01 Introduction
“Core to our mission is helping incredible founders, ideas, and companies scale. To create lasting impact for the world, we must reach everyone.”
Katie Rae CEO & Managing Partner, The Engine
The Engine was spun out of MIT in 2016 with the purpose of supporting startups poised to create a material positive impact on society and the environment. Our 2019 & 2020 Report looks back on the progress our portfolio has made tackling climate change, developing breakthroughs for human health, and creating advanced systems and infrastructure. It also details the initiatives we’ve created to help founders and the broader Tough Tech ecosystem thrive. The two years since our last report have been defined by a pandemic that has only served to sharpen our collective sense of urgency to discover and commercialize Tough Tech companies. These years serve as a reminder of why we must continue to create the frameworks to support those who are solving massive problems through the convergence of science and technology.
02 United Nations Sustainable Development Goals
A blueprint for peace and prosperity.
The United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (UN SDGs) were established in 2015 as a shared blueprint for peace and prosperity for people and the planet, now and into the future. They have since been adopted by all UN Member States. These 17 SDGs recognize that achieving a better and more sustainable future for all requires an integrated approach to solving a diverse set of issues together. The Engine and the companies in our portfolio mirror this approach.
Mapping The Engine’s portfolio across the UN Sustainable Development Goals:
Mapping The Engine’s portfolio across the UN Sustainable Development Goals: |
No Poverty
|
Zero Hunger
|
Good Health & Well-being
|
Quality Education
|
Gender Equality
|
Clean Water & Sanitation
|
Affordable & Clean Energy
|
Decent Work & Economic Growth
|
Industry, Innovation, & Infrastructure
|
Reduced Inequalities
|
Sustainable Cities & Communities
|
Responsible Consumption & Production
|
Climate Action
|
Life below Water
|
Life on Land
|
Peace, Justice, & Strong Insitutions
|
Partnerships for the Goals
|
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Climate Change | |||||||||||||||||
Boston Metal | No | No | Yes | No | No | No | No | Yes | Yes | No | Yes | Yes | Yes | No | No | No | Yes |
Cambridge Electronics | No | No | No | No | No | No | Yes | Yes | Yes | No | Yes | No | Yes | No | No | No | No |
Commonwealth Fusion Systems | Yes | No | No | No | No | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | No | No | Yes | No |
Form Energy | No | No | No | No | No | No | Yes | Yes | Yes | No | Yes | No | Yes | No | No | No | No |
Lilac Solutions | No | No | No | No | No | No | Yes | No | Yes | No | Yes | Yes | Yes | No | Yes | No | No |
Quaise | Yes | No | No | No | No | No | Yes | No | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | No | Yes | Yes | No |
Syzygy Plasmonics | No | No | No | No | No | No | Yes | No | Yes | No | Yes | Yes | Yes | No | No | No | No |
Via Separations | No | No | No | No | No | Yes | Yes | No | Yes | No | No | Yes | Yes | No | Yes | No | No |
Human Health | |||||||||||||||||
Biobot Analytics | No | No | Yes | No | No | Yes | No | No | No | Yes | Yes | No | No | No | No | Yes | No |
Cellino | No | No | Yes | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | No |
E25Bio | No | No | Yes | No | No | No | No | No | No | Yes | No | No | No | No | No | No | No |
Kytopen | No | No | Yes | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | Yes | No | No | No | No | No |
Lucy Therapeutics | No | No | Yes | No | No | No | No | No | Yes | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | No |
Mori | Yes | Yes | Yes | No | No | No | No | No | No | Yes | Yes | Yes | No | No | No | No | No |
Seaspire Skincare | No | No | Yes | No | No | Yes | No | Yes | No | No | No | Yes | Yes | No | No | No | No |
Suono Bio | No | No | Yes | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | No |
Vaxess Technologies | No | No | Yes | No | No | No | No | No | No | Yes | Yes | No | No | No | No | No | No |
Advanced Systems & Infrastructure | |||||||||||||||||
Analytical Space | No | Yes | No | Yes | No | No | No | No | Yes | Yes | No | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | No | No |
C2Sense | No | No | Yes | No | No | No | No | No | Yes | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | No |
Celestial AI | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | Yes | No | No | No | Yes | No | No | No | No |
Hyperlight | No | No | No | Yes | No | No | No | Yes | Yes | No | No | Yes | Yes | No | No | No | No |
ISEE | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | Yes | Yes | Yes | No | No | No | No | No | No |
Radix Labs | No | No | Yes | No | No | No | No | No | Yes | Yes | No | No | No | No | No | No | No |
RISE Robotics | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | Yes | No | Yes | No | Yes | No | No | No | No |
Sync Computing | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | Yes | No | No | Yes | No | No | No | No | No |
The Routing Company | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | Yes | Yes | Yes | No | Yes | No | No | No | No |
WoHo | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | Yes | Yes | Yes | No | No | No | No | No | No |
