About CRI

Startup founders and the CRI team work together to advance cutting-edge technologies that offer science solutions that benefit America and the world. CRI support allows science startups to bring their deep tech to market more quickly.

The combined total of follow-on funding raised by CRI innovators through December 2024 is $666 million. In addition, the program helped create 698 jobs to date.

Startups’ Fundraising

Accelerate Wind: awarded a contract with AFWERX

Celadyne: closed $4.5M seed round; partnership with the U.S. Army

frakktal: received State of Illinois voucher

Good Fibes: won Vanderbilt Micro Grant; won the Evergreen Climate Innovations Equity & Access grant, received DOE SBIR grant

Helix Earth Technologies: closed on a $6M funding round​; won 1st place, Future Resilience $50k prize at the Urban Future Lab Pitch competition

Jolt Energy: raised $5.6M Series A funding​

Kazadi Enterprises: won $120K from Techstars​

Lakril Technologies: closed $2.5M seed stage round

Meati Foods: secured a $53M Convertible note​; $100M C-1 funding round​

Mesodyne: selected for $1.8M AFWERX contract

Mycocycle: $3.6M Seed extension round

NanoPattern Technologies: raised $1.5M seed round

Phase3D: State of Illinois match awarded​

Piersica: awarded a Shell Game Changer grant​

Rivalia Chemical Co.: awarded EnergyWerx voucher from DOE

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Accolades

Accelerate Wind: Founder Erika Boeing is featured on the Hardware Save a Planet podcast

Caporus Technologies: selected by Semiconductor Review as a “Top 10 Capacitor Solutions Provider for 2024”​

Celadyne: named in the Chicago Inno 2024 Fire Awards; inducted as a Dynamo Energy Hub member

Clearflame Engine Technologies: Co-founder Julie Blumreiter featured in ASME (The American Society of Mechanical Engineers) on the 2024 Watch List in the Mechanical Engineering Magazine; Co-founder BJ Johnson interviewed for “Truck Tech” by FreightWaves​​

Helix Earth Technologies: founder Rawand Rasheed named a Forbes 30 under 30 – Energy & Green Tech​

Jolt Energy: featured in “Michigan Public”

Lakril Technologies: Featured in DOE social article alongside Ford Motor Company & Capstone Green Energy as partnering with Argonne to help accelerate the development of clean tech; selected as one of the Top 50 Hottest Companies of the Bioeconomy ​

Meati: Listed as No. 6 on the 2023 FoodTech 500 List  & No. 52 of TIME’s “America’s Top Greentech Companies 2024;”​ Best New Vegan Product by VegNews 2024 Veggie Awards​; CNN highlights Meati Plant; Food Business News lists them as a startup “on the cutting edge” for use of PIPA (Process Integration & Predictive Analytics) for AI models to identify impactful areas of study​; Featured in Food Institute article​

Mesodyne: Won “Best in Show” at the 2024 Space and Defense Innovation Showcase and Ignite Awards​

Mycocycle: Founder Joanne Rodriguez named to Inc. Magazine #Female250Founders list​; named as one of the top 10 global innovations by UNESCO and 2050Now La Maison, won 2nd place for IGF pitch at NREL; listed in the Top 50 On Fire by the Beat, a Chicago Innovation publication; named 2024 Forbes 50 Over 50

Phase3D: featured in the TCT magazine for their AFRL Award contract​; featured in Metal Additive Manufacturing magazine

RenewCO2: Co-founder Karin Calvinho featured on the New Jersey Innovate 100; selected as recipients of the 2024 Edison patent Awards; selected as a recipient of the C2VInitiative; recognized with the Edison Patent Award

Rivalia Chemical Co.: featured in a MIT Tech Review article; featured on a C&EN cover story

 

Achievements & Notable Activities

Accelerate Wind: collaborated with Adena Power on a grant to advance the development of hybrid-wind storage solutions; Finalist in the Mspire Pitch Competition

Aeternal Upcycling: Co-founder Ryan Hackler semi-finalist for TechRise Season 4 Finale

Aquora Biosystems: 1st place, University of Michigan alumni startup pitch competition​

Celadyne: pitched at IGF and CERAWeek; speaker at the TechConnect World Innovation Conference & Expo and Sustainable Energy Council Hydrogen Americas 2024; Partners with GM for Hydrogen Fuel Cell Development; launched the Celadyne Acadmeic Partnerships for Research and Innovation (CAPRI)

ClearFlame Engine Technologies: Chief Sustainability Officer joins the Secretary of Energy’s “Industrial Technology Innovation Advisory Committee (ITIAC)​

Good Fibes: accepted into the NIH Bio-E capstone project; accepted into the DOE Cradle2Commerce Legion Cohort​

Helix Earth Technologies: pitched at CERAWeek; won 2nd place at Fall 2024 EPIC Startup Pitch Competition​; submitted 3 provisional patent applications​

Iris Light Technologies: Speaker at FLEX Conference & Exhibition

Jolt Energy: Graduated Shell GameChanger Accelerator

Kazadi Enterprises: accepted into Techstars Columbus

Lakril Technologies: pitched at IGF

Margik: Pitched at Flywheel Coworking Pitch-Space LIVE event​

Meati Foods: expanded sales, adding over 2000 retail locations at Kroger’s, Mariano’s, Ralph’s​

memQ: invited to present at Quantum World Progress

Mesodyne: pitched at CERAWeek .

Mycocycle: announced a multi-year partnership with Tarkett​

Phase3D: Released new toolkit, “True Layer Thickness” at AMUG Conference​; presented at the EWI’s Advanced Manufacturing Consortium​; announced Alliance Partnership with the National Center for Defense Manufacturing & Machining; launched “Fringe Qualification” tool

QDIR: Part of Northrop Grumman Technology Accelerator

Rarefied: Formerly MicroAvionics. Selected as a Breakthrough Energy Fellow

RenewCO2: participated in the Carbon 2 Value (C2V) Initiative Cohort at Greentown Labs; graduated from the Breakthrough Energy Fellowship program

Rivalia Chemical Co.: Founder Laura Stoy was accepted into the VentureWell ASPIRE program; ​ pitched at the AIChE conference

Stemloop: Pitched at the TechRise Chicago Biotech Pitch Competition; panelist at the Council on Competitiveness

Volexion: selected as a Top Innovator recipient for the New England Venture Summit​