Rise Reforming
New accelerator entry · 2026-07-07 · the record
In their words
Geopolitical conflicts and natural disasters frequently expose the vulnerability of the American chemical industry. The reason? Production is centralized and fossil fuel-dependent. The solution? Localized production using an undervalued resource: biogas. The US produces enough biogas to make over $20 bn/y worth of chemicals, but 60% is wasted in low-margin applications or flared altogether. Rise Reforming is commercializing a modular process to transform this underutilized biogas on-site into cheap, supply-secure chemicals. Our beachhead market is dimethyl ether (DME), used as an aerosol propellant and a low-carbon fuel additive in propane. Our target market is methanol: an established billion $ chemical and the future of low-carbon shipping. We're doing our pilot project at a Chicagoland wastewater plant. This will be the first wastewater biogas-to-methanol demo in the Americas. We're hiring for a senior chemical process engineer. Apply here: https://www.ycombinator.com/companies/rise-reforming/jobs/wJ9Q9nv-senior-chemical-process-engineer
What the record says
Co-Founder & CTO at Rise Reforming (S26). Double B.Sc. in Molecular Engineering and Physics from the University of Chicago. Prev: nuclear waste management at Argonne National Laboratory, offshore wind at Avangrid/Iberdrola. Led the design, procurement, construction, and operation of a bench-scale reforming unit with controls. Also have a Spotify playlist with 200k+ saves. Check it out at: https://open.spotify.com/playlist/3rV2gyEKHxixpKa3IDQLvF?si=3458c33e03e84738&nd=1&dlsi=d0006826be884d
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Against the 209 companies on file from Summer 2026. Median team 2, largest 30.
The nearest companies on file from the same batch, side by side with this one.
| Company | Batch | Sectors | Listed |
|---|---|---|---|
| Frontier Computing | Summer 2026 | Artificial Intelligence, Hard Tech, Hardware | 2026-08-31 |
| Ethos Space Resources | Summer 2026 | Hard Tech, Exascale Computing, Energy | 2026-08-23 |
| Spectre Intelligence | Summer 2026 | Biotech, Investing, Trading | 2026-08-22 |
| Edgerun | Summer 2026 | Robotics, Defense | 2026-08-21 |
| Allia Health | Summer 2026 | Artificial Intelligence, Healthcare, Mental Health | 2026-08-19 |
| Rise Reforming (this page) | Summer 2026 | Hard Tech, Smart Waste Management, Alternative Fuels | 2026-07-07 |
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