Techstars

Techstars Central LLC, founded in 2006 and based in Boulder, Colorado, operates as a startup accelerator and venture capital firm focused on supporting early-stage technology-oriented companies. It specializes in a mentorship-driven accelerator program, selecting ten startups each summer to participate in a three-month incubation period, offering funding of $120,000 in exchange for equity. Techstars invests primarily in sectors such as fintech, artificial intelligence, blockchain, augmented reality, and IoT, while avoiding investments in medical devices, healthcare technology, and local service-oriented businesses. In addition to its primary accelerator, Techstars has various specialized programs, including those focused on music, retail, mobility, and social impact, with global reach extending to regions such as Africa, Asia, and Latin America. The firm prefers taking minority stakes, typically between six and ten percent, without seeking board representation or investor rights. Techstars has built a robust network of entrepreneurs, mentors, and corporate partners to foster innovation and growth within its portfolio, which includes over 1,000 companies with a significant collective market capitalization.

Focus

Pre Seed Round Seed Round Artificial Intelligence Machine Learning Series A Show more

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Ethan Austin

MD of the Techstars Western Union Accelerator

Mark Tortorella

Advisor

Nathanial Zola

MD

Past deals in Recycling

EQUO

Seed Round in 2022

EQUO creates a product that has minimal impact on the environment. It provides a variety of truly eco-friendly solutions for everyday items by providing products that are 100% natural, plastic-free, non-toxic, chemical-free & biodegradable, and compostable.

Ecolectro

Seed Round in 2022

Ecolectro makes materials that make clean fuels and chemicals. The company is commercializing a proprietary platform of novel polymers that are best in class, allowing its customers to produce devices that last longer and cost less. Ecolectro has defensible IP, state-of-the-art facilities, experienced personnel, and strong customer traction.

EnviCore

Seed Round in 2021

EnviCore is a growing R&D company offering innovative and sustainable wastewater treatment solutions. EnviCore's developed technologies have the potential to introduce a step-change in the holistic approach of the mining tailings treatment. Providing a low cost and environmentally friendly alternative, coupled with the superior performance and efficiency, which can change the adverse narrative associated with mining waste and its environmental impact and help mining operators achieve new resource developments more responsibly.

Khepra

Seed Round in 2021

Khepra uses proprietary technology and excess renewable electricity to break down plastics and agricultural waste. The company applies ultrasonic technology to breaking waste streams into drop-in fuels in a novel, completely electrified process. This process is used as a method to use excess solar and wind energy during curtailment and provide clean energy generation during times of low generation. The company is operating in San Francisco, California.

Cancrie

Pre Seed Round in 2021

Cancrie produces sustainable advanced material for energy storage devices. It transforms waste into quality advanced battery material that increases the efficiency of energy storage devices through a simple drop-in solution.

Hya Bioplastics

Pre Seed Round in 2021

Hya Bioplastics is a startup focused on producing biodegradable food packaging made from re-engineered plant fibers. The company utilizes proprietary decentralized manufacturing technology to create cost-competitive biodegradable solutions, aiming to provide sustainable alternatives to petroleum-derived plastics. Hya Bioplastics is also developing a patent-pending process that enhances the production of bioplastics from plant waste fibers, contributing to environmentally friendly packaging options.

Dispatch Goods

Funding Round in 2021

Dispatch Goods Inc. manufactures reusable steel containers and boxes for food delivery ecosystem. The company offers containers for the elimination of the disposable food ware. It serves restaurants and food trucks. The company was founded in 2018 and is headquartered in San Francisco, California.

treet

Seed Round in 2021

Treet helps apparel brands become more circular and control their secondhand market by launching a peer-to-peer resale marketplace. Treet Marketplaces operate as second sites where their customers can buy and sell used items from each other in exchange for cash or credit back to the brand. Treet handles all of the logistics and support while brands share in the profit.

EQUO

Pre Seed Round in 2021

Smartbin

Pre Seed Round in 2021

How we manage our waste and recycling bins is reactive and should be on-demand. Regular collection schedules result in inefficiencies. Our approach does not accommodate seasonal variation. This results in poor customer service for the servicing companies and there is no site specific performance data. This includes waste collection companies, janitorial services companies and property managers. Lidbot is a plug and play smart sensor that sticks to waste and recycling bins and measures how full they are in real-time. It helps waste collection staff optimize collection related costs, increase cleanliness in their spaces, increase customer service and better understand their waste and recycling.

Valyuu.com

Seed Round in 2021

Circular Economy Marketplace

Falcon Technologies

Pre Seed Round in 2021

Falcon Technologies is an economic solution for reusing & recycling produced and flow back water at the wellsite.

