Evergreen Climate Innovations

10/09/2026

Evergreen Climate Innovations hosted our annual CEO Summit this week. This leadership seminar is designed to bring together our portfolio CEOs and founders for a day of learning, camaraderie and inspiration – it’s so special to have everyone in one room!

Hosted at the Art Institute of Chicago, we had an incredible backdrop for a packed schedule. We kicked off with Jenny Kendler, award-winning artist and environmental activist, and Richard Picciotto, retired FDNY Chief and the highest-ranking firefighter to survive the collapse of the World Trade Center. Dr. Paul Poast joined us from the University of Chicago to help us make sense of the impact of global crises and how thoughtful action can still make a difference.

We wrapped up with a fireside chat with Don Wilson, Founder & CEO of DRW. His story of building a business and what it takes to scale one was an inspiring way to close the day.

A big thank you to our speakers and founders for joining us!

10/08/2026

Breakthrough Energy Fellows applications are open!
If you're working on early-stage climate tech that could cut or capture at least 500 million tons of greenhouse gases a year at scale, or that meaningfully helps with climate adaptation, this is a great opportunity for you.

There are three ways in:

Innovator Fellowship: A full-time, one-year program for founders commercializing their technology. Most projects have raised less than $2M in dilutive funding, and you'll need to be incorporated before the program starts in September 2027.

Business Fellowship: A full-time role for experienced business professionals who work alongside Innovators to bring their tech to market.

Explorers: Funding for earlier-stage, higher-risk applied research, usually based in a university lab or research institution.

Applications close November 2:

Breakthrough Energy Fellows — Accelerating clean energy innovation and building the industries of the future

10/06/2026

September Cleantech Roundup is live! Chicago's climate edge, utilities cracking down on speculative load, geothermal heating up, and much more!

Ian Adams' latest Cleantech Roundup:
→ Alpha Geo ranked Chicago the most climate-resilient city in the world. As Karen Weigert points out, that measures "less bad," not good, especially after August tied for the hottest month on record.
→ ComEd is pushing back on queue speculation. It now requires letters of credit from interconnection applicants, has asked the ICC for "connect and manage" authority, and cut its large-load forecast from 39 GW to 25 GW. Its peak load is 24 GW.
→ DOE is funding geothermal exploratory drilling and field tests. Chicago-based Invenergy's submission was led by Evergreen Expert Jon Horek. Meanwhile, Fervo went public and Hephae raised $17M for superhot drilling.
→ Federal permitting reform has Senate deal language on the table, but neither chamber has voted yet.
→ Stardust Solutions claims stratospheric aerosol injection could cool the planet by ~0.5°C for $10B a year. So far, humans have warmed it by ~1.3°C.
→ Sunrun and Tesla dispatched 580 MW from 140,000 home batteries. That's the largest virtual power plant event yet, at about 1% of California's peak load.

Read the full roundup here:

Credit: Alpha Geo The Second City is First in Climate Resilience An analysis from climate risk intelligence platform Alpha Geo ranked Chicago as the most climate resilient city in the world, owing to both its natural advantages (not too hot, no hurricanes, no sea level rise risk) and resilience inve...

10/02/2026

Calling all Chicago water tech founders, investors, and ecosystem builders!

Evergreen Climate Innovations is proud to be an event partner for Innovation on Tap, hosted by Current at mHUB right after the Chicago Venture Summit.

Join us for an afternoon focused on water innovation and connection:
🔹 A live Water Tech Pitch Competition
🔹 An expert panel on what's next for water innovation
🔹 Networking with folks building Chicago's water economy

Wednesday, October 21 |📍mHUB, 1623 W Fulton St, Chicago

Space is limited and registration requires approval, so request your spot early: https://clnenergy.org/4xXrqcI

Thanks to our funding partners The Coleman Foundation and NSF Great Lakes RENEW Engine, and fellow event partners LongJump VC and World Business Chicago.

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10/01/2026

Applications for the 2026 Nicor Gas Illinois Innovator Award are open!

If you run an early-stage climate startup in Illinois, apply by November 30.

Winners receive a $25,000 non-recourse grant, 12 months of business mentorship from Nicor Gas and Evergreen Climate Innovations, and exposure to investors and potential customers.

The award is open to pre-seed and seed companies based in Illinois or with a substantial Illinois presence. Your team should have 2 to 12 full-time employees, $3M or less in funding raised, and at least 3 to 6 months of runway.

