Innosphere Ventures Announces Second Annual Hardtech Accelerator with Colorado State University

Now accepting applications until November 18^th, 2022 for the REACH Energy Accelerator

Fort Collins, Colorado- Innosphere Ventures, partnered with Colorado State University, has announced their second annual REACH Energy Accelerator cohort kicking off in Jan. 2023.

REACH (Regional Energy Accelerator for Commercializing Hardtech) is an energy hardtech accelerator that supports founders, entrepreneurs, university faculty, and beyond with a comprehensive program and resources to commercialize their technically proven prototypes into products and services with global impact. Program support includes working with startups to become investor ready through technical and business support for market research, sector specific mentoring, corporate partnerships, techno-economic analysis, prototyping, and carbon lifecycle assessments.

The program is led by Dr. Bryan Willson, Executive Director of the CSU Energy Institute and a renowned university-based innovator, former ARPA-E Program Director, and NSF I-Corps Site principal investigator. Over the past 20 years, Dr. Willson has developed and fine-tuned the CSU/Innosphere model with Innosphere’s CEO, Mike Freeman, who will direct the business incubation portion of the project.

Participants in REACH receive sector specific mentoring, as well as technical and business support on becoming investor-ready, market research, corporate partnerships, techno-economic analysis, prototyping, and carbon lifecycle assessments. REACH is a grant-funded program through the Office of Technology Transitions (OTT), which serves as the central hub for the technology transfer activities across the U.S. Department of Energy’s (DOE) extensive R&D enterprise.

“REACH is founded on the principle that we are stronger together. Our efforts are based on and reliant on a culture of collaboration. The REACH Energy Accelerator is funded by the U.S. Department of Energy and the Wells Fargo Innovation Incubator and powered by the CSU Energy Institute, Innosphere Ventures, the Colorado Energy Research Collaboratory, and 20 university partners and referring institutions — organizations that understand R&D-intensive industries and how to address the unique challenges of energy hardtech startups,” Says Mike Freeman.

“A team of advisors will select 10–15 hardtech startup companies from the Rocky Mountain Great Plains region to join our year-long program,” said Mark Gorham, REACH Program Manager. “Companies in the early stages of development that, when they hit their stride, are going to change the world. REACH is here to get hardtech entrepreneurs, researchers, and founders up to speed.”

“The REACH Accelerator has been like the best business coach or board director imaginable – deep startup knowledge and experience, access to relevant third-party resources, and an accountability partner all wrapped into one,” said Whit Allen, CEO, SpectraGrow Inc. and 2022 REACH participant.

The REACH Energy Accelerator is now accepting applications from entrepreneurs, university faculty, and founders in the 14-state Rocky Mountain Great Plains region that want to plug into the best people, tools, and resources in energy hard tech commercialization. This funding covers the program fees for 12 months. The application deadline is Friday, November 18^th, 2022. Applications can be found at reachenergyaccelerator.org.