Ecolectro

Funding Round in 2021

Hyperion Global Energy

Pre Seed Round in 2021

Hyperion Global Energy is developing modular carbon capture & recycling technology at a breakthrough industrial scale.

treet

Pre Seed Round in 2021

Mobile Fluid Recovery

Pre Seed Round in 2020

Mobile Fluid Recovery utilizes patented technology to separate liquids from solids in industrial waste streams. It processes solvent wipes/rags, oil absorbents, and industrial sludges (i.e. machining swarf and grinding sludge). Its customers realize a minimum of 30-50% savings as compared to traditional disposal. In many cases, it converts waste material into a source of revenue. The company was founded in 2012 and is based in Seguin, Texas.

Pretred

Pre Seed Round in 2020

Pretred repurposes waste tires and plastics into innovative and efficient industrial use barriers and blocks. It makes green products having superior benefits and replaces one of the most destructive materials on earth i.e. concrete, enabling governments, construction companies, and private entities to use more sustainable products available at subsidized costs. The company was founded in 2020 and is based in Lakewood, Colorado.

Arqlite

Pre Seed Round in 2020

Arqlite SPC, founded in 2015 and based in Buenos Aires, Argentina, with an additional office in Seattle, Washington, specializes in recycling plastics through a proprietary process that allows for the recycling of all types of plastics, including those typically deemed non-recyclable. This innovative approach addresses approximately 70% of the plastic waste stream, which includes materials that are laminated, aluminized, or degraded by environmental factors. The result of Arqlite's process is a lightweight artificial gravel that serves various applications in the construction industry, including use by precast concrete companies and landscapers. This product is not only eco-friendly but also offers significant cost advantages, being ten times better as an insulator and three times lighter than traditional materials.

EnMass Energy

Pre Seed Round in 2020

EnMass Energy specializes in renewable energy production through biomass, utilizing agricultural waste to generate electricity for industrial and commercial clients, including private utilities and national grids. The company also caters to off-grid consumers and rural communities, facilitating energy access through its innovative solutions. Founded in 2015 and based in Durham, North Carolina, EnMass Energy enhances the efficiency of waste-to-energy projects by digitizing supply chain operations, addressing procurement challenges in the industry. Additionally, the company offers the CACHE system, a mobile platform that connects smallholder farmers with businesses and governments, providing tools for online farm monitoring, field assessments, and improved transparency and traceability for growers.

Poliloop

Seed Round in 2020

Poliloop B.V., based in Rotterdam, the Netherlands, specializes in converting non-biodegradable petroleum-based plastics into biodegradable products. The company has developed a microbial cocktail capable of degrading various types of single-use plastics, including PET, PP, LDPE, HDPE, PS, CPE, and EVA. This innovative process can function under suboptimal conditions and has been tested on both individual and mixed plastics, including those contaminated with food debris. Poliloop's method not only addresses the pressing issue of plastic waste but also produces valuable end-products such as bioplastics and biogas, contributing to a more sustainable and circular economy. The degradation process begins within two days, with complete breakdown of the polymers occurring over approximately two months.

Phoenix Tailings

Pre Seed Round in 2020

Phoenix Tailings Inc. is a Massachusetts-based company that focuses on the recycling and re-mining of mining tailings and hazardous by-products, such as Bauxite Residue, to produce essential metal products. Founded in 2019, the company aims to extract strategic materials critical to various industries, including aerospace, defense, automotive, biotechnology, and electronics. By treating mining and refining waste as new ore, Phoenix Tailings provides an innovative solution to eliminate hazardous environmental waste while creating primary metals sustainably and economically. This approach not only addresses the demand for metals in multiple sectors but also promotes environmentally friendly practices by offering carbon-free alternatives.

Recycled Granite

Seed Round in 2019

Recycled Granite, founded in 2009 by Julie Rizzo, specializes in manufacturing sustainable building materials by repurposing stone waste from the countertop fabrication industry. The company produces a diverse range of eco-friendly products, including stone veneer, pavers, fire pits, and various home goods. By converting scrap granite into usable materials, Recycled Granite provides customers with an environmentally responsible alternative to traditional landscaping products, helping to reduce landfill waste and conserve natural resources.

Alkemy Environmental

Seed Round in 2019

Alkemy Environmental is a cleantech company that offers recycling services to its clients. The company recycles industrial waste streams into concrete aggregate. Its product portfolio consists of expandable lightweight aggregate, ultra lightweight aggregate, and high strength lightweight aggregate. Furthermore, it offers waste management services to its clients. Alkemy Environmental was founded in 2008 by Sofia Bethani and Peter Kombouras and is based in Massachusetts.

Twelve

Seed Round in 2019

Opus 12 captures carbon emissions where pollution is generated and turns the CO2 into chemicals like methane, ethylene, and ethanol. Their technology bolts onto any source of CO₂ emissions, and with only water and electricity as inputs, transforms that CO₂ into some of the world's most critical chemical products. The company plans to recycle CO2 emissions into liquid fuels and chemical precursors cost-competitively with petroleum-sourced products. It also develops a profitable solution to carbon emissions by recycling CO₂ into cost-competitive chemicals and fuels. It is based in Berkeley, California.

