Cheers to Another Year of Climate Tech Innovations
Welcome to For ClimateTalk – For ClimateTech’s monthly newsletter highlighting upcoming opportunities for climate innovators, thought leaders, and community connectors.
The For ClimateTech team extends its sincere thanks to every founder, investor, subject matter expert, manufacturer, supply chain partner, board member, staff member, and funders and sponsors who contributed to advancing our 2025 cohort of startups across the Venture and Scale For ClimateTech programs. From countless Zoom sessions and educational courses to manufacturing tours, investor pitches, and our Innovation Showcase at NYC Climate Week, the For ClimateTech community continues to expand, collaborate, and lead.
While there is still much work ahead, we remain inspired by the fact that for every climate challenge, there is already a brilliant founder working toward a solution—and that gives us real hope for the future.
We wish you a happy, healthy, and safe holiday season!
Funding Opportunities
Tech Startups: Apply to Luminate to Get Funding & Support
Are you working on technology that’s enabled by optics, photonics, lasers, or imaging? You could be a fit for immediate funding and support from Luminate—the world’s largest OPI-focused accelerator. Luminate invests over $3 million each year into early-stage companies from all around the world developing solutions across almost every industry.
Apply to cohort 9 of the hybrid accelerator to:
- Receive a $100K initial investment and compete for up to $1M in follow-on funding.
- Access mentors matched to your needs, co-working space and lab facilities, and an industry-renowned advisory board.
- Connect with investors, a world-class OPI supply chain, and tailored support to fast-track your growth.
Applications close January 12, 2026. Apply today or sign up for an info session to learn more.
The Carbontech Development Initiative (CDI) Round 4 Solicitation is Now Open
CDI is excited to announce the launch of Round 4 funding, with opportunities across:
- Research Programs – Moving tech from academic labs toward commercialization, and
- Commercialization Programs – Supporting startups at mid- and late-stage development.
Focus areas include:
- CO₂ Capture Technology
- CO₂-to-Building Materials
- CO₂-to-Chemicals/Fuels and Dual-Functional Materials
Apply to Round 4 by Wednesday, January 14, 2026 at 11:59 PM ET https://cdi.submittable.com/submit
Register for an info session: https://round4cdi.splashthat.com/
For more details on CDI’s past awards and the Round 4 solicitation, please visit the CDI website or contact L2M@ctv.columbia.edu
ChargeUp Accelerator’s Applications Are Now Open
Battery and energy-storage startups can now apply to ChargeUp’s third cohort. Participants receive $25,000 in non-equity support, up to $100,000 for technology development, tailored pitch and due-diligence coaching, and direct access to industry mentors and investors.
Applications are due Jan. 19. Apply here.
Cohort News
Ateios and Fermi Energy Awarded Funding in NENY Technical Assistance Program
Ateios Systems, S4C cohort 4 alum, and Fermi Energy, V4C cohort 5 alum, were two of eight companies selected as a part of New Energy New York’s (NENY) third-round Technical Assistance Program. They each received funded support as part of the program’s nearly $500,000 total awards. Ateios will expand pilot manufacturing of its solvent-free RaiCure™ e-beam electrode curing technology with Kodak, benchmarking its performance against conventional PVDF/NMP processes. Fermi Energy will scale production of its cobalt and nickel-free disordered rock-salt (DRX) cathode materials at Binghamton University to validate its fast-charging, high-energy potential. These awards help both companies accelerate commercialization while strengthening New York’s leadership in next-generation battery innovation.
Read the full announcement and learn more about NENY here.
Cobalt Water Global Establishes European HQ in the Northern Netherlands
V4C cohort 3 alum, Cobalt Water Global has opened its European headquarters in Leeuwarden with investment support from NOM, strengthening the region’s leadership in climate and water innovation. The company’s AI-powered N2ORisk DSS platform helps wastewater treatment plants cut nitrous oxide emissions by up to 90%, tackling one of the sector’s most potent and overlooked greenhouse gases. This investment marks a major step in Cobalt Water’s European expansion and reflects NOM’s strategy to attract high-impact international companies that advance sustainability in the Northern Netherlands.
