Los Angeles Regional Energy Innovation Cluster Interim Report

The Los Angeles Regional Energy Innovation Cluster submits its Interim Report of the ten-year Project. For this Project, the Los Angeles Cleantech Incubator (LACI) leveraged its experience as a cleantech organization for Los Angeles County to form a new clean energy cluster management program, the Los Angeles Regional Energy Innovation Cluster (LA REIC), which encompasses the Los Angeles Region (defined as Santa Barbara, Ventura, Los Angeles, and Orange Counties). 

LA REIC has driven the region’s efforts to meet its statutory energy goals by creating a framework that both assesses and addresses regional energy needs while supporting and accelerating new clean energy technologies. The goals of the LA REIC are to support and accelerate: 

• Investor-Owned Utilities (IOU) ratepayers’ access to beneficial new clean energy innovations. 
• The Los Angeles region’s fulfillment of California’s statutory energy goals. 
• The development and commercialization of clean energy technologies that can overcome the region’s barriers to achieving the state’s statutory energy goals. 

Over the past five years, the cluster worked to support cleantech innovation, and the impact is clear: 

• LACI startups raised over $834.2M in capital. 
• Fifty-seven (57) companies graduating from LACI’s Innovators program, benefitting from mentorship, business tools, and valuable introductions to investors - resulting in these 57 startups raising over $46M of follow-on funding. 
• Hosting 130+ events in the region to connect the innovation ecosystem. 
• Referring over 220 startups to other incubators and accelerators. 

In the years to follow, LACI will leverage LA REIC follow-on support to expand its programmatic reach, increasing its founder diversity through strategic partnership and engagement with the goal of supporting over 230 startups over the next five years.