Built for This Moment, Shaping What’s Next:
LACI Welcomes Incubation Cohort 12
From surging energy demand, to the lingering aftermath of the 2025 LA wildfires and the global spotlight of the 2028 Olympic and Paralympic Games, the urgency to accelerate clean, equitable climate solutions is at an all-time high. We’re racing toward a future with cleaner air and water, smarter and more resilient energy systems, and zero-emissions transportation systems that move people and goods more efficiently, sustainably, and autonomously.
That future doesn’t build itself; it’s built by founders with bold ideas and the drive to see them grow. At LACI, we’re proud to welcome 14 startups to our Incubation Program Cohort 12 to help make that vision a reality.
A Cohort Built for This Moment
As outlined by our Transportation Electrification Partnership (TEP) and Clean Energy Partnership (CEP), LACI sets bold targets across our three core cleantech priority areas, and Cohort 12 delivers on each. With half of our 14 new companies focused on clean energy, 36% on smart & sustainable cities, and 14% on zero-emissions transportation, this cohort is tackling some of the most urgent needs across energy storage, building electrification, wildfire mitigation, grid security, EV charging infrastructure, renewable generation, housing materials, waste management, and first and last mile mobility.
57% of new cohort companies have at least one woman founder and 64% have one or more BIPOC founders, which is a reflection of our ongoing commitment to building an inclusive green economy. Through LACI’s unique Impact Framework, we’ll work alongside each company to build on their existing impact and inclusion goals, while deepening their commitment to social resilience, climate action, and just economy.
Looking Ahead: The Next Two Years and Beyond
Cohort 12—alongside local government, public agencies, businesses, community leaders, and our existing portfolio companies—is a critical piece of LACI’s work in advancing cleantech innovation, protecting vulnerable communities, and demonstrating how major cities can grow their economies while accelerating climate action.
Our 14 new portfolio companies have hit the ground running with the in-person kickoff on June 2–3, which starts off their 2 year engagement. Over the course of the program, founders will gain access to expert-led workshops on business and financial readiness, roundtable discussions with public and private partners, weekly 1-on-1 sessions with an Executive in Residence (EIR) coach, and opportunities to unlock additional resources to support their growth.
Please join us in welcoming Incubation Cohort 12, the newest members of LACI’s community of 530+ portfolio companies!
How to Get Involved
Interested in supporting our portfolio companies? Reach out to our Director of Startup Programs, Molly Crete, at molly@laincubator.org.
If you’re a founder working on bold cleantech solutions and looking to join our next cohort, applications for Cohort 13 are now open until July 3! Learn more here.
Incubation Cohort 12
Airbuild Inc.
Website: www.airbuildinc.com
Founders: David Gory & John Bucur
Airbuild upgrades wastewater systems to recover nitrogen and phosphorus using microalgae, converting a compliance-driven problem into clean water, slow-release fertilizer, and durable carbon removal. By embedding into required infrastructure, we turn waste into valuable agricultural and climate outputs.
CarBonne, Inc.
Website: www.carbonne.eco
Founders: Meghan Kaminski & Laleh Abbasi
CarBonne is developing an in-vehicle direct air capture system that uses a vehicle’s natural airflow to remove CO2 from ambient air while driving. Its modular hardware and automated MRV software turn fleet vehicles into verifiable, carbon-negative assets without operational downtime.
CariCab, Inc.
Website: www.cariapp.com
Founder: David Isles
Cari is the first all-electric rideshare platform where riders name their price, drivers agree to the fare, and drivers keep the full agreed amount through a flat monthly subscription with no platform commission. Launching in Los Angeles, our driver-first model is creating green jobs and restoring affordable clean transportation for the gig workers and communities that incumbent platforms have priced out and left behind.
