There’s no feeling quite like being recognized by a community you’ve long been working to improve. Just ask Carbon Reform CEO and co-founder Jo Norris.
“Winning a grant that is specifically meant for underrepresented founders in tech from Delaware … in all these different categories, [Carbon Reform] is a really good fit and it’s nice to know we’re being seen as such,” Norris told Delaware Business Times.
The state’s public-private economic development agency, the Delaware Prosperity Partnership (DPP), and its local partners awarded over $170,000 in grant prizes to a dozen tech startups in May. The second-ever Startup302 grant competition recognized finalists from innovative companies with underrepresented founders.
“We are a fully LGBTQ-owned business … we’re really all about diversity,” Norris said.
Carbon Reform — the competition’s first-place winner in the chemical technology sub-category — was awarded a $15,000 prize. The company also earned a $11,250 Delaware Innovator Bonus and a Blue Hen Prize amounting to $12,500.
The Newark-based company’s Carbon Capsule unit improves indoor air quality by capturing carbon dioxide and other pollutants from the air and isolating them.
The unit is designed to be more affordable for clients than larger-scale methods of indoor air quality regulation tend to be, Norris said. The company recently received a preorder for its first 50 units for installation in the United States.
In addition to boasting an innovative and affordable product, the startup is dedicated to environmental consciousness.
“Part of our whole thesis as a company is that we have to be very firmly carbon negative, not just carbon neutral,” Norris said.
With its Startup302 grant money, Carbon Reform will continue to pursue its growth goals. In the near future, it plans to double its five-person staff and strengthen its involvement with international partners, according to Norris.
Resonate Forward — another company recognized by the DPP — has growth in mind, too.
Also based in Newark, Resonate Forward was awarded Startup302’s $25,000 first place prize in the life sciences category. The company also earned a $18,250 Delaware Innovator Bonus and $7,500 in Blue Hen Prize funds.
The company’s mission is to aid people with Parkinson’s disease through the commercialization of medical device technology developed at the University of Delaware’s STAR Campus, Resonate Forward President Theresa Litherland said.
“What we’re doing with the grant is finalizing our regulatory submissions to the Food and Drug Administration. We’re putting together our kind of grassroots marketing program for the first launch and we’re finalizing manufacturing so that we can eventually buy inventory,” she told DBT.
Using vibration technology, Resonate Forward’s medical device has been shown to reduce the symptoms of tremor for Parkinson’s patients in clinical trials.
“This grant will get us over the final hump of getting our first product to market. Which is pretty exciting because in the medical device world, it takes a long time,” Litherland said.
As the company undergoes this next step toward product approval, community ties remain a top priority.
“We’ve tested prototypes on a ton of different Parkinson’s patients here in Delaware,” Litherland said. “Patients have dedicated a ton of time to do that, so it feels like we’re finally getting something back to this community that has supported us quite a bit along the way.”
Like Litherland, OmniPotential Energy CEO and founder Cora Castle is driven by a desire to help community members.
OmniPotential’s Curbstar is a shareable curbside electric vehicle (EV) charging unit intended for installation in residential areas. The unit was developed to be more cost-effective and convenient for EV owners looking to charge their vehicle near their home.
“Using our revenue model consumers are going to be able to save themselves about $1,800 a year in fueling expenses alone, plus about $1,000 in maintenance,” Castle said. “We are so excited to be able to provide an opportunity for people who, until now, have been entirely overlooked by the EV industry.”
By making EV charging more accessible, the company hopes to spur on EV ownership in the state.
“Our goal is to make Delaware a national leader in EV adoption,” Castle said.
In addition to developing the Curbstar, OmniPotential has worked toward EV accessibility in the state through legislative means.
Senate Bill 187 — which is currently awaiting the governor’s signature — will require municipalities of 30,000 or more residents to adopt curbside residential EV charging permit policies.
Once applied to Dover, Wilmington and Newark, SB 187 will help the company expand its charging service to consumers in the state’s most populous areas.
OmniPotential was awarded a second-place prize of $10,000 in Startup302’s Open Innovation category. The company also received a $7,500 Delaware Innovation Bonus and $5,000 in Blue Hen Prize funds.
By Emma Reilly
DBT Intern
