Imagine strolling down a sidewalk made from algae or building a wall with the help of microbes grown in a bioreactor. 

This extraordinary image may sound futuristic, but the technology is already here, thanks to Prometheus Materials, a sustainability-focused CU Boulder spinout giving concrete blocks a makeover with the help of environmentally-friendly bio-cement-making bacteria, algae and microbes. 

CU Boulder civil, environmental and architectural engineering professor Wil Srubar founded the Longmont-based company in 2021 with CEO Loren Burnett and a cross-disciplinary team of CU Boulder collaborators, including civil, environmental and architectural engineering associate professors Mija Hubler and Sherri Cook and the late Jeff Cameron, formerly of biochemistry. 

The impetus for the research group formed several years earlier around a call for proposals from the  (DARPA), the  (DoD) focused on developing new technologies for the military. 

“It sounded impossible, a bit like a Frankenstein objective of bringing building materials to life.” 

“Our charge from the DoD was to grow a material that had both biological and structural function,” said Srubar. “It sounded impossible, a bit like a Frankenstein objective of bringing building materials to life.” 

But the challenge was right for Srubar, who leads , where researchers aim to create construction materials that are in harmony with the natural world.

“We had been thinking about these concepts for some time,” he said. “But this was the first government investment in this particular area that really catalyzed an entirely new field.”

After two years of “spinning their wheels,” said Srubar, the team had a breakthrough in the lab when they made the first sample of engineered living materials that fulfilled DARPA’s requirements. Srubar said this success required looking back — way back — to life on Earth before humans. They were inspired by formations called stromatolites, stony structures built by microscopic photosynthesizing organisms known as cyanobacteria, which are among the oldest living lifeforms on the planet.

“We know nature has built really strong, tough materials,” said Srubar.

By studying the composition of coral and seashells, for example, the team figured out how to make lab-grown versions of the natural phenomena.

“You apply principles of biomimicry, you bring that process into the lab and beautiful things can happen,” he said.

Now Prometheus Materials, named for the legendary Greek god who introduced fire and other technologies to humans, is making sustainable building materials with a process that combines microalgae with other natural components to form zero-carbon bio-cement and bio-concrete with the major goal of reducing carbon emissions in the construction industry.

This is so important because making concrete — the most ubiquitous human-made building material on earth — generates massive amounts of CO2 and contributes significantly to climate change. Global cement manufacturing produces 11 million tons of CO2 every day (roughly equivalent to emissions from all the cars in the world), or about 8% of the world’s total CO2 emissions, according to the U.S. Geological Survey. And, according to the U.S. Department of Energy, demand for cement in the U.S. alone is expected to double by 2050.

As the company realizes its transformative role in the construction industry, it has raised $8 million in private funding in the past year and was awarded a role in a $10 million grant from the  (DOE) that will fund collaboration between a trio of national labs. Within this partnership, Prometheus will join other institutions in the field to establish methods for measuring, reporting and verifying CO2 removal and sequestration in cement and concrete materials. 

Environmental Stewardship

Prometheus is just one example of CU Boulder’s strong network of researchers bringing innovations out of labs and into companies that have real-world impact — the university is a national leader and spinout powerhouse, launching 35 companies in fiscal year 2024 and over 100 since 2016, according to Bryn Rees, associate vice chancellor for innovation and partnerships. Since 2000, the university has launched 44 sustainability-focused spinouts, including a dozen new companies in just the past few years, said Rees, who leads Venture Partners at CU Boulder, the university’s commercialization arm for the campus.

According to Rees and Srubar, several factors combine to make CU Boulder so effective at generating these kinds of companies: research expertise, commercialization resources, market need and an eagerness to improve our world.

“There’s such a history of environmental stewardship here at the University of Colorado, and in Boulder specifically, and that’s very much a part of our institutional fabric,” said Srubar. “We do sustainability research really well and it’s one, if not the pillar, of our education and research mission at the university.”

Rees agreed: “It’s a function of our research prowess in that area. There are many highly talented researchers who care deeply about the climate crisis, and so that’s where they’ve oriented their research.”

