Bigger Than Us #30 Aidan Mouat, CEO and a co-founder of Hazel Technologies
Aidan is the CEO and a co-founder of Hazel Technologies, a post-harvest crop protection company making biochemical solutions to extend produce shelf life. He holds a Ph.D. in chemistry from Northwestern University, where his doctoral work focused techniques to design and synthesize highly efficient catalysts for transformations of renewables.
He was a member of the Institute for Atom-Efficient Catalytic Transformations and the Institute for Catalytic Energy Processes. His interest in catalysis and energy led him to accept a role as the Institute for Sustainability and Energy at Northwestern (ISEN) chemistry fellow for 2014 – 2015. He developed an interest in applying his chemistry knowledge to agriscience, co-founding Hazel Technologies before completing his Ph.D. Aidan is one of the inventors of the Hazel® technology platform and a co-author on 20+ patents and filings. Under Aidan’s leadership, Hazel Technologies won the Clean Energy Challenge in 2016 and the VentureWell Sustainable Practice Impact Award in 2019.
Aidan and Hazel Technologies were recently named to ChicagoInno’s “50 on Fire” list. Aidan has raised more than $17.8 million in private equity for Hazel and helped Hazel obtain nearly $1 million in grant funding from ISEN, VentureWell, and the USDA. Most recently, the company completed its Series B finance round with lead investors Pangaea Ventures and S2G Ventures, featuring additional investments from Asahi Kasei Ventures and The Jeremy and Hannelore Grantham Environmental Trust. Other investors in Hazel include Rhapsody Venture Partners, Serra Ventures, and Valley Oak Investments.
Hazel Technologies works with more than 100 grower/packer partners in more than 12 countries to date. In addition to his company duties, Aidan serves as an Advisory Board member at the Farley Center for Entrepreneurship at Northwestern, and as a member of the Board of Advisors for Lilac Solutions.