The Urban Future Prize Competition awards top prizes to Faura and Helix Earth Technologies

NYU Tandon School of Engineering's Urban Future Lab named the winners of its 2024 Future Resilience and Future Solutions prizes, at its 8th annual Urban Future Summit on October 24, 2024 at the Brooklyn Navy Yard in New York City. Through the generous support of The New York Community Trust, MUFG Bank, Mitsubishi Corporation (Americas), the Urban Future Lab continues to catalyze groundbreaking solutions for the climate crisis and this year, they’ve expanded their focus to include adaptation as a critical piece of the puzzle.

After an afternoon of pitches, the jury, comprised of industry experts and climate technology investors Anastasia Istratova (Principal Climate Tech, Fifth Wall), Katie MacDonald (Co-Founder, Tailwind),  ​Nneka Kibuule (Principal, Aligned Climate Capital), ​and Shawn Xu (Partner, Lowercarbon Capital), awarded Faura and Helix Earth Technologies with $50,000 each and admission to the ACRE Incubator to gain access to a community of expert advisors, mentors, and investors who will help to scale their businesses and accelerate their paths to success. 

• The winner of the 2024 Future Resilience Prize is ​Faura. Faura helps assess the risk of properties in natural disaster zones (wildfires, hurricanes, floods, etc) to help insurance policyholders mitigate their risk and better inform underwriters. Faura helps homeowners qualify for better and cheaper insurance by making their properties more climate resilient.
• The winner of the 2024 Future Solutions Prize is ​Helix Earth Technologies. Helix Earth Technologies is a NASA-based technology that eliminates >50% of the energy used by commercial air conditioners. 

“Since 2017, we’ve awarded 18 companies with $800,000 in non-dilutive capital, and those companies have gone on to raise approximately $250 million in private capital. For every dollar awarded through this competition, our companies have raised $312 — showing the catalytic effect of this support. Yesterday’s summit wasn’t just about celebrating innovation; it was about creating a platform for collaboration. We were proud to host a panel on ‘Centering Equity in Climate Adaptation,’ which brought together diverse voices to focus on environmental justice and the need to prioritize vulnerable communities when developing adaptation solutions,” says Austin Evarts, Director of the ACRE Incubator at the Urban Future Lab.

“NYU Tandon is dedicated to finding engineering solutions to address climate and environmental issues,” said Linda Ng Boyle, NYU Tandon Vice Dean for Research. “We are excited to bring in these innovative prize-winning companies into the Urban Future Lab and to foster collaboration between them and Tandon in our shared mission.”

This year, the Urban Future Lab selected nine startup companies from 317 applications to compete for its two prize tracks, including the newly introduced Future Resilience Prize. In addition to championing innovative climate technologies and convening a diverse group of industry experts, investors, researchers, community-based organizations, and climate enthusiasts, the event also aimed to shine a spotlight on climate adaptation innovations that will have a positive impact on vulnerable communities.

“There will be no magical panacea that stabilizes the climate system and strengthens climate resilience,” said Arturo Garcia-Costas, Senior Program Officer at the New York Community Trust. “It will require a multitude of brilliant solutions deployed wisely, quickly, and competently at all levels of governance. The Urban Future Prize Competition helps identify the entrepreneurial innovations and innovators that we need today and in the future. The Trust is proud to support this dynamic and highly selective process.”

Centering Equity in Climate Adaptation Solutions

The Summit also featured a curated panel focused on Equity in Climate Adaptation solutions featuring ​Erika Jozwiak, (Climate Resilience Lead, NYSERDA), Sahara James (Senior Sustainability Consultant, Kinetic Communities Consulting), and ​Tyler Taba (Director of Resilience, The Waterfront Alliance). The need for effective communication and collaboration was underscored, as was the importance of innovation that is trustworthy, affordable, and aligned with community needs. The need for effective communication and collaboration was underscored, as was the importance of innovation that is trustworthy, affordable, and aligned with community needs. 

Erika highlighted the dual transition to a green energy economy while addressing the immediate impacts of climate change, stressing that both adaptation and mitigation strategies must be implemented concurrently to seize opportunities for resilience. Sahara focused on the necessity of inclusivity, ensuring that marginalized communities benefit from these transitions through targeted funding and accessible programs. Tyler discussed the challenges of adapting coastal areas and advocating for equitable solutions that acknowledge historical injustices, such as redlining. 

What’s next for the winners? 

Faura and Helix Earth Technologies will receive tailored support from the ACRE Incubator and join the incredible roster of Urban Future Lab’s portfolio companies. 

"In the last year, millions of individuals in vulnerable communities have been stripped of their insurance policies or given outrageously high premiums that result in many losing their most valuable assets: their homes. Faura helps homeowners qualify for better and cheaper insurance by teaching them exactly what, when, and how they should reduce the risk on their properties, aligning incentives for both insurers and policyholders to close the transparency gap. We've begun to help thousands of homeowners make a difference and are working on expanding our team," says Valkyrie Holmes, CEO & Co-Founder of Faura and this year’s Future Resilience Prize winner.

“Right now, we're fully focused on developing our first product, which is a retrofit add-on system for air conditioners that will save half the energy that they use. We're running some pilots in the next 6-12 months, and then hopefully in the next 18-24 months we'll launch the product to market. The Urban Future Lab’s support will be incredibly helpful as we embark on this journey,” says Rawand Rasheed, PhD, CEO & Co-Founder of Helix Earth Technologies and this year’s Future Solutions Prize winner.

Beth Gilroy, Deputy Head of Sustainability Strategy & Planning at MUFG Bank highlighted that, “MUFG Bank is pleased to support the Urban Future Prize Competition as part of our global commitment to support the transition to a low-carbon economy. As a leading global financial institution based in Japan and backed by locations in more than 50 countries and regions, we are working hand in hand with our clients and financing innovative companies and projects that are bringing to market new sustainable technologies addressing critical challenges in sectors across the global economy. Congratulations to the winners."

About the Urban Future Lab at NYU Tandon School of Engineering

The Urban Future Lab at the NYU Tandon School of Engineering is an innovation hub for best-in-class climatetech startups with a focus on clean energy and sustainable urban infrastructure solutions. A cornerstone of NYU Tandon's Sustainable Engineering Initiative (SEI), the UFL advances SEI's mission to develop new engineering strategies to avoid, mitigate, and remediate emissions responsible for climate change and environmental contamination, and that introduce novel ways to evaluate the impact of and adapt to these environmental challenges.

The UFL is home to four programs that support innovators on their journey to scale up and commercialize their businesses: ACRE is New York's longest-running climatetech incubator; Carbon to Value Initiative and Offshore Wind Innovation Hub bring innovative technologies and solutions to industry leaders; and the Innovate UK Global Incubator Programme supports entry in the U.S. for U.K.-based climatetech startups that can effectively grow and support the clean-growth goals of New York State. UFL also offers Clean Start, an advanced certificate from NYU for people seeking a transition into the climatetech sector.

Since 2009, UFL has supported 170+ startups with an industry-leading 88% company survival rate, raised $2.5B+ in venture capital, project finance, and grants, created 4,100+ jobs, and facilitated 100+ events with 2,000+ attendees per year.

For more information, visit ufl.nyc, LinkedIn, Instagram, and sign up to their newsletter. For more information about NYU Tandon, visit engineering.nyu.edu.