Those innovations could be used in lots of different ways, but Rees shared, “The innovators are saying, ‘We want to apply these technologies to really important problems.’”

For Srubar and others, the drive to make the world a better place is strong.

“It all begins with a vision and a belief that, first, the world is not static; it can become whatever you dream,” he said. “Understanding that you have the power and the potential to affect change is what really fueled me and our team.”

Rees also sees market need as critical to driving sustainability-focused ventures.

“There is an abundance of funding opportunities and demand from the market to have these types of solutions,” he said. “You’ve got the push from what CU Boulder is really good at, and you’ve got the pull from a true need for these types of solutions across different industries.”

“You’ve got the push from what CU Boulder is really good at, and you’ve got the pull from a true need for these types of solutions across different industries.”

Driving Meaningful Change

Another company with CU Boulder beginnings is the well-established, Boulder-based , founded in 2017 by Greg Rieker, chief technology officer and CU Boulder associate professor of mechanical engineering, with colleagues Caroline Alden (�ʳ�ٳұ�DZ�’13),&�Բ�����;Sean Coburn (PhDChem’14) and Robert Wright, former CU Boulder senior researcher.

LongPath harnesses quantum technology to detect fugitive methane emissions from oil and gas operations, innovation that benefits industry and investors — and the planet. The company’s breakthroughs in laser technology and quantum sensing, rooted in CU Boulder’s, created a leak detection system to do what previous approaches could not: continuously detect invisible-to-the-eye natural gas escaping from pipes on-site at oil and gas facilities.

Finding and patching those leaks is a triple win — in industry cost savings (from $820 to $980 million per year), and improved air quality and public health. LongPath’s technology can identify natural gas leaks that sicken and displace thousands of people each year and cut greenhouse gas emissions, particularly methane.

Today, LongPath’s Active Emissions Overwatch System is live at oil and gas operations in several states, covering hundreds of thousands of acres. Rieker and his team see the impacts of those systems growing each day, and he estimates that each system saves between 40 and 80 million cubic feet of methane annually.

“Every time we deploy a new system, it really is impactful,” he said, adding the team still celebrates every large leak located. “We’ll nail a big one for a customer, and that’s exciting.”

Similar to Srubar, LongPath’s founders were motivated by protecting the environment.

“Many academics measure impact in terms of papers published or citation rates. I always wanted the impact of my work to be more palpable,” said Rieker. “In 2024, LongPath stopped more than 6 billion cubic feet of methane emissions and counting. That’s impact, and that’s why we launched.”

“Many academics measure impact in terms of papers published or citation rates. I always wanted the impact of my work to be more palpable.”

Recently, the company received landmark financial backing from the DOE for a loan of up to $189 million to accelerate the scale-up of the company’s monitoring systems.

Another game-changing company making significant strides in sustainability is Louisville-based , founded in 2011, based on technology developed by CU Boulder mechanical engineering professor Se-Hee Lee and professor emeritus of mechanical engineering Conrad Stoldt (����’94).

Similar to Srubar and Prometheus Materials, Stoldt and Lee answered a call from DARPA. Their challenge was to double the energy density of a rechargeable battery.

“The metrics they wanted to reach were unheard of,” said Stoldt, but he and Lee accepted the challenge anyway. “We saw it as an opportunity… and we sat down and determined that, at least on paper, the only rechargeable battery technology that could meet the specs for the program was a solid-state battery.”

Lee and Stoldt partnered with Douglas Campbell, a small business and early-stage product developer, and chief technology officer Joshua Buettner-Garrett to start Solid Power. Along with then-mentor Dave Jansen, the team negotiated a commercialization agreement with Venture Partners (known then as the CU Technology Transfer Office), making the company an exclusive licensee to the university’s intellectual property.

What began as an idea Stoldt said was “bootstrapped” in CU Boulder labs, Solid Power is now an industry-leading developer of next-generation all-solid-state battery technology. As their name suggests, solid-state batteries (SSBs) differ from conventional batteries in that the electrolyte powering them is a solid material instead of a gel or liquid. That gives SSBs many advantages over lithium-ion batteries now widely used in electronics, toys, appliances and — critically — electric vehicles.

