Houston venture group closes $64M fund and rebrands with new name

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Montrose Lane managing partners, Ryan Gurney (left) and Jeremy Arendt, have announced a rebrand and the closing of the new fund. Photos via montroselane.com

A Houston venture investment group has announced today that it has a new name to go along with the recent closing of its second fund.

Cottonwood Venture Partners, a Houston-based firm focused on funding startups with software solutions for the energy industry, has closed its $64 million Fund II and renamed itself Montrose Lane.

"Our mission is to uphold a creative and fast-moving approach to partnering with software companies that help make energy affordable, safe, and environmentally friendly," says Jeremy Arendt, managing partner, in a news release. "For several reasons, 'Montrose Lane' captures that vision for us."

The new name is effective immediately, and the leadership at the firm is remaining the same. Chicago-based Kirkland & Ellis LLP served as fund formation counsel to Montrose Lane.

Montrose Lane's second fund — which is double the size of its first — included both new and previous investors, as well as strategic corporations. Founded in 2017, the fund has raised about $100 million in commitments.

"We are humbled to have had such supportive partners behind us since we first set out to invest in technology companies changing the way the energy industry does business," says Ryan Gurney, managing partner, in the release. "The global pandemic has only accelerated the need to adopt digital solutions throughout the energy industry. We are excited to pursue the opportunity alongside our existing and new investors."

Last year, Montrose Lane led several Texas energy tech startups' funding round, including Austin-based HURVData Inc.'s $5 million series A round, Dallas-headquartered Trivie Inc.'s $5 million series A round, Houston-based Hitched.com's $5.5 million series A, and Houston-focused Ambyint's $15 million series B.
Cottonwood Venture Partners has announced its latest investment. Photo via huvrdata.com

Houston venture capital group leads Austin-based energy tech company's $5M series A

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Houston-based Cottonwood Venture Partners has announced the closing of an Austin-based software solutions round that it led.

Founded in 2014, HUVRdata Inc. is a data analytics company focusing on the energy industry. The startup announced the closing of its $5 million series A round this week. According to a press release, the company will use these funds on product development to support its growing customer base.

"HUVR was built alongside our customers' operations teams — designed from the ground up to be simple to use, flexible to implement, and valuable from day one," says Bob Baughman, HUVR co-founder and CEO, in a news release. "We are the first to build an open platform where asset inspection data can be aggregated with valuable and configurable reporting and analytics. The vision was to have asset owners own their own asset data, and, more importantly, to use their data to make business decisions. The results are significant efficiency gains and millions of dollars in savings."

HUVR, the latest software company to join CVP's portfolio, gives industrial asset owners the tools to aggregate and analyze all aspects of complex asset inspection data — like the ability to visualize trends across drone fleets, site, and individual assets.

"The volume of industrial inspection data is growing exponentially," says Ryan Gurney, managing partner of CVP, in the release. "Operators are deploying new inspection tools to inspect a growing, and aging, asset base. The tools and processes of the past are simply unable to handle the data. The HUVR platform allows its customers to aggregate their vast amounts of inspection data – more importantly, HUVR is enabling its customers to gain insights from that data. We are delighted to partner with the HUVR team in the next chapter of their growth."

It's not the first time the Austin company has received funding from Houston. According to a release from HUVR in August 2015, the startup received $2 million in angel investment from Houston Angel Network, Houston-based Texas HALO fund, and Austin-based Central Texas Angel Network.
Trivie has closed a $5 million investment round led by Houston-based Cottonwood Venture Partners. Photo via Trivie.com

Houston investment firm leads Texas startup's $5M series A round

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A Texas-based tech startup that has created an artificial intelligence-enabled tool that gamifies corporate training and education has closed its most recent funding round thanks to a Houston investor.

Trivie as announced its $5 million series A investment round led by Houston-based Cottonwood Venture Partners, an investment firm that has a portfolio of technology companies that are providing digital solutions within the energy industry. Trivie will use the new funds to scale its product and expand across industries, from energy and manufacturing to hospitality, healthcare, consumer goods, and more.

"The Trivie team's success to date has been remarkable and we are humbled to partner with them to expand Trivie's reach as organizations increasingly look to maximize knowledge retention, particularly as it relates to health and safety," says Jeremy Arendt, managing partner of CVP, in a news release.

Now, as more employees are working from home than ever before, relevant training is crucial and at the top of mind for business leaders. Trivie's clients include Subway, Phillips66, Anheuser-Busch, to name a few.

