REEgen, a company with technology licensed from Cornell, has won the $150,000 grand prize at the 2025 FuzeHub Commercialization Competition. The company competed against eleven other innovative New York State startups and was selected by expert judges for demonstrating exceptional commercial viability and national security significance.
REEgen’s BioREEcover technology uses genetically engineered bacteria to recover rare earth elements and other critical minerals from industrial waste. The platform addresses a critical infrastructure gap: the U.S. currently recovers less than 1% of rare earth elements domestically and depends heavily on China for materials essential to defense, clean energy, and advanced manufacturing.
This award reflects the strength of Cornell-originated research reaching commercial scale. REEgen’s technology builds on foundational ARPA-E-funded research and represents the kind of deep-tech innovation emerging from Cornell’s entrepreneurship pipeline. With this funding, the company is accelerating toward commercial production, targeting revenue generation as early as mid-2026.
This follows CTL’s track record of successful FuzeHub placements, continuing to demonstrate the value of Cornell’s commercialization support in bringing university research to market.
Please review REEgen’s press release and FuzeHub’s announcement for additional details. You can also visit www.reegen.tech to learn more about the company.
