Unlocking Innovation to Solve Climate Problems
Summary
In 2025, LabStart committed to accelerating the climate innovation pipeline by supporting 75 diverse entrepreneurs across two cohorts in the United States and Mexico and facilitating the launch of 24 climate technology startups that will create an estimated 960 new green-economy jobs over 10 years. LabStart will scale its innovative model that demystifies the lab-to-market commercialization process to accelerate climate innovation, incentivize tech transfer accessibility and inclusion, and welcome all entrepreneurs. LabStart’s support for the entrepreneurial ecosystem involves three key pillars of intervention: identifying emerging market needs and opportunities for climate-tech, sourcing intellectual property from more than 30,000 climate-related inventions to match those market gaps, and leveraging their LabLink AI platform and year-long fellowship to connect entrepreneurs to solutions that can solve specific climate problems while providing the necessary resources and support to accelerate the launch of their ventures.
Approach
Through their inaugural, full-year cohort, which concluded in March 2025, LabStart’s fellowship program supported 10 entrepreneurs and successfully launched six climate technology startups. In 2025, LabStart is committing to building on the organization’s existing impact by scaling up all fellowship metrics in 2026 and 2027. Through this commitment, LabStart will support 75 developing entrepreneurs and facilitate the launch of 24 new climate technology startups.
LabStart’s fellowship program provides entrepreneurs with the ground-floor funding, capacity development, and partner network necessary to license and launch deep tech companies. Fellows are awarded unprecedented time and resources, for one full-time year, to focus on moving their chosen climate technology from lab to market with a livable wage.
To launch these enterprises, LabStart curates a matchmaking process during fellowship recruitment and application to pair high-potential IP with entrepreneurs. The most promising founders who have selected promising IP are selected as fellows. LabStart ensures the work the entrepreneurs are doing will have a high impact on economic and social issues where there is true market demand for the technology to scale their companies. In parallel, they are building a complementary and scalable tool called LabLink, an AI-powered vetting platform that makes it easier for entrepreneurs to locate relevant IP. LabStart will provide this essential tool for democratizing access and accelerating the identification of solutions to specific climate challenges.
In order to meet this commitment, LabStart will deepen relationships with 30+ equity-centric organizations to recruit and attract at least 200 applicants; strengthen partnerships with national labs, universities, and research institutions to ease the technology transfer process; and host events featuring subject-matter experts discussing topics like invisible barriers and the highest-impact climate technologies that should be emerging from national labs.
Action Plan
This commitment officially launches in September 2025 when LabStart begins engaging with fellows directly. However, the application and sourcing for these entrepreneurs will commence prior to the official commitment launch.
The 2026 fellowship application for cohort 2 will launch in May 2025. Out of at least 100 applicants, 25 will be selected for the Discovery Phase and informed in July 2025. The Discovery Phase will commence in September 2025 (when the commitment launches) , and the most promising startups will be selected to proceed to the Launch Phase, which will begin January 1, 2026, and run through the entirety of 2026.
By the end of the Launch Phase, each of the 12 fellows will have incorporated a company; committed to negotiate a license option; developed a techno-economic analysis and proforma; developed a business model canvas, company culture canvas, and commercialization plan checklist; and outlined the carbon and co-benefits impact of their technology in a lifecycle analysis. In December 2026, the fellows will graduate from cohort 2 and LabStart will host a demo day for investors.
Cohort 3 applications will launch in 2026 and follow a similar 18-month timeline to cohort 2, concluding in early 2028. LabStart will select 50 individuals for the Discovery Phase and down-select a minimum of the 12 most qualified for the cohort 3 Launch Phase.
Background
Despite the U.S. investing over $100 billion annually in academic and national laboratory research, only a tiny fraction of the more than 30,000 climate-related inventions spin out into startups, and 40% of the climate solutions the U.S. needs to meet 2050 climate goals are yet to be commercialized. The effort required of entrepreneurs launching a new venture during the first years is largely hidden from plain sight, such as an individual’s night and weekend hours while holding a full-time job to pay for basic needs. Growing a new venture also requires extensive network contacts and is ubiquitously underfunded—or rarely funded at all—by existing entrepreneur support organizations.
LabStart’s vision is to demystify the lab-to-market commercialization process in a way that accelerates climate innovation, incentivizes tech transfer accessibility and inclusion, and welcomes all entrepreneurs. LabStart fosters equity in clean energy entrepreneurship and transforms cutting-edge intellectual property (IP) from U.S. national laboratories and universities into scalable, data-driven, market-ready climate solutions.
LabStart’s research in their white paper, “Invisible Gates Holding Back Entrepreneurs from Starting Climate Companies,” shows that focusing on the “Zero-to-One” stage with targeted support can dramatically increase access to climate tech entrepreneurship. Underrepresented backgrounds and unique perspectives lead to solutions with a more diverse, relevant, and larger market. However, systemic barriers—such as lack of financial resources, access to high-impact IP, and know-how—disproportionately exclude women, BIPOC, rural entrepreneurs, and other under-supported communities. LabStart addresses these gaps through an inclusive, equity-focused fellowship program that removes barriers to climate entrepreneurship and brings all motivated founders into the climate and clean energy ecosystem. LabStart empowers individuals to take the risks they normally would not have the luxury of taking to launch breakthrough climate solutions with their own communities in mind.
Progress Update
Partnership Opportunities
In order to scale the fellowship program, support 75 entrepreneurs, and launch 24 new deep climate tech startups, LabStart is seeking $7 million in funding in the form of philanthropic grants and prizes. This funding would provide the resources LabStart needs to both recruit talented individuals in climate entrepreneurship and welcome them into a well-resourced, one-year program that levels the playing field for success in commercializing their climate solutions through connections with scientists and easier access to licensing.
LabStart is also looking to connect with additional equity-focused ecosystem partners that have a shared vision in building movements, developing deep climate technologies, and changing the narrative around who can be entrepreneurs.
As a relatively new organization, LabStart also seeks support in increasing the visibility of the novel approach and impact of this work.,LabStart’s team has the expertise to offer best practices for supporting underrepresented entrepreneurs during the invisible and earliest phases of launching a deep climate tech company. Through their subject matter expertise, extensive curriculum, and deep network of entrepreneur support organizations (ESOs) , investors, academic institutions, national labs, and research organizations, LabStart is paving new paths for entrepreneurs.
No other climate accelerators dig deep into IP licensing the way LabStart does by starting with market need first and sourcing IP in response to gaps. Additionally, LabStart is building their LabLink AI platform to be a scalable tool for all entrepreneurs, not just LabStart fellows. There are inherent challenges and barriers that make it difficult to access IP. With over 30,000 climate-related patents to select from, LabLink provides entrepreneurs the support to find the solution to solve their specific climate problem.