CU Startup News

Rochester Business Journal—For deep-tech hardware startups, commercialization often requires an agile willingness to follow a technology wherever the market demands. When semiconductor manufacturers approached Modendo Inc. with the need to inspect microscopic, tightly confined spaces inside advanced electronics, the startup discovered a massive, unserved market.

Interesting Engineering—Mana Battery, a CU Boulder spinout, has partnered with battery manufacturer Saft to develop and validate anode-free sodium-ion battery cells for defense, aerospace, rail, data centers and industrial backup power. The collaboration combines Mana Battery's anode-free sodium-ion technology with Saft's expertise in battery design, manufacturing, testing and qualification.

Modendo, a CU Boulder spinout, has been awarded a $3 million Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Phase II grant from the U.S. National Institutes of Health (NIH) for a project to provide researchers with powerful new tools to study brain circuits at scale.

Infleqtion, Quantum Insider, BizWest—Infleqtion, a CU Boulder spinout, announced it has been awarded three projects by the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) to accelerate American scientific research and innovation for the Genesis Mission. The projects include collaboration with CU Boulder and span AI-optimized quantum circuit design for nuclear applications, deployable atomic quantum sensing with Agentic AI and nuclear fusion energy research.

Activate—50 scientist-innovators will join Cohort 2026. The 41 companies they're building span 22 cities and 11 states across the U.S., and include two startups with ties to CU Boulder: Mach Electric and Brint Tech.

The Biotech Voyager—Jack Guglel, co-founder and CEO of Arkana Therapeutics and CU Boulder PhD alum of molecular, cellular and developmental biology, is developing appetite-suppressing molecules discovered through python biology that could offer an alternative to GLP-1 drugs with fewer gastrointestinal side effects.

Aviation Week—David Dezell Turner, CU Boulder PhD candidate in astrodynamics and satellite navigation, shares how winning the 2024 20 Twenties award became the catalyst for founding HoloAstro—a revolutionary augmented reality tool that's transforming space mission design.

BizWest—Startups to Watch spotlights promising young companies across Boulder, Broomfield, Larimer and Weld counties that are developing innovative technologies, creating jobs and strengthening one of the nation’s most vibrant entrepreneurial ecosystems. BizWest has named three CU Boulder startups: Flari Tech, Kioga and Renovare Therapeutics, as well as the Colorado Quantum incubator established in partnership with CU Boulder.

U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA)—The EPA announced $3.6 million in funding to nine U.S. small businesses to further develop and commercialize environmental technologies through EPA’s Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) program. CU Boulder startup Page Technologies was awarded a $400,000 SBIR Phase II award.

Venture Partners capped off its fifth Ascent Deep Tech Accelerator with the 2026 Ascent Deep Tech Community Showcase, where research-based startup teams pitched innovations originating from CU to an audience of investors, entrepreneurs and fellow researchers. The showcase featured ventures developing breakthrough solutions in health, robotics, advanced materials and more.