Zapata Computing | No | No | Yes | Yes | No | No | No | No | Yes | No | Yes | No | Yes | No | No | No | No |
Mapping The Engine across the UN Sustainable Development Goals:
Mapping The Engine across the UN Sustainable Development Goals: |
No Poverty
|
Zero Hunger
|
Good Health & Well-being
|
Quality Education
|
Gender Equality
|
Clean Water & Sanitation
|
Affordable & Clean Energy
|
Decent Work & Economic Growth
|
Industry, Innovation, & Infrastructure
|
Reduced Inequalities
|
Sustainable Cities & Communities
|
Responsible Consumption & Production
|
Climate Action
|
Life below Water
|
Life on Land
|
Peace, Justice, & Strong Insitutions
|
Partnerships for the Goals
|
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Fostering Entrepreneurship in Science & Technology | |||||||||||||||||
Blueprint | No | No | No | Yes | No | No | No | No | No | Yes | No | No | No | No | No | Yes | No |
Provocations | No | Yes | Yes | No | No | No | Yes | No | Yes | No | No | No | Yes | No | Yes | No | Yes |
Tough Tech Summit | No | No | Yes | No | No | No | No | Yes | Yes | No | No | No | Yes | No | Yes | No | Yes |
Diversity, Equity, & Inclusion | No | No | No | Yes | Yes | No | No | Yes | Yes | Yes | No | No | No | No | No | Yes | No |
Marketing & Thought Leadership | No | No | No | Yes | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | Yes |
Tough Tech Publications | No | Yes | Yes | Yes | No | No | Yes | Yes | Yes | No | Yes | Yes | Yes | No | Yes | No | Yes |
Regional Development | |||||||||||||||||
Space & Infrastructure | No | No | Yes | Yes | No | No | No | Yes | Yes | No | Yes | Yes | No | No | No | Yes | Yes |
Talent | No | No | No | No | Yes | No | No | Yes | Yes | No | No | No | No | No | No | Yes | No |
Encouraging Commercialization of Tough Tech | |||||||||||||||||
The Engine Network | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | Yes |
Government & Policy | Yes | No | No | Yes | Yes | No | No | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | No | No | No | No | Yes | Yes |
The Engine Fund | No | No | Yes | No | Yes | No | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | No | Yes | No | Yes | Yes | Yes |
The Engine Founders Programming | No | No | No | Yes | Yes | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | Yes | Yes |
Capital Stack | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | Yes | Yes | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | Yes |
03 The Engine Initiatives
It’s our job to make it easier for Tough Tech to change the world.
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Fostering Entrepreneurship within Science & Technology
Initiatives
- Blueprint
- The Engine Provocations
- Tough Tech Summit
- Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion
- Thought Leadership
“The Engine’s investments are driven by a mandate, not a particular vertical. I’m constantly using the interdisciplinary nature of the community to our benefit.”
Shreya Dave, Via Separations
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Regional Development
Initiatives
- Space & Infrastructure
- The Engine Expansion
- Talent
“As COVID-19 hit, we had just closed our first round of funding. The entire team at The Engine worked with us at that moment to help us pivot to monitoring the pandemic. They stepped in and helped us grow from a team of five people to a team of 30-plus.”
Marina Matus, Biobot Analytics
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Encouraging Commercialization of Tough Tech
Initiatives
- The Engine Network
- Government & Policy
- The Engine Fund
- The Tough Tech Capital Stack
“As our lead investor in the seed round, The Engine was instrumental in breaking down apprehensions from other investors in joining our cause. That was a pivotal moment that enabled the company to take its first steps away from the lab and into the commercial journey ahead.”
Carold Araque, Quaise
“The thriving and exciting young companies launched by The Engine are thrilling endorsements of its founding insight: that many promising ‘tough’ technologies need steady, long-term support to bridge the gap between idea and societal impact. Each new founder, collaboration, idea and investment helps bring our dream of an ‘innovation orchard’ to life – and brings the world closer to the kinds of breakthroughs our society needs the most.”
L. Rafael Reif MIT President
04 Portfolio Company Highlights
This is what Tough Tech looks like.
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Decarbonizing every industrial process
Via Separations’ graphene oxide membrane platform can help industries like pulp & paper, chemical manufacturing, semiconductors, pharmaceuticals, and food & beverage eliminate thermal separation.
Via Separations“We're going to touch every product that a person uses in their day — eliminating thermal separations enables a higher quality of life for the globe.”
Shreya Dave CEO & Co-Founder, Via Separations12%
Industrial thermal separations for 12% of all U.S. energy consumption, which is roughly the same amount of energy as all the gasoline used for transportation in the U.S.
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Green steel with zero greenhouse gas emissions
Boston Metal’s unique steel making process can help decarbonize a sector that contributes nearly 8% of all global CO2 emissions.
