Launch Alaska Announces 19 Climate Technology Companies in Latest Cohort

By griffith August 16, 2021
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The companies are focused on a range of sectors, including food, water, transportation, and energy, and aim to deploy their technologies in Alaska, working with local partners to fight climate change.

Anchorage, Alaska – Nineteen companies focused on innovative solutions to climate and environmental issues are participating in Launch Alaska’s 2021-2022 Tech Deployment Track. The annual eight-month program is a ‘deployment accelerator’ for startups working on new, market-based approaches to climate resilience and the resource revolution.

With the selection of this latest cohort, Launch Alaska, an Anchorage-based nonprofit accelerator for emerging businesses and technologies, continues its work connecting globally scalable solutions to Alaska’s dynamic climate challenges.

“We’re excited to bring this top-notch group of climate technology companies to our state to explore applications in Alaska,” said Isaac Vanderburg, Launch Alaska CEO. “Since launching our technology deployment track program in 2019, we’ve seen nearly $4 million put to work in more than a dozen communities across the state; this program is making a real impact in moving Alaska toward both decarbonization and a diversified economy.”

Launch Alaska strives to advance talented entrepreneurs committed to environmental and social impact, recognizing that great founders and companies come from around the world. Of the 19 companies in the current cohort, 42% come from outside of the U.S., including Spain, Nigeria, Sweden, Canada, Israel, Finland, and Argentina. Three companies in this year’s cohort are based in Alaska or have an Alaska presence – Turnagain Heavy Lift, Karta Solutions, and Myno Carbon.

 The companies selected for this Tech Deployment Track cohort are building solutions to issues in multiple sectors, from microgrid hardware, water infrastructure, and low-cost energy solutions, to innovations in carbon removal and next-generation unmanned aerial vehicles and hybrid aircraft; all of which contribute to greater community and climate resilience in Alaska and beyond. This year, the program will be entirely virtual, as it was in 2020.

2021-2022 Tech Deployment Track Cohort members:

  1. Advanced Aircraft Company (Hampton, VA; USA) builds the next generation of drones with hybrid electric Vertical Take-Off and Landing (VTOL) designs that stay in the air three times longer than battery powered drones, can hover, and offer an open platform for payload integration.

  2. Arrecife Energy Systems (Bilbao, Spain) creates renewable energy devices to generate electricity from the ocean’s waves, tidal, and river currents, bringing energy to isolated locations.

  3. CalWave (Oakland, CA; USA) works on technologies that utilize the vast energy of ocean waves with superior, scalable power generation.

  4. Camus Energy (San Francisco, CA; USA) provides Grid Management Software as a service to utilities, enabling electricity decarbonization, balancing local renewable supply with flexible demand to reduce carbon, improve resilience, and save money.

  5. Carter Aviation Technologies (Wichita Falls, TX; USA) makes Vertical Take-Off and Landing (VTOL) hybrid rotorcraft with the speed, range, and quietness of a fixed wing aircraft, uniquely safe with a controlled landing even with total loss of power at any altitude.

  6. ColdHubs (Owerri, Imo State; Nigeria) makes 100% solar-powered walk-in cold rooms with energy stored in phase change cryogel balls for installation at food markets to preserve fresh fruits, vegetables, and other perishable foods 24/7, extending shelf life from two to 21 days, without the need for grid energy.

  7. CorPower Ocean (Stockholm, Sweden) is a global leader in ocean energy technology, bringing a new class of high efficiency Wave Energy Converters to the market, enabling robust and cost-effective harvesting of electricity from ocean waves.

  8. Eagleridge Innovations Corporation (Vancouver, Canada) converts waste activated sludge (excess waste bacteria) into food for microbes, eliminating waste, saving money, doubling biogas and decreasing greenhouse gas emissions.

  9. ecoSPEARS (Altamonte Springs, Florida) eliminates toxins like PCBs and other persistent organic pollutants from the environment utilizing non-thermal and non-combusting remediation technology developed by NASA.

  10. Eco Wave Power (Tel Aviv-Yafo, Israel and Stockholm, Sweden) is a leader in onshore wave energy technology and has developed a patented, smart, and cost-efficient way to turn ocean and sea waves into clean electricity.

  11. FimusKraft (Vaasa, Finland) markets biogas plants that turn biowaste into cost-effective electricity, heat and fertilizer.

  12. Greener (Buenos Aires, Argentina) diverts waste from landfills by connecting waste generators with local waste haulers using an innovative software platform, which is both a marketplace and a fleet management solution.

  13. InPipe Energy (Portland, OR; USA) developed the In-PRV, a first-of-its-kind product that converts flowing water to electricity in pressurized water pipelines, which can reduce operating costs, save water, and reduce carbon emissions.

  14. Karta Solutions (Anchorage, Alaska; USA) provides a customizable, 3D training tool for non-technical workers in heavy industries, allowing employers to provide training digitally, efficiently, and safely.

  15. Mighty Pipeline (Richmond, WA; USA) is a hybrid renewable-fossil midstream energy company that provides industrial products and services to support the production of carbon-neutral energy commodities at scale.

  16. Myno Carbon (Anchorage, AK and Bainbridge Island, WA; USA) provides carbon removal services using biochar to help meet net-zero and carbon negative emission goals.

  17. Radiant (El Segundo, CA; USA) develops portable nuclear power reactors that can replace diesel generators, improving local air quality, reducing global warming, and they can ship out to be refueled, leaving a superior natural environment.

  18. SansOx (Lahti, Finland) closes the water loop by marketing technologies that improve water quality, water waste and processing.

  19. Turnagain Heavy Lift (Anchorage, AK; USA) provides air cargo operators with a hardware platform that is designed and built to extend the reach of routes and cargo into underserved communities.

About Launch Alaska: Developing and deploying solutions to climate change has the potential to radically improve our world, moving us away from pollution and extraction, and towards equity, access, and abundance. Launch Alaska views startups as the key to a needed industrial re-revolution—driving the rapid modernization and decarbonization of our critical systems to mitigate the causes and effects of climate change, while unlocking incredible economic opportunity. The challenges are massive. But the solutions are exciting, and we’re proud to partner with game-changing startups from all over the globe to amplify their efforts to solve some of the world’s most pressing problems.