"At Trivie, our mission is to ensure that every employee at every organization can be at their very best because what they have been taught, they remember, and what they have said is understood," says Lawrence Schwartz, CEO, and co-founder at Trivie, in a news release. "We are extremely excited to partner with Cottonwood Venture Partners to help us expand our footprint in the Fortune 1000 and to continue to execute on that mission."

One of Trivie's founders, Leland Putterman, who is based in Houston, first had the idea for a consumer-facing trivia game 18 years ago. When the app rolled out in 2013, it garnered more than three million downloads. As COVID-19 has brought new compliance guidelines to the forefront of every industry, Trivie was quick to make the CDC's coronavirus guidelines available to all of its clients for no additional charge to be used across their entire employment bases.

Additionally, Trivie prioritizing its user's ability to connect in a time of social distancing and working from home.

"The only way to maintain that company culture and close communication with confidence is to use something like Trivie," Putterman previously tells InnovationMap. "There's no feedback loop right now. The only way to bridge that gap is to have something like Trivie that's the glue."
Adam Gilles and Lance Richardson, co-founders of Hitched Inc., join this week's episode of the Houston Innovators Podcast to discuss the digital marketplace's rapid growth. Photos courtesy of Hitched

Houston energy tech startup talks growth and national expansion following $5.5M series A

HOUSTON INNOVATORS PODCAST EPISODE 22

Industrial operations might be a bit behind in technology advances, but that's going to start changing, according to Adam Gilles, CEO and co-founder of Houston-based Hitched Inc.

The software-as-a-service company acts as a digital marketplace and management solution for service providers renting industrial equipment. It's a platform not too unfamiliar for Airbnb — users can quickly rent machinery online without even having to pick up a phone and talk to anyone.

"I think streamline oil and gas is what everyone is trying to do," Gilles says on the industry's technology evolution. "I've always said that industrial technology will follow the path of consumer technology."

Gilles and his COO and co-founder, Lance Richardson, join this week's episode of the Houston Innovators Podcast to discuss the technology and Hitched's rapid growth and lofty goals.

"Change for a startup is like eating breakfast," Richardson says on the podcast. "Ultimately, [our goal] is to be the marketplace management tool for all of oil and gas."

Since its founding in 2018, Hitched has expanded throughout Texas and its surrounding states, with more expansion on the horizon. A recent $5.5 million series A round led by Houston-based Cottonwood Venture Partners has upped the ante on hiring new salespeople — Gilles says his team will grow to 50 people by the end of the year.

For now, Hitched rents out equipment within the oil and gas industry — where Gilles and Richardson have experience in — but the company will expand into other industrial sectors.

"As we've built this technology, it's industry agnostic," Gilles says. "Energy was the low-hanging fruit for us being that we've been in the industry for 10 years now with our contacts and what not, but frankly it makes sense for us to move into those other spaces."

Neither Gilles or Richardson are Houston natives — both recently relocated to give Hitched its best shot as a fast-growing, ready-for-scale tech company.

"Houston will always be the energy capital of the world, but as energy innovates, there's a good chance it will become a technology hub as well," Gilles says. "I can't see why a technology firm in the energy space wouldn't be based in Houston. It's just doesn't make sense to me."

Listen to the full episode below — or wherever you get your podcasts — and subscribe for weekly episodes.
Ambyint, which has offices in Calgary and Houston, has secured funding from Houston venture capital firms. Getty Images

AI-powered oil and gas startup secures $15 million from Houston VC firms in its series B

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It's payday for Ambyint. The Canadian startup, which has an office in Houston, has closed its $15 million series B funding round with support from local investors.

Houston-based Cottonwood Venture Partners led the round, and Houston-based Mercury Fund also contributed — as did Ambyint's management team, according to a news release. The money will be used to grow both its Houston and Calgary, Alberta, offices and expand its suite of software solutions for wells and artificial lift systems.

"This funding round is an important milestone for Ambyint, and we're pleased to benefit from unwavering support among our investors to boost Ambyint to its next phase of growth," says Alex Robart, CEO of Ambyint, in the news release. "It is also a proof point for our approach of combining advanced physics and artificial intelligence, deployed on a scalable software infrastructure, to deliver 10 to 20 percent margin gains in a market where meaningful improvements have been hard to achieve."

Ambyint's technology pairs artificial intelligence with advanced physics and subject matter expertise to automate processes on across all well types and artificial lift systems.

Photo via ambyint.com

"Our physics-grounded approach to AI is the difference maker and explains our strong growth in the market as well as our expanding list of marquee customers," says Ryan Benoit, chief technology officer of Ambyint in the release.

