Enabling Enterprises with Digital Transformation, IoT/sensor integration, and AI deployment for data & AI-driven decision support systems to improve operational and worker productivity, sustainability, and AI Governance.
I congratulate Aepnus Technology, a deep-tech startup, for raising $8M to commercialize its National Science Foundation (NSF)-funded research work to develop an electrochemical platform to improve circularity and reduce emissions in battery supply chain chemicals, enabling GHG emissions reduction by an expected 3 gigatons by 2050. I congratulate Rhonda Shrader, Executive Director of UC Berkeley Haas Entrepreneurship & NSF I-Corps Bay Area. She is an inspiring instructor; I am so fortunate to be in her class during the Summer 24 #Icorps Cohort. I am an Industry Mentor (IM) to Professor Ratnesh Kumar and Professor Shawana Tabassum, PhD who are inventors of plasmonic metamaterial-based gas sensing technology, based on NSF-funded research. It offers an order-of-magnitude lower-cost alternative to techniques like gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC-MS) and Fourier Transform Infra-Red (FTIR). The technology helps with environmental compliance for GHG emissions in agriculture and manufacturing, Condition Monitoring of gases produced during process control in manufacturing plants, and monitoring of gases in Transformers (HW used in utilities - not the ones for implementing attention 😀). If you're interested in turning your NSF-funded research into a real-world product or service, consider the #Icorps program. It provides intense customer discovery training, where you'll interview 100+ potential customers in just seven weeks. This might sound grueling, but it's an invaluable experience. Remember, in startups, the founder is often the first salesperson. Understanding your customers' needs early on is crucial for success.
We're smack dab in the middle of National Science Foundation (NSF) Summer 24 #ICorps, grinding away toward the goal of 100 interviews...always a great time to get good news from past teams. Congrats to joint University of California, Berkeley, Berkeley Lab (& Summer 22 National #ICorps) team Aepnus Technology! $8M raise for converting battery waste into 2 key chemicals for further production + mitigating a projected 3 gigatons of greenhouse gas emissions by 2050.💪 Best part? Two of the nicest guys on the 🌎 Way to go Bilen Akuzum, Ph.D. & Lukas Hackl , you are rock stars!! 🤩 🤩 What can I-Corps do for your STEM startup? Apply by 6/28 for the free, 3-evening, virtual class starting 7/15. Learn more here: https://bit.ly/3xcA2mD https://bit.ly/3RwxxCv Rich Lyons Shankar Sastry Darren Cooke Dave Weiner Marquita M. Qualls, PhD Weston Waldo, MBA Annam Quraishi Seo Yeon Yoon Chris Bush Follow me + UC Berkeley Innovation & Entrepreneurship for more posts like this.
Divya Atre
3mo
Congratulations to Aepnus Technology for raising $8M and reducing greenhouse gas emissions through their innovative battery waste conversion technology. It's inspiring to see the impact of NSF-funded research and the success of I-Corps teams.
Ratnesh Kumar
4mo
Ashis Khan thanks for your huge time, effort, and guidance in your role as Industry Mentor (IM) to our NSF ICorps curriculum, and thanks Bidyut Parruck at IIT Startups for connecting with you.
Virtual CMO and Go-to-Market Builder for Video Tech Companies
4moI have a few thoughts: - Emphasizing intense customer discovery can significantly reduce time-to-market and pivot your product based on real needs, which Eric Ries and the lean startup approach advocates. - Understanding customer pain points early ensures product-market fit, making fundraising easier as investors see validated demand. - Diverse mentors provide invaluable insights across various business aspects, enhancing the overall strategic approach. Other things to consider: - Intense focus on customer discovery might delay actual product development, potentially allowing competitors to catch up. - Too much early feedback can lead to analysis paralysis, as suggested by Geoffrey Moore in "Crossing the Chasm," meaning you might struggle to prioritize core features.