2025 Awardees

Aquora Biosystems, Inc. is building a novel approach to biorefining organic waste that once widely deployed, could unlock the full potential of renewable natural gas (RNG) and sustainable aviation fuel (SAF) production. Aquora's patented fermentation technology aims to overcome feedstock constraints and cost barriers that limit today's approaches. Aquora's biorefinery converts wet organic wastes like food waste, wastewater sludge, manure, and dairy processing wastewater into valuable carboxylic acids. Aquora's fermentation system uses patented biomembranes to retain key microorganisms introduced from enriched inoculum, enabling high-yield carboxylic acid production with a 50 to 80 per cent footprint reduction relative to existing approaches. Aquora sources its feedstocks from processing byproducts domestically, turning cost centers for agriculture and industry into revenue streams. With plans to build alongside existing natural gas and refining infrastructure, Aquora's waste fermentation-to-fuel technology can scale to increase existing RNG production by 50+ per cent, and serve up to 25 per cent of the nation's jet fuel demand by 2050. The Rocket Fund award will de-risk Aquora's first-stage fermentation technology by piloting it with an industrial partner operating a food waste digestion facility, with plans to scale both retrofit and new-build sites after piloting.

AtmoSpark Technologies, Inc. uses patented electroseparation technology to pioneer a new technology for dehumidifying buildings. This addresses a significant energy challenge where humidity control accounts for up to 40 per cent of cooling power consumption. The technology's core advance uses an innovative electric field-driven separation system that directly manipulates water molecules using their natural polarity to create two valuable outputs: dry air requiring less energy to cool and humid air for water recovery. When widely deployed AtmoSpark's approach may reduce facility cooling costs by 50 per cent while simultaneously generating clean water as a valuable byproduct, creating dual resource streams from ambient air. The Rocket Fund grant will support the development and optimization of AtmoSpark's pilot system, enabling critical pilot demonstrations at partner facilities to validate energy savings and water reclamation capabilities. Over the next 12 months, this funding will advance the technology from bench top through real-world testing, leveraging partnerships with industry leaders to refine system integration and establish commercial scalability.

BASEstud.io is reimagining public infrastructure with patented, climate-resilient streetlights that integrate solar power, battery storage and mesh WiFi—creating distributed energy resources (DERs) that provide always-on lighting, connectivity and backup power during emergencies. With support from the Rocket Fund, BASEstud.io will launch a Living Lab in fire-impacted Altadena, CA, showcasing how clean infrastructure can enhance safety and quality of life in communities facing climate risk. A deployment of 1,000 poles can generate 1.35 GWh of clean energy annually, avoid over 250 metric tons of CO₂ and reduce manufacturing emissions by an additional 510 metric tons while strengthening grid resilience and delivering essential public services when they're needed most in this age of climate disruption.

ChemFinity Technologies, Inc. is applying novel membrane technologies to reduce industrial energy demand in olefin purification by up to 90 per cent for petrochemical refiners. The membranes demonstrate higher separation performance—up to 150 per cent selectivity and 400 per cent permeability improvements—compared to state-of-the-art membranes, across multiple olefin/paraffin gas mixtures. These breakthroughs are driven by the incorporation of metal–organic framework (MOF) fillers. These contain structured, tunable, 1-nm-sized pores that serve as high-diffusivity gas transport channels. If widely adopted, this technology could eliminate over 100 million metric tonnes of CO₂ annually across the global chemical sector. Energy savings could reach 710 TWh/year, roughly equal to the annual electricity consumption of ~66 million U.S. homes. Based on original research by UC Berkeley researchers and supported by the Breakthrough Energy Fellows Program the company is also adapting its technology to target another important sustainability opportunity: deriving renewable natural gas (RNG) from methane released by California's dairy farm operations. Methane is approximately 80 times more potent than carbon dioxide over a 20-year period while RNG has a negative carbon intensity, significantly lower than diesel and even electricity.

EcoSnap LLC is developing patented, easily-installed heat pumps that can be set up in under an hour, thus slashing installation costs and complexity. Residential heat pumps are a popular alternative to gas furnaces, and are now a critical component of the energy transition, addressing the 10% of US energy usage used for heating and cooling homes. EcoSnap's through-wall technology streamlines connections for any ductless heat pump through a plug-and-play design that eliminates the need for specialized labor. It allows easy connection of the refrigerant lines, condensate line, data and power between the indoor and outdoor units. The patented connector includes self-sealing fittings that keep the refrigerant inside the system while enabling quick and secure installation using a lever mechanism. This solution removes the need to handle refrigerant and reduces the possibility of refrigerant leaks, reducing costs and increasing reliability. It also eliminates the need to wire to the electrical panel, allowing the unit to plug in to an indoor outlet. The result is an easily deployable and affordable ductless mini split heat pump that may speed up the adoption of this energy saving technology. The Rocket Fund award will facilitate certification and the purchase of critical equipment components, allowing EcoSnap to scale up and establish a beachhead in the California accessory dwelling unit (ADU) market.