Massachusetts and New York cleantech incubators cooperate to facilitate market entry for early-stage startups

Somerville, Mass. and Brooklyn, NY – March 22, 2016 – Entrepreneurs need access to strategic partners, investors and new markets to effectively scale their businesses but often face significant challenges when trying to secure these resources. To mitigate these barriers and support the growth of cleantech startups, Greentown Labs and NYC ACRE are launching a Network Expansion Program.

The partnership between Greentown Labs, the nation’s largest cleantech incubator, based in Somerville, Mass., and NYC ACRE, the New York University Tandon School of Engineering’s cleantech incubator that supports early-stage business ventures, brings together two of the East Coast’s leading organizations that focus on providing the resources cleantech entrepreneurs need to thrive. The reciprocal Network Expansion Program will assist startups in market entry and provide access to potential customers and investors.

“Market expansion can be a daunting task for cleantech startups. Determining where to go and who to call are only two of the hurdles they face, and this is why a program focused on easing these challenges is a perfect fit,” said Emily Reichert, CEO of Greentown Labs. “Deepening our ties throughout the Northeast region—specifically between Massachusetts and New York—will benefit both of our innovation ecosystems and play an important role in helping bring new clean technologies to market faster.”

“Expanding market access is an early-stage problem that can be more easily solved with affiliations such as this one between NYC ACRE and Greentown Labs. In addition to expanding our geographical reach, our areas of expertise are complementary, enabling this agreement to effectively double our impact for our member companies,” said Pat Sapinsley, Managing Director of NYC ACRE.

The Network Expansion Program: Support, Insights and Participation

The program aims to reduce the friction and barriers startups encounter as they break into the Massachusetts and New York cleantech markets. Startups from both organizations will have:

• Free access to temporary desk space when visiting the reciprocal location
• Connections with the host market’s local ecosystem
• Ability to participate in the host location’s events
• Sharing of best practices for commercialization of clean technologies and intellectual property strategy

“When it comes to the emerging clean energy economy, New York and Boston stand out in terms of having well established cleantech communities,” said Kurt Becker, Vice Dean for Research, Innovation and Entrepreneurship at the NYU Tandon School of Engineering. “Both cities have access to world class university resources, start-up capital, and a thriving entrepreneurial landscape. Connecting NYC ACRE and Greentown Labs—the two flagship clean-energy incubators in their respective cities—just makes good sense.”

The partnership between NYC ACRE and Greentown Labs leverages their involvement in NECEC’s Cleantech Navigate Northeast network across New England and New York State, a market and resource connection network for the Northeast’s leading innovation programs to foster connections and help entrepreneurs and cleantech startups grow.

“NECEC is thrilled to see this partnership between Greentown and NYC ACRE, two of our core innovation partners who are helping the leading cleantech startups scale and succeed,” said NECEC President Peter Rothstein. “We look forward to continuing our work together to help cleantech entrepreneurs connect to and leverage the mentors, partners and market opportunities of the entire Northeast region, one of the world’s leading clean energy economies.”

Greentown Labs has established similar programs with the Los Angeles Cleantech Incubator (LACI) in Los Angeles and Oregon BEST in Portland, Ore. Greentown Labs, LACI, Oregon BEST, NYC ACRE and NECEC are members of the Incubatenergy Network which provides nationwide coordination of clean energy incubators and stakeholders connecting to share best practices, support of clean energy entrepreneurs and ultimately help facilitate a smoother transition to a more sustainable clean energy economy. Additionally, Greentown Labs has a comparable, independent relationship with the Mid-West Energy Research Consortium in Milwaukee, WI, that’s focused on the growth and economic competitiveness of the Energy, Power & Control Industry cluster across the Midwest Region.