The University of Colorado Boulder (CU Boulder) has once again demonstrated its role as a national leader in deep tech startups through two significant showcases: the Embark Deep Tech Startup Creator and Destination Startup. These events, hosted by Venture Partners at CU Boulder, provided a platform for cutting-edge startups, breakthrough research, and high-growth potential ventures to connect with industry leaders and investors.
Embark Deep Tech Startup Creator
The Embark program is CU Boulder’s deep tech startup creator, designed to match entrepreneurs with breakthrough innovations. It seeks motivated entrepreneurs to launch new companies based on various CU Boulder technologies ready to make a real-world impact. The program provides selected applicants with IP rights, salary support, grant funds, startup acceleration resources, and investor introductions.
Recent showcases featured startups working on groundbreaking innovations such as new dietary ingredients to fight inflammation and weight gain (Kioga), and a new “secret sauce” for creating bioplastics that fully biodegrade in natural environments (Ecovaleric). The event culminated in a pitch by Co-EIRs Makenna Morck and Alec Santiago, whose company is developing a breakthrough solution for drug discovery using a “shape-shifting cyclic peptide.” Their company, Kitsune Bio, won a surprise $1,000 audience choice prize.
Destination Startup
Destination Startup is a collaboration among leading research universities and federal laboratories across the Intermountain West to showcase the best companies from the innovation ecosystem. Over the past six years, it has hosted over 100 startup companies and attracted nearly a thousand investors, business leaders, and innovators. Companies from CU Boulder presented at the event included Darwin Biosciences, which unveiled a new bedside saliva-based diagnostic tool to detect sepsis, and PAGE Technologies, which pitched a cost-effective soil sensor for monitoring and improving soil health.
The showcases reaffirmed CU Boulder’s commitment to translating research into real-world impact. As Ajay Rayasam of Osage University Partners noted during the investor panel at Destination Startup, “With deep tech, there’s a massive societal impact… whether that’s a drug that cures disease or a technology that reduces emissions.”
The application for the third cohort of Embark is expected to open in the fall of 2025, while the startup application for Destination Startup 2026 is also anticipated to open in the fall of 2025. These programs exemplify CU Boulder’s commitment to fostering innovation and translating research into impactful business ventures.