Boston Metal“Every bridge, every building — everything we build — all the appliances you have at home — everything needs steel.”
Tadeu Carneiro CEO, Boston Metal0%
Zero emissions production of steel and alloys at competitive prices. Zero water waste. Zero reagents used in processing.
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Safe, unlimited, carbon-free fusion power for the grid in 10-15 years
Commonwealth Fusion Systems is using revolutionary new materials and technologies to develop a fusion machine that is smaller, easier to build, and easier to deploy than any other system under development.
Commonwealth Fusion Systems“Imagine the world in 2050. Our vision is for 10,000 zero carbon ARC fusion power plants delivering electricity to the grid globally, meeting 20% of humanity’s demand.”
Bob Mumgaard CEO & Co-Founder, Commonwealth Fusion SystemsFUSION
Fusion is clean energy to power the planet and combat climate change.
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Automating personalized medicine to cure our toughest diseases
Cellino automates the engineering of induced stem cells using label-free imaging and high-speed laser editing. This approach allows thousands of patient samples to be processed in parallel in a single facility.
Cellino“What happens if cells go awry and stop doing their important jobs? Patients develop diseases such as Parkinson’s, chronic heart disease diabetes, or even blindness. Cellino is working on cell-based therapies to prevent and reverse these debilitating diseases.”
Nabiha Saklayen CEO & Co-Founder, CellinoAPPROACH
Cellino's unique multidisciplinary approach combines stem cell biology, machine learning, and laser physics.
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Making vaccines radically more effective and accessible via a shelf-stable patch
Vaxess Technologies is producing patch-based therapies that are shelf-stable, easily administered, and proven to be more effective than those administered traditionally. MIMIX™ smart-release therapies can be used across a range of different products, from small molecules to vaccines.
Vaxess Technologies“The company is working on a long term solution to addressing COVID as it transitions from a pandemic to an endemic concern. We believe there will be a need for a regular seasonal vaccination. Our approach to addressing this is to combine a seasonal flu vaccine and COVID vaccine in a single, shelf-stable dose.”
Michael Schrader CEO & Co-Founder, Vaxess Technologies -
A natural coating that reduces food spoilage and packaging waste
Mori is pioneering a natural water-based coating that preserves the freshness of food. It’s tasteless and invisible, and can be applied to everything from fresh-cut produce to proteins like meat and fish. The coating dramatically extends shelf life by slowing the exchange of gases that cause decay.
Mori“We produce enough food to feed the world — the ability to extend shelf life, and ensure a resilient food supply chain, can help us all have access to food that is healthy and safe.”
Adam Behrens CEO & Co-Founder, Mori25%-100%
Natural coating slows the spoilage of produce and protein by 25%-100% without the need for single-use packaging.
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Redefining the possibilities of the world’s communication infrastructure with ultra-high-speed, low-power circuits
HyperLight has developed chip-scale electro-optic modulators, the first of their kind anywhere in the world. These chips will make the connections between data centers, industries, offices, and homes faster and more capable.
Hyperlight“The demand for data is not slowing down. It’s accelerating, and we expect that demand to keep growing, driven by the rapid evolution of AI and other data-intensive platforms.”
Mian Zhang CEO & Co-Founder, HyperLight30%
Reducing data center power consumption by up to 30% by harnessing the superior properties of lithium niobate
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Quantum software to solve our most complex problems
The team at Zapata Computing writes algorithms that harness the power of quantum computing to help predict and simulate some of the universe’s most complex interactions, such as the behavior of molecules at an atomic level. When used in tandem with quantum hardware, these algorithms have practical industrial applications, like the optimization of supply chains and travel routes, or the prediction of drug efficacy before compounds are even synthesized in the lab.
Zapata AI“I deeply believe that quantum software will affect all of humanity. Many of the big problems that we need to solve require the type of predictive modeling quantum computing excels at — things like climate change, global pandemic response, anything that involves massive models.”
Christopher Savoie CEO & Co-Founder, Zapata Computing497
Peer-reviewed quantum information publications
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Changing how we design and construct our world
WoHo is transforming the way spaces are conceived and created. The company integrates architectural design, engineering, and construction into a single, streamlined platform to quickly build resilient, sustainable, high-rise buildings.
WoHo“WoHo is building the new generation of intelligent, safe, and sustainable spaces. We are raising the standards and expectations for how buildings are created. WoHo is changing how we design and construct our world — so that everyone wins.”
Israel Ruiz CEO & Co-Founder, WoHo20%+
Reducing construction costs by more than 20%.
“The Engine ecosystem — and the Boston Tough Tech ecosystem at large — is full of founders and talent going through the same sort of thought processes and the experiences of building companies. You can find people that have gone through the same stage that you’re at right now as an entrepreneur, whatever that stage is.”
Bob Mumgaard CEO & Co-Founder, Commonwealth Fusion Systems