We want to hear from founders working in renewable energy, energy efficiency, smart buildings and cities, water, ag-tech, energy storage, mobility, circular economy, and digital tools for operational efficiency.

Know a founder who fits? Tag them below or send this their way.

Apply here: https://clnenergy.org/4xRRw0L

09/29/2026

Have research with startup potential? Today at 2 PM CT, Chain Reaction Innovations at Argonne National Laboratory hosts an info webinar on its Cohort 2027 application.

CRI gives scientists and engineers two years of funding, lab access, and mentorship to move energy technologies from lab to market. You don't need a company to apply.

Join the webinar to learn how the program works and how to apply. Applications close October 30.

Register: https://hubs.li/Q04yBw6h0

09/29/2026

Evergreen Climate Innovations recently invested in Air Energy, and Evergreen Principal, Shashank Churukanti just published a deep dive on why.

Air Energy develops batteries that draw oxygen directly from ambient air to serve as the cathode. Their cells reach an impressive 1,920 Wh/kg – a major leap from today’s lithium-ion batteries, which sit around 300 to 350 Wh/kg. This shift opens the door for energy storage and industrial electrification applications that were previously out of reach.

In his piece, Shashank zooms out on the broader market landscape. Despite recent negative headlines around EVs, global demand for electrification remains high. China continues to dominate battery manufacturing, and incremental updates to existing tech won't be enough for the U.S. to close the gap – it will take bold, novel approaches like Air Energy's.

Read the full blog here: https://hubs.li/Q04yzHkf0

09/24/2026

Evergreen Climate Innovations is proud to have recently invested in Lilac Agriculture's oversubscribed $2.3 million seed round, led by Innova.

Lilac is tackling the "black box" problem in inoculants. Farmers often pay for microbial products that get outcompeted by native soil bacteria, and most commercial strains date back decades. Lilac applies a plant-breeding approach to microbes, screening naturally occurring rhizobia for nitrogen-fixing efficiency and competitiveness. The results are promising: in field trials, their lead strain, PL11, delivered an 11% yield increase over no inoculant and 6% over commercial alternatives.

Why we're excited:
• Healthier soil, with more nitrogen available from the start
• More profitable, sustainable crop rotations
• Better yields and economics for plant-based protein, which can help reduce livestock emissions over time

The new funding will support expanded field trials, R&D platform development, PL11 commercialization, and preparation for entry into Canada.

Congratulations to Natalie DiNicola and the Lilac team, and thank you to the other investors: Innova, 701 Fund, Ag Ventures Alliance, North Dakota Development Fund, Pathway Ventures, and Tall Grass Ventures.

Read more in AgFunderNews: https://hubs.li/Q04ydf7B0

The funding will help Lilac Ag advance a platform built to optimize two traits at once: nitrogen-fixing efficiency and competitiveness.

09/18/2026

Are you an early-stage water tech founder in the Chicagoland area looking to scale your solution?

Apply now for Innovation on Tap, a startup pitch competition in partnership with Current & Great Lakes RENEW. Enter for a chance to win a share of $25,000 in non-dilutive funding, plus pitch coaching, commercialization support, and direct connections to investors and innovation partners.

1st place: $15,000
2nd place: $5,000
3rd place: $2,500
4th place: $2,500

We’re specifically looking to support founders building outside traditional VC and university networks.

To learn more about Innovation on Tap, visit: https://hubs.li/Q04xPZrt0
Apply by September 27th, 2026 11:59pm CT: https://hubs.li/Q04xPZqy0

Partner organizations include Current, National Science Foundation, The Coleman Foundation, World Business Chicago, Long Jump VC, & Evergreen Climate Innovations.

09/17/2026

Congrats to Evergreen’s portfolio company, CorePower Magnetics for raising $10.6M to keep building the transformers and motors this country needs more of - the kind of hardware that's quietly become a bottleneck for AI infrastructure, grid upgrades, and electrification more broadly.

This funding round was co-led by Engine Ventures and Material Impact. Evergreen Climate Innovations also participated, along with the Carnegie Mellon Catalyst Fund, and Baruch Future Ventures.

We've been backing CorePower since 2022, and it's been amazing to watch this team grow, from the early engineering work to now scaling real production capacity in Pittsburgh. The new funding is going to production capacity, equipment, and hiring across engineering, operations, and manufacturing.

Congrats to Sam Kernion and the whole CorePower team - this is exactly the kind of domestic manufacturing capacity we need to see more of.

The company plans to invest in domestic manufacturing for its high-heat magnets.