Houston innovators podcast episode 132
Fresh off a $50M series B, fast-growing Houston startup aims to upgrade energy sector tech
The energy industry has historically made critical and timely decisions with antiquated and disjointed software, and that just was not ideal for Armand Paradis.
“In our space, all the decisions are expensive,” Paradis tells the Houston Innovators Podcast. “We could go all the way into the billions of dollars making decisions using software from 30 or 40 years ago. I really thought this was a problem.”
Paradis, observing this opportunity in the industry, left his job at Equinor to launch ComboCurve, a comprehensive and more effective software platform for various verticals within the energy industry.
ComboCurve has raised over $60 million in venture capital investment — $50 million of which was closed in the company’s series B round earlier this year. It wasn’t just funding ComboCurve expanded over the past few years. The original product launched in May of 2020 and in 2021, added around 100 companies onto its platform. Now, not even halfway through 2022, almost 200 companies use the software.
“We built something that resonated with the market — and we were super passionate about the product and taking care of our industry,” Paradis says on the podcast.
“We don’t want to be the best in oil and gas. We want to be the best software company,” he continues.
One focus ComboCurve has is on the energy transition. He says energy companies are making moves in lowering their carbon emissions and investing in greener technology — they just might not be talking about it.
“We want to be the role model — the company that’s being super proactive in their environmental practices,” Paradis says. “To be able to do that, you have to be open and proactive about reducing emissions. The other piece is to talk about it.”
At this point, Paradis says we need all energy — fossil fuels, nuclear, renewables, etc. This year, ComboCurve will roll out its GHG, or greenhouse gas, module to help customers track and lower their emissions.
“We are working with a handful of operators working in this space,” he says. “We want to allow for operators to be able to predict their emissions and see the impact on their projects.”