Westwood Aerogel

Last year, companies led by Cyclotron Road program fellowship participants surpassed $1 billion in follow-on funding since the program’s inception in 2015. Throughout 2023, companies led by fellows and alumni secured new #funding from both public and private sources to advance and accelerate the reach and impact of their innovations, including: * Noon Energy raised $28 million in Series A financing. * Liminal raised a $17.5 million Series A2 funding round. * Gradient closed a Series A follow-on round of funding of $9 million, bringing its total Series A funding to $27.5 million, and was selected for a $17.5 million grant under the Defense Production Act by the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) to expand its heat pump technology. * Tyfast was awarded $2.8 million from the DOE for the Electric Vehicles for American Low-Carbon Living program to build a high-energy density, ultrafast-charging battery with a long cycle life. * Visolis raised an $8 million seed round to make carbon-negative materials. * Tandem PV secured $6 million in Series A financing to build a solar panel manufacturing facility. * Takachar was selected as one of several projects to receive a portion of a $2.35 million contribution from Klarna to the Climate Transformation Fund. * VERDE Nanomaterials received a $50,000 grant from the U.S. National Science Foundation (NSF) Innovation Corps program. * Pheronym won a $1 million Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) grant from the NSF to scale up commercial manufacturing of pest control without chemical pesticides. * Sonera secured $11 million seed funding and introduced its sensing technology to make neural data more accessible. * Calion Technologies and Westwood Aerogel each received $150,000 in #CalSEED awards for early-stage clean energy innovations. * Inlyte Energy raised $8 million to develop grid batteries made with iron and table salt. * Antora Energy received a $4 million grant from the California Energy Commission to scale up its thermophotovoltaic technology. * ReSource Chemical was selected for a $1 million NSF SBIR Phase II grant to advance production of its sustainably sourced monomer to the pilot scale. Blog post: https://lnkd.in/gFstyJgj

"The biggest thing for me, especially as a scientist, is trying to solve problems that have a high impact." Check out the latest episode of ⁠Founders In LA⁠ with ⁠Patricia McNeil, the CEO and Co-Founder of ⁠Westwood Aerogel⁠ as she shares her journey into the world of advanced manufacturing and aerogel production. Westwood Aerogel specializes in creating the lightest and most insulating material on Earth, with applications ranging from aerospace to electric vehicle battery protection. Patricia discusses the unique challenges and opportunities in this innovative field, emphasizing the importance of sustainability and green technologies. She also highlights the serendipitous way she met her co-founder and the company's plans for scaling up production and addressing the evolving needs of various industries. This episode presents our fascinating conversation on her groundbreaking technology and entrepreneurial vision. Check out links to the full episode in the first comments. ---------------------- Follow Ethan Cole PhD for content & insights on Building Faster and Smarter; new trends in Product Development, summaries of the Talks and Workshops from TED AI 2023, and to learn more about Founders in Los Angeles.