

• CemCycle, Inc. – Cambridge, MA

  • $75,000 to develop a proprietary technology that couples carbon capture and waste management.

• LiftLabs, Inc. – Lowell, MA

  • $75,000 to develop a technology that attaches to scallop cages and uses inflatable lift bags to eliminate rope entanglement and reduce the impact of scallop harvesting on marine life.

• Mirra Inc. – Boston, MA

  • $75,000 to advance its plant-based structural colorants that replace petroleum-based and surface mined food dyes, which will reduce supply chain emissions and harmful chemicals.

• Noetis – Boston, MA

  • $75,000 to develop a methane monitoring system that transforms raw data into site-specific guidance and leak alerts for landfill operators. 

• Northeastern University (PI Zheng) – Boston, MA

  • $75,000 to optimize the formulations of a patented roof coating to lower roof surface temperature and reduce HVAC energy costs.

• Novo Blades – Cambridge, MA

  • $75,000 to advance a patented wind turbine blade tip design that reduces inefficiencies and boosts annual energy production by an estimated two percent. 

• Solvanic – Cambridge, MA 

• • $75,000 to develop a novel carbon capture technology that has potential to reduce capital and operating costs compared to traditional systems. 

• Thalon Materials – Boston, MA 

  • $75,000 to develop a technology that uses a patented, low-energy distillation process to produce high-quality critical magnesium metal with lower emissions than standard methods. 

• Think Analog – Weston, MA

  • $75,000 to develop an analog AI hardware chip to reduce the power consumption of AI operations.

• 10DQ Inc. – Somerville, MA

  • $75,000 to develop a novel redox loop battery technology that uses non-flammable water-based electrolytes to increase safety and reduce costs. 

InnovateMass offers grants and technical support for teams demonstrating new clean energy technologies or innovative combinations of existing technologies with strong commercialization potential. Including this latest round of awards, since its launch in 2013, InnovateMass has provided over $26 million to 122 demonstration projects, leveraging more than $30 million in additional private and public funding.

InnovateMass Awardees: 

• Daqus Energy – Woburn, MA  

  • $345,200 to demonstrate its critical-metal-free, energy-efficient lithium-ion battery cathode technology for electric vehicles.

• ElectricFish Energy – San Carlos, CA (project site in Mashpee, MA) 

  • $231,709 to demonstrate its microgrid-integrated, battery-backed fast EV charging technology.

• Elementium Materials – Somerville, MA           

  • $350,000 to demonstrate its safe, high-performance electrolyte in commercial lithium-ion batteries.

• Found Energy – Charlestown, MA 

  • 349,959 to demonstrate its low-cost, energy-efficient process for extracting gallium to enable domestic gallium production – an essential material in electronics (i.e., computer chips).

• Hera Materials – Somerville, MA

  • $349,240 to demonstrate its low-cost, energy-efficient process for producing WPk, a recyclable and compostable paper-based film designed to replace conventional flexible plastic packaging.

• KLAW Industries – Binghamton, NY (project site in Charlestown, MA) 

  • $334,000 to demonstrate its low-carbon, high-performance cement replacement, Pantheon™, made from waste glass

• Quantum Formatics – Cambridge, MA  

  • $350,000 to demonstrate its AI-driven superconductor discovery platform, aiming to rapidly identify and qualify a new, manufacturable superconducting wire for low-carbon fusion reactors. 

For more information about these programs, visit www.masscec.com/masscec-funding/technology-market 

About the Massachusetts Clean Energy Center

The Massachusetts Clean Energy Center is a state economic development agency dedicated to accelerating the growth of the clean energy and climatetech sector across the Commonwealth to spur job creation, deliver statewide environmental benefits, increase affordability, and secure long-term economic opportunities for the people of Massachusetts. Since 2010, MassCEC has awarded $990 million in programs and investments and attracted $3 billion in private and public funds. 

###