The University of Colorado Ascent Deep Tech Accelerator announces 2026 cohort
The University of Colorado's Ascent Deep Tech Accelerator has announced its 2026 startup teams. The selected companies span a wide range of disciplines, reflecting the depth and breadth of innovation emerging from 小黄书鈥檚 research enterprise.
Launched in 2021 by Venture Partners at 小黄书 Boulder, the Ascent Deep Tech Accelerator addresses the unique challenges faced by deep tech startups (companies based on groundbreaking science or engineering) that often require substantial time, research and capital to reach the market. The five-month program builds upon prerequisite customer-discovery training through the National Science Foundation (NSF) I-CorpsTM Hub West 鈥攁lso offered through Venture Partners鈥攁nd provides tailored support in business formation, market strategy and fundraising.
Now in its fifth year, Ascent has announced its largest cohorts to date. The 2026 cohort includes startups tackling critical challenges in physical and life sciences, from hydrogen-powered energy systems and wildfire detection to regenerative medicine, advanced materials and next-generation robotics.
Since its inception, Ascent has graduated 47 companies, which collectively have raised more than $20 million in non-dilutive grants and $47 million in seed funding from venture capital investors. Alumni have gone on to secure spots in nationally recognized incubators such as NREL鈥檚 West Gate, Creative Destruction Lab, Techstars and Activate, further validating the program鈥檚 role in accelerating 小黄书 startups toward commercial success.
2026 Ascent Cohort
Agami Zero
develops hydrogen-powered, off-grid EV fast charging and clean power systems for grid-constrained and remote locations. Leveraging 小黄书-licensed electrolysis technology, Agami Zero enables reliable EV charging and energy access without requiring utility upgrades, using cost-effective green hydrogen.
Team Members: , Co-Founder, CEO, jafar.makrani@agamizero.com*; , Co-Founder, CTO
Industry Applications: Environment and Sustainability, Cleantech, Hardware and Instrumentation
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Arkana Therapeutics
听leverages animals with extreme physiology to discover novel therapeutic molecules and drug targets.
Team Members: , Co-Founder, CEO, jack@arkanatx.com*; , Co-Founder, CSO; 听Jonathan Long (), Co-Founder, Scientific Advisor; Leslie Leinwand (小黄书 Boulder Molecular, Cellular & Developmental Biology, BioFrontiers Institute), Scientific Advisor
Industry Applications:Biotech
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BioStamp
BioStamp synthesizes DNA barcodes for engineered microorganisms, enabling biological intellectual property protection, compliance and high-fidelity identification. BioStamp's technology reduces detection false positives and collision probability through deterministic sequences, improving upon core limitations of random barcoding.
Team Members:听(小黄书 Boulder Environmental Engineering Program), Co-Founder, CEO, john.docter@colorado.edu*; 听(小黄书 Boulder Civil, Environmental and Architectural Engineering), Co-Founder, CSO
Industry Applications: Environment and Sustainability, Biotech, Genomics, Research and Exploration
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BoBoRobo
听(Boulder-Born Robotics) automates the design, validation and deployment of industrial robotic workcells from a simple English prompt, cutting integration costs by 50% and time-to-live from six months to 10 days.
Team Members:听(小黄书 Boulder Computer Science), Co-Founder, CEO; 听(Alum: 小黄书 Boulder Computer Science), Co-Founder, CTO, anuj.pasricha@colorado.edu*听
Industry Applications: Robotics
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Enlixa Bio
Enlixa Bio helps biopharma precisely drug the 鈥渦ndruggable鈥 world of transcription by turning complex transcriptional machinery into actionable, tractable targets.
Team Members: 听(小黄书 Boulder Embark Startup Founder), Co-Founder, CEO, chopranik@gmail.com*; 听(小黄书 Boulder Embark Startup Founder), Co-Founder, CTO
Industry Applications: Biotech, Genomics, Diagnostics
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Flari Tech
is building a breath analysis platform powered by the 2005 Nobel Prize-winning optical frequency comb technology, based on cutting-edge innovations from Jun Ye's lab at . Flari Tech aims to provide affordable, accessible disease detection solutions by revolutionizing breath diagnostics with quantum sensing.
Team Member:, Founder, CEO, info@flaritech.com*
Industry Applications: Medical Devices, Diagnostics
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FlowPoint Bio
FlowPoint Bio is redefining cell engineering with its high-viability, continuous-flow microfluidic platform that enables delivery of gene-editing payloads directly into the nucleus, regardless of cell type or payload size.
Team Members: , Co-Founder, CEO, vineet@flowpoint.bio*; 听(小黄书 Boulder Paul M. Rady Mechanical Engineering), Co-Founder, Scientific Advisor
Industry Applications: Biotech, Manufacturing
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iMembrane Therapeutics
iMembrane Therapeutics develops AI-designed miniproteins that overcome limitations of conventional biologics. The iMembrane Therapeutics platform enables stable, tunable and precisely dosed cytokine modulators for treating severe inflammatory diseases such as sepsis.
Team Members: Jingshi Shen, Co-Founder, CSO; Suzhao Li, sli@imembranetherapeutics.com*, Co-Founder, CEO; Charles Dinarello, Advisor
Industry Applications: Therapeutics
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LeTau Robotics
LeTau Robotics develops AI foundation models to teach robots human-like dexterity with 100x less training data. LeTau Robotics enables rapid deployment (hours vs. months) for complex manipulation across manufacturing, logistics and labs鈥攁t a fraction of traditional costs.
