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June 11, 2013 | Tom Ballard

Cleantech Open selects 24 companies from the Southeast

Cleantech OpenWe’ve published several articles about the efforts of Rochelle Blaustein, a former U.S. Department of Energy senior administrator, to recruit companies from the Southeast for this year’s Cleantech Open.  She even visited Oak Ridge on May 10 to encourage East Tennessee start-ups to apply.

She passed along the following press release earlier this week that announces the 24 semi-finalists from the Southeast region. The list includes at least one East Tennessee company, Shelton Group’s Do 5 Things that was profiled last week on teknovation.biz.

Here’s the official release.

One June 4, the Cleantech Open Southeast Region announced the selection of 24 companies, called semi-finalists, to participate at the regional level in the 2013 Cleantech Open national accelerator program. The companies were selected from an elite group of cleantech entrepreneurs that applied from across the Southeastern United States. The semi-finalists are representative of applications from a region that covers diverse metro areas and states such as Research Triangle Park, Tennessee, Washington, D.C., Georgia, and Florida.

Semi-finalists concentrate on innovation across the seven technology categories: Agriculture, Water, & Waste; Chemicals & Advanced Materials; Energy Distribution and Storage; Energy Efficiency; Energy Generation; Green Building; and Information Technology & Communications.

“Our region continues to enjoy strong growth thanks to expanded metro areas that reach entrepreneurs across multiple and diverse technology hubs,” said Joshua C. Greene, regional director and co-founder of the Cleantech Open Southeast. “Based on the performance of our 2012 alumni, we are confident that this region can and will continue to grow and accelerate energy and environmental technology companies into attractive ventures that will appeal to investors and sponsors within the region.”

Benefits for the regional finalists (e.g. those eligible to compete for the national grand prize) include an award package that consists of combined cash and in-kind services worth up to $20,000. The Southeast regional finalists will join other regional winners from across the United States to contend for the national title at the Cleantech Open’s Global Investor Forum on November 20-22, 2013 in San Jose, California and a chance to secure the grand prize of up to $200,000 in investment and services.

The 2013 Southeast Region semi-finalists participating in the accelerator program are listed below.  More information on the region can be found at http://cleantechopen-southeast.org

Agriculture, Water, & Waste: Earth Starter (http://nourishmat.com/about), Innovative Bios (http://www.innovativebios.com), Nitrogent, Re-Nuble (http://www.re-nuble.com), SIGARCA (http://www.sigarca.com/About_Us.html), WiseSoil (http://wisesoil.org)

Chemicals & Advanced MaterialsAnCatt (http://www.ancatt.com/index.html), Nova Synthetix, Tethis (http://tethis.com)

Energy Distribution and Storage: Evgentech (http://evgentech.com)

Energy Efficiency: Granular Systems (http://www.retrofitamerica.com/home), Retrofit America (http://www.retrofitamerica.com/home)

Energy Generation: Altenera (http://altenera.com), PlatiNix Technologies, Sidewinder Thermal (http://www.sidewinderthermal.com), Trash 2 Cash-Energy (http://www.trash2cashenergy.com), Wise Gas (http://www.wisegasinc.com)

Green Building: Bio-Adhesive Alliance (http://biobindergroup.webs.com), bioMASON (http://www.biomason.com)

Information Technology & Communications: BioEnergy Pro (http://bioenergyapp.com), Building Technology Inc. (http://bldgtechnology.com), Long-Time Close College Friends Doing Good, Savenia (http://www.savenialabs.com), Shelton Energy Efficiency Disruption Solutions (http://do5things.com)

About The Cleantech Open
The Cleantech Open is the world’s largest cleantech accelerator and is dedicated to providing entrepreneurs and technologists the resources needed to launch a successful cleantech company. Its mission is to find, fund and foster entrepreneurs with big ideas that address today’s most urgent energy, environmental, and economic challenges. A 501(c) (3) not-for-profit organization, the Cleantech Open provides the infrastructure, expertise and strategic relationships that turn clever ideas into successful global cleantech companies. Over the past seven years, the Cleantech Open has awarded over $5 million in cash and services. During that time, our over 700 alumni companies have raised more than $800 million in private investment. Fueled by a network of more than 2,000 volunteers, the Cleantech Open unites the public and private sectors in a shared vision for making America’s cleantech sector a thriving economic engine. For more information, visit www.cleantechopen.org and follow them on Twitter @cleantechopense and Facebook.


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