Baton Rouge-based Encore CO2 and FarmSmarter.AI, a student team from LSU, won first place in their respective tracks at the inaugural Nexus Technology Cup last week.
Encore CO2, founded by Jordan Losavio, William McGehee and John Flake, earned first place in the open track and was also honored with the Most Innovative Award, securing a combined $45,000.
The company is leading efforts to build a circular carbon economy by transforming captured CO2 into high-value consumer products, including pharmaceuticals, while supporting zero-emission polymer manufacturing through the use of clean energy. Encore is using carbon emissions from a local brewery to produce the world’s first hard seltzer made from CO2.
The company was recently awarded a $275,000 Small Business Innovative Research grant from the National Science Foundation. It also received $200,000 from Future Use of Energy in Louisiana’s, or FUEL’s, Proof-of-Concept Fund in February.
