
Alumni Profile
Gross-Wen Technologies, Inc.: we don’t just think green, we grow it
Our mission is to provide algae-based wastewater treatment that is sustainable, effective, reliable and affordable.
Headquartered in rural Slater, Iowa, Gross-Wen Technologies (GWT) is an Iowa State University spinoff founded in 2013 by Drs. Martin Gross and Zhiyou Wen. GWT has developed a patented Revolving Algal BiofilmTM (RAB) wastewater treatment technology that uses algae to treat and recover nitrogen and phosphorus from wastewater. Compared to other treatment options, GWT’s system is significantly more affordable and produces an algae biomass which can be sold as a slow-release algal fertilizer or bioplastic. Overall, the process is carbon negative, making it the most sustainable approach to meet more stringent discharge permits. GWT offers four products and services: (1) the sale of algal-based treatment systems to remove pollutants from municipal or industrial wastewater, (2) operation and maintenance contracts with RAB system customers, (3) the sale of algae-based biomass (initially as a fertilizer), and (4) providing algae-related technical services and research and development.
To date, GWT has won multiple U.S. Department of Agriculture Phase I and II SBIR grants, three Iowa Department of Economic Development Authority awards and two grants from the U.S. Department of Energy Bioenergy Technologies office. Further, GWT was the winner of the 2017 Pappajohn Iowa Entrepreneurial Venture Competition and was the 2019 Startup Company of the Year awardee from the Technology Association of Iowa. GWT also was selected to participate in the Imagine H20 business accelerator.
GWT has over twenty employees to include scientists, engineers, wastewater operators, business development professionals and support staff. To date, GWT has deployed over 20 pilot and demonstration scale RAB units throughout the U.S. and has sold its first full-scale commercial system which will be operational in Q4 of 2022. GWT also has filed and been issued multiple U.S. patents.
UN Sustainable Development Goals





Larta Programs
- USDA - SBIR Commercialization Assistance - Phase I
- USDA - SBIR CTAP
Larta Products
- Commercialization Plan
- Technology Assessment
- Customer Discovery
- Go-To-Market Strategy
Founders

Dr. Martin Gross
Co-Founder & President
Gross-Wen Technologies, Inc.

Dr. Zhiyou Wen
Co-Founder
Gross-Wen Technologies, Inc.
Connect
Larta was instrumental in assisting GWT with our commercialization efforts. As part of our SBIR awards, Larta provided invaluable assistance in helping our business develop our commercialization plan and overall go to market strategy. Larta’s assistance has helped our company rapidly scale and deploy our systems to paying customers throughout the U.S.

Dr. Martin Gross
Co-Founder & President
Gross-Wen Technologies, Inc.
Alumni News

April 7, 2022
Cattlemen's Heritage Selects Iowa Company, Gross-Wen Technologies, To Provide Wastewater Treatment Technology to its new Processing Facility in Western Iowa
Cattlemen’s Heritage Beef Company has selected Gross-Wen Technologies, a leading algae-based wastewater treatment company based in rural Slater, Iowa to provide wastewater treatment at Company’s new beef processing plant in western Iowa, Managing Partner Chad Tentinger said today.

December 15, 2021
GWT Completes and Takes Top Prize of the Leading Silicon Valley Water Accelerator
Gross-Wen Technologies (GWT), a leading algae-based wastewater treatment company based in Slater, Iowa, is pleased to announce its participation in and completion of Imagine H2O’s 2021 Accelerator.

January 15, 2019
Algae: Important for Food
Gross-Wen Technologies is a start-up company located in Ames, Iowa, in the heart of the U.S. Corn Belt. The new algae-production company is one of a number of enterprises using algae to revolutionize the way food, feed, and other bio-products are grown and processed in the world.