Building the community that drives science into impact by growing the next generation of hard-tech leaders, creating demand for leaders who bridge science and business, advocating for viable private investment and partnership models, promoting consistent impact-driven public sector support, and strengthening academic cultures that prioritize value-driven innovation.
Activate Global Inc centers its grantmaking on building a pipeline of hard-tech scientists and engineer-entrepreneurs, pairing non-dilutive support with leadership training, mentorship, networks, and programming. Its flagship fellowship model is designed to help researchers move breakthrough science toward commercial use while keeping equity, fees, and IP off the table in the fellowship structure. The foundation also runs international and regional variants of that model, including a Singapore fellowship and Activate New York, which ties into a carbon-to-value innovation ecosystem. Recent grants show that the foundation funds technology development across a wide range of technical fields rather than a single subsector. In 2024, it awarded $600,964 to Perlumi in Berkeley and $321,973 to Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, both labeled for technology development. Other recent awards include Takachar in Boston at $250,742 and Pulsenics in Newark at $198,427, indicating support for ventures and research teams at the stage between prototype work and productization. The listed focus areas extend across advanced manufacturing, carbon capture, materials, semiconductors, energy systems, biotech, aerospace, mobility, and water technologies.
Activate Global Inc funds technical development work across several adjacent innovation areas. In carbon capture and climate tech, it gave $109,349 to Banyu Carbon Inc in Seattle for technology development and $100,000 to Quorum Bio Inc in San Ramon for the same purpose. Its biotechnology-oriented grantmaking includes $100,000 to Ivu Biologics Inc in Wellesley and $100,000 to FORAY bioscience in Cambridge, both for technology development. In water and industrial systems, it awarded $100,000 to ChloBis Water Inc in Madison and $100,000 to Impact Cooling Inc in Birmingham. The recipient list also includes advanced materials and hardware companies such as Closed Composites Inc in San Pedro, Pseudolithic Inc in Santa Barbara, and Lucidean Inc in Goleta, each supported with technology development funds.
Typical grant size is tightly clustered: p25 is $100,000, median is $100,000, and p75 is $109,198. The recent awards also show a few larger investments above that band, including $600,964 and $321,973. Recipients appear across both 2023 and 2024, which points to repeated grantmaking activity rather than a single isolated cycle. Activate Global Inc is classified as a regular funder, makes program-related investments, and funds individuals is false. The active fellowship programs also accept unsolicited applications in several cases, including the U.S. fellowship and the Singapore fellowship.
$4.4M
$26.4M
$26.7M
$19M
Most grants fall between $100K and $109K, with a median of $100K.
25th Percentile
$100K
Median
$100K
75th Percentile
$109K
About 21% of grants go to recipients in GA.
Matthew Price
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Grant recipients are entirely U.S.-based in the provided sample, with 34 grants and 100% of grants going to U.S. recipients. California is the state where the foundation gives most often, and 21% of grants go to recipients in California. Recent recipient cities include Berkeley, Cambridge, New York, Boston, Madison, and Seattle. The list also reaches Newark, San Pedro, Santa Barbara, Goleta, Birmingham, and Brooktondale, showing a spread across major research hubs and startup cities.
It supports technology startups and entrepreneurs, research teams and developers, and small-scale product development teams. The active programs focus on hard tech, physical sciences, biological sciences, engineering, AI, science commercialization, and climate or energy-related deep tech.
Recent grants cluster around $100,000. The distribution shown is p25 $100,000, median $100,000, and p75 $109,198, with a few larger awards above that range.
Yes, several active programs are marked as accepting unsolicited applications, including the U.S. Activate Fellowship and the Singapore fellowship. The Innovation Labs program is marked as not accepting unsolicited applications.
The top state by grant count is Georgia, while 21% of grants go to recipients in California. The recipient list in the sample is otherwise national across U.S. cities such as Berkeley, Cambridge, New York, Boston, Madison, and Seattle.
The listed focus areas span advanced manufacturing and robotics, carbon capture and storage, advanced chemistry and materials, semiconductors and hardware, power systems and grids, batteries and storage, agriculture and food systems, industrial biotechnology, genetics and precision health, aerospace and remote sensing, mobility and logistics, and water technologies.
2024
Source: IRS Form 990-PF, fiscal year 2024.