Solid Power’s design bests lithium-ion cells on safety, cost, durability and battery life — attributes long sought by consumers and automakers. Their technology swaps the flammable liquid in lithium-ion cells with a solid, sulfide-based electrolyte that is safer and more stable across a broad temperature range. Solid Power’s cells also easily outpace the conductivity and energy density of today’s best rechargeable batteries. The result is a smaller, lighter cell that is cheaper and has a longer-lasting charge.

Solid Power, which went public in 2021, employs many Forever Buffs and boasts major partnership deals with BMW and Ford, along with a new 75,000-square-foot manufacturing facility in Thornton.

Their continued innovation was recognized with a recent $5.6 million DOE grant to continue developing its nickel- and cobalt-free cell, and, late last year, the company began award negotiations for up to $50 million in DOE funding. With this project, Solid Power intends to launch the world’s first continuous manufacturing process, allowing the company to produce its critical electrolyte material more quickly and at a lower cost.

From Lab to Marketplace

With the burgeoning success of Prometheus and others, Srubar hopes to inspire other researchers to make the leap to the marketplace. To that end, he was recently named Deming associate dean for innovation and entrepreneurship, a new role in the College of Engineering and Applied Science focused on building bridges between labs and the marketplace.

“This is something I’m so passionate about — shining a light for those inspired and driven by a vision to see change in the world and to follow that pathway of commercialization,” Srubar said. “I think CU Boulder’s reputation will continue to grow in this space, and I’m excited to be a part of it.”

“I think CU Boulder’s reputation will continue to grow in this space, and I’m excited to be a part of it.”

Emerging ventures at CU Boulder

• : Co-founded in 2023 by Elliot Strand (MMatSciEngr’21; PhD’23) and Payton Goodrich to commercialize a low-cost platform to transform agricultural and environmental monitoring, enhance fertilizer use efficiency, improve water resource management and advance climate resilience efforts.
• : Within months of beginning to collaboratively research mushroom root (mycelium) together as PhD students, Tyler Huggins (MEngr’13; PhDCivEngr’15) and Justin Whiteley (MMechEngr’14; PhD’16) knew they’d found a nature-based way to create meat alternatives.
• : Founded in 2020 by Michael McGehee (CU Boulder Chemical and Biological Engineering) and then-PhD students Tyler Hernandez and Michael Strand. After developing the initial technology for energy-efficient windows at Stanford, they moved to CU Boulder to complete their work and found the company. Tynt allows users to fully control the light and solar heat entering a home, turning panes from clear to opaque with the touch of a button.
• : Founded in 2022 by Simon Julien (ApMath’21; MS’22) and Zachary Jacobs (ChemBiolEngr’21) to bring to market their innovative solar energy control system that solves the issue of intermittent renewable power. The technology was co-invented by Julien, working as an undergraduate and master’s student in collaboration with Bri-Mathias Hodge (Electrical, Computer and Energy Engineering), Amirhossein Sajadi (Renewable and Sustainable Energy Institute) and the National Renewable Energy Laboratory.
• : A CU Boulder startup founded on discoveries from Chunmei Ban’s laboratory (CU Boulder Paul M. Rady Mechanical Engineering), is developing best-in-class sodium battery technology with the potential to replace lithium-ion batteries.
• : a CU Boulder startup founded on technology discovered by Mark Hernandez (Environmental Engineering) uses waste from steel manufacturing to replace hazardous chemicals from wastewater treatment.

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Illustrations by Daniele Simonelli 

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In 2023, Eddy Connors (Bus’21) and Luke Siegert (FilmSt’22) went from college roommates and fraternity brothers to startup co-founders when they launched , a marketplace for surplus food. The app aims to reduce food waste by offering “perfectly good unsold food” from local businesses at a significant discount. Since its inception, Goodie Bag has expanded nationally to over 200 partnering shops, including OZO Coffee, Charleston Bagels and Blend Juice Bar. Connors, who serves as CEO, talks about the company here. 

