The Spring Surge in Climate Startups & Insights
Welcome to For ClimateTalk – For ClimateTech’s monthly newsletter highlighting upcoming opportunities for climate innovators, thought leaders, and community connectors.
Venture For ClimateTech Wraps Up Bootcamp
The Venture For ClimateTech Bootcamp brought together 33 promising climate tech startups, selected from an impressive pool of 434 applicants, for an intensive week of learning and collaboration. We’re grateful to our outstanding speakers for dedicating their time and sharing invaluable insights with founders at such a critical stage of their journeys. A special thank you to the ClimateTech Expertise Network Entrepreneurs in Residence (EIRs) for their support and thoughtful guidance during pitch reviews. With the bootcamp complete, we’re now moving into the next phase—carefully selecting the 10 teams who will join Cohort 6.
Ask the Experts: Essential Advice for Climate Tech Founders
Funding Opportunities
The Jeff Lawrence Innovation Fund Manufacturing Grants are Officially Open
These manufacturing grants are designed to encourage collaboration between not-for-profit organizations and small to medium-sized manufacturing companies across New York State. The program supports companies at every stage—from early proof of concept through commercialization and growth. Individual grants will not exceed $65,000 and applications close on May 7, 2026.
Learn more and apply here.
Applications are Now Open for the 10th Urban Future Prize Competition
The Urban Future Lab at the NYU Tandon School of Engineering is actively looking for climate tech startups to apply to its annual Urban Future Prize Competition, supporting founders building solutions to address challenges at the forefront of climate innovation.
This year, two winning companies will each receive a $50,000 non-dilutive cash prize and admission into the ACRE Incubator. For the first time in the competition’s history, runner-up teams will also receive $10,000 cash prizes and admission into the incubator program.
Startups will compete across two prize tracks:
Climate Mitigation Prize – for startups developing technologies or business models to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and address the root causes of climate change.
Climate Adaptation Prize – for startups developing solutions that help communities and ecosystems adapt to and build resilience against the impacts of climate change.
Apply here by April 27, 2026 at 11:59 PM EDT.
Cohort News
Alumni Feature: KLAW Industries
This month, the Scale For ClimateTech team sat down with program alumni Jacob Kumpon and Jack Lamuraglia of KLAW Industries to do a deep dive into how they got into entrepreneurship and solved a local problem for their city of Binghamton, New York.
Read the story here: https://arcg.is/1f4uyf1.
Hybron Closes an Oversubscribed $25M Seed Round
Hybron Technologies, a Venture For ClimateTech alumni, is an advanced manufacturing company developing next-generation composite materials and scalable manufacturing processes capable of replacing metal components in aerospace, defense, and industrial systems. The seed round was led by Marque Ventures, with participation from First In, DTX Ventures, Veteran Ventures Capital, Ultratech, Bravo Victor Venture Capital, Gaingels, ZEA, American Center for Manufacturing Innovation, and notable angel investors including Matt Ocko.
Read the full announcement here.
Calectra and 17 Secure CalSEED Awards
Venture For ClimateTech alumni Calectra and 17 have been awarded funding through the latest CalSEED Prototype Awards, with each team receiving $500,000. Calectra is building a commercial-scale prototype of a power-to-heat thermal storage technology that makes high-temperature process heating cleaner and cheaper for heavy industry. 17, Inc. is developing a modular, containerized ammonia production system that converts intermittent renewable energy, air, and water into ammonia on-site at solar and wind installations.
Read the full announcement here.
Active Surfaces & FLUIX AI Announced Winners at the National Lab of the Rockies (NLR) Industry Growth Forum (IGF) Competition
Two Venture For ClimateTech alumni left the NLR IGF with extra hardware. Shiv Bhakta, Co-Founder & CEO of Active Surfaces, competed in the Pre-Commercialization Stage track and took home the People’s Choice Award. Abhishek Sastri, Founder & CEO of FLUIX AI, competed in the AI track and was announced the winner on the last day of the conference.
Learn more about the tracks and the IGF winners here.
Ateios Systems and Kodak’s Battery Platform Earns PFAS-Free Verification
Ateios’ RaiCore™ battery electrode platform has been extended to three of the world’s most widely used cathode chemistries. Importantly, the platform has also earned third-party verification for eliminating perfluoroalkoxy alkane (PFA) forever chemicals. Independent third-party testing confirmed that RaiCore composite electrode formulations (lithium cobalt oxide, lithium iron phosphate, and nickel manganese cobalt) contain total organic fluorine (TOF) levels below the analytical reporting limit of 20 parts per million, well below the 100-ppm regulatory threshold for PFAS-containing materials.
This verification maintains RaiCore’s status as the world’s only PFAS-free battery electrode verified by an independent third party. Read more about the testing here.
Manufacturing & Supply Chain News
The Pros and Cons of Using AI for Video Marketing in Manufacturing
As a manufacturer, video is the easiest way to communicate capabilities to a client and has become a prevalent tool across the industry. However, video production can be expensive and AI video tools are becoming more and more accessible. Knowing how to use AI appropriately can help your organization minimize risks and project costs, as well as maintain an authentic “brand” and connection with customers.
Check out FuzeHub’s latest post here.
Retool ’26: Advancing Manufacturing & Energy Innovation
Join us June 9, 2026 at the Chautauqua Harbor Hotel for Retool ’26 – Explore, Envision, Empower – Energy Innovation & Industry 4.0. This one-day event will delve into energy storage, AI and robotics for manufacturers, waste stream decarbonization, and New York energy policy. In addition to a stacked day of education and networking, Mike Riedlinger of Scale For ClimateTech will be hosting a panel featuring Charles Murray (Switch Source), Andrew Lee (Innovia GEO), and Alex Kosyakov (Natrion), who will discuss how they’re advancing climate and manufacturing innovation.
Learn more and register here.
Manufacturer & Supply Chain Partner Spotlight: Cellec Technologies
Cellec Technologies, a Scale For ClimateTech alumni turned supply chain partner, is a lithium-ion battery research and manufacturing company focused on improving the efficiency, safety, and performance of energy storage cells. Leveraging a patented approach to achieve 0-Volt stability, the company supports aerospace and defense applications while advancing national security and next-generation battery reliability. Since its founding in 2016, Cellec has worked alongside state, federal, and scientific partners to develop cleaner, more sustainable energy solutions for the technologies of tomorrow.
Learn more about Cellec Technologies here.
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.