Nine of Congruent Ventures’ “50 by 2050” climate tech startups have Stanford roots
Venture capital company Congruent Ventures and Silicon Valley Bank on Sept. 17 named nine startups with Stanford University roots to their new “50 by 2050” list of companies that may significantly advance global decarbonization. Nine Stanford alumni founded five of the nine companies by starting with seed funding from the TomKat Center for Sustainable Energy’s Innovation Transfer program: Antora Energy, Fervo Energy, Nitricity, Tandem PV, and WeaveGrid. The other three startups honored are those of alumni Varun Sivaram's Emerald AI, Drew Baglino's Heron, JB Straubel’s Redwood Materials, and Gene Berdichevsky's Sila Nano.
“We can take no credit for four of these at the TomKat Center,” said Brian Bartholomeusz, executive director of the Innovation Transfer program, which supports student-led startups for commercializing technologies started at Stanford. “Still, nine out of 50 is a good ratio for the university overall.”
Of the TomKat beneficiaries, the founders of Fervo Energy, Nitricity, and WeaveGrid first took the Precourt Institute for Energy’s Stanford Climate Ventures course. After completing their Stanford education, founders of Antora Energy, Fervo Energy, Nitricity, and TandemPV further developed their technologies at Berkeley Lab’s Activate, a significant part of the Bay Area’s cleantech entrepreneurial ecosystem.
13 alumni lauded
Andrew Ponec, BS ’17, Justin Briggs, PhD ’17, and David Bierman, PhD, co-founded Antora Energy in 2018. The company’s thermal battery stores renewable energy as heat in blocks of solid carbon, which then can suppliy manufacturing-level heat or electricity around the clock for industries otherwise difficult to decarbonize. The startup has raised $237 million in investments to date, according to the “50 by 2050” report, now in its second year.
Varun Sivaram, BS/BA '11, founded Emerald AI last year. The startup seeks to transform data centers from grid liabilities into flexibility assets. A recent test with Oracle, Nvidia, and utilities demonstrated that the company's platform can cut AI workload power consumption by 25% during grid stress events while maintaining performance. The startup has raised $24.5 million in seed funding.
Tim Latimer, MS/MBA ’17, and Jack Norbeck, PhD ’16, co-founded Fervo Energy in 2017, which builds enhanced geothermal power plants. It employs horizontal drilling, hydraulic fracturing, and other technologies developed by the oil and gas industry to generate 24x7 renewable electricity. The company has raised a little more than $1 billion so far, Congruent and SVB estimate.
Drew Baglino, BS '04, founded the power electronics company Heron last year. The company is developing power electronics for modernizing electricity grids, including a a new type of solid-state transformer. Before starting Heron, Baglino worked at Tesla for 18 years, leading the development and engineering of powertrains and energy products. The company raised $38 million in March.
Nicolas Pinkowski, PhD ’21, Jay Schwalbe, PhD ’20, and Joshua McEnaney, PhD, co-founded Nitricity in 2018. It makes organic fertilizer from air, water, renewable energy, and almond shells. They say their product competes well with today’s commercial fertilizer, which is made from natural gas in a process that emits about 5% of human-caused greenhouse gases globally. They have raised $97 million to date.
JB Straubel, BS ’98/MS ’00, founded Redwood Materials in 2017, 13 years after he co-founded Tesla. Redwood recycles batteries to make its modular energy storage systems. $1.8 billion has supported the company’s growth.
Gene Berdichevsky, BS '04/MS '10, co-founded Sila Nanotechnologies in 2011. By using new materials chemistry, Sila Nano increases the energy density of lithium-ion batteries for consumer electronics and automobiles. As an undergrad at Stanford, Berdichevsky developed his technical skills while on the Stanford Solar Car Project team, where he designed, built, and raced a two-person solar car. The company has raised $1.3 billion in investments.
Colin Bailie, PhD ’15, founded Tandem PV in 2016. The company is developing thin-film solar cells built on perovskite technology, a crystalline structure usually made from titanium and calcium. When used with silicon-based solar cells, the tandem captures more of the sun's energy than silicon cells alone. Bailie’s team has raised $87 million from investors, according to the “50 by 2050” report.
Apoorv Bhargava, MBA ’17, and John Taggart, PhD ’19, co-founded WeaveGrid in 2018. Its software helps electric utilities, automakers, and charging companies optimize EV charging. They have raised $78 million so far.
