Greentown Labs announced plans for an ambitious 11 million dollar expansion at its recent DEMO Day event.

Announces large expansion project
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By Matt Carli

The largest clean technology start-up incubator in the nation, Greentown Labs, announced plans for an ambitious 11 million dollar expansion of its facilities at 28 Dane Street, an area popularly dubbed “Innovation Row.”

The announcement was made at Greentown’s annual DEMO Day, where the start-ups hosted on Greentown’s location showcase their prototypes and future designs. The company moved from Boston’s innovation district to Somerville in September 2013, taking over the 33,000 square foot space formerly occupied by the Ames Envelope facility.

Arriving in town with a collection of 25 startups, it has in two years grown to a community of more than 40. All told, Greentown’s startups have raised 118 million dollars in investment and employ over 400 people.

Greentown will be taking over the building at 444 Somerville Ave., an industrial space across the alley from its current location that currently houses Maaco, an auto body repair and paint shop.

Greentown has been filled to capacity for a year now and has a waitlist of startups eager to join. The new facilities will more than double floor space to 93,000 square feet, allowing the organization to house one hundred fledgling companies in total.

In addition to startups, the added room will be used to provide innovation space for partnerships with larger corporations as well as a showcase and meetup space for local manufacturers.

“This expansion will serve as a platform to achieve our vision of making Massachusetts a global hub for cleantech innovation,” says Greentown Labs CEO Emily Reichert.

Governor Charlie Baker, Lt Governor Karyn Polito, and Mayor Joseph A. Curtatone were given a tour of the Greentown entrepreneur showcases, and ended with a press conference about the benefits of public-private sector cooperation and the large advances that can come from small beginnings.

From the beginning, Greentown has had the financial support of Somerville. Its 2013 move to the city was facilitated by a $300,000 loan from the city’s innovation fund, on the condition that a majority of its employees be locals. In further support of Greentown’s endeavors, the city has pledged another $500,000 towards the organization’s expansion, with similar conditions over employment.

“It is a great story of public-private partnership,” said Mayor Curtatone. Public funds were also given by the state, in the form of loans from the Massachusetts Clean Energy Center. The rest of the project’s funding was provided by private lenders such as the East Boston Savings Bank.

After congratulating Greentown on its success so far, Governor Baker compared the startups currently developing prototypes to older and highly successful Massachusetts companies, noting that “every big company starts as a little one.”

Drawing on the humble beginnings of industry giants like Analog Devices, Governor Baker spoke in support of Greentown’s project of giving untested ideas a place to thrive: “There are many people out there with great ideas, people thinking about the same problems. The great thing about a place like this is it brings together people with ideas and people who’ve already gone through the process before. The only thing stopping the success of this company is the ingenuity and audacity of the people it supports. I can’t think of a better gift to give to Massachusetts and the globe…and it’s happening here in Somerville.”