Houston clean tech startup pitch competition names winners at annual CERAWeek event
pitch perfect
For the third year, the Greater Houston Partnership's Houston Energy Transition Institute hosted its startup pitch competition at CERAWeek by S&P Global. A dozen startups walked away with recognition — and three some with cash prizes.
HETI joined partners Rice Alliance for Technology and Entrepreneurship and TEX-E for the 2024 Energy Venture Day and Pitch Competition at CERAWeek on Wednesday, March 20. Forty-two companies, which have collectively raised over $265 million in investment funding already, pitched to judges. Nine startups won awards across three tracks.
TEX-E, a Texas nonprofit that supports student-founded upstarts, had five of its companies pitch and three winners walked away with monetary prizes. Teams that competed in the TEX-E Prize track, many of which come from Houston universities, include:
- AirMax, University of Texas at Austin
- BeadBlocker, University of Houston
- Carvis Energy Solutions, Texas A&M University
- Coflux Purification, Rice University
- Solidec, Rice University
Solidec, which is working on a platform to produce chemicals from captured carbon, won first place and $25,000. The company also recently scored a $100,000 grant from Rice's One Small Step Grant program, as well as a voucher from the DOE. Coflux Purification, which has a technology that destroys PFAS in filtration, won second place and$15,000. The company also secured a One Small Step Grant to the tune of $80,000. AirMax, which focuses on optimizing sustainability for air conditioning equipment, won third place and $10,000.
Last year, Houston-based Helix Earth Technologies took home the top TEX-E price and $25,000 cash awards. The venture, founded by Rawand Rasheed and Brad Husick from Rice University, developed high-speed, high-efficiency filter systems derived from technology originating at NASA.
The rest of the companies that pitched competed for non-monetary awards. Here's what companies won:
- Group A (CCUS, oilfield solutions, analytics and minerals):
- First place: Ardent
- Second place: Vaulted Deep
- Third place: Mitico
- Group B (batteries, renewables, water, and grid technology):
- First place: SungreenH2
- Second place: FeX Energy
- Third place: Mercurius Biorefining
- First place: SungreenH2
- Group C (Mobility, Materials, and hydrogen solutions)
- First place: Thiozen
- Second place: Power2Hydrogen
- Third place: Arolytics
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