Most recent grants reported to the IRS.
| Recipient | Location | Amount | Year | Purpose |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Perlumi | Berkeley, CA | $600,964 | 2024 | Technology development funds |
| LBNL | Berkeley, CA | $321,973 | 2024 | Technology development funds |
| Takachar | Boston, MA | $250,742 | 2024 | Technology development funds |
| Pulsenics Inc | Newark, NJ | $198,427 | 2024 | Technology development funds |
| Kano Therapeutics | Cambridge, MA | $120,575 | 2024 | Technology development funds |
| Osmoses Inc | Cambridge, MA | $112,800 | 2024 | Technology development funds |
| Banyu Carbon Inc | Seattle, WA | $109,349 | 2024 | Technology development funds |
| AsimicA Inc | Laramie, WY | $108,747 | 2024 | Technology development funds |
| Limelight Steel Inc | San Diego, CA | $100,500 | 2024 | Technology development funds |
| Quorum Bio Inc | San Ramon, CA | $100,000 | 2024 | Technology development funds |
| Impact Cooling Inc | Birmingham, AL | $100,000 | 2024 | Technology development funds |
| Soctera Inc | Ithaca, NY | $100,000 | 2024 | Technology development funds |
| Ivu Biologics Inc | Wellesley, MA | $100,000 | 2024 | Technology development funds |
| REEgen Inc | Ithaca, NY | $100,000 | 2024 | Technology development funds |
| Vycarb Inc | Brooktondale, NY | $100,000 | 2024 | Technology development funds |
| Wild Microbes Company | Boston, MA | $100,000 | 2024 | Technology development funds |
| SoloPulse Corp | Decatur, GA | $100,000 | 2024 | Technology development funds |
| Pseudolithic Inc | Santa Barbara, CA | $100,000 | 2024 | Technology development funds |
| Lithios Inc | Cambridge, MA | $100,000 | 2024 | Technology development funds |
| Flux XII Inc | Madison, WI | $100,000 | 2024 | Technology development funds |
| Lucidean Inc | Goleta, CA | $100,000 | 2024 | Technology development funds |
| Innate Energy Inc | New York, NY | $100,000 | 2024 | Technology development funds |
| FORAY bioscience | Cambridge, MA | $100,000 | 2024 | Technology development funds |
| Tensora Inc | Brooklyn, NY | $100,000 | 2024 | Technology development funds |
| Anvil Diagnostics Inc | Southborough, MA | $100,000 | 2024 | Technology development funds |
| Turnover Technologies Inc | New York, NY | $100,000 | 2024 | Technology development funds |
| Closed Composites Inc | San Pedro, CA | $100,000 | 2024 | Technology development funds |
| Photonect | Rochester, NY | $7,512 | 2024 | Technology development funds |
| Feon Energy | Woburn, MA | $7,465 | 2024 | Technology development funds |
| Osmoses Inc | Cambridge, MA | $183,380 | 2023 | Technology development funds |
| Kano Therapeutics | Cambridge, MA | $166,230 | 2023 | Technology development funds |
| Circe Bioscience Inc | Allston, MA | $100,000 | 2023 | Technology development funds |
| Found Energy Co | Cambridge, MA | $100,000 | 2023 | Technology development funds |
| ChloBis Water Inc | Madison, WI | $100,000 | 2023 | Technology development funds |
Perlumi
$600,964Technology development funds
LBNL
$321,973Technology development funds
Takachar
$250,742Technology development funds
Pulsenics Inc
$198,427Technology development funds
Kano Therapeutics
$120,575Technology development funds
Osmoses Inc
$112,800Technology development funds
Banyu Carbon Inc
Technology development funds
AsimicA Inc
$108,747Technology development funds
Limelight Steel Inc
$100,500Technology development funds
Quorum Bio Inc
$100,000Technology development funds
Impact Cooling Inc
$100,000Technology development funds
Soctera Inc
$100,000Technology development funds
Ivu Biologics Inc
$100,000Technology development funds
REEgen Inc
$100,000Technology development funds
Vycarb Inc
$100,000Technology development funds
Wild Microbes Company
$100,000Technology development funds
SoloPulse Corp
$100,000Technology development funds
Pseudolithic Inc
$100,000Technology development funds
Lithios Inc
$100,000Technology development funds
Flux XII Inc
$100,000Technology development funds
Lucidean Inc
$100,000Technology development funds
Innate Energy Inc
$100,000Technology development funds
FORAY bioscience
$100,000Technology development funds
Tensora Inc
$100,000Technology development funds
Anvil Diagnostics Inc
$100,000Technology development funds
Turnover Technologies Inc
$100,000Technology development funds
Closed Composites Inc
$100,000Technology development funds
Photonect
$7,512Technology development funds
Feon Energy
$7,465Technology development funds
Osmoses Inc
$183,380Technology development funds
Kano Therapeutics
$166,230Technology development funds
Circe Bioscience Inc
$100,000Technology development funds
Found Energy Co
$100,000Technology development funds
ChloBis Water Inc
$100,000Technology development funds