More than 150 companies applied for the chance to present their cleantech innovations to potential investors and engaged industry experts at the 26th annual event.

Forty companies have been selected to participate in the U.S. Department of Energy's National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) Industry Growth Forum, which will be held virtually again this year. More than 150 companies applied for the chance to present their cleantech innovations to potential investors and engaged industry experts at the 26th annual event.

Of the chosen companies, a dozen were founded outside the United States.
"We're facing global pressures to reduce negative climate impacts and ensure clean water, clean air, and sustainable energy and food systems," said Industry Growth Forum Program Manager Sheila Ebbitt. "We received applications from around the world and across technology sectors. It was a challenge for our investor selection committee to narrow the selection down to the top 40 start-ups."
This year's Industry Growth Forum will be held April 20-22 online. Hosted by NREL, the event has grown into the nation's premier clean energy investment forum.
The 2021 NREL Industry Growth Forum presenting companies and their categories are:

Emerging Markets
Azelio AB - Amal, Sweden
Electro-Active Technologies - Knoxville, Tennessee
encoord Inc. - Denver, Colorado
Enerbrain SRL - Turin, Italy
Fibos - Toronto, Ontario, Canada
NovoNutrients - Sunnyvale, California
OnTo Technology LLC - Bend, Oregon
SolarStream Inc. - Calgary, Alberta, Canada
Suncast - Santiago, Metropolitana, Chile
Watts Battery - Palo Alto, California

Early Stage
Andluca Technologies Inc. - Princeton, New Jersey
BlueDot Photonics - Kirkland, Washington
Blue Frontier - Parkland, Florida
Combined Energies - Latham, New York
Ekona Power Inc. - Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada
Jolt Energy Storage Technologies LLC - Holland, Michigan
Mosaic Materials - Alameda, California
Octet Scientific Inc. - Cleveland, Ohio
Power to Hydrogen - Columbus, Ohio
QD Solar - Toronto, Ontario, Canada

Commercial Stage
EH Group - Renens, Vaud, Switzerland
EnPower Inc. - Phoenix, Arizona
Membrion - Seattle, Washington
Modern Electron - Bothell, Washington
Opus 12 - Berkeley, California
Qubitekk - Vista, California
Quidnet Energy - Houston, Texas
Shower Stream - Austin, Texas
Sierra Energy - Davis, California
Soteria Battery Innovation Group Inc. - Greenville, South Carolina

Growth Stage
Akselos - Lausanne, Vaud, Switzerland
Checkerspot Inc. - Berkeley, California
Energyworx - Houten, Utrecht, Netherlands
Full Harvest Technologies - San Francisco, California
G2V Optics - Edmonton, Alberta, Canada
Heila Technologies Inc. - Somerville, Massachusetts
Natural Fiber Welding - Peoria, Illinois
SeekOps Inc. - Austin, Texas
SensorUp - Calgary, Alberta, Canada
WindESCo - Burlington, Massachusetts

For more information, including the agenda, a list of participating companies, a list of sponsors, and registration details, see the NREL Industry Growth Forum website.
NREL is the U.S. Department of Energy's primary national laboratory for renewable energy and energy efficiency research and development. NREL is operated for the Energy Department by the Alliance for Sustainable Energy, LLC.