Activate Announces Cohort 2025 Fellowship Applications Are Open, Expecting Another Record Year of Applicants

Activate seeks visionary scientists and engineers to build their startups and tackle global challenges with the Activate Fellowship.

BERKELEY, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Activate, a pioneer in hard-tech entrepreneurial fellowships, today announced that applications are open for Cohort 2025 from September 4 through October 23, 2024.

“The Activate Fellowship provides an opportunity for approximately 50 scientists and engineers annually to transform into entrepreneurial leaders, derisk their technologies, define first markets, build teams, and secure follow-on funding,” says Activate’s executive managing director, Aimee Rose. “With an average 30 percent annual growth in applications since 2015, we know there is high demand for what we do, and we’re excited to see the talent and impactful ideas that come through the pipeline this year.”

Activate Fellows certainly are having an impact and pushing the boundaries of what’s possible with their innovations–resulting in $380M in state and federal government funding awarded to fellow companies in 2024 alone.

The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) awarded Brimstone (Cody Finke, Cohort 2019) $189M and Sublime Systems (Leah Ellis, Cohort 2020) $87M to accelerate construction of commercial-scale plants for decarbonized cement production. Electrified Thermal Solutions (Joey Kabel and Dan Stack, Cohort 2021) was awarded $37.5M from DOE for their innovations in decarbonizing industrial heat. AeroShield Materials (Elise Strobach and Kyle Wilke, Cohort 2020) received a $14.5M award from the Advanced Research Projects Agency-Energy (ARPA-E) to manufacture aerogel materials for energy-efficient windows. And Antora Energy (David Bierman, Cohort 2017, Justin Briggs and Andrew Ponec, Cohort 2018) was awarded $14.5M from ARPA-E to accelerate the launch of its heat and power thermal battery product.

Applicants apply to join a community of 249 Activate Fellows and alumni who have collectively raised more than $2.4B in follow-on funding from public and private sources since Activate’s founding in 2015—a nearly 38X leverage on every dollar spent to support fellowships. With 95 percent of Activate companies still active after a decade, there are few programs with as strong a record of success.

“The success of Activate Fellows is ample evidence that scientists and engineers have the talent and drive to face global challenges head-on,” says Activate chief fellowship officer Brenna Teigler. “Our diverse fellows are transforming technical breakthroughs into businesses across the United States in 26 states across a range of sectors spanning carbon management, semiconductors, manufacturing, energy, chemicals, ocean tech, and more.”

ABOUT ACTIVATE:

Founded in 2015, Activate empowers scientists to reinvent the world by launching startups to address climate change and other global challenges. Working between government, philanthropy, universities, and the private sector, Activate transforms scientists into high-impact entrepreneurs through the Activate Fellowship, a two-year immersive experience that equips science entrepreneurs with the skills, networks, infrastructure, and funding they need to quickly and effectively bring their groundbreaking research to market. Activate is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit and does not charge any fee or equity for fellows to participate. Activate’s entrepreneurial fellowship model originated at Cyclotron Road, the first U.S. Department of Energy Lab Embedded Entrepreneurship Program (LEEP) started at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, the founding Activate partner. Activate supports fellows in communities across the United States: Activate Berkeley, Activate Boston, Activate New York, Activate Houston, and Activate Anywhere. Learn more at Activate.org.

NOTES FOR EDITORS:

• For more information about Activate and details about how to apply for the fellowship, visit Activate.org.
• For media requests, contact: Krissy Eliot, Activate’s Engagement and Strategic Communications Lead, [e-mail]
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