Activate Welcomes 47 New Fellows to Cohort 2025
The new 2025 Cohort is powering America’s next hard tech leap
Today, we are announcing the next cohort of 47 scientists and engineers who are joining the Activate Fellowship. The 39 companies of Cohort 2025 are developing technologies across 14 industries and represent 29 cities and nine states in the U.S., spanning Activate’s four hub communities – Berkeley, Boston, Houston, and New York – as well as Activate Anywhere, the remote-based community that includes fellows across the U.S.
“Science entrepreneurship is the origin story of tomorrow’s industries,” said Cyrus Wadia, CEO of Activate. “The U.S. has long been a world center for science leadership and technological advancement. When it comes to solving the world’s biggest challenges, hard-tech innovation is how we unlock the best solutions. From infrastructure to energy to agriculture, these Activate Fellows are the bold thinkers who are building the next generation of science-focused companies to lead us into the future.”
Introducing Cohort 2025
Activate Houston
The selection process attracted applications from across the nation and demonstrated trends in future hard-tech innovation across a number of industries including semiconductors, AI, critical minerals, energy security, agriculture, infrastructure, and more. Activate’s selection committees include some of the world’s top subject matter experts across the fields of quantum, robotics, biology, agriculture, energy, direct air capture, and many others, ensuring that the technologies and startups that Fellows establish are truly novel.
Activate Anywhere
Activate continues to expand its region of impact even further, now adding its first fellow in Ohio and making its total geographic reach 26 states. The Activate Anywhere cohort, first launched by the U.S. National Science Foundation, includes even more fellows in innovation ecosystems like Michigan and Colorado, in addition to fellows in the core Activate Communities based out of California, Massachusetts, New York, and Texas. This year’s cohort also includes increased emphasis to onshore domestic semiconductor manufacturing funded through the NIST CHIPS Research and Development (R&D) Office and the National Science Foundation.
Activate New York
This marks the 11th cohort for Activate, which was founded in 2015. Over the past decade, Activate Fellows have created 236 companies, of which 96% are still active. These companies have raised over $4B in follow-on funding and created almost 3,000 new jobs across the U.S. This year’s fellows were selected from over 900 applications, making this the most competitive cohort to date. As a nonprofit organization, Activate relies on partnerships with generous funders, from government to private philanthropy, to make the fellowship possible.
Activate Boston
Founded in 2015, Activate empowers scientists and engineers to reinvent the world by launching startups to address the most pressing global challenges. Working between government, philanthropy, universities, and the private sector, Activate transforms scientists and engineers into high-impact entrepreneurs through the Activate Fellowship, a two-year immersive experience that equips science entrepreneurs with the skills, networks, infrastructure, and funding they need to quickly and effectively bring their groundbreaking research to market.
Activate Berkeley
Activate is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit and does not charge any fee nor equity for fellows to participate. Activate’s entrepreneurial fellowship model originated at Cyclotron Road, founding Activate partner and the first U.S. Department of Energy's Lab-Embedded Entrepreneurship Program (LEEP) started at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory. Activate supports fellows in communities across the United States: Activate Berkeley, Activate Boston, Activate New York, Activate Houston, and Activate Anywhere.