You came up with Goodie Bag during a CU entrepreneurship course. How did it come about? 

From the get-go, we wanted to muster up an idea that would both make positive social change and generate profit. There was an opportunity to prevent good food from going to waste by connecting it to people at lower prices. That business idea ended up winning the “Startup Summer” pitch competition.

How did you and Luke go from college roommates to business partners?

As roommates, we would always talk about different business ideas, different industries that needed to be shaken up. We both knew there was so much opportunity to create better outcomes for people and our planet, and that excited us.

What were some of the biggest challenges you faced in scaling the business?

In the beginning, our biggest challenge was figuring out the technology of our app since Luke and I were not engineers ourselves. We also faced some team challenges that required difficult conversations early and often as we took the company from a school project to a full-time business. Team is everything.

With over 200 partner shops and 45,000 meals saved from going to waste, what are your next big goals for Goodie Bag?

Our greatest goal is to ensure no good food goes to waste. That’s the vision that guides us. As for what’s next, we want to increase our presence in existing markets by partnering with more shops in cities like Denver, Boulder and Fort Collins.

Reflecting on your journey from CU student to CEO, what advice would you give current students interested in launching their own businesses?

Do it! In all seriousness though, just remember that inaction is always the wrong answer. Know that you’re going to have failures along the way, but as long as you’re able to learn and adapt, it’ll be a worthwhile experience.

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Ask Dana Anderson, professor of physics at CU Boulder and founder of , a quantum-technology startup, what role the university played in getting his company off the ground, and he doesn’t mince words. 

“They didn’t get in my way,” said Anderson, who launched Infleqtion under the name ColdQuanta in 2007. 

Unlike many universities, said Anderson, CU Boulder views “getting technology out the door” as part of its mission. So while Venture Partners, CU Boulder’s commercialization arm, did not yet exist and the university could not offer Anderson the wealth of resources it now makes available to aspiring founders, the university smoothed out his path. 

The Technology Transfer Office (TTO), as it was then known, helped Anderson draw up a conflict management plan. When he needed lab space to work on his quantum devices — Infleqtion leverages Anderson’s research into the quantum properties of atoms to develop everything from atomic clocks to quantum sensors and computers — CU worked out a facilities use agreement with him. And when the company was in danger of going under, the university gave him the time he needed to pull it back from the brink. 

Infleqtion’s technology can now be found in orbit aboard the International Space Station and in labs around the world. The company employs more than 200 people, has raised nearly $200 million and is preparing to sell atomic clocks and quantum sensors at a commercial scale — all because CU was willing to invest in a scientist who, as he admitted, was “not a business guy.” 

“I’m very, very grateful for that,” Anderson said. 

He is not alone. According to the from the Association of University Technology Managers, which assessed startup creation by universities in 2021, CU ranked fifth nationwide, ahead of Stanford and MIT. CU Boulder produced 20 startups that year and has spun out 179 companies to date. The pace of startup formation is surging, having nearly doubled in recent years. 

That increase is no accident. When Anderson formed his company, the TTO was focused on filing and licensing patents. While protecting intellectual property (IP) remains crucial to launching companies based on scientific and technological innovations, CU Boulder now takes a more holistic approach to helping researchers successfully lead such “deep-tech” startups. 

“Venture Partners spends the majority of its resources and energy developing and growing innovators: teaching folks entrepreneurial skill sets, partnering with investors, running startup accelerators and other programs,” said Bryn Rees, associate vice chancellor for research and innovation and managing director of Venture Partners. 

The principal goal is to translate discoveries by CU Boulder researchers into products and services that benefit society while contributing to local, state and national economies. But maintaining a strong startup ecosystem confers other advantages as well, like expanding research funding opportunities and attracting innovative faculty and students.

Entrepreneur Academy 

Venture Partners, which launched in 2019, has developed a suite of programs designed to shepherd researchers through the process of founding a startup, from licensing patents and identifying markets to courting investors. Aspiring founders are free to pick and choose among them; but many, like Camila Uzcategui (MMatSci’18; PhD’21) and Johnny Hergert (MMatSci’18; PhD’21), co-founders of the biomedical startup , follow the entire sequence.  

