RISE Resilient Innovations

What RISE Resilient Innovations does

RISE Resilience Innovations is a Norfolk, Virginia-based nonprofit organization founded in 2018 that operates as a dedicated innovation accelerator for coastal and inland flood resilience. The organization runs themed, competition-based challenge programs that source solutions from entrepreneurs worldwide, test them in real-world conditions across Virginia municipalities, and award non-dilutive grants and revenue-based loans of up to $500,000 per winner to accelerate commercialization. Its core product surface includes the RISE Innovation Challenge Platform (the overarching competition-and-acceleration framework), the Resilience Innovation Fund (grant/loan capital), the Resilience Innovation Accelerator (mentorship and investor introduction), and the Resilience Innovation Hub & Testbed (a living laboratory of Virginia pilot communities). Challenge topic areas have spanned flood warning systems, flood insurance innovation, urban mobility during floods, building protection, and multi-hazard resilience, with named programs including the Coastal Community Resilience Challenge, Flood Insurance of the Future Challenge, Riverine Community Resilience Challenge I and II, and the Blue Ridge Regional Resilience Challenge. RISE does not develop proprietary technology itself; its technical value is in curating, deploying, and validating solutions built by third-party portfolio companies.

RISE's business model is grant-funded nonprofit program administration rather than product revenue. Capital inflows come primarily from federal sources (HUD, including an allocation from a $120M Norfolk disaster-protection award) and Virginia state agencies (Department of Housing and Community Development, GO Virginia), which RISE redistributes as non-dilutive funding to challenge winners while retaining a portion for program operations. Revenue mechanics are event-driven: each challenge cycle requires funding partner commitments, applicant sourcing, evaluation, award distribution, and pilot deployment. RISE earns no equity in funded companies and does not sell products or services commercially. Marketing and applicant sourcing rely on earned media (AP, Washington Post, NPR, Marketplace Tech), webinars, direct outreach, and partnerships with organizations including LISC Hampton Roads and MIT Solve.

RISE serves three primary customer segments: (1) entrepreneurs and small businesses developing flood resilience solutions, who receive funding, mentorship, pilot access, and investor introductions; (2) flood-prone Virginia communities (coastal Hampton Roads and inland Southwest/Northwest/Roanoke Valley/Blue Ridge), which gain early access to validated technologies and reduced innovation risk; and (3) government agencies at federal, state, and local levels, which use RISE as a deployment vehicle for resilience funding. As of 2026, RISE has supported more than 45 businesses, awarded over $10M to winners, received 350+ submissions from 30 countries, helped portfolio companies raise $48M+ in follow-on capital, created or retained 180+ jobs, and deployed 40+ novel pilot projects across Virginia.

Name

RISE Resilient Innovations

Legal name

RISE Resilience Innovations

Website

https://riseresilience.org

Company type

Private

Founded year

2018

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

1–10 employees

Short description

RISE Resilience Innovations is a Norfolk, Virginia-based nonprofit accelerator founded in 2018 that runs competitive innovation challenges to find, fund, and scale flood resilience solutions, deploying non-dilutive grants and real-world pilot access to entrepreneurs serving Virginia's flood-prone communities.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Nonprofit Innovation Accelerator

NAICS

Environment, Conservation and Wildlife Organizations (813312), Grantmaking and Giving Services (81321)

akta.pro primary industry

Climate Resilience & Disaster Risk Reduction (DRR) (BPAGABAK)

akta.pro secondary industries

Climate Adaptation & Resilience Programs (BPADALAD), Environmental & Climate Grantmaking Foundations (BPAGAKAM)

Keywords

• Innovation accelerator programs
• Flood resilience solutions
• Non-dilutive grant funding
• Climate adaptation challenges
• Living laboratory testbed

Headquarters

HQ city

Norfolk

HQ country

United States

HQ region

North America

Offices1 record

Markets served

GTM type

B2B

Offering type

Services

Cost components

Personnel, Operations, Marketing or Sales, Technology or R&D, Infrastructure

Revenue model

1. Grant and Government Funding: RISE receives grant funding from government sources including the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), Virginia Department of Housing and Community Development (DHCD), and GO Virginia. These funds are used to run innovation challenges and provide financial support to winning small businesses in the form of grants and revenue-based loans.
2. Non-dilutive Funding Distribution: RISE distributes funding to challenge winners as grants or revenue-based loans. RISE does not take equity in companies. Funding is provided to help innovators test and deploy solutions in Virginia pilot communities.

