EARLY STAGE VENTURE CAPITAL
WHO
WE ARE
At Idealabx, we invest in early-stage startups that are solving big problems in the world in Energy, AI, Mobility, and Advanced Manufacturing.
ENERGY
AI
MOBILITY
ADVANCED MANUFACTURING
OUR
COMPANIES
We co-create with our portfolio companies to ensure their long-term success.
THE
TEAM
We love what we do.
FUN
FACTS
15
AMAZING COMPANIES
$264M
MONEY
RAISED
171
FOUNDERS & EMPLOYEES
12894
CUPS OF COFFEE
NEWS
This Bill Gates-backed startup will soon help power a giant mine
CNN Business - March 24, 2021
In a bid to bring carbon-free power to heavy industry, Heliogen announced Wednesday that mining behemoth Rio Tinto plans to deploy the startup's breakthrough solar technology at California's largest open pit mine, located in Boron. Learn more
Gravity power? How to store wind, solar energy without batteries
CBC - March 4, 2021
One of the challenges in the shift to clean energy is that wind and solar power generation produces electricity only when the wind is blowing and the sun is shining, which doesn't necessarily coincide with when we need the most electricity. Learn more
Technological revolution to power miners in shift from fossil fuels
The Australian - March 2, 2021
Giant batteries made of bricks, electric jumbos and underground mines that don’t need ventilation are just some of the technological revolutions on offer as a group of major Australian mining companies put their heads together to plot a major revolution in the way mining is done and help wean Australian mines off diesel and other fossil fuels forever. Learn more
10 start-ups powering the future of energy
Siliconrepublic - February 18, 2021
From hydrogen to hydropower, and from offshore solar farms to heat storage, these incredibly innovative start-ups are coming up with remarkable ideas to power our future. Learn more
Why clean energy’s future may depend on molten salt, trains, and cranes
Fortune - February 16, 2021
In an effort to make renewable energy more reliable, one company wants to send trains carrying tons of rocks up and down a hill. Another wants to use cranes to stack and unstack heavy blocks.
How to store power in soil
and salt
BBC - February 8, 2021
Giant towers of building blocks rising into the sky and huge vats packed with volcanic rock or molten salt are being used as massive batteries. They are the latest ideas for storing energy generated by the sun and the wind – so you can keep the lights on when it’s dark or the wind isn’t blowing. Learn more
2021 Honorees: Julian Laval and Ali Imani, Cofounders of Center Health
Forbes - 2021
Julian Laval and Ali Imani founded diabetes device and management company Center Health in 2017 to make glucose monitors that connect to a smartphone and work with an app. Center Health raised $4 million from Fuel Capital, Sequoia Scouts, Luma Launch, IdeaLabX, and has 10,000 customers.
2021 Honoree: Easton LaChappelle, Founder of Unlimited Tomorrow
Forbes - 2021
Prosthetics can be expensive, which is why Unlimited Tomorrow is using 3D-printing and scanning to drive down costs. The direct-to-consumer company sells personalized robotic arms for $7,995. Founder and CEO LaChapelle has raised $6.2 million to scale up the company. Learn more
Industry, Powered By The Sun: Heliogen HelioHeat
Time - November 19, 2020
Creating the tons of steel and concrete we use to build our world requires a massive amount of heat—and most of it comes from burning dirty fossil fuels. HelioHeat cleans up that process by using the power of the sun.
From a bra to a booth: learn the story of Eva, the device that detects breast cancer early
Entrepreneur - October 19, 2020
Eva Center is a booth that will be located in shopping malls around the Mexican Republic, the women will be received by a doctor, who will be in charge of entering them inside the booth and in complete privacy they can perform the study alone. Learn more
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At the SolarPACES Conference, Heliogen Introduces Solar Heat
at 1 cent/kWh
Solar Paces - October 13, 2020
In his plenary presentation at the conference, Gross broke the news that Heliogen will be even more competitive than this, delivering heat at just 1 cent per kWh. (Nuclear averages 3 cents and natural gas in the US, with the world’s lowest gas prices, is as low as 1.5 cents.)
Bill Gross, 1990s Dotcom Trailblazer, Is Now Betting on Green Energy
Wall Street Journal - October 6, 2020
The pandemic, by decimating oil demand, crashing prices and challenging the economics of some fossil-fuel projects, has accelerated some industry moves toward low-carbon energy. In Mr. Gross’s view, it has also leveled the playing field for green energy’s drive to displace fossil fuels. Learn more
This Young Technologist Is Revolutionizing the Future of Prosthetics, One Artificial Limb
at a Time
Men’s Health - September 3, 2020
Easton LaChappelle isn’t your average adult male in his mid-twenties. While others might be working their first jobs or trying to figure out a way to unleash their creative ideas, LaChappelle runs a high-tech medical company focused on creating prosthetic limbs for those who deal with limb loss or limb differences, Unlimited Tomorrow. The best part? He’s doing this at a fraction of the cost.