As soon as they realized the rapid 3D-printing technology they developed as PhD students in the laboratory of materials scientist Robert McLeod had potential commercial applications, Uzcategui and Hergert disclosed their invention to the university. By 2020 the two were in discussions with Venture Partners, which helped them secure exclusive licensing for a variety of patents from the McLeod lab. 

A slow, difficult or expensive licensing process can stymie a budding entrepreneur and make it harder to attract funding. But Venture Partners’ Licensing with EASE program offers quick pre-negotiated terms that are attractive to founders and investors alike. 

“With these licensing terms, you can go out and talk to venture capitalists and raise money,” Uzcategui said. 

Uzcategui and Hergert quickly enrolled in Venture Partners programs — funded in part by NSF — such as Starting Blocks and Research-to-Market, which help founders identify markets for their inventions. They originally envisioned using their 3D-printing technology to aid drug discovery, but after speaking with potential customers, they shifted to producing dental aligners instead. 

The opportunities kept coming. The pair enrolled in the New Venture Launch class, which offers mentoring and pitch coaching from entrepreneurs and venture capitalists; won $125,000 in the Lab Venture Challenge (LVC) pitch competition and another $30,000 in the New Venture Challenge (NVC); and participated in the Ascent Deep Tech Accelerator.  

“We kind of never stopped,” Uzcategui said.  

Vitro3D then attracted $1.3 million in seed financing with Buff Gold Ventures, a venture capital fund co-created by Venture Partners that invests exclusively in CU Boulder startups. 

Network Effects 

The CU Boulder ecosystem played a similarly important role for Nick Meyerson, cofounder and CEO of the diagnostic testing startup . 

As a postdoctoral researcher in the laboratory of CU Boulder virologist Sara Sawyer, Meyerson discovered a novel means of analyzing a person’s saliva to determine whether they were carrying an infectious disease even before they developed symptoms. The Department of Defense (DoD), which funded the research, suggested he form a company to develop a handheld diagnostic device. Meyerson went to Rees and Venture Partners for advice. After submitting a patent application, Meyerson began taking Venture Partner workshops and entering pitch competitions, and in March 2020, Darwin Biosciences was born. 

Because of his existing relationship with the DoD — and also because he used his technology to develop one of the nation’s first rapid saliva-based COVID-19 tests — Meyerson didn’t need accelerator support or help figuring out who his potential customers were. 

But CU Boulder was still there for him. When the pandemic hit, the university gave Meyerson lab space to develop his COVID test. It also introduced him to Boulder’s rich network of experienced entrepreneurs and investors: Meyerson met his first CEO at the Lab Venture Challenge and his current director of operations through Venture Partners. 

“Most of the heavy hitters that I know in the area are because of connections that I’ve made through [Venture Partners],” said Meyerson. 

Darwin Biosciences is now on the verge of entering the commercial market. The company is developing a phase-two prototype of its testing device and pursuing FDA approval with the goal of developing a diagnostic platform that can be used for everything from at-home infectious disease testing to early cancer screening. 

Next Steps

“This is something that other universities really have not done”

The purpose of all these support structures is to help as many CU innovators as possible unlock the social and economic benefits of their discoveries. And as Vitro3D and Darwin Biosciences illustrate, the system is working.

But not every researcher wants to found their own company, which helps explain why many of the approximately 150 promising inventions produced at CU Boulder every year never make it to market. 

Venture Partners therefore established the Embark Deep Tech Startup Creator, funded by CU Boulder and the Colorado Office of Economic Development and International Trade, which gives outside entrepreneurs the opportunity to form startups around university-owned technology. Ten startups launched this past August, and each company enjoys access to CU’s startup programs and up to $100,000 for technology development.

“This is something that other universities really have not done,” said Rees, who believes that Embark will fuel more growth for CU as a startup hub. “We’re trying to craft a new model.”

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Photos courtesy University of Colorado

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