Four is a significant number:

You can earn your college degree in four years.
There are four fundamental forces in nature.
Four people — Paul, John, George and Ringo — together created the most iconic rock band.
For Greentown Labs, the number four is represents a significant milestone.

Four years ago, four companies needed affordable space to build prototypes and launch their energy startup companies after graduating MIT. They found each other through Craigslist, sharing rent of a soon-to-be demolished warehouse in E. Cambridge. From then on, they were known as Greentown Labs.  

 

In 2012, nine companies relocated and expanded to South Boston. Soon, sixteen companies were sharing co-located office space and prototyping lab space, and running networking events, panels and hackathons to support the growth of the cleantech ecosystem. In February 2013, Emily Reichert, CEO, signed on to help these busy entrepreneurs running their companies and the incubator professionalize operations that now that now accommodated twenty-eight companies. Just at that time, the two-year lease was ending and more space was needed. Again.

 

Emily Reichert led the relocation and expansion to its 33,000 SF facility headquarters in Somerville, MA. The move and custom build-out was possible with the help of the City of Somerville, the Massachusetts Clean Energy Center, and our Founding Sponsors, Digital Lumens, Foley Hoag LLP, Invested Development, Shell, Chevron, Mitsubishi, Deshpande Foundation, National Grid, ADP, HB Agency and Charles River Insurance Agency. A crowdfunding campaign topped the fundraising. Three moves in three years. Each time doubling the amount of prototyping.

 

In celebration of our 4th Birthday, we hosted the 2nd annual Member Appreciation Day. Sam White, co-founder of Greentown Labs (and one of the first companies, Promethean Power Systems) shared Greentown’s founding story. An awards ceremony followed, complete with 3D printed Greentown Labs trophies and an original poem from COO of Silverside Detectors, Sarah Haig.

 

Greentown Labs CEO Emily Reichert summed up the spirit of the day with the simple truth, “Greentown Labs is really all about the community. You guys are awesome, doing awesome things, and we are continuously inspired by the creativity, dedication and support this community demonstrates.”

 

Greentown Labs is now the largest cleantech incubator in the nation, has served 75 companies, housed as many as 50 companies at once, and built out the most extensive portfolio of member resources and network connections for hardware entrepreneurs solving energy and environmental challenges. Our members are developing cutting-edge technologies for the future, with applications that range from wind power generation, energy storage, fuel cells, 3D printing, urban agricultural solutions, and even rail-inspection robots. These innovations will revolutionize resource management, energy generation and storage, transportation and energy efficiency. While our community is constantly changing, our mission to enable entrepreneurs to solve the most complex energy and environmental challenges of our time has remained the same, and we look forward to celebrating more success stories from our member community.

Here’s to four years and many, many more!