BINGHAMTON, NY – January 16, 2024 – New Energy New York (NENY) opened applications today for ChargeUp, a new accelerator that will help startups working on battery innovations advance their technology development and their business. Early-stage companies with battery innovations anywhere in the supply chain are encouraged to apply by 11:59 p.m. EST Feb. 23, 2024. Companies accepted into the accelerator will receive $25,000, connections to investors, and opportunities for follow-on investment, including up to $100,000 for technical development. Participation in the Binghamton based accelerator is mostly remote, with select weeks in person for instructional workshops and pitches to investor groups.

The initiative is part of a $4.5 million grant awarded to NextCorps from the U.S. National Science Foundation (NSF-2334103) to test a replicable model for better supporting the needs of early-stage, deep-tech businesses, improving the commercialization of new innovations, and strengthening economic development within region-specific technology hubs located across the U.S. The six-month accelerator is based on curriculum and learnings from two of NextCorps’ proven accelerators: Luminate, the world’s largest accelerator for startups developing technologies enabled by optics, photonics and imaging (OPI), and the Manufacturing Accelerator, which helps early-stage companies reduce the risk, waste, and cost associated with getting hardware from prototype to mass production. The methodology used by both programs leverages university, community, and industrial involvement to guide and speed the delivery of emerging technologies.

ChargeUp will follow a similar format, and will be run by Binghamton University’s Koffman Southern Tier Incubator under the NENY initiative. During the program, companies will receive over 200 hours of curriculum that will prepare them to become investment-ready by mastering business due diligence, design for manufacturing, complex supply chains, product pricing, and other topics. The accelerator also will connect them to resources within the region’s rapidly growing battery industry cluster enabled by NENY, which has been federally designated as a battery innovation Tech Hub by the U.S. Department of Commerce’s Economic Development Administration (EDA), and driven by New York State’s efforts to pioneer critical energy storage technologies.

“The Binghamton region is internationally recognized for its expertise in energy storage. This accelerator will allow us to attract the best startups and talent to the region, and connect them to the benchmark assets and expertise available here to change the trajectory of their business and technology commercialization,” said Binghamton University Associate Vice President of Innovation and Economic Development, Per Stromhaug.

Since 2017, Koffman’s Southern Tier Clean Energy Incubator program has fostered over 60 startup companies, including iM3NY, which opened the state’s first battery Gigafactory. Binghamton University, through its office of Entrepreneurship and Innovation Partnerships, is leading the NENY initiative, with the cornerstone project, Battery-NY, for the development of a first-of-its-kind in the nation battery technology and prototyping center.

Startups applying to ChargeUp must be incorporated, have at least two people working full time on the business, and should have proven their core technology, preferably having developed a working prototype. ChargeUp will begin April 14, 2024 and conclude in late September 2024. Virtual info sessions will be held on January 25 and February 8 to help companies assess if the program is right for their business.

To register for one of the upcoming info sessions, visit:

• Scale Your Startup at ChargeUp (Jan. 25, 2024, 1–2 p.m. EST)
• Tips for Applying to ChargeUp (Feb. 8, 2024, 1–2 p.m. EST)

To apply to ChargeUp, visit: https://www.f6s.com/chargeup-accelerator-2024/apply.

“Our world is facing energy storage issues that are affecting almost every industry. Testing our proven accelerator methodologies within battery innovation to solve these pressing challenges, and doing so within a rich, industry-leading battery ecosystem makes perfect sense,” said Dr. Sujatha Ramanujan, Managing Director, Luminate NY. “We’re eager to support the ChargeUp accelerator and to assess the impact it has on improving success rates for bringing novel technologies to market.”

For more information on ChargeUp, visit newenergynewyork.com/programs/chargeup

For more information about Binghamton University’s Koffman Southern Tier Incubator, visit thekoffman.com.

For more information on NextCorps, visit nextcorps.org.

For more information about NSF grants, visit nsf.gov.