Go-to-market motion1 record

Distribution channels3 records

Marketing channels5 records

Core offering

RISE Resilience Innovations is a nonprofit innovation accelerator that finds, funds, and accelerates entrepreneurs developing flood resilience and climate adaptation solutions. It operates competitive open challenge programs (e.g., Coastal Community Resilience, Riverine Community Resilience, Flood Insurance of the Future, Blue Ridge Regional Resilience) that award non-dilutive grants and revenue-based loans to selected winners, who also gain access to real-world pilot sites in Virginia municipalities, technical and business mentorship, investor introductions, and follow-on accelerator support.

Product overview

RISE Resilience Innovations is a nonprofit accelerator organization offering a unified platform combining challenge-based competition, non-dilutive funding, acceleration programming, and a living laboratory testbed. The core offering is the RISE Innovation Challenge Platform, through which the organization runs themed challenge programs (e.g., Riverine Community Resilience Challenge, Blue Ridge Regional Resilience Challenge) awarding up to $1 million in grant and revenue-based loan funding. Winners gain access to the Resilience Innovation Hub & Testbed, which provides real-world pilot sites in Virginia municipalities, mentorship, investor introductions, and regulatory support. The organization has funded over 45 projects and built an ecosystem of 40+ coastal resilience entrepreneurs, functioning as the only coastal resilience accelerator ecosystem in the United States.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Products and services

• RISE Innovation Challenge Platform A competition-based accelerator platform that sources, funds, and accelerates innovative flood resilience and climate adaptation solutions by connecting entrepreneurs with real-world testbeds in Virginia communities. Open to U.S.-based companies and nonprofits globally; challenges receive 350+ submissions from 30 countries.
• Coastal Community Resilience Challenge Themed challenge programs focused on coastal flood resilience, building protection, and coastal flood management for Hampton Roads and other Virginia coastal communities. Winners receive up to $250,000 each in non-dilutive funding funded through sources such as HUD's National Disaster Resilience Competition.
• Riverine Community Resilience Challenge A challenge program focused on community-centered approaches to mitigate riverine flooding and strengthen pre- and post-disaster resilience in Southwest Virginia communities, sourcing flood warning systems, community insurance programs, and landscape adaptation solutions.
• Riverine Community Resilience Challenge II Second iteration of the Riverine Community Resilience Challenge, expanding into Northwest Virginia and Roanoke Valley regions and continuing to source flood warning systems, community insurance programs, and resilience analytics solutions for riverine communities.
• Blue Ridge Regional Resilience Challenge A competitive multi-hazard resilience challenge covering Blue Ridge communities with up to $500,000 in awards (two finalists eligible for non-dilutive awards of up to $500,000 each) for solutions addressing flooding, extreme rainfall, landslides, debris flows, high winds, and extreme heat.
• Flood Insurance of the Future Challenge A $1.5 million innovation challenge focused on testing new flood insurance solutions and models in Hampton Roads, with up to $300,000 awarded per winner.
• Resilience Innovation Fund Non-dilutive grant and revenue-based loan funding (up to $300,000 per award) for post-prototype small businesses and nonprofits deploying resilience solutions in Virginia pilot communities. RISE does not take equity in funded companies.
• Resilience Innovation Accelerator Structured accelerator experience providing winners with technical mentorship, government and business mentorship, investor introductions, PR and media visibility, and regulatory assistance with government funding.
• Resilience Innovation Hub & Testbed Living laboratory access providing real-world pilot sites in Virginia municipalities, feedback from government hosts, datasets, introductions to stakeholders, and a peer ecosystem of 40+ coastal resilience entrepreneurs.

Quantifiable outcome

• Over $10 million awarded to challenge winners since 2018
• +4 more outcomes

Named customers4 records

Segments3 records

Ideal customer profiles2 records

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Partnerships

Nine partnerships are on record, tiered minor and core.