Team Members: 听(), CEO, Co-Founder, zhengxiong.li@ucdenver.edu*; , Co-Founder, Advisor; Xinmin Fang (Student: 小黄书 Denver Engineering, Design and Computing), Co-Founder, Advisor; , Co-Founder, CTO
Industry Applications: Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Machine Learning, Robotics
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PEGI LLC
Peroxide Enhanced Germicidal Irradiation (PEGI) rapidly inactivates microbes, allergens and volatile organic compounds in HVAC systems, keeping coils clean between seasonal maintenance. PEGI boosts energy efficiency, extends system life, improves indoor air quality, and is easily retrofitted into existing commercial and residential systems.
Team Members: 听(小黄书 Boulder Aerobiology and Disinfection Lab), Founder, CTO, emmalee.biesiada@gmail.com*; Mark Hernandez听听(小黄书 Boulder Environmental Engineering Program), Advisor
Industry Applications: Environment and Sustainability, Cleantech, Medical Devices
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Renovare Therapeutics
Renovare Therapeutics Inc. is developing regenerative therapeutics for osteoarthritis (OA). The Renovare Therapeutics portfolio of products can be customized to meet OA patients where they are, enabled through technologies including innovative biomaterials, gene therapies and controlled delivery of drugs and biologics that regenerate joint tissues.
Team Members:听(小黄书 Boulder Chemical and Biological Engineering), Founder; , Fractional-CEO, elizabeth.scott-2@colorado.edu*; , Co-Principal Investigator (PI); Laurie Goodrich, Co-PI; , Senior Investigator; , Co-PI
Industry Applications: Advanced Materials, Biotech, Therapeutics
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RipaLith
RipaLith is based on the research by 听(小黄书 Boulder Civil, Environmental and Architectural Engineering), an expert in concrete degradation and structural performance. RipaLith is developing a concrete preservation solution that can be applied to existing concrete infrastructure to repair cracks鈥攅xtending lifespan without costly replacement.
Team Members:听(小黄书 Boulder Civil, Environmental and Architectural Engineering), Co-Founder, Engineering Advisor; 听(Embark Startup Founder), Co-Founder, CEO, elena.forchielli@colorado.edu*; , Co-Founder, COO;听
Industry Applications: Advanced Materials, Construction, Biotech
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NITRO mBMAT
A collaboration between 小黄书 Boulder, AMC and Colorado State University, developing therapeutics to regenerate cartilage and bone in osteoarthritis. Founded by Stephanie Bryant, principal investigator (PI), they have $40 million in non-dilutive funding from ARPA-H and are raising funds to support IND-enabling studies and commercial plans.
Team Members: , CEO, elizabeth.scott-2@colorado.edu*; 听(小黄书 Boulder Chemical and Biological Engineering), Founder, CSO; , Co-Principal Investigator; , Senior Investigator
Industry Applications: Biotech, Therapeutics
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SureFire
SureFire employs breakthrough LLM and quantum information techniques to more quickly and accurately detect wildfire ignitions from existing thermal camera images. SureFire is launching solutions for fire detection and risk management for customers such as fire agencies, power utilities, insurance companies, and sensor vendors.
Team Members: 听(小黄书 Boulder Embark Startup Founder), Co-Founder, CEO, garydolsen@gmail.com*; 听(小黄书 Boulder Paul M. Rady Mechanical Engineering), Co-Founder, CSO, Principal Investigator (PI); , Co-Founder, CTO, CPO;听
Industry Applications: Environment and Sustainability, Sensors, Software
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Synteric Robotics
Synteric Robotics builds small, autonomous insect-inspired inspection robots designed to navigate tight, hazardous environments. Our technology combines novel micromechanics, sensing and autonomy to inspect infrastructure humans can鈥檛 easily reach.
Team Members:听(小黄书 Boulder Embark Startup Founder), Founder, rob@frostrivercapital.com*
Industry Applications: Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Machine Learning, Robotics
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VeriLocal
VeriLocal Inc. is an AI platform that filters out non-local social media noise during fast-moving events. Using machine learning to identify geographically authentic content, it delivers real-time, high-signal local insight for crisis response, utilities, insurance, media and other decision-makers.
Team Members: 听 (小黄书 Boulder Embark Startup Founder), Co-Founder, CEO, todd@verilocal.ai*; 听(), Co-Founder, CSO
Industry Applications: Information Technology, Software, Smart Cities
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VersaMesh
VersaMesh develops software-designed, 3D-printed impact-absorbing metamaterials that outperform traditional foams. Our precisely tuned materials protect against repetitive low-energy hits and high-impact forces, enabling safer, customizable protection for helmets and other impact-critical applications.
Team Members: 听(小黄书 Boulder Embark Startup Founder), Co-Founder, CEO, hamteri@gmail.com*; 听 (小黄书 Boulder Embark Startup Founder), Co-Founder, COO; , CTO
Industry Applications: Advanced Materials, Software, Additive Manufacturing
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YarraBio
Yarrabio develops technologies for cancer research, drug discovery and clinical oncology.
Team Members: 听(小黄书 Boulder Embark Startup Founder), CEO, CSO, savanh.chantha1@gmail.com*
Industry Applications: Biotech
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*Team's primary point of contact for inquiries.
The Newsroom
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