Grow-NY Winner Receives $724K in NSF Funding to Repurpose Dairy Waste

2019 Grow-NY $250,000 winner, Capro-X, received a $724,000 National Science Foundation Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Phase II award, pushing the startup past $1 million in total funding awards. This newest round of funding will allow Capro-X, which converts harmful acid whey waste from the production of Greek yogurt into useful chemicals and biofuels, to further develop its technology and conduct pilot testing prior to its planned market entry in 2022. 

Capro-X is making big strides. In addition to Capro-X’s participation in the 2019 Grow-NY competition, the startup was also a finalist in NYSERDA’s 76West Clean Energy Competition in 2018, and in the same year it joined Rev: Ithaca Startup Works, a business incubator based in Ithaca, NY. More recently, the startup received a $100,000 Environmental Protection Agency SBIR award, and was selected for the Dairy Farmers of America food-focused startup accelerator. 

Capro-X has been praised for its innovative work in clean energy and reducing waste in the dairy industry. “We’ve been able to achieve all of the goals we set out to reach when starting the company, a couple of years ago,” said Juan Guzman, CEO and co-founder. 

Read the full story on Capro-X and its recent success in the Cornell Chronicle.