Working together to meet climate change head on
The Greentown Community
What does community look like at Greentown Labs? It looks like helping a fellow member edit a grant proposal, borrowing another startup’s equipment, and sharing investor contacts. It looks like holding a door, striking up a conversation, and swapping ideas with your neighbors. It looks like a vibrant, humming workspace where people are collaborating to solve climate change.
We believe our community is our greatest resource. In fact, Greentown was founded in the spirit of community and collaboration. Our four founding startups worked alongside each other late into the night, providing emotional support and a lending hand. Nine years and 250 startups later, many of our members still say the community is their favorite part of Greentown.
We’ll do everything we can for our members
We get it. You’re a startup—you’re going to need less lab space next month and more the month after, you’re going to want a place to test your technology, you’re going to do some sort of innovative, never-been-done-before work that you might not have even thought of yet.
That’s why we stay flexible and aim to match your speed. “We do things for members a ‘normal’ landlord would never let fly,” our director of lab and member resources says.
We’re ready to work with you as your needs fluctuate, whether that’s adjusting your lab space from month to month or helping you interface with the building systems. Maybe you want to test your technology on the roof, or bring a new chemical into the wet lab. Whatever it is, we aim to help you do it and do it safely.
And here’s something really cool: we love having our members deploy their technology onsite.
Ivys Energy Solutions installed SimpleFuel—its compact hydrogen refueling station—in the alley next to Greentown. The Ivys team is working with national and international organizations to adapt standards to support the SimpleFuel model, and the Greentown station is playing a key role in that process, according to the Ivys team. Ivys even invites other members to charge their fuel-cell electric vehicles at the station!
What’s more valuable than having your technology in use right next to you, where you can monitor it live every day? Sunforge hooked up its off-grid solar controllers to the solar panels on Greentown’s roof. Four pipes from the roof deck connect to the floor below, where the controllers route to a custom-built battery that then powers Sunforge’s desks. The Sunforge team wasn’t able to install this setup in their last workspace. When they asked us, we incorporated their needs into our headquarters’ building plan.
The Greentown Ecosystem
Greentown is all about forging connections. We need to work together to win the fight against climate change, and nowhere is the power of collaboration more apparent than at Greentown.
We’ve seen firsthand the magical outcomes of relationships between startups and corporates, inventors and manufacturers, entrepreneurs and fellow entrepreneurs. We aim to be the link between key partners, creating a leading community of climate champions that’s a nexus of collaboration, innovation, and change.
Partner-Member Collaboration: Pilot
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The Startup
Raptor Maps uses artificial intelligence and drone-based thermal imaging to pinpoint electrical issues and outages, damaged modules, and obstructed modules down to the exact solar panel. Raptor Maps monitors two percent of the world’s solar panels.
The Partnership
Raptor Maps teamed up with Enel Green Power to manage real-time operations across the corporate’s global solar portfolio.
An Assist from the Ecosystem
MassCEC helped make the Enel + Raptor Maps partnership possible through its InnovateMass program.
Access to Partners
Once you’re a member at Greentown, large corporations stop being enigmas and start being people. They’re the people who are hosting Lunch + Learns, holding office hours, and are really, really eager to meet you. Some of them are even working right next to you in the office. These connections lead to real results, from pilot projects to investments to R&D partnerships.
These partners also offer you the hardware, software, and professional services you need to succeed—think SOLIDWORKS, scientific articles, and prototyping equipment.
Investor Program
Our investor program’s mission is simple: to connect our startups with the capital they need to scale. From curating investor-startup matches to facilitating pitching practice and feedback, we’re committed to helping our startups navigate the fundraising process.
Want to learn more about how we can help? Get in touch!
- Get direct introductions and access to investors through our curated investor network
- Be featured in Deal Flow Digests
- Meet one-on-one with investors and partners via office hours
- Connect with key investors in your industry at Sector Pitch Days and other invite-only investor networking sessions
- Receive fundraising coaching and support
- Source peer-driven pitch feedback at biweekly Fundraising Forums
- Learn from and network with industry-leading investors through Greentown’s Investor Speaker Series
Venture Development Services
We know early-stage founders with lean teams have to wear many hats—and we’ve lined up the experts who can help you navigate it all. Learn how you can connect with industry experts to support your startup’s growth:
Advisor Program
Advisors work with our community of entrepreneurs by providing advice in their areas of expertise via one-on-one sessions, office hours, and workshops. Areas of industry expertise include but are not limited to:
- Business development
- Diversity, equity, and inclusion
- Fundraising
- Go-to-market strategy
- Managing a board of directors
- Marketing and communications
- Pitch-deck development
- Product-market fit
- Sales
- Technical expertise
- And more!
Expert-in-residence Program
Experts-in-residence (EIRs) work closely with Greentown startups for up to six months on developing key business areas and navigating major projects. In addition to meeting with founders one-on-one, EIRs lead expert roundtables and host community workshops for our entrepreneurs.
Areas of industry expertise include:
- Capital and fundraising
- Marketing and sales
- Organizational development
- Business Development
“When I think about Greentown, I think about the story of how we’re going to save this planet.”