The Mid-West Energy Research Consortium, the Milwaukee-based organization promoting research and innovation in energy power and controls in the Midwest, announced Wednesday the six startups selected for the next cohort of its WERCBench Labs accelerator program.
The 16-week program began Tuesday and will conclude with a demo day on March 9, 2021. It will be run virtually from M-WERC's 12,000-square-foot Energy Innovation Center inside Milwaukee's Century City Tower.
Each business accepted to WERCBench receives a $20,000 grant and up to $20,000 in a royalty-based financing loan funded by the Wisconsin Economic Development Corp. Since 2015, 47 startups have graduated from the 16-week program, and have raised an additional $38 million in investments.
The six startups selected were:
- Celadyne Technologies: Lemont, Illinois, company makes materials for hydrogen energy storage devices and the hydrogen economy;
- EnVerde LLC: The Minneapolis company uses technology to economically repurpose carbon waste to clean energy;
- Jolt Energy: Jolt of Holland, Michigan, has developed storage technologies that improve the safety and efficiency of lithium ion batteries;
- Kazadi Enterprises: The Batavia, Illinois, company's patented technology enables it to acquire environmental thermal energy;
- Manthini: Waukesha company makes sustainable energy products for transportation and infrastructure
- NUMiX Materials: Company is developing sorbents to recover critical metals from water.
"Each year, we continue to attract innovative companies in the energy, power and controls sector whose businesses have the potential to change to way we do business today,” said Jacquin Davidson, managing director of talent and WERCBench Labs Accelerator, in a statement.
