LOCOAL Named Inaugural Winner of Startup Prize: Energy

LOCOAL is proud to be named a grand-prize winner of the inaugural Startup Prize: Energy competition, taking the top spot in the Fuels & Hydrocarbons track. The recognition, first reported by Biz New Orleans, caps off a competitive first year for the program.

About the Competition

Startup Prize: Energy is organized by the Prize Foundation, with support from Louisiana Economic Development, Louisiana Innovation (LA.IO), and FUEL (Future Use of Energy in Louisiana), an NSF Regional Innovation Engine. The inaugural competition drew far more interest than organizers anticipated — 33 companies from 14 U.S. states plus entries from Switzerland, Kenya, and Canada applied, well above the 12–16 participants originally expected.

Gregory Kallenberg, Startup Prize founder and Prize Foundation executive director, said the program's first year "far surpassed our expectations."

LOCOAL Takes the Fuels & Hydrocarbons Track

LOCOAL was recognized for our work building distributed energy systems that convert commercial and industrial waste into biochar and clean fuel on-site — the same mission behind RAINMAKER™. The award was accepted on behalf of the company by CEO & Co-Founder Miles Murray and COO Clay Multer.

Alongside LOCOAL, NovaSpark Energy of West Monroe, Louisiana, won the Electricity track for its mobile, closed-loop systems that generate hydrogen fuel, electricity, and water from atmospheric moisture. Four additional companies — Arculus Solutions, LNK Energies, Element16, and Innowind Energy Solutions — also advanced to the finals.

Each grand-prize winner received $10,000 in cash, along with mentorship and introductions to investors.

What This Means for LOCOAL

This recognition validates the RAINMAKER™ approach to distributed, on-site waste conversion and provides new mentorship and investor connections as we continue scaling. We're grateful to the Prize Foundation, Louisiana Economic Development, LA.IO, and FUEL for building a platform that puts a spotlight on practical, deployable energy solutions — and we're looking forward to putting this momentum to work.

Read the full article at Biz New Orleans.