EnterpriseWorks

Community, EnterpriseWorks, Features, Research Park

Cache Energy Secures $8.5 Million in Seed Funding

EnterpriseWorks startup Cache Energy (Cache) has successfully secured a new investment, boosting its early funding to an impressive $8.5 million. Cache specializes in developing long-duration energy storage (LDES) technology utilizing low-cost materials capable of withstanding high temperatures. The recent investment was led by Voyager Ventures, a venture capital firm that “invests in early-stage climate technology companies, creating the foundation of a decarbonized global economy and livable future for all.” The funding supports the development and scaling of Cache’s thermal storage system. “The energy capacity cost is an order of magnitude cheaper than what we have seen anywhere in the market. The next alternative is at least 8-10 X more expensive,” said Arpit Dwivedi, founder and CEO of Cache Energy.Voyage Ventures believes Cache will revolutionize industries like manufacturing and chemicals, which rely on large amounts of heat energy and need affordable storage options. “With strong customer traction already from major utilities and industrial players, we are thrilled to support Arpit Dwivedi and his talented team as they scale this transformative technology to dramatically reduce emissions while saving customers money in these critical sectors,” said Leonardo Banchik of Voyager. Over the past year, Cache has also worked with Halliburton to speed up its scaling and operations. Cache has earned acknowledgment from the Department of Energy and won two awards: the DOE Energy Innovation Prize and a pitch competition at the White House.

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Community, EnterpriseWorks, Events, Investments, Media Mentions, Recognition & Awards

Nine Cozad New Venture Challenge Teams Receive Awards from EnterpriseWorks

EnterpriseWorks and Research Park awarded the Student Startup Tenancy Prize to nine teams that competed in the 2024 Cozad New Venture Challenge. This prize, which was awarded to Pathlit, AVEA Robotics, Radiant Looms, AminoSense, ClimeCast, Provenance Security, SeriesFarm, Terravate Energy, and Med Terms, includes access to co-working space, conference rooms, common areas, support services, and entrepreneur assistance. Provenance Security and SeriesFarm received the Catapult Award of $5,000 to be used for startup professional services. ClimeCast, which joined EnterpriseWorks as a tenant earlier in the year, also won third place with a $25,000 investment. ClimeCast uses AI to optimize decarbonization strategy for commercial real estate. ClimeCast also won the Dr. Paul Magelli Innovation Award, Best Pitch at Finals, as well as the Student Startup Tenancy Prize. Cozad New Venture Challenge (CNVC) is a campus-wide program run by the Technology Entrepreneur Center that provides mentoring to teams through the phases of venture creation, and resources in idea validation, pitching skills, and customer development. Between the 200 registered teams, 11 campus colleges and 85 majors were represented. The 2024 CNVC kicked off with registration and kickoff events in January and continued throughout the spring semester with workshops, mentorship opportunities, and training for over 500 undergraduate and graduate students. Between the 200 registered teams, 11 campus colleges and 85 majors were represented. The Demo Day on Thursday, April 11, was held at the Illinois Conference Center and featured several members of EnterpriseWorks and Research Park judging student work. The program concluded on Wednesday, April 24, with a Year-End Celebration and Awards Ceremony at the Campus Instructional Facility. Past participants of the program include EnterpriseWorks graduates Cast21, DeepWalk, Mesh++, Prenosis, Psyonic, and Serionix, in addition to EnterpriseWorks startups Natrion and ZiteAI.

Nine Cozad New Venture Challenge Teams Receive Awards from EnterpriseWorks Read Post »

Habiterre
EnterpriseWorks, Media Mentions, Recognition & Awards, Research Park

HabiTerre Achieves Third Party Model Validation with Climate Action Reserve

EnterpriseWorks startup HabiTerre‘s model for quantification of agricultural greenhouse gas sinks and sources was approved by the Climate Action Reserve (CAR) under their Soil Enrichment Protocol (SEP). This model is used as part of HabiTerre‘s advanced system-of-systems modeling approach. It comprehensively models the interplay of energy, water, carbon, and nutrient cycles in aboveground and belowground environments. HabiTerre has adapted and maintained a scalable version of ecosys to support the quantification of greenhouse gas and soil carbon outcomes from agricultural practices. The Climate Action Reserve is the most trusted, efficient and experienced offset registry for global carbon markets. CAR establishes rigorous standards to support and promote climate change solutions that benefit economies, ecosystems and society. “This milestone is just one of many more to come from the team at HabiTerre, where we are fully dedicated to supporting scalable and efficient solutions to drive maximum impact and value to farmers, paving the way for high-quality environmental market opportunities,” said Nick Reinke, CEO of HabiTerre. HabiTerre is a farming financial risk modeling company. The HabiTerre team is dedicated to making the world a better and more habitable place by advancing sustainable agriculture and land stewardship with a holistic systems approach to farm productivity and resource use efficiency. Learn more about CAR and this milestone on the HabiTerre website.