Read more about the move here.
EsterCycle Among Top Innovators in Colorado’s $5.2M Advanced Industries Awards
Colorado has awarded more than $5.2 million to 17 companies and eight researchers through its Advanced Industries Accelerator Program, with EsterCycle (a V4C cohort 5 alum) standing out for its work converting mixed plastics into reusable monomers through its chemical recycling platform. The grant will help EsterCycle advance this technology as part of a broader effort to drive breakthroughs in clean energy, sustainability, AI, and advanced manufacturing across the state.
Read the full announcement here.
Congratulations to Our Forbes 30 Under 30 Honorees!
We’re proud to announce that Fern (Irongrid), Patrick, Derek, Matthew, and Patrick (Soarce), and Aaron and Brennan (Hybron) have all been selected for this year’s Forbes 30 Under 30 list. Their inclusion recognizes their outstanding innovation, leadership, and entrepreneurial spirit across energy, technology, and clean-tech sectors. This impressive achievement highlights their current and potential abilities to shape the future of their industries.
Fern Morrison | IronGrid | V4C Cohort 5
Category: Manufacturing Industry
Mason Mincey, Derek Saltzman, Matthew Jaeger & Patrick Michel | Soarce
V4C Cohort 5
Category: Manufacturing Industry
Brennan Lieu & Aaron Guo | Hybron | Cohort 4
Category: Transportation & Aerospace
Read the full list here.
COMMUNITY
Welcome Daniel Kriozere to the Venture For ClimateTech Team
Daniel has contracted with the Venture For ClimateTech team in various roles over the past five years and now has joined the team as the Director of Capital and Strategic Partnerships. In this role, Daniel will focus on building and strengthening relationships with investors, mentors, teams across fundraising and financial strategy, and help shape curriculum to help founders raise capital with confidence.
Daniel also founded Climate Capital Stack, a newsletter that demystifies alternative sources of capital for startups and explains how first of a kind clean projects get financed.
He is completing his MBA at UC Berkeley and earned his chemical engineering degree from the University of California, Davis.
Read Daniel’s full bio here.
Help The Venture For ClimateTech (V4C) Team Advance Early-Stage Climate Tech
V4C is hiring a program intern. This hybrid role based in Rochester, NY, offers hands-on experience shaping the accelerator’s next cohort of climate tech startups. Open to current students or recent graduates. Apply here.
The Roller Coaster of Climate Tech Investing
January 22, 2026 12:00-1:00pm ET | Virtual Event
The New York Academy of Sciences and The Private Capital Research Institute (PCRI) is putting on a virtual discussion covering the headwinds that companies offering technologies and services that enable decarbonization are increasingly facing. Despite the urgent need for innovation in this area, it remains unclear whether we are seeing the development of economically viable new ventures or a repeat of the boom and bust associated with “cleantech” in the late 2000s and early 2010s. This session will explore these critically important issues.
Learn more and register here.
Manufacturing & Supply Chain News
Manufacturer & Supply Chain Partner Spotlight: MakeLab
Makelab is a full-service additive manufacturing partner delivering high-quality parts, prototypes, and small-batch production runs—up to 50,000+ parts—for companies across consumer products, robotics, medical, architecture, and media. With in-house teams in Brooklyn and San Francisco, Makelab combines deep Design For Manufacturing expertise, rigorous quality control, and end-to-end production management to help teams move from validation to short-run manufacturing quickly and confidently.
Learn more about Makelab’s capabilities and visit their website to see how they can support your next build.
Check Out New Opportunities—Join the New York SCP Database
If you are a manufacturer or service provider interested in joining the Scale For ClimateTech Supply Chain Partner (SCP) Database, which offers access to projects, the ability to grow your expertise by solving the latest challenges, and revenue potential through connections and matchmaking with new clients, fill out our interest form here.