The latest installment of our #Greentown10 campaign celebrates our dynamic partner program and the critical role Greentown Labs’ partners have played in our community’s first decade.
In Greentown Labs’ earliest days, when a ragtag group of startups had banded together to split the costs of rent and resources, the entrepreneurs faced a roadblock: they really, really needed Dassault Systèmes SOLIDWORKS software to design and build their climate technologies, and this critical tool was outside of their financial reach.
So, in a true entrepreneur’s hustle and spirit, one of the founders decided that they might as well track down someone at Dassault Systèmes SOLIDWORKS and ask for it. Jason Hanna, the co-founder of Coincident (now Embue), cold emailed Dassault Systèmes SOLIDWORKS to see if the corporate would provide free software licenses to Greentown startups—and much to the budding community’s delight, Dassault Systèmes SOLIDWORKS said yes.
That first bridge between Greentown startups and corporates launched Greentown’s partnerships program. The program fosters the magic that happens when these two groups work together successfully. Many partners provide crucial support for Greentown’s startups by becoming strategic partners, investors, customers, and pilot sites, and others provide valuable resources, services, connections, expertise and mentorship.
Before long, Foley Hoag and Wolf Greenfield began providing our members pro bono legal services, and Shell helped Greentown build up the earliest versions of our safety program. When Greentown moved out of our original warehouse in 2011, Silverman Trykowski Associates designed our building in Boston partly pro-bono, and they’ve designed all of our locations since—including Greentown Houston!—all the while prioritizing the space and community needs of climatetech startups.
Partners have played a key role in our members’ fundraising efforts over the years: Schneider Electric led an $18M Series B round for Sense and a $10 Series A round for Titan Advanced Energy Solutions; BASF led an $8M Series B for NBD Nano; and DSM led Voxel8’s Series B round, to name just a few. Member-partner collaborations run the gamut, from a global commercial agreement between Salient Predictions and BASF, to a pilot project between Raptor Maps and Enel, to a customer deal between SteamIQ and Toray Plastics that also involved National Grid.
Saint-Gobain became a partner in 2014, and has been integral to Greentown and our members ever since. Saint-Gobain has made meaningful contributions to our prototyping lab, installing a materials library and an on-site environmental testing chamber, which led to a project collaboration with Greentown member Building Envelope Materials. Saint-Gobain donated over $1 million worth of products to enable our headquarters and became the presenting partner of the building’s Town Green event space. Now, Saint-Gobain is doing the same for our new Greentown Houston incubator.
In 2015, the Massachusetts Clean Energy Center donated the equipment—selected by our members—for our machine shop, and Keysight Technologies created our electronics lab. In 2021, we announced that Stanley Black & Decker is founding a new tool shop at Greentown.
All Greentown partners bring value to our community, in a variety of ways—that’s been the ethos of our partnership program throughout Greentown’s first 10 years, from Dassault Systèmes SOLIDWORKS all the way to our 70 partners today. We partner with multinational corporates that have made science-based climate commitments and are dedicated to bolstering innovation. These partners help our climatetech startups, which are largely B2B, navigate the commercial valley of death and bring their much-needed solutions to market.
Want to learn more about how our partnerships program has evolved over the years? Check out a timeline of some key milestones below!
- SOLIDWORKS becomes Greentown Labs’ first corporate partner, providing software licenses to the community of cleantech and hardware-focused entrepreneurs.
- As Greentown startups move out of their initial warehouse in Cambridge, MA (pictured), Silverman Trykowski Associates designs the new incubator at 337 Summer St. in Boston, MA—in what was just then being dubbed the “Innovation District” in Boston.
- Invested Development invests in one of the founding Greentown startups, Promethean Power Systems, and later becomes a Greentown partner, providing a grant to help with the incubator’s move to Boston.
- Late in 2011, Wolf Greenfield becomes a partner and provides members with pro bono legal services.
