A Note From GCxN’s Program Managers:
Reflecting on the past year for the Shell GameChanger Accelerator™ Powered by the National Laboratory of the Rockies (GCxN), it became clear that 2024 was a year for planning and 2025 was a year for doing. What were ideas 12 months ago are now realities—and we’re excited to share those in this Year in Review. We are now fully in a new phase of GCxN, one that entails an expansion of the core accelerator program plus two new features: strategic awards for Channel Partners and a global network of entrepreneurial support organizations (ESOs).
We onboarded our largest cohort of startups, which includes seven companies working on future feedstocks and electrochemical pathways to fuels. This brings our program portfolio to 30 companies and proves that the approaches, systems, and processes we’ve successfully employed over the last seven years can scale to higher volumes. GCxN is poised to advance more promising startup technologies for greater impact toward our mission.
You’ll read about the many accolades and achievements of all our portfolio companies in the pages that follow, but we want to congratulate both Alumina Energy and BattGenie on their graduations from the program this year. Also worth celebrating is eXoZymes (formerly Invizyne), who became the very first GCxN portfolio company to launch an initial public offering. And we’re already planning the next cohort, for which the selection is currently underway—our team of technical experts is reviewing a very promising pool of referred startups working on advanced gasoline and lignin valorization.
Our broader ecosystem of support continues to grow and strengthen its impact as well. For the first time, we directly invested in the Channel Partner network with two strategic awards that have already yielded impressive results (including follow-on funding). We also launched the Worldwide Innovation Network and convened the founding ESO members to build the relationships, practices, and structure that will solidify the network and guide its growth.
We’re feeling inspired and motivated by the momentum gained this year on all program fronts. We’re confident that with partners, collaborators, and stakeholders—like you—we’ll continue on this trajectory of achievement and growth in 2026 and beyond. We sincerely thank you for your interest in this critical work to identify and advance the next generation of transformative energy technologies.
We invite you to read GCxN’s 2025 Year in Review.
Sincerely,
Yesim Jonsson, Shell GCxN Program Manager
Johanna Jamison, National Laboratory of the Rockies GCxN Program Manager
Rachelle Ihly, Ph.D., National Laboratory of the Rockies GCxN Technical Project Manager
