As the deep tech startup scene rapidly grows, the Ascent Deep Tech Accelerator, created by Venture Partners at CU Boulder, helps founders move past sticking points to hit critical milestones in transitioning their technologies from lab to marketplace.
Deep tech innovations spun out of university and federal labs face unique challenges because they disrupt current technologies and take more time and money to develop, according to Emily Vogt, director of venture development at Venture Partners and co-lead of Ascent. 鈥淲e understand that certain innovations in science and engineering are by nature game-changing technologies, but face challenging paths to market, require intensive research and development and have significant capital requirements on their path to success,鈥� she said.聽
Leveraging experts,聽mentors and Venture Partners staff, early-stage companies accelerate their viability and traction, ultimately preparing them for a final pitch to investors, entrepreneurs and industry experts at the Ascent Investor Showcase.
Enter Ascent, created by Venture Partners and partially funded by a grant from the Colorado Office of Economic Development and International Trade (OEDIT), available to researchers at the University of Colorado campuses in Boulder, Denver and Colorado Springs or in-state federal labs. Venture Partners added the program to its complement of entrepreneurial training programs in 2021 specifically to help innovators push past points of friction and tap into the many potential economic and social rewards of breakthrough technologies, said Vogt.
In the two years Ascent has been up and running, CU Boulder has spun out 32 deep tech startups. Through targeted programming during Ascent, experts have helped 19 teams looking to transition their research into companies with real-world impacts. Take this year鈥檚 cohort, whose innovations span a broad range of disciplines in the physical and life sciences鈥攆rom cleantech and quantum computing to advanced therapeutics. 鈥淲e鈥檝e got so many exciting teams here working to make our future better in so many different ways,鈥� said Nicole Forsberg, business development executive with Venture Partners and Ascent co-lead.
Building a foundation
Venture Partners designed Ascent to link early-stage companies with experts, mentors and program staff who take founders through four modules: company formation, paths to market, entrepreneurial finance and fundraising. 鈥淭he goal is to lay out the resources, to give them a foundation, even if it鈥檚 just to start understanding what kinds of questions to ask in forming a startup,鈥� said Vogt.聽
That鈥檚 been critical for founders like Krister Shalm (Physics; Electrical, Computer & Energy Engineering), co-founder of Twine with Jasper Palfree (Physics), a next-generation data integrity and security platform company based on a peer-to-peer network of blockchains. 鈥淏eing an entrepreneur is all very new to me鈥� and there鈥檚 a lot of things I don鈥檛 know, but there鈥檚 even more things I didn鈥檛 know that I don鈥檛 know. Ascent has really helped with a lot of that,鈥� said Shalm, a senior research associate in . In addition to being in Ascent鈥檚 2023 cohort, Twine was one of the winners of Venture Partners鈥� 2022 Lab Venture Challenge.
To qualify for Ascent, teams must have submitted an invention disclosure to Venture Partners and completed customer discovery in their target market, such as through the I-CorpsTM Research-to-Market programs. Cohort members commit to weekly workshops and coaching sessions over the four-month program. Founders鈥� agreements, team building and storytelling are just some of the many topics covered. That unique curriculum was designed with specialized tracks providing domain-specific content that aligns with individual company needs.聽
Light touch, big impact
Ascent may sound intense but, said Vogt, 鈥淚t鈥檚 intentionally a light touch program. The goal is to work with researchers that are still running their labs, still studying towards their advanced degrees, while giving them a business foundation that they can build upon when they are ready.鈥澛�
That approach has worked well for founders in this year鈥檚 cohort, like Brandon Regensburger and Khurram Afridi, who spun out ExoPower from Afridi鈥檚 power electronics lab at CU Boulder. At the time, Afridi was an assistant professor in CU Boulder鈥檚 Department of Electrical, Computer and Energy Engineering, and Regensburger was his student.聽
ExoPower makes novel, in-motion capacitive wireless charging systems for electric vehicles and material-handling vehicles (like those found in huge Amazon warehouses), which allow 鈥榠n-use鈥� charging, increasing workforce productivity and battery life while reducing battery size.
What ExoPower鈥檚 founders found most valuable with Ascent was that it helped them navigate the infamous 鈥渧alley of death鈥� moments of uncertainty that befall many deep tech startups. That鈥檚 when an idea is promising, but the technology is not yet a working product, or it has yet to be scaled up for entry into the market鈥攂ut the venture needs guidance and investment to make it happen.聽 鈥�We had weekly classes, and they assigned me a venture capitalist advisor who鈥檚 been amazing in helping me really develop my pitch,鈥� he said. 鈥淚鈥檓 in a completely different world from where I was several months ago,鈥� said Regensburger.聽
Teams wrap up their experience with the Ascent Investor Showcase, a capstone event aimed at helping founders to gain investment and partnership traction with brief business pitches to a community of investors, entrepreneurs and industry experts. 鈥淲e invite investors from near and far to listen to the company pitches and hopefully do some matchmaking,鈥� said 贵辞谤蝉产别谤驳.听
At this year鈥檚 May showcase, the six-team cohort presented their innovations to 90 attendees. 鈥淭his culmination, this showcase event, is such an exciting opportunity for us and for all of you to see what the next phase of impactful companies are doing, coming out of university research and labs,鈥� Vogt told the group. 鈥淚 really trust that all of these companies are going to be big names for our state, for our university, for you all as investors,鈥� she said.
