MIT’s START.nano announces 16 new hard-tech startups in 2025

START.nano, the acceleration program from MIT.nano, just dropped some news that sent ripples through the global tech innovation ecosystem. In 2025, 16 new hard-tech startups officially joined the program, more than doubling the number of companies admitted compared to the previous year. This massive growth shows that demand for access to cutting-edge infrastructure is ramping up in a big way, and that MIT is responding with real action — expanding the program’s reach and making room for more companies trying to solve real problems with real technology.

These companies are working on solutions for some of the world’s biggest challenges right now, including healthcare, clean energy, climate, semiconductors, advanced materials, and quantum computing. These are fields that demand way more than a good idea on paper — they require sophisticated equipment, specialized labs, dedicated research time, and access to experts that very few places on the planet can actually provide. That’s exactly where START.nano becomes a massive differentiator for anyone at the beginning of their entrepreneurial journey.

According to Joyce Wu, START.nano program manager and MIT alumna, MIT.nano’s unique resources enable not just fundamental academic research, but also the translation of that research into commercial innovations through startups. The program supports early-stage companies, both from MIT and beyond, with the tools and network they need to have a real shot at succeeding in the market.

And what makes all of this even more interesting is that you don’t need any affiliation with MIT to participate. The program opens the doors of its labs and the entire MIT.nano infrastructure to early-stage startups that need to move from concept to market for real. Of the 16 new companies in the 2025 cohort, five are led by MIT alumni and three have some affiliation with the institution. Overall, 49% of START.nano startups were founded by MIT graduates, which means more than half come from outside the university.

In the sections ahead, you’ll get to know each of these 16 companies, understand what they’re building, and discover why this movement could be one of the most significant for the future of real-impact technologies. 🚀

What is START.nano and why does it matter so much

Launched in 2021, START.nano is the acceleration arm of MIT.nano, the nanoscience and nanotechnology center at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. The program was created with a pretty straightforward goal: increase the survival rate of hard-tech startups by making the journey from lab to real world a whole lot smoother. When we talk about infrastructure here, we’re not talking about a small room with a computer and a shared desk. We’re talking about nanoscale fabrication equipment, advanced materials labs, state-of-the-art characterization tools, and an environment where some of the most important research in the world is happening in real time.

In practice, the program offers three main pillars of support:

• Discounted use of MIT.nano’s shared facilities, which include fabrication, characterization, and nanoscale prototyping labs.
• Guided access to MIT’s innovation ecosystem, connecting startups with researchers, mentors, and potential strategic partners.
• Participation in exclusive events, such as presentations at MIT conferences and the newly launched PITCH.nano competition, where companies can showcase their technologies to a qualified audience of investors and experts.

What sets START.nano apart from other traditional accelerator programs is precisely this physical and technical access it provides. Most accelerators focus on mentorship, investor connections, and product development from a business perspective. That’s valuable, of course, but for a hard-tech startup that needs to validate a new semiconductor material or test a quantum device under controlled conditions, what truly makes the difference is having access to labs that cost tens of millions of dollars to operate. START.nano offers exactly that, and at a cost that makes it feasible for young companies to participate without needing to raise a massive funding round just to pay for infrastructure.

As Jason Gibson, CEO and co-founder of Quantum Formatics, one of the startups in the new cohort, put it: for an early-stage startup working at the frontier of superconductor discovery, the combination of infrastructure and community is irreplaceable. Cynthia Liao, CEO and co-founder of Vertical Semiconductor, echoed that sentiment, noting that START.nano serves as a strategic advantage that accelerates the company’s roadmap, allowing them to iterate quickly to meet customer needs and strengthen competitiveness.

The 16 startups that joined the program in 2025

The 2025 START.nano cohort is, without a doubt, the most diverse and ambitious yet. The 16 selected startups cover an enormous spectrum of technology areas, and what they all have in common is that they’re trying to solve problems the world is going to desperately need answers to in the coming decades. Below, you’ll find each one with a summary of what they’re building.

