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BRITE gets $100,000 to help cleantech startups

WARREN — BRITE Energy Innovators is a 2020 Channel Partner award winner by the Wells Fargo Innovation Incubator (IN2) for the work it has done and will continue to do incubating energy and cleantech startups.

BRITE will receive $100,000 from the program, $10,000 more than the downtown Warren energy and energy storage incubator received in 2019 — an increase BRITE’s president and CEO sees as validation and endorsement of its work.

“IN2 recognized the momentum in the Valley around the energy space and not only wanted to re-up their investment, but increase it,” Rick Stockburger said.

The new award will be used to continue to develop energy storage cluster partnerships among entities in Ohio and academic institutions in Pennsylvania and West Virginia to support energy tech startups in the region.

Last year’s $90,000 was used to complete an energy study in northeast Ohio and to host the inaugural energy storage conference in September in Warren.

The Wells Fargo incubator is a technology incubator and platform funded by the Wells Fargo Foundation and co-administered by the U.S. Department of Energy’s National Renewable Energy Laboratory. The award program strengthens sustainable technology initiatives and fosters a creative and collaborative network of stakeholders across industries to address barriers startups face on the path to commercialization.

BRITE is focused on providing Ohio-based energy tech startups with access to resources and connections to potential sources of funding.

This year’s submissions were selected on a competitive basis by evaluating their potential for STEM job creation, impact on cleantech and agtech sectors, ability to leverage the IN2 network and funding sustainability.

The awards were between $75,000 and $150,000.

“The Channel Partner Awards establish a continuum of innovation within the IN2 program, from early-stage concept to commercialization,” said Trish Cozart, IN2program manager at renewable energy lab. “By allocating resources to Channel Partner initiatives, in addition to selecting companies for our tech incubator, we’re reaching startups at multiple points along their journey and will get more transformative resources to market.”

The nationwide network of Wells Faro incubator Channel Partners includes 63 cleantech and agtech business incubators, accelerators, universities and industry experts. The awards program, established in 2017 with $5 million committed by Wells Fargo to be distributed over four years, has supported more than 115 events, strategic meetings and trainings and 29 larger strategic initiatives between 31 organizations.

Funded projects have engaged more than 2,369 entrepreneurs, industry and academic representatives and others, created nearly 200 jobs, led to more than $18.2 million in follow-on funding for startups involved and earned $1.8 million in matching funds from outside organizations.

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