• Imagine AerialminorStrategic or Co-development Partner · 22 April 2026Drone and AI data company selected as semi-finalist for 2026 Blue Ridge Regional Resilience Challenge. Has track record of scanning nearly one billion square feet of infrastructure across 28 states.
• LISC Hampton RoadscoreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 16 June 2023Partnership focused on addressing resilience threats faced by vulnerable communities in Hampton Roads region. Jointly launched $1 million innovation challenge to find solutions for underserved coastal communities.
• MIT SolveminorStrategic or Co-development Partner · 1 January 2018Co-hosted Challenge Design Workshop on Coastal Resilience with MIT Solve, attracting over 50 participants including Chief Resilience Officers from Rockefeller Foundation's 100 Resilient Cities initiative.
• Virginia Planning District Commissions (PDCs)coreStrategic or Co-development PartnerRegional planning organizations across Virginia that serve as partners for deploying pilot solutions. Includes LENOWISCO PDC, Cumberland Plateau PDC, Mount Rogers PDC, and others covering Southwest, Northwest, and Roanoke Valley regions.
• FloodMappcoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerFlood forecasting company that has been a repeat winner of RISE challenges. Partnered with RISE to deploy real-time flood forecasting systems across Southwest and Western Virginia, serving 15+ agencies.
• 757 CollabminorImplementation/ SI/ Consulting PartnerLocal coworking space and business accelerator that provides office and testing space for RISE challenge winners as part of the Innovation Hub and Testbed.
• City of NorfolkcoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerPrimary pilot community for RISE programs. Norfolk has the highest rate of sea level rise on the East Coast and serves as the living laboratory for testing flood resilience solutions.
• FloodbaseminorStrategic or Co-development PartnerParametric insurance and flood data company, winner of RISE Riverine Challenge, developing community-based flood insurance programs with Raincoat.
• RaincoatminorStrategic or Co-development PartnerParametric insurance solution provider partnering with Floodbase on community-based flood insurance programs for Southwest Virginia.

Scale indicators11 records

Recent moves6 records

Expansion highlights5 records

Direct peers

• Greentown Labs: Greentown Labs is the largest climate tech incubator in North America, providing startups with workspace, mentorship, and investor connections—directly comparable to RISE's accelerator services and entrepreneur ecosystem.
• VertueLab: VertueLab is a state-supported cleantech accelerator offering non-dilutive funding, mentorship, and pilot connections to climate startups, paralleling RISE's challenge-based funding approach and Oregon/Virginia state economic development backing.
• Halcyon: Halcyon runs fellowship-style climate impact accelerators providing non-dilutive capital, mentorship, and pilot support to social entrepreneurs—an analogous mission-driven accelerator model targeting climate solutions.
• Activate: Activate (formerly Cyclotron Road) is a fellowship for science and technology innovators building climate and hard-tech startups, providing non-dilutive funding, workspace, and community—comparable to RISE's entrepreneur ecosystem and grant-based support.
• Elemental Excelerator: Elemental Excelerator runs cohort-based and open challenge programs that award non-dilutive funding and provide testbed/pilot support to climate tech startups, the closest analog to RISE's challenge + living laboratory model in the climate adaptation/resilience space.
• New Energy Nexus: New Energy Nexus operates a global network of cleantech accelerators in over 40 countries, sharing RISE's focus on supporting early-stage climate startups with funding and mentorship to accelerate deployment.

Broad incumbents

• The Nature Conservancy: The Nature Conservancy is a large, established environmental nonprofit working on coastal resilience and climate adaptation across the U.S., serving as an adjacent incumbent that shares RISE's mission but operates through conservation, policy, and grantmaking at much greater scale.
• ICLEI USA: ICLEI USA is a broader, established nonprofit network supporting local governments on climate adaptation and resilience planning—a comparable mission to RISE's municipal-facing work but operating through policy/training rather than startup accelerator mechanisms.

Others

• LISC Hampton Roads: LISC Hampton Roads is a core RISE partner that co-launched a $1M innovation challenge for underserved coastal communities, demonstrating a similar community-development grantmaking model focused on Hampton Roads resilience.
• MIT Solve: MIT Solve is a marketplace for social impact innovation that has partnered with RISE on coastal resilience challenge design workshops, operating open challenges to source solutions from a global solver community—comparable open-innovation model though broader than flood resilience.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Key risks6 records

Key highlights7 records

Customer concentration

• Xx.com/riseresilience
• Facebookfacebook.com/RiseResilience
• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/riseresilience

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles11 records

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments1 record

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about RISE Resilient Innovations