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Exclusive: Plug and Play announces 15 energy tech companies for inaugural Houston cohort
A Silicon Valley accelerator program has announced the companies that will participate in its first Houston cohort just as the program begins to foster energy tech innovation in town.
Plug and Play Technology Center, which announced its entry into the Houston market this summer, named the 15 companies that will complete the program. While there are only two Houston-based companies in the mix this time around, all 15 companies will be operating locally with Houston corporate partners and startup development organizations.
"By being a part of this Plug and Play cohort, our corporate partners have validated that there is an interest in these startups' technology solutions," says Payal Patel, director of corporate partnerships for Plug and Play in Houston. "This will encourage these non-Houston based startups to spend more time in Houston, likely (and hopefully) leading to them doing business with our corporations, raising money from local investors, hiring local talent, and setting up an office in Houston."
Patel says the selection process was similar to the due diligence done in investor research, since Plug and Play treats its startups like a portfolio of sorts. Plug and Play hosted a pitch night in September as a way to introduce the cohort finalists to the ecosystem before making the final selection.
"We used the technology focus areas of our corporate partners to source 100 startups with commercial viability in Houston," Patel says. "Through consultation with our partners and voting at our Selection Day event in September, we ultimately narrowed the group to 15 startups we believe we can provide value to over the next few months."
The startups are off to Plug and Play's headquarters in California for a Focus Week, Patel says, then will return to Houston for various corporat events, converences, and more as part of the program.
Here are the 15 companies that will participate in the energy and sustainability accelerator from Plug and Play Tech Center.
Alchera Inc.
Founded: 2016
Moneyraised: $6 million
Employees: 45 full time, 60 part time
Headquarters: South Korea
About: Alchera's technology uses artificial intelligence image to prevent the loss of lives and money in dangerous situations on site.
Ario Technologies Inc.
Founded: 2016
Moneyraised: $2.3 million
Employees: 8 full time, 1 part time
Headquarters: Norfolk, Virginia
About: Ario has a augmented reality technology that allows its users to search its data in the real world.
Blacksands Inc.
Founded: 2012
Moneyraised: $1 million
Employees: 5 full time, 7 part time
Headquarters: Sunnyvale, California
About: Blacksands has a secured connection as a service business model for fast-paced cybersecurity.
BlastPoint
Founded: 2016
Moneyraised: $1.3 million
Employees: 7 full time, 3 part time
Headquarters: Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
About: Using internal insights and data, BlastPoint helps make innovative ideas a reality in the workplace.
ForePaas
Founded: 2015
Moneyraised: $10 million
Employees: 40 full time, 1 part time
Headquarters:
About: The ForePaas platform combines cloud-based technology and data applications to optimize and accelerate industrial internal enterprise data initiatives.
Capella Space
Founded: 2016
Moneyraised: $50 million
Employees: 50 full time, 0 part time
Headquarters: San Francisco
About: Capella Space is building a large commercial radar satellite constellation to speed up the informed decision making process for industrial workers down on earth.
Cumulus Digital Solutions
Founded: 2018
Moneyraised: $4.5 million
Employees: 14 full time, 4 part time
Headquarters: Cambridge, Massachusetts
About: Using data collection and cloud-based software, Cumulus is eliminating poor work quality that causes accidents in the field.
Data Gumbo
Founded: 2016
Moneyraised: $3.2 million
Employees: 19 full time, 4 part time
Headquarters: Houston
About: Data Gumbo has developed a blockchain network for automated contract execution for industrial clients
Latium Technologies
Founded: 2019
Moneyraised: $1 million (Canadian)
Employees: 8 full time, 0 part time
Headquarters: Edmonton, Canada
About: Latium has developed a better industrial IoT platform for heavy industry.
Indegy
Founded: 2014
Moneyraised: $18 million
Employees: 53 full-time, 0 part-time
Headquarters: New York
About: Indegy specializes in real-time security for industrial campuses.
Ingu Solutions
Founded: 2014
Moneyraised: $2.1 million (Canadian)
Employees: 10 full-time, 0 part-time
Headquarters: Calgary, Canada
About: Ingu wants to revolutionize the economics of the pipeline industry with new technology and initiatives.
Cemvita Factory
Founded: 2017
Moneyraised: None disclosed.
Employees: 8 full time, 10 part time
Headquarters: Houston
About: Cemvita has patented technology that can mimic photosynthesis to lower carbon emissions.
KX
Founded: 1999
Moneyraised: None disclosed.
Employees: 2,500 full-time and 0 part-time
Headquarters: Northern Ireland
About: KX is a data company that uses its global technology in the finance, retail, pharma, manufacturing, and energy industries.
Ondaka Inc.
Founded: 2017
Moneyraised: $1.6 million
Employees: 8 full time, 2 part time
Headquarters: Palo Alto, California (has a local office at Station Houston)
About: Ondaka uses an alphabet soup of buzzword technologies — IoT, AI, VR — and allows oil and gas companies to really visualize their infrastructure.
Terrapin
Founded: 2016
Moneyraised: $3 million
Employees: 10 full time, 5 part time
Headquarters: Edmonton, Canada
About: Terrapin is a designer and developer of industrial heat recovery projects.