This young entrepreneur skipped college to create robotic limbs that users can control with their minds
CNN Health - August 31, 2020
Ten years ago, Easton LaChappelle was a teen watching YouTube videos in his Colorado bedroom on how to build robot arms from LEGOs. Today, he's the founder of Unlimited Tomorrow, a company that designs low-cost, 3D printed prosthetic limbs that can be operated with the mind. Learn more
TrueLimb robotic arms look real and cost less than traditional prosthetics
CNET - August 30, 2020
Easton LaChappelle was 14 years old when he designed and built his first robotic arm. Ten years later, he's now the CEO of his own company, looking to upend the prosthetics industry.
Easton LaChappelle’s Story: Advancing Affordable and Accessible Prosthetics
Youtube - August 5, 2020
Smart, Made-to-order Limbs Are The Future Of Prosthetics
Inverse - July 14, 2020
TrueLimb is a customizable and affordable alternative to commercial-grade prosthetic limbs that can cost upwards of $80,000 for a single unit. For growing children that need at least four to five new prostheses in adolescence, this price is astronomical.
Idealab Founder Bill Gross’ Plan To Solve The Mother Of All Quandaries
Forbes - June 19, 2020
Bill Gates calls it the 75% Problem. Greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions from power plants only account for 25% of total, and electrical generation is one source of GHG emissions for which cheap renewable sources are well-suited.
These are the World Economic Forum's Technology Pioneers
of 2020
We Forum - June 16, 2020
From artificial intelligence (AI) to carbon capture, this year’s cohort is using innovations to protect climate, improve healthcare and much more, helping us to reset society and build towards a better future. Learn more
Heliogen Wins 2020 Fast Company World Changing Ideas Award for Its Technology That Replaces Fossil Fuels With Sunlight
Business Wire - April 28, 2020
From artificial intelligence (AI) to carbon capture, this year’s cohort is using innovations to protect climate, improve healthcare and much more, helping us to reset society and build towards a better future. Learn more
Heliogen: the Bill Gates backed startup hoping to use mirrors to power heavy industry
The Engineer - April 7, 2020
A smart approach to mirror control has driven a fundamental breakthrough in the promising area of concentrated solar power. Learn more
Automated Solar Arrays Could Help Incinerate Global Warming
Wired - January 21, 2020
Plenty of days, temperatures in California's Mojave Desert climb above 120 degrees Fahrenheit. A measly figure. These 400 silvered glass panels, tucked into the western edge of that hot, hot desert, are there to generate heat 15 times that amount. And, ideally, to help cool the planet too. Learn more
Solar Startup Heliogen Looks to Power Plants, Refineries
Los Angeles Business Journal - November 29, 2019
For decades, solar technology experts have sought to harness the sun to generate electricity. But Pasadena-based serial entrepreneur Bill Gross is looking to change that with a new technology that swaps fossil fuels for solar energy to directly heat heavy industry units such as kilns, furnaces and forges. Learn more
A Solar 'Breakthrough' Won't Solve Cement's Carbon Problem
Wired - November 22, 2019
A Bill Gates–backed startup called Heliogen uses concentrated solar power to produce cement. The carbon-belching industry needs that—and much more. Learn more
A new solar heat technology could help solve one of the trickiest climate problems
VOX - November 20, 2019
Electricity, transportation, and buildings, three of the biggest emitters, have a pathway to zero. It won’t be easy, and progress is too slow, but we have a handle on what to do. But there are still big chunks of the economy that don’t have a clear line of sight to zero. They don’t yet have the tools they need at competitive prices. They are still waiting on innovation. Learn more
Secretive energy startup backed by Bill Gates achieves solar breakthrough.
CNN - November 19, 2019
Heliogen, a clean energy company that emerged from stealth mode on Tuesday, said it has discovered a way to use artificial intelligence and a field of mirrors to reflect so much sunlight that it generates extreme heat above 1,000 degrees Celsius.
Heliogen’s new tech could unlock renewable energy for industrial manufacturing
TechCrunch - November 19, 2019
For Bill Gross, the founder of Idealab and brains behind the excursion, the unveiling was simply the latest in a string of demonstrations for new technologies commercialized by his nearly three-decade old startup company incubator. However, it may be the most significant. Learn more
Energy Vault raises $110 million from SoftBank Vision Fund as energy storage grabs headlines.
TechCrunch - August 14, 2019
Imagine a moving tower made of huge cement bricks weighing 35 metric tons. The movement of these massive blocks is powered by wind or solar power plants and is a way to store the energy those plants generate. Learn more
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Energy Vault uses cranes powered by renewables to lift giant bricks into a tower.
Fast Company - April 8, 2019
When the sun isn’t shining or the wind isn’t blowing, lowering the bricks back down creates new energy. It’s one of Fast Company’s 2019 World Changing Ideas Awards winners. Learn more