Electric Outdoors
Website: electricoutdoors.com
Founders: Josef Hjelmaker, Jose Renato Nogueira & Sanna Boman
Electric Outdoors is building the EO Canopy, a software-enabled, rapidly deployable off-grid energy and infrastructure platform that unlocks sustainable access to remote and underutilized land. By combining resilient microgrid technology, modular infrastructure, EV charging, connectivity, and intelligent energy management, EO enables state agencies, landowners, developers, and commercial operators to deploy revenue-generating outdoor, energy, and resilience solutions in hours instead of years.
ENAMP Inc.
Website: enamp.energy
Founders: Mahsa Nicknam & Mehdi Ganji
ENAMP is a cleantech company that accelerates residential electrification by eliminating the most common and costly barrier to adoption: electrical panel and utility service upgrade requirements. ENAMP’s AI-powered hardware and software platform installs non-invasively in under three hours for less than $3,000 — fully covered by state rebates — enabling homeowners to safely add EV chargers, heat pumps, and electric appliances while also creating a dispatchable, grid-responsive energy asset for utilities.
GridIQ
Website: www.gridiq.io
Founders: Aren Page, Morgan Campbell & Josh Sweere
GridIQ is a grid intelligence company developing non-contact sensing and analytics technology to detect, localize, and classify distribution-level electrical faults in real time. The platform helps utilities and infrastructure operators prevent wildfires, improve reliability, and modernize grid monitoring without replacing existing assets.
Liatris Inc.
Website: www.liatris.biz
Founders: Frank Yang & Arthur Yang
Founded in 2018 with a mission of delivering the cleanest and fastest energy savings by mass-producing insulation that is easy to install, efficient, non-flammable, and non-toxic, Liatris Inc. is a start-up company which has successfully developed and is now scaling up advanced materials to fulfill our mission. Our products include the highest performance insulation prototypes in the industry at R-11 / inch, and we utilize proprietary inorganic nano-composite technology to deliver high-performance, low-cost and resilient insulation products.
Moby Filters
Website: mobyfilter.com
Founder: Yoni Ronn
Moby is developing a smart, modular filtration system that helps manufacturers reduce utility costs, monitor wastewater, and capture pollutants at the source, starting with microplastics. Its closed-loop approach prevents microplastic pollution from entering ecosystems and food supplies while supporting more sustainable industrial operations.
Popper Power Inc.
Website: www.popperpower.com
Founder: Asher Popper
Popper Power mitigates grid stress at the low-voltage last mile by turning existing streetlights into bidirectional, AI-powered energy nodes — a patented architecture combining energy storage, power electronics, and EV battery aggregation, orchestrated through a mesh-based distributed load-balancing network.
Rivida
Website: www.rivida.co
Founder: Andrea Brimmer
Rivida is developing a NASA licensed filtration system that transforms manure lagoon wastewater into two valuable products: clean water and nitrogen fertilizer. By removing ammonia before it decomposes, the system eliminates existing methane emissions from manure lagoons and prevents new formation while enabling on-farm fertilizer production and water reuse.
RoboDock Technologies, Inc.
Website: www.robodock.tech
Founders: Ezinwo (Zinny) Weli & Celine Wang
Autonomous vehicles are scaling fast, but the depots that charge, inspect, and operate them are still manual. RoboDock automates charging and vehicle inspections so fleets can finally be end-to-end autonomous.
Terrament, Inc.
Website: www.terramenthq.com
Founders: Katie Gardner & Eric Chaves
Terrament builds patented underground gravity storage in existing mines to tackle the growing energy crisis driven by data centers and aging infrastructure. We provide inexpensive, utility-scale, off-grid storage to pair with renewables for remote critical mineral mines and data centers needing quick energy.
UnBOXED Inc.
Website: UnBoxedfuture.com
Founder: Satpal Kaur
UnBoxed transforms legacy buildings into low-carbon, high-performance assets using a durable, 3D-printed second skin on existing exterior facades.
Vortx
Website: www.vortx.us
Founder: Tim Victor
Vortx develops integrated battery storage and power control systems that increase electrical capacity at commercial and industrial facilities. Our platform combines hardware and AI-driven energy management to accelerate deployment timelines and reduce infrastructure costs.