The company has mid- to large-sized operators, including Norway-based Equinor and Calgary-based Husky among their customers. According to the release, Ambyint has deployed solutions in every major North American basin.

"Improving margin on producing wells is more important than ever for operators," says Ryan Gurney, managing partner at Cottonwood Venture Partners, in the release. "Ambyint has delivered significant financial benefits for its customers with the application of advanced physics and artificial intelligence, over and above traditional approaches to production optimization. We're excited to see them expand further in the market with solutions that span the entire lifecycle of the well."

According to Ambyint's website, the software promises the ability to increase production levels by 5 percent and lower operating costs by 10 percent.

"Producers flourish — even in a down market — when they understand how exploiting their data effectively can increase productivity and reduce costs," says Adrian Fortino, managing director at Mercury Fund, in the release. "Ambyint turns data into higher yield, more efficient oil and gas production with proven optimization technologies. We're excited to continue our partnership with such a great company and investor syndicate."
Houston-based Hitched has dug up new investment money from a local private equity firm. Pexels

Houston-based digital marketplace for industrial equipment raises $5.5 million series A

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A Houston startup that acts as a digital marketplace for industrial equipment in the oil and gas and construction industries closed a sizeable series A financing round this month.

Hitched Inc. raised $5.5 million in its series A funding led by Houston-based Cottonwood Venture Partners, a growth equity firm that focuses on digital tech solutions in the energy industry.

"It is encouraging to see the support and excitement from CVP," Hitched's Founder and CEO Adam Gilles says in a press release. "With this Series A funding, we plan to continue to shake things up in the oil & gas, construction, and industrial industries."

The company, which was founded in 2018, coordinates the rentals — from hosting and chartering to managing them — all on one centralized platform. Hitched has a catalogue of equipment from generators and cranes to light towers, pumps to forklifts, and the site lists out the cost per day of each piece of machinery.

According to the release, Hitched will use the fresh funds to advance its product development and customer experience as it continues "to reinvent the industrial rental marketplace."

"We're delighted to partner with the Hitched team. The industrial rental segment is incredibly opaque and riddled with inefficiencies," says Ryan Gurney, managing partner of CVP, in the news release. "The Hitched platform provides both a transparent marketplace and an important management tool that allows both the renter and rentee to optimize rental inventory."
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Rice Business Plan Competition names 2021 startups to compete for over $1M in prizes

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After receiving applications from over 440 startups from around the world, the Rice Business Plan Competition has named 54 startups to compete in the 2021 event.

Touted as the world's largest and richest student startup competition, RBPC, which is put on by the Rice Alliance for Technology and Entrepreneurship, takes place April 6 to 9 this year. Just like 2020, RBPC will be virtually held.

"In the midst of a chaotic year, I'm excited to bring good news to deserving startups," says Peter Rodriguez, dean of the Jones Graduate School of Business, in a video announcement. "For the second year now, we'll bring this competition to you virtually, and while we'll miss welcoming you to Houston, we see this as an opportunity to lower the participation barrier for startups."

Per usual, the competition will be made up of elevator pitches, a semi-finals round, wildcard round and live final pitches. The contestants will also receive virtual networking and mentoring.

"The virtual competition will still bring with it the mentorship, guidance, and, of course, the sought after more than $1 million in prizes, including $350,000 investment grand prize from Goose Capital," Rodriguez says in the video.

Over the past 20 years, the competition has seen over 700 startups go on to raise $2.675 billion in funding. The 2021 class — listed below — joins those ranks.

The 2021 RBPC startups include:

