Lectrolyst’s Innovative Carbon-to-Chemical Platform Transforms Electro-Agriculture

We are excited to welcome Lectrolyst to the Strategic Ventures portfolio! Lectrolyst develops breakthrough solutions at the intersection of carbon reduction, chemistry, and agriculture.

Tackling Two Global Challenges. Lectrolyst’s innovative “electro‑agriculture” platform transforms waste CO₂ into valuable chemical products. By harnessing carbon oxides, water, and electricity, their technology produces compounds like acetate, ethanol, and propanol. This process not only captures carbon, it dramatically improves agricultural efficiency: enhancing solar‑to‑food conversion by 4X, reducing land use by 88%, and cutting fertilizer use by 60% (as reported in the Delaware state grant announcement). Lectrolyst simultaneously addresses unsustainable agricultural practices and uncontrolled carbon emissions, supporting both environmental and food security goals.

Scalable Impact. With patented technology licensed from the University of Delaware and a successful industry-record 10 kW stack system, Lectrolyst’s initial focus is on green acetic acid for precision fermentation; this taps into a market projected to grow significantly, with longer‑term plans to expand into ethylene for sustainable polymers. As a member of the Acetate Consortium (co‑funded by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and the Novo Nordisk Foundation), Lectrolyst is poised to become a leader in green chemical production.

Lectrolyst is pioneering new ways to reduce greenhouse‑gas emissions while feeding a growing global population. For more information, please visit Lectrolyst’s website or contact Robert Parker to arrange a meeting with Dr. Greg Hutchings, Lectrolyst’s Co-Founder and CEO.

Greg Hutchings, President and Co-Founder of Lectrolyst

Dr. Greg Hutchings is the president and co-founder of Lectrolyst, a startup that uses renewable electricity to convert waste carbon dioxide into electro-agriculture chemicals, offering a cost-effective, flexible solution that reduces emissions and produces green chemicals and feedstocks for bio-processing. Prior to co-founding Lectrolyst, Greg was focused on designing and engineering catalysts for better energy conversion, energy storage, and sustainability (including hydrogen production, carbon oxide transformation, lithium-oxygen batteries, lithium-ion batteries, and biomass upgrading).

Greg obtained his B.S. in Chemical Engineering from the University of Florida (2010), his Ph.D. in Chemical Engineering from the University of Delaware (2015), and completed postdoctoral training at Yale University (2018). He also completed a Postdoctoral Innovation Fellowship through Horn Entrepreneurship at the University of Delaware after returning to co-found Lectrolyst. Beyond his work building Lectrolyst, Greg is an avid runner and board gamer.

ZS2 Has been Selected by Aviva Insurance as a Preferred Partner

ZS2 has been selected by Aviva Insurance (one of Canada’s largest insurers) as a Preferred Partner. Following certification of ZS2’s products as non-combustible, storm-resistant, mold-resistant, and sustainable, Aviva will now recommend ZS2 solutions to 2.5M+ clients, unlocking significant new project and claims-related opportunities estimated at CAD $20–50M annually.Lloyd’s of London is also evaluating underwriting as much as $3B in insurance for projects utilizing ZS2’s fire-resistant magnesium oxide cement panels.ZS2 has now officially begun the second phase of their Joint Development Agreement, accelerating the scale-up of their second-generation, North American–made production.

Further, ZS2 has successfully completed milestones 2 and 3 under their Emissions Reduction Alberta and National Research Council of Canada programs, receiving a CAD $1.27M milestone payment.Please contact Mitchell Hauser or Tony Coretto for further information or to arrange a meeting with Scott Jenkins, ZS2's CEO.

First Dust Suppression Demonstration Completed

Copperstone Technologies is a robotics company developing autonomous solutions for hazardous site investigation, delivering mission-critical data to industrial clients operating in extreme environments. Its flagship product line, HELIX, consists of robots designed to navigate mine tailings, wastewater lagoons, and other dangerous or inaccessible sites—offering a safer, more accurate, and cost-effective alternative to traditional methods.

• Dust suppression progress - we have completed an initial demonstration and have a full commercial scale pilot requested in the spring for a site in Ontario. We are receiving great interest with inbound calls from multiple other locations in the US, South America, Australia, and Ghana. We are continuing to refine and test our payload over the winter to prepare for a commercial roll out of operations next year.

• Following a strong reception at the Tailings and Mine Waste conference earlier this month, Copperstone has received requests for proposals and scoping meetings with mine sites in Canada, US, Chile & Peru.

  
  

Please contact Mitchell Hauser or Tony Coretto for more information or to arrange a meeting with Jamie Yuen, Copperstone's Founder. 

Splash's Same Store Sales Grow 11% YoY 

Splash, the leader in sustainable automated carwashes in China (the world’s largest market), continues to break records, with strong topline growth, major cost reductions, early profitability, new development financing, resumed site openings, and Hydrocycle’s substantial sales pipeline:

• Splash completed its fourth successful price increase since early 2023. The latest adjustment increased our average transaction value by ~20%. In the first six weeks post-change, while same-store volume grew 11% year-on-year.

• Hydrocycle has secured initial approval for three government grants, totaling approximately $150K in near-term non-dilutive funding, with larger long-term support under negotiation.

• Discussions continue with the Hong Kong group pursuing a combined Splash + Hydrocycle investment and exclusive franchise rights for China’s Greater Bay Area.

• Hydrocycle is preparing to issue proposals totaling $2M in near-term opportunities before year-end, with visibility towards more than $40M in longer-term commercial potential.

  
  

For further information or to set up time to speak with Splash's CEO, Rob Shesol, please contact Tony Coretto.

Nanocrine Presenting at Major Cell Biology Conference

Nanocrine, a biotech company based in Frederick, Maryland, is revolutionizing the drug discovery process. Nanocrine's Plasmonic imaging chips enable real-time imaging of cellular activity, helping researchers better understand how cells behave and interact with drugs.

Nanocrine is launching their plasmonic imaging technology at the American Society for Cell Biology conference taking place in Philadelphia from December 6 through December 10 (https://www.ascb.org/cellbio2025/). This meeting will be attended by over 6,000 professionals and researchers (mostly PhD or PhD-in-training) from all over the world. It is the largest conference for cell biology in the world and is well attended both nationally and internationally. 

Prior to the event, Nanocrine held a press conference to announce their technology. the release has received play in a variety of outlets including Yahoo!Finance and Dun & Bradstreet.  We believe other outlets are preparing articles to appear soon. To see the press release video, click here.Nanocrine was also featured in the AI Journal for their work in helping to advance personalized cancer treatment. To read more, click here.

Please contact Tony Coretto for more information or to arrange a meeting with Dr. Patrick Calhoun, Nanocrine's President and Chief Science Officer.

Mitchell Hauser has joined the Board of Directors of AKOS Energy. His addition strengthens the company’s strategic direction and reinforces AKOS’s commitment to disciplined to growth of their sustainable well intervention technology in the oil, gas, and geothermal industry.

We are happy to announce that Aleena Sage has joined our team as an Analyst. Aleena earned her B.A. in Economics from Hunter College and will be pursuing an M.S. in Finance beginning in January to further build her knowledge in financial markets and analysis.