- A group of Founding Partners makes Greentown’s move to Somerville possible: Digital Lumens, Foley Hoag, Invested Development, Shell, Chevron, Mitsubishi Electric HVAC Advanced Products Division, Deshpande Foundation, National Grid, ADP, HB Agency, and Charles River Insurance.
- The City of Somerville and Shell are both instrumental in Greentown’s move to Somerville, MA, with the city providing support through its innovation fund and Shell renting extra space in the building. Shell also helps Greentown build the first version of its safety program.
- Saint-Gobain becomes a Greentown partner, launching a project collaboration with Greentown member Building Envelope Materials and setting up an R&D test facility at the incubator.
- Based on feedback from startups, Greentown launches a partnership with Altium, the provider of PC-based electronics design software for engineers.
- National Grid becomes the first utility to partner with Greentown.
- The Massachusetts Clean Energy Center donates a machine shop, and Keysight Technologies launches Greentown’s electronics lab. Saint-Gobain installs an environmental testing chamber for member use.
- PROPEL kicks off as the first Greentown Launch program, a corporate partnerships accelerator designed to drive pilots, licensing agreements, investments, and other startup-partner collaborations. Shell GameChanger is the main partner on the program, supported by Analog Devices, GE Ventures, Saint-Gobain, EnerNOC, Clean Energy Venture Group, and Freescale. Stay tuned for a full #Greentown10 spotlight on Launch later this year!
State Street Corporation, a pioneer in ESG with $27T in assets under custody and/or administration—a number that by 2020 grows to $38.8T—becomes the first major financial organization to partner with Greentown.
- As Greentown prepares to open its headquarters at 444 Somerville Ave., Saint-Gobain donates more than $1M worth of materials to the building; Shell becomes a naming partner of the prototyping lab; and BASF becomes a naming partner of the wet lab.
- DSM leads Greentown member WattGlass’ Series A funding round.
- Greentown opens its headquarters, with the support of many Founding Partners—Saint-Gobain, BASF, Shell, DSM, Foley Hoag, Johnson Controls, and Air Liquide—and financing partners East Boston Savings Bank, Boston Community Capital, Massachusetts Clean Energy Center, MassDevelopment, and the City of Somerville.
- Schneider Electric leads Greentown alumni Sense’s $18M Series B funding round.
- Veolia runs a pilot project with Greentown member Tagup at its Kendall Square Cogeneration plant.
- Draper implements its maritime open architecture autonomy technology on all vehicles that Greentown member Riptide Autonomous Solutions sends to the U.S. government.
- Enel launches its Boston Innovation Hub at Greentown.
- Saint-Gobain becomes the naming partner of Greentown Labs’ Town Green event space.
- Schneider Electric leads Greentown member Titan Advanced Energy Solutions’ $10M Series A funding round.
- DSM leads Greentown member Voxel8’s Series B funding round.
- Unilever becomes Greentown’s first major consumer packaged goods (CPG) partner.
- Greentown announces its expansion to Houston, TX, with the support of Founding Partners Chevron, NRG Energy and Reliant, Shell, BHP, Vinson & Elkins, Microsoft, ENGIE North America, Saint-Gobain, Rice Management Company, Sunnova Energy International, the American Family Insurance Institute for Corporate and Social Impact, SCF Partners, Direct Energy, and Tudor, Pickering, Holt & Co.—and Grand Opening partners Naturgy and FCC Environmental Services.
- By 2021, Greentown’s partnerships span 10 countries, with Greentown entering into its third year of partnership with Mitsubishi Chemical Holdings Corporation, second year with InnoEnergy EIT, and second year with Johnson Matthey.
- Ahead of Greentown Houston’s opening in Spring 2021, CenterPoint Energy, Gexa Energy, and Wells Fargo become Founding Partners, and EIV Capital and Williams become Grand Opening Partners.
- Stanley Black & Decker becomes a Greentown partner and announces plans to build a tool shop at Greentown HQ.
Interested in becoming a member of Greentown Labs? Learn more about what we offer here and get in touch at recruitment@greentownlabs.com!