Houston’s inaugural Energy and Climate Startup Week brought together leading venture capital investors, industry leaders and startups from around the world to showcase the most innovative companies and technologies that are transforming the energy industry. The citywide initiative held last month celebrated Houston’s role in driving the energy transition and was organized by a group of regional organizations, academic institutions and corporations in the Houston ecosystem, including the Rice Alliance for Technology and Entrepreneurship, Halliburton Labs, Greentown Labs, Activate, Digital Wildcatters and the Houston Energy Transition Initiative.
Many events for the week were hosted at the Ion, Houston’s innovation hub powered by Rice University. Rice Alliance was one of the original three organizations that conceived the week and launched it with partners rallying to support, coordinate events and build participation to amplify the work being led in Houston to accelerate the energy transition.
“Our team had the honor of working alongside key stakeholders in Houston to envision and execute this integral week,” said Brad Burke, associate vice president for industry and new ventures at Rice’s Office of Innovation and executive director of the Rice Alliance. “More than just events, the week provided an opportunity to bring together a critical mass of startups, investors, corporate partners, energy advocates and academia to showcase and further the momentum driving the global energy transition. We collaborated with partners and energy leaders to create a unified experience, fostering meaningful connections that strengthen Houston’s energy ecosystem and support startups in their growth.”
One of the anchor events for the energy and climate startup week was Rice Alliance’s 21st annual Energy Tech Venture Forum (ETVF), which showcases energy tech innovations to shift toward a more sustainable, reliable and lower carbon future. ETVF is considered one of the premier energy tech venture capital conferences to connect energy innovators, investors, corporations and the energy ecosystem.
The team at Rice Alliance brings hundreds of investors to Houston each year from other parts of the U.S. and organizes hundreds of one-on-one meetings with regional ventures through its entrepreneurial ecosystem.
The Rice Alliance Clean Energy Accelerator (CEA), the region’s preeminent clean energy accelerator now in its fourth cohort, concluded with Demo Day pitches during the ETVF and showcased a variety of energy innovations.
“Over the past 10 weeks, the Clean Energy Accelerator delivered extensive mentorship and programming designed to equip our startups for commercial readiness and growth,” said Kerri Smith, executive director of the CEA. “By refining their value propositions, preparing them for investment opportunities and fostering key corporate connections, we’ve helped set the stage for their long-term impact. By participating in the Energy Tech Venture Forum and Houston’s inaugural Energy and Climate Week, CEA founders were able to meet investors and strategic partners that will help them scale in Houston, connect on pilot projects and make a huge impact on energy transition.”
Nearly 100 companies, including the latest cohort from the CEA, met with and pitched to hundreds of corporate venture capitalists and investors at ETVF. Rice Alliance facilitates more than 700 meetings between investors and startups every year at this event. The participating companies had collectively raised more than $1.09 billion in funding before the showcase, emphasizing the caliber of ventures that applied to and were selected for the accelerator.
The ventures that took home the Rice Alliance 2024 “Most Promising Companies” awards were Revterra, 360 Mining, Andium, Elementium Materials, Splight, Mitico, Osmoses, Corrolytics, Ardent and Oxylus Energy.