Mobius

Pre Seed Round in 2019

Mobius provides environmental solutions that convert waste streams into chemicals and materials. At Mobius, we're creating a world where There’s Wonder in Waste. We’re a mission-driven company focused on eliminating waste by leveraging industrial organic waste streams from agriculture, forestry, paper and biofuel & biorefining industries to create new materials and chemicals. Our first product is a proprietary, biodegradable polymer made from lignin, a natural material found in all grasses and trees that is produced as waste at a rate of over 50 million tons each year by the paper and biofuel industries. With this biopolymer, we are creating a bio-based, biodegradable plastic pellets for applications in horticulture, agriculture, food service packaging, and beyond.

Zeno Power

Pre Seed Round in 2019

They are developing a next-generation radioisotope power system that converts the heat from recycled nuclear waste into electricity.Their novel fuel and shielding design results in a system that is lightweight, cost-effective, and provides always-on, resilient power for years at a time.

Craste

Pre Seed Round in 2019

Employing and incorporating the model of Circular Economy to achieve our vision. We are on a mission to judicially and responsibly use limited available resources. Creating a positive impact in the environment is the core purpose of our organization. The ability to make a change and being a significant contributor of that change drives them.

KITRO

Seed Round in 2018

KITRO develops IT food waste management solution for the food and beverage industry. The software solution identifies, tracks, and monitors food waste and elevates the food waste reduction possibilities. The company was founded in 2016 and is headquartered in Renens, Switzerland.

Goodr

Seed Round in 2018

Goodr Inc. is a sustainable food surplus management platform that utilizes technology to mitigate food waste and address hunger. Founded in 2016 and headquartered in Atlanta, Georgia, the company offers a real-time food rescue application that assists businesses in managing their edible food waste. Through its platform, Goodr enables businesses to donate surplus food to local nonprofit organizations while providing logistics, analytics, and security to ensure compliance with tax regulations. The software offers insights into food waste patterns, real-time donation tracking, and community impact reports, which help organizations quantify their contributions. Goodr’s blockchain-enabled platform also ensures an IRS audit-friendly record of donations, fostering a transparent process. By facilitating these donations, Goodr aims to create a triple-win scenario: enhancing the financial benefits for businesses through tax deductions, reducing greenhouse gas emissions from landfills, and alleviating hunger in communities.

Conservation Labs

Seed Round in 2018

Conservation Labs, Inc., founded in 2016 and based in Brownsville, Pennsylvania, specializes in smart water metering technology designed to reduce water consumption and identify leaks. The company aims to address significant water wastage in the United States, where over 3 trillion gallons are lost annually, resulting in an economic impact of approximately $70 billion. By utilizing its H2know system, Conservation Labs provides users with valuable insights that promote better water management and cost savings. The company is also part of the Amazon Alexa Fund portfolio, highlighting its innovative approach to sustainability and resource conservation.

Queen of Raw

Pre Seed Round in 2018

Queen of Raw, LLC is a New York City-based company that operates a digital marketplace connecting designers and textile companies with unused stock and sustainable fabrics. Established in 2014, the platform facilitates access to low-cost inventory, including textiles, finishing supplies, and sewing machines. By utilizing AI-powered supply chain tools, Queen of Raw aims to eliminate textile waste and monetize excess inventory, helping over 235,000 users save millions of dollars and conserve significant water resources. The company provides an integrated dashboard that enables clients to visualize their economic and environmental savings, while proprietary algorithms measure the impact of their activities. This approach allows clients to address regulatory requirements, reduce inventory losses, and enhance their overall profitability, promoting a more sustainable textile industry.

Goodr

Pre Seed Round in 2018

KITRO

Pre Seed Round in 2017

Vartega

Pre Seed Round in 2017

Vartega is a technology development company focused on recycling carbon fiber reinforced plastics, specifically through its innovative patent-pending processes. Established in 2014 and located in Golden, Colorado, Vartega aims to provide low-cost carbon fiber for various mass market applications across several industries, including aerospace, automotive, wind energy, and sporting goods. The company produces recycled carbon fiber suitable for use in nonwoven fabrics, thermoplastic pellets, yarns, and 3D printing filaments. By developing alternative recycling technologies and equipment, Vartega seeks to contribute to the sustainability of carbon fiber materials and enhance their accessibility for broader applications.

Bevi

Seed Round in 2014

Bevi aims to eliminate waste from the production, shipping, and disposing of bottled beverages. We envision a future where a smarter platform (powered by the municipal water supply) transforms how beverages are delivered. It is an ambitious goal, but we are on it!