The Wells Fargo Innovation Incubator (IN²), a technology incubator and platform funded by the Wells Fargo Foundation and co-administered by the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL), today announced that Innosphere has received a prestigious IN² Channel Partner Award in the amount of $100,000. As an official Channel Partner of the IN² program, Innosphere was recognized for its efforts to advance sustainable technology solutions that can improve energy efficiency and is one of just 13 organizations nationally to receive the award this year.

 

Launched in 2014, IN² is a $30 million program that facilitates the commercialization and adoption of clean energy technologies in commercial buildings and in the agriculture sector. To help foster enhanced collaboration, IN² created a network of Channel Partners — a nationwide system of incubators, accelerators and university programs that refer startup companies to the program. Entering its third year, the Channel Partner Awards Program will disburse $1 million in competitive grants across 13 recipient organizations in order to help advance sustainable technology solutions that can catalyze new collaborations, capital flow and job creation.

 

Innosphere accelerates the success of high-impact science- and technology-based startup and scaleup companies in Colorado. Innosphere’s incubation program focuses on ensuring companies are investor-ready, connecting entrepreneurs with experienced advisors, making introductions to corporate partners, exit planning and accelerating top-line revenue growth. To support more companies working in artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning, Innosphere has developed specialized programming for entrepreneurs who join their summer AI cohort.

 

“We’re grateful IN² saw the need for an AI-specific program, and because of their funding, we’ll be able to offer our program at no charge to entrepreneurs,” said Ben Walker, Innosphere’s AI program director. “In startup after startup, I’ve seen firsthand how AI is the wrapper for everything. We’re excited to support more entrepreneurs who are implementing AI for industrial uses like transportation, energy, agriculture, water and more.”

 

“The Wells Fargo Innovation Incubator is proud to provide additional support to Innosphere for their efforts to accelerate the development and commercialization of clean technology and support early-stage entrepreneurs,” said Ramsay Huntley, Clean Technology and Innovation Philanthropy program officer with Wells Fargo. “These are the folks who are really disrupting the industry and driving innovation.”

 

“Ultimately, the goal with our Channel Partner Awards Program is to create a strong, collaborative ecosystem of support across the country,” said Trish Cozart, IN² program manager at NREL. “We are funding these partners to continue their support of early-stage entrepreneurs and support of each other as they create partnerships and share knowledge.”

 

Since 2017, the IN² Channel Partner Awards Program has distributed approximately $2.1 million in competitive and non-competitive grants in support of more than 74 events, strategic meetings and trainings as well as 21 larger strategic initiatives between 23 organizations. In the pilot year of the awards program, funded projects engaged over 1,800 participants (entrepreneurs, industry, academia and others), created nearly 200 jobs, led to over $18.3 million in follow-on funding for startups involved and leveraged $812,000 in matching funds from outside organizations.

 

For more information on the awards program, please visit www.in2ecosystem.com.

 

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About Innosphere

Innosphere accelerates the success of high-impact science- and technology-based startup and scaleup companies in Colorado. Innosphere’s incubation program focuses on ensuring companies are investor-ready, connecting entrepreneurs with experienced advisors, making introductions to corporate partners, exit planning and accelerating top-line revenue growth. Innosphere supports entrepreneurs in many industries, including but not limited to: bioscience; medical device; cleantech; energy; advanced materials; hardware; enterprise software, fintech and artificial intelligence. Innosphere has been in operation for 20 years, has locations in Fort Collins, Boulder, Denver and Castle Rock and is a non-profit 501(c)(3) organization with a strong mission to create high-tech jobs and grow Colorado’s entrepreneurship ecosystem. innosphereventures.org

 

About the Wells Fargo Innovation Incubator

The Wells Fargo Innovation Incubator (IN²) is a $30 million technology incubator and platform funded by the Wells Fargo Foundation. Co-administered by and housed at the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) in Golden, Colorado, IN²’s mission is to speed the path to market for early-stage, clean-technology entrepreneurs. Launched in 2014 with an initial focus on supporting scalable solutions to reduce the energy impact of commercial buildings, IN² expanded its focus in 2018 to advance technologies that address the interconnection of food, water and energy. Companies selected for participation in the program receive up to $250,000 in non-dilutive funding from Wells Fargo, technical support and validation from experts at NREL and the Donald Danforth Plant Science Center and ongoing connections to organizations across value chains. For more information, visit in2ecosystem.com.