When Rhode Island took the lead in the American Industrial Revolution, it sparked more than a boom in business and production – with that pioneering role, the Ocean State also contributed to a dramatic spike in pollution, and it continues to contend with the environmental effects today.
Through a combination of technology and nature, Rhode Island-based startup EcoForge hopes to rewrite this reputation in the Ocean State, says co-founder Rongyu Na.
Officially launched in March 2023, then at Greentown Labs in Somerville, Mass., the EcoForge team uses agricultural residues such as corn stalks and straw, and other fossil-based materials as key ingredients for affordable building materials that can replace traditional, highly toxic options.
“We’re looking to empower ... the industry with a competitive edge over traditional building materials,” Na said, adding that the startup is looking to address common concerns around supply and fire safety compliance that also stem from these older materials.
In addition, EcoForge has found that natural plant-based building materials, even invasive plants, provide good insulation and have the potential to act as carbon dioxide “sinks,” meaning they absorb more carbon than they release.
Na is a recent graduate of the Master of Arts in Design Engineering program – or MADE – that’s a partnership between the Rhode Island School of Design and Brown University. He co-founded the company with fellow MADE enrollee Myung Bender, and University of Pennsylvania graduate Alex Yang. Na and Bender specialize in engineering and design, while Yang has a background in finance.
While enrolled in the MADE program, Na and Bender “found that bio-based material has promising potential for the building industry, especially when we consider that this industry is responsible for nearly 40% of carbonation worldwide,” Na said.
Many building components also contain toxic and flammable materials such as formaldehyde, which Na said the EcoForge team finds particularly troubling given that studies have shown most Americans spend about 90% of their time indoors.
EcoForge addresses those concerning implications, Na says. The team has developed a binding material made from 95% natural content, with a goal to increase this figure to 100%. Additionally, EcoForge has developed a fire retardant to pair with this binding material.
The startup has already gained funding and accolades, placing third in the Brown Venture Prize Competition in March. In June, EcoForge gained entry into Brown’s Nelson Center for Entrepreneurship’s Breakthrough Lab accelerator program. The startup also participated in the Advancing Climatetech and Clean Energy Leaders Program, another accelerator held by Greentown Labs and Boston-based Browning the Green Space earlier this year.
EcoForge launches its pre-seed fundraising round this month and has already secured its first customer, Na says.
As more companies set reduced and zero-emissions goals, Na and the EcoForge team are “extremely hopeful” that the startup will continue to attract demand.
Indeed, “clean tech” companies avoided the worst of the financial woes that plagued the broader tech industry in 2023 when tech giants such as Amazon.com Inc., Meta Platforms Inc. and Google LLC enacted mass layoffs. Blue and green startups, meanwhile, benefited from new sources of capital formed specifically for their fields, Toby Stapleton, executive director of the Rhode Island-based Blue Venture Forum, said last spring.
Since that time, interest and investment availability for green tech companies remain relatively strong, Stapleton said. But new challenges have also arisen.
“It is tougher today, compared to over a year ago, for founders to raise equity investment,” Stapleton said. “The investors that we work with blame high interest rates for the overall slowdown in investment.”
Green tech startups also face increased competition, Stapleton noted, even as companies say they struggle to achieve sustainability goals.
Na says that EcoForge’s technology can help to keep companies accountable to these emissions goals – an issue, given that studies have shown that many companies engage in “greenwashing,” or making false statements about the environmental benefits of their practices.
Last year, for instance, a global survey held by Harris Poll for Google Cloud found that 58% of respondents admitted to exaggerating their sustainability practices. Among U.S. executives, that figure rose to 68%.
Overall, 65% of the survey’s respondents said they wanted to improve their sustainability efforts but did not know how to achieve this goal. Na says that part of this difficulty stems from a lack of green-solutions suppliers. EcoForge hopes to fill that void.
Still, funding remains a hurdle for businesses in the nascent sector.
“In green technology, there are a lot of companies that are raising funding for the research and development phase,” Stapleton said, “so they’re not ready to go to market. ... That’s part of the challenge. ... There are investors who are investing in seed rounds and early rounds of funding, but there’s still a lack of pre-seed investment.”
But EcoForge has several factors working in its favor, Stapleton said, citing the company’s participation in accelerators and its pitch-contest recognition.
“It’s all about getting visibility, getting the attention of investors,” Stapleton said. “You can do that in a number of ways, but accelerator programs still remain a good way to do that.”
Meanwhile, EcoForge pursues its own sustainability goals by producing its building materials from agricultural waste, Na says, which supports local farmers while preserving trees. The team also wants to keep manufacturing local.
“Rhode Island is known for making composites, so we have really high hopes for actually producing in Rhode Island,” Na said.
