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2019 & 2020

The Engine Report

Part impact report, part celebration of The Engine’s portfolio companies and their achievements, The Report dives deep into the impact these Tough Tech companies are making today and how they will change the world of tomorrow.

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

03 The Engine Initiatives

It’s our job to make it easier for Tough Tech to change the world.

  1. 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
  2. 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
  3. 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.

  • 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 Separations

    12%

    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.

  • 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 Metal

    0%

    Zero emissions production of steel and alloys at competitive prices. Zero water waste. Zero reagents used in processing.

  • 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 Systems

    FUSION

    Fusion is clean energy to power the planet and combat climate change.

“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

05 The Full Report

We hope you can join us.