HabiTerre Achieves Third Party Model Validation with Climate Action Reserve Read Post »

Logo
Agricultural Science, EnterpriseWorks

ForgeBee

ForgeBee ForgeBee has developed a system to allow the manufacture of single-use units of highly efficient honey bees for pollination in place of full sized colonies. This is more cost effective and resource efficient than the current model, which relies upon the use of whole colonies that are reused until colony failure.

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Ferritiva
EnterpriseWorks, Medical, Healthcare

Ferritiva

Ferritiva jeffrey@ferritiva.com 4087173010 60 Hazelwood Drive, Champaign Ferritiva develops accessible devices that screen for iron deficiency so that everyone can live a healthy life. Ferritiva News Cozad 2022 Winners Showcase Success on “Innovations” Podcast Ferritiva Wins Second Place and Several Other Prizes at the Cozad New Venture Challenge

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Podcast
EnterpriseWorks, Features, Research Park

New Podcast Episode: Digital Identity Verification

In the June Innovations @ Research Park podcast episode, host Tanmay Shah talked to Identomat CEO Dr. David Lomiashvili about his career journey, experience at EnterpriseWorks, identity verification, and looking ahead. Dr. David Lomiashvili is the CEO of Identomat, which has created an innovative AI-powered KYC and identity verification solution that assesses if the person in front of a camera is real or an impersonator. Before his current venture, Dr. Lomiashvili had an extensive pedigree in entrepreneurship, not to mention a PhD in Astrophysics. “A new project,  a strategically important project, we are gonna be working on … is Digital Identity Wallet. It is a way to enable SSI, self-sovereign identity. It is what we see the next inflection point in the industry is gonna be, unleashing the wallet economy,” Lomiashvili said when talking about the future of Identomat and digital identity verification. The Innovations @ Research Park podcast highlights the thriving entrepreneurial and corporate innovation culture in Champaign. It is hosted by University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign alumnus Tanmay Shah. Subscribe to The Innovations @ Research Park to catch up on the latest innovations and news on Apple Podcasts,  Spotify, or your preferred podcast network. Is there something you want to know about Research Park? Do you have an idea for a guest for the show or a story we should pursue? Do you want to provide other feedback? Contact Laura Bleill (lwbleill@illinois.edu).

New Podcast Episode: Digital Identity Verification Read Post »

cache
EnterpriseWorks, Investments, Media Mentions, Recognition & Awards, Research Park

Cache Energy Wins EPIC DC Pitch Competition

EnterpriseWorks clean energy startup Cache Energy won first place in the Energy Program for Innovative Clusters (EPIC) pitch competition. Founder Arpit Dwivedi presented at the White House for this competition on May 15, 2024, winning $30,000 for the company. The Department of Energy’s (DOE’s) Office of Technology Transitions (OTT) announced $70,000 total of prize money to three clean energy startups and one incubator through the prize collaboration event. Attendees participated in a collaborative discussion, and a Q&A about supporting incubators,  and traveled to Capitol Hill to meet with Congressional representatives and staff. Cache Energy focuses on creating energy storage that is non-toxic, non-flammable, and safe to transport and install anywhere through long-duration electricity storage. This technology can store grid electricity cheaply on a large scale and helps commercial and residential entities move away from fossil fuel. Learn more about the EPIC DC Pitch Competition on the Office of Technology Transitions website.

Cache Energy Wins EPIC DC Pitch Competition Read Post »

Podcast
EnterpriseWorks, Features, Research Park

New Podcast Episode: Perspectives on AI from an NVIDIA Leader

In the May episode of the Innovations @ Research Park podcast, host Tanmay Shah talked to NVIDIA Accelerated Big Data Platform Engineer Matt Ahrens about his career journey and the future of artificial intelligence (AI). Matt Ahrens oversees performance and tools work for the Accelerated Big Data Platforms group at NVIDIA. He’s a longtime leader in the University of Illinois Research Park community, graduating with a Bachelor’s degree in Mathematics and Computer Science in 2003 and working for Motorola and Yahoo! before transitioning to his current role at NVIDIA. Ahrens is also the co-founder and leader of the Champaign-Urbana Data Science User Group, which meets monthly at UIRP during the academic year. The podcast episode discusses using graphics processing units (GPUs) to accelerate data workflows. “A new frontier where we see accelerated computing really having a future is with big data processing,” Ahrens said, emphasizing how GPUs can make these processes more efficient. The Innovations @ Research Park podcast highlights the thriving entrepreneurial and corporate innovation culture in Champaign. It is hosted by University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign alumnus Tanmay Shah. Subscribe to The Innovations @ Research Park to catch up on the latest innovations and news on Apple Podcasts,  Spotify, or your preferred podcast network. Is there something you want to know about Research Park? Do you have an idea for a guest for the show or a story we should pursue? Do you want to provide other feedback? Contact Laura Bleill (lwbleill@illinois.edu).

New Podcast Episode: Perspectives on AI from an NVIDIA Leader Read Post »