• Acorn Genetics — Developing what it calls the smartphone of gene sequencing, taking the power of genetic analysis out of slow, centralized labs and putting it directly into consumers’ hands. The goal is to deliver fast, portable, and affordable sequencing.
• Addis Energy — Leveraging oil, gas, and geothermal drilling technologies to unlock the chemical potential of iron-rich rocks. By injecting engineered fluids, the company harnesses the Earth’s natural energy to produce ammonia abundantly and at competitive cost.
• Augmend Health — Combines virtual reality and artificial intelligence to deliver clinical data intelligence services in specialty care. The solution transforms incomplete documentation into revenue, regulatory compliance, and more accurate treatment decisions.
• Brightlight Photonics — Building high-performance laser infrastructure at chip scale, integrating Titanium:Sapphire gain to deliver broadband, high-power, low-noise optical sources for advanced photonic systems.
• Cahira Technologies — Creating a new paradigm of brain-computer symbiosis to treat intractable diseases and enhance human capabilities using autonomous, non-surgical neural implants.
• Copernic Catalysts — Using computational modeling to develop and commercialize transformational catalysts aimed at sustainable, low-cost production of bulk chemicals and e-fuels.
• Daqus Energy — Working to enable high-energy lithium-ion batteries using organic cathodes free of critical metals, which could drastically reduce dependence on scarce minerals in the battery production chain.
• Electrified Thermal Solutions — Reinventing the firebrick to electrify industrial heat, replacing fossil fuel combustion in processes that operate at extremely high temperatures.
• Guardion — Making analytical instruments, chemical detectors, and radiation detectors more sensitive, portable, and scalable using nanomaterial-based ion detectors.
• Mantel Capture — Designing carbon capture materials that operate at the high temperatures found inside boilers, furnaces, and kilns, enabling highly efficient carbon capture that previously wasn’t feasible.
• nOhm Devices — Developing high-efficiency cryogenic electronics for quantum computers and sensors, a fundamental component for scaling quantum computing.
• Quantum Formatics — Accelerating the discovery of the world’s next superconductors using proprietary artificial intelligence, combining AI with materials science to find promising compounds much faster.
• Qunett — Building the foundational hardware stack for deployable quantum networks, preparing the infrastructure for the next era of global connectivity based on quantum communication.
• Rheyo — Developing new ways to make dental care more effective, efficient, and accessible through advanced materials and technology applied to dentistry.
• Vertical Semiconductor — Commercializing high-voltage, high-density, high-efficiency vertical GaN (gallium nitride) to power the next era of computing.
• VioNano Innovations — Developing specialized materials solutions that reduce variability and improve precision in semiconductor manufacturing, enabling chipmakers to build components that are even smaller, faster, and more cost-effective.

Why hard-tech needs programs like START.nano

The startup ecosystem has been dominated by software companies for a long time, and there’s a very practical reason for that. Developing an app or a digital platform has a significantly lower barrier to entry than building a new material, a medical device, or a semiconductor component. For hard-tech startups, the equation is completely different: you need specialized equipment, highly skilled technical staff, time to validate prototypes, and a controlled environment where experiments can be replicated reliably. All of that costs a lot of money and requires a structure that very few organizations in the world can provide.

That’s why programs like START.nano are so important for advancing real-impact technologies. Without access to the right infrastructure, many of these startups simply can’t progress fast enough to attract investors, close contracts, or reach the market before running out of capital. The development cycle for a physical technology is naturally longer than for a digital solution, and a lack of adequate resources only makes that cycle even slower and riskier.

When MIT opens its labs to these companies, it’s essentially compressing the development timeline and increasing the real chances of success for each one of them. This has direct implications for the volume of innovation that reaches the market: more startups surviving the early stages means more impactful solutions available to tackle problems in healthcare, energy, climate, and computing.

Beyond physical access, what START.nano offers in terms of networking and technical support is also a differentiator that shouldn’t be underestimated. Having access to MIT researchers who are at the frontier of knowledge in nanoscience, advanced materials, photonics, and electronics means startups can solve technical problems much faster than they would on their own. That kind of specialized support is exactly what turns a promising idea into a technology that actually works in the real world. 🧪

The numbers that show the program’s growth

START.nano now has more than 32 active companies and 11 graduates — ventures that have moved past the prototyping stages and in some cases have already reached commercialization. That number is especially notable considering the program only launched in 2021. In four years, START.nano has built a diversified portfolio of startups operating in some of the most challenging areas of modern technology.

The fact that the 2025 cohort more than doubled compared to the previous year also signals that the model is working. Startups are seeing real value in what the program offers, and word of mouth among founders is helping attract an increasing number of qualified applicants. It’s the kind of organic growth that happens when a program delivers concrete results.

Another standout data point is the diversity of founder affiliations. While MIT is naturally a magnet for this type of entrepreneur, more than half of the program’s startups were founded by people with no ties to the university. This shows that START.nano is reaching a much broader audience than just the MIT community, attracting talent from different backgrounds and geographic origins.

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Innovation that goes beyond the lab

What unites all 16 of these startups, beyond the program itself, is the ambition to build things that truly matter. They’re not trying to create the next social network or optimize an urban logistics process. They’re trying to change the way we sequence DNA outside of labs, how we produce energy without fossil fuels, how we manufacture the chips that will power the computers of the future, and how we discover superconductors with the help of artificial intelligence. That level of technological ambition is rare, and finding an environment that concretely supports that kind of work is even rarer.

START.nano’s growth in 2025 is also an important signal about where the innovation ecosystem stands right now. There’s a growing demand for deep-tech solutions — the kind that solve structural problems and have the potential to create entirely new markets. Investors are paying more and more attention to these types of companies, and programs like this serve as a quality filter that helps identify which startups have the technical substance to make it to the other side.

The recent creation of the PITCH.nano competition, where program startups can present their technologies to investors and experts, further reinforces this role as a qualified showcase. It’s not just about giving access to labs — START.nano is building a complete ecosystem that spans from research all the way to fundraising and market validation.

And for anyone following the world of innovation and technology, it’s worth keeping an eye on what these companies build over the next few years. Some of them will likely go through significant investment rounds, others will land deals with major corporations, and a few might even redefine entire product and service categories. START.nano isn’t just an accelerator program — it’s a signal that MIT is making a serious bet on the role deep-tech startups will play in the next phase of global innovation. 🌍