A new accelerator program for Black, Indigenous and people of color entrepreneurs developing solutions to the climate crisis has selected its first cohort, which includes two startups from Houston.
The program, called Advancing Climatetech and Clean Energy Leaders, or ACCEL, was created by Somerville, Massachusetts-based Greentown Labs, which has its second location in Houston, and Boston-based Browning the Green Space, a nonprofit designed to create pathways to employment in the clean energy space.
ACCEL will support BIPOC-led startups through funding, networking connections, resources and opportunities. The year-long program will focus on product and technology development, market development, fundraising, and management and team development.
“We are inspired by and excited to support the wealth of innovation and fresh perspectives on climate solutions offered by our inaugural ACCEL cohort of startup leaders,” said Kerry Bowie, executive director and president of Browning the Green Space. “Through this partnership with Greentown Labs, we are able to build critical support infrastructure for entrepreneurs of color and accelerate the equitable development and distribution of climate solutions across all communities.”
After receiving 80 applicants, six early-stage startups were chosen from the Boston and Houston metro areas.
- Active Surfaces (Salem, Massachusetts) co-founded by Shivam Bhakta and Richard Swartwout.
- DrinKicks (Houston) co-founded by Kristeen Reynolds, Michael Fletcher and Kristen Lee.
- EarthBond (Cambridge, Massachusetts) founded by Chidalu Onyenso.
- Florrent (Amherst, Massachusetts) co-founded by Jose LaSalle, Joe Hastry and Alexander Nichols. This startup is a current Greentown member.
- Frakktal (Houston) founded by Jhana Porter. This startup is a current Greentown member.
- SpadXTech (Worcester, Massachusetts) co-founded by Lina M. Gonzalez and Connor Crawford.
These startups are working on innovations such as creating bio-based polymers, reducing carbon dioxide emissions, repurposing waste into sustainable goods and developing solar technology.
“We are thrilled and eager to support this exceptional cohort of startup leaders as they tackle some of our world’s biggest climate challenges,” said Kevin T. Taylor, interim CEO and CFO at Greentown Labs.
These startups will each receive a non-dilutive $25,000 grant. ACCEL will also build upon existing elements of Greentown’s incubator programming and its Greentown Go accelerator programs.
Within the first three weeks, the founders of the startups will develop individualized roadmaps and their priority areas for the 12-month accelerator. VentureWell, a nonprofit with expertise in the climate tech space, will then lead the majority of the workshops and training. These will focus on areas such as customer discovery, business development and investor readiness.
According to officials with Greentown Labs, another major aspect of ACCEL will be mentorships. Greentown and BGS have assembled a group of industry experts to serve as mentors throughout the full 12 months. The cohort will also engage in peer-to-peer mentorship.
Massachusetts Clean Energy Center and the Boston-based Barr Foundation will support ACCEL. Kathryn Wright, the Barr Foundation’s senior program officer for clean energy, said the foundation will support the development of targeted mentorship and educational programming for the startups.
In order to choose the startups, a selection process was conducted by a review committee consisting of Greentown team members, Browning the Green Space team members and the industry experts who will serve as mentors to the startups throughout the program. The process focused on the startups' expertise and backgrounds as well as demonstrative proof of the scientific and technical strength, such as past experience working with labs and accelerators. After getting the selection down to 12 finalists, an interview was conducted to ultimately choose the six participants of the cohort.
Boosting opportunities for minority innovators was a theme of the Houston startup ecosystem in 2022, but Greentown Labs Houston Director Juliana Garaizer told the Houston Business Journal that diversity in the climate tech ecosystem had not been prioritized previously.
In October 2022, Greentown Labs also launched the Texas Entrepreneurship Exchange for Energy, TEX-E — an initiative aimed at creating a student-driven entrepreneurship ecosystem in Houston, with a focus on energy innovation.
TEX-E is a collaborative effort between Greentown Labs, Massachusetts Institute of Technology’s Martin Trust Center for Entrepreneurship, and five Texas universities: Rice University, Texas A&M University, Prairie View A&M University, the University of Houston and the University of Texas at Austin.
