Los Angeles Cleantech Incubator

Unlocking innovation: laci incubates and accelerates cleantech startups and helps commercialize their technologies by providing in-class coaching and advice to founders, facilitating investment preparation and assistance with shared business services, and providing access to high-value resources. We offer three tiers of cohort-based program support: innovators for pre-commercial, early-stage energy entrepreneurs; our core incubation program, to support pre-seed and seed-stage cleantech startups in southern california; and market access, a pilot centric program for series a cleantech startups ready to scale. In 2024, laci welcomed 57 companies into our programs, many of which received funding and support from laci to deploy pilots designed to advance the commercialization of their technologies. For example, female-founded thermoshade showcased the passive cooling effect their shading structure can provide in real-life settings, proving their structure creates a 20f cooler environment than under a canvas awning, and leading to projects with a local school and dairy farm. In another example, startup symmetry wood worked out of the advanced prototyping center (apc) at the la kretz innovation campus to create the first-ever guitar made with their technology, pyrus (wood-like material made from kombucha waste) in the fret/fingerboard. Through pilots such as these, startups conduct hands-on experimentation and data-driven analysis, accelerating the development of breakthrough technologies that have the potential to revolutionize the cleantech landscape. Moreover, these examples are illustrative of the way unlocking innovation works collaboratively across the other pillars - and leverages the lkic facility - to advance our founder-facing goals and objectives.

Enhancing community: laci focuses on creating equitable pathways into the green economy through a number of programs. Laci's green jobs workforce development programs provide un/underemployed participants from underserved communities with technical training, industry-recognized certifications, career coaching, and paid internships with our laci startups and partner organizations. Since laci launched our green jobs workforce development programs in 2019, we have trained over 500 participants (average 88% people of color; 37% women, 6% justice impacted). On average, 75% of participants have been placed in paid internships, well-paying jobs (starting salaries of at least $20/hour or $41,600 annual salary), or post-secondary education. Laci also hosts gender-equity focused programs, including our women in cleantech program focused on recruiting and supporting more women in accelerating their cleantech solutions, sector expertise, and career growth. Laci also leads a middle school girls in stem program focused on inspiring girls to learn more about the climate crisis at a young age, find their agency as problem-solvers, and explore future career pathways at the intersection of stem + sustainability. In 2024, laci led four workforce training programs focused on building energy management systems, supply chain & logistics, ev charging station maintenance, and product manufacturing. We also launched our green jobs regional partnership, convening key stakeholders to develop a workforce needs assessment & training landscape. Finally, in 2024 we launched the south la multi-manufacturer ev charger reliability hub, together with laci alumni company chargerhelp!

Laci stewardship of la kretz innovation campus (lkic): on behalf of the city of los angeles and ladwp, laci is proud to steward the 3.2 acre state-of-the-art la kretz innovation campus, which provides a critical hub for cleantech innovation in los angeles. The campus features the advanced prototyping center (apc), a collaborative makerspace where entrepreneurs, artists, inventors, and startups can design, build, test and certify innovative products, all under one roof. The apc features more than $11 million worth of tools, labs, and shops, including an electronics lab, biochemistry lab, cell lab, cnc machine, water jet, 3d printing, welding equipment, use of premium cad software, laser cutters, a training center, and more. Lkic also features the interactive los angeles department of water and power customer engagement lab, as well as energy efficiency and emerging technologies laboratories. The facility attracts a consistent roster of professional development workshops, community events, and panel discussions hosted by ladwp, laci, campus members, portfolio services providers and community groups. Notably, in 2024 laci was able to increase visitor activity on campus by 147%, raising the number of annual visitors from roughly 6700 to almost 16,000 visitors in 2024. Laci also reconfigured its product offerings for the lkic coworking space, resulting in an 82% occupancy rate (up from just over 60% in the prior year). Our 82% occupancy rate is in comparison to roughly 70% occupancy rate in the surrounding area (commercial and office).