  • Candelytics, Harvard University
  • Paldara Inc., Oklahoma State University
  • Bruxaway Inc., University of Texas
  • Smoove Creations, Northern Kentucky University
  • Flowaste Inc., University of Notre Dame
  • Polair, Johns Hopkins University
  • Kit Switch, Standard University
  • Kegstand, Colorado University at Boulder
  • Bullyproof, University of Arkansas
  • AI Pow, Texas A&M University
  • Solbots Technologies, BITS Pilani
  • Lelantos Inc., Columbia University
  • Early Intervention Systems, George Washington University
  • Phenologic, Michigan State University
  • AI-Ris, Texa A&M University
  • Lira Inc., University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
  • Shelly XU Design (SXD), Harvard University
  • Transform LLC, University of Virginia
  • Almond Finance, Massachusetts Institute of Technology
  • Aspire360, Columbia University
  • Mindtrace, Carnegie Mellon University
  • Renew Innovations, Chulalongkorn University
  • MentumQR, University of Western Ontario
  • Hubly Surgical, Johns Hopkins University
  • FibreCoat GmbH, RWTH Aachen University
  • LFAnt Medical, McGill University
  • GABA, Morehouse School of Medicine
  • EasyFlo, University of New Mexico
  • SwiftSku, Auburn University
  • Floe, Yale University
  • blip energy, Northwestern University
  • Cerobex Drug Delivery Technologies, Tufts University
  • M Aerospace RTC, CETYS University
  • NASADYA, University of Illinois Urbana Champaign
  • Flux Hybrids, NC State University
  • ANIMA IRIS, University of Pennsylvania
  • Big & Mini, University of Texas at Austin
  • OYA, UCLA
  • ArchGuard, Duke University
  • Padma Agrobotics, Arizona State University
  • VRapeutic, University of Ottawa
  • SEAAV Athletics, Quinnipiac University
  • Adatto Market, UCLA
  • Karkinex, Rice University
  • AgZen, Massachusetts Institute of Technology
  • Blue Comet Medical Solutions, Northwestern University
  • Land Maverick, Fairfield University
  • Anthro Energy, Stanford University
  • ShuffleMe, Indiana University Bloomington
  • ElevateU, Arizona State University
  • QBuddy, Cornell University
  • SimpL, University of Pittsburgh
  • Ichosia Biotechnology, George Washington University
  • Neurava, Purdue University

What Houston startup founders looking for funding need to know about working with VCs

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I have had the incredible opportunity to work with New Stack Ventures as a venture fellow, and after sourcing investment opportunities, shadowing calls with founders, and even leading a couple calls of my own, I have learned a few lessons that might resonate with startup founders who are raising capital.

Responsive founders make a difference

The first and likely most important lesson I have learned during my tenure as a fellow is this: responsive founders truly make a difference in whether or not they raise capital.

I have sent several emails and LinkedIn messages to really intriguing companies, in hopes of connecting for a call and inquiring about their raise. And, I look back and see that many of those outreach messages were left unread. I have also engaged in calls with really intriguing companies where the founder never follows up, and the idea of moving forward with next steps dissipates.

On the flipside of the forgetful founder, I have also witnessed extremely attentive founders: founders who send follow-up messages when they don't receive an immediate response, respond to their emails within the hour, and go above and beyond by sending pitch decks and executive summaries (even when unasked). This type of founder persona excites me with their enthusiasm and eagerness to make a deal. Their responsiveness with the investment process sheds light to how they likely run their businesses.

At the end of the day, many founders can say that they are hustlers and go-getters, but I believe the founders that show me through their actions in the investment process.

Great founders are great storytellers

When I do connect with founders in introductory calls (after the back-and-forth, hopefully responsive email exchange), the thing I look forward to most is hearing their stories. I want to know your story. I want to know what you were doing before your startup (and how that helped prepare you), how you thought of your idea, how you validated your assumptions, how you grew your business, and… everything in between (but all in less than five minutes of time).

Great founders are great storytellers. The great storytellers I have come across invite me into their companies' journeys, and leave me actually caring about their success.

On the opposite side of the spectrum, the founder who gives short responses and shows no real connection to their work (giving off the vibe that this is just another startup for them) leaves me unattached to them and their business.

Venture capitalists are more accessible than you might think

Perhaps, I gave this point away when I said that I was sending several emails and LinkedIn messages to founders (which sounds a little desperate), but VCs are way more accessible than you may think. Before working with New Stack Ventures, I had this perception that VCs were extremely hard to reach, exceptionally busy, and a little bit scary. And while one of the two latter characteristics still remains true, I can say with certainty that VCs are not hard to reach.

I can't speak for everyone in venture capital, but I do know that the VCs I work with will respond to founders who message them. Putting yourself out there, as a founder, can lead to advice (which bodes well for your business), a new connection in the industry (which bodes well for your network), and even an investment (which bodes well for the future of your startup). In the end, VCs are spending hundreds of hours, searching for a tractable startup that will change the game, and your startup could be the very gem they are looking for.

So, be bold, be responsive, and tell your story to any and every VC who will listen. I'm all ears.

Note: I was inspired to write this piece by by The Full Ratchet's tips for fundraising entrepreneurs, I thought I would share.

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Christa Westheimer is a Rice University student and the managing director at Rice Ventures. She is a current venture fellow at Chicago-based New Stack Ventures.

Deloitte names new Houston-based O&G leader with focus on innovation and inclusion

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Amy Chronis has had a big year. First, she took over as the Greater Houston Partnership's 2021 chair. And on February 25 she was named a vice chairman of Deloitte LLP and leader of its oil, gas, and chemicals sector.

In her new role, Chronis will lