Carbontech Development Initiative Announces Fourth and Final Cohort for Research and Commercialization Grants

NEW YORK CITY — The Carbontech Development Initiative (CDI) is pleased to announce its fourth and final cohort of funded projects awarding more than $2.3 million to 12 innovative startup and academic teams dedicated to researching, developing, and commercializing pivotal negative emissions technologies. Joining the 39 teams from CDI’s first three rounds, these 12 awardees advance technology development across three core domains:

• CO2 capture via direct air and point-sources, such as industry and power generation.
• CO2-to- materials and products for the buildings sector.
• CO2-to-chemicals, fuels, and other products and materials.

With the inclusion of this cohort, CDI now supports 51 teams advancing critical carbontech technologies through non-dilutive grant funding. These awards further strengthen CDI’s role as a catalytic funder in the field and advance CDI’s mission to support vital research initiatives and startups across the carbontech value chain—facilitating technology transfer, accelerating commercialization, and helping position New York State as a global carbontech hub in alignment with the state’s ambitious climate goals.

Through a rigorous and competitive selection process, CDI has selected a fourth cohort spanning a wide spectrum of scientific and engineering innovation. The cohort includes five early-stage academic teams selected through CDI’s early-stage research programs (Carbontech Leap and Propel Carbontech), supporting pioneering research in CDI’s priority areas. CDI also selected seven startup teams through Propel Carbontech and its commercialization program, Bridge Carbontech. Bridge supports teams advancing laboratory-proven technologies by helping them overcome technical, scale-up, and market-entry barriers as they transition from the lab to the market.

Bridge Carbontech:

• Helix Carbon (Massachusetts)
• Bioforcetech (California)
• Turnover Labs (New York)
• Carbion (New York)
• Carbon Utility (Arizona)

Carbontech Leap (Columbia University teams):

• Self-regenerating CaO Sorbents to Enhance Carbon Capture by extending the Cycle Life of Calcium Looping (Dr. Yuan Yang, Columbia Applied Physics and Applied Mathematics)
• To Demonstrate Carbon-Storing 3D-Printed Clay-Fiber Composite Wall Assemblies: Structural Validation and Public Installation (Dr. Lola Ben Alon, Columbia Graduate School of Architecture, Planning, and Preservation)
• To develop Advanced Materials for a Tandem Process to Convert New York State CO2 Emissions into Ethylene (Dr. Juliana Silva Alves Carniero, Columbia Chemical Engineering)

Propel Carbontech:

• Startups
  • Spear the Air (Massachusetts)
  • CemCycle(Massachusetts)
• Academic Teams
  • To use alkaline Fe-rich mining waste as dual-functional materials for H2 production via CO2 mineralization reaction (Dr. Simona Liguori, Clarkson University)
  • Structured Magnetic Sorbents as Versatile Platform for Point Source Carbon Capture (Dr. Ali Rownaghi, University of Miami)  

Representing both university-based researchers and innovative startups, this cohort spans a geographically diverse set of teams across the United States including New York, Massachusetts, California, and Arizona. 

Jim Aloise, CDI's Executive Director, highlighted:

"With this fourth cohort, CDI completes an ambitious effort to accelerate the next generation of carbontech innovation. Thanks to NYSERDA's leadership and investment, we have supported 51 teams, demonstrating the power of combining early-stage research, entrepreneurial talent, and strategic commercialization support to move breakthrough technologies closer to market. We are proud of what this community has accomplished and confident its impact will continue well beyond the life of this program." 

A full list of CDI funded projects is available here.

Each team in CDI’s final cohort will receive non-dilutive project funding along with tailored support to pursue defined milestones that address key technical or commercialization challenges. The program also includes dynamic commercialization training covering carbontech-specific business and entrepreneurial topics as well as broader instruction in climate science and policy. Teams will benefit from customized education, mentorship, and access to industry support with the overarching goal of enabling progress toward scaled deployment.

About CDI

The Carbontech Development Initiative (CDI) at Columbia Technology Ventures is a first-of-its-kind, large-scale carbontech market transformation grant-seeding and commercialization initiative for carbontech science and technology. CDI aims to position New York State as a global carbontech hub by supporting research and development, facilitating technology transfer, and commercializing innovation. The program funds research and development (R&D) both within Columbia University and the broader carbontech space to create a technical ecosystem that can achieve durable market impacts. By leveraging the deep bench of technical expertise at Columbia University and the entrepreneurial dynamism of New York State, CDI promotes de-carbonization solutions required to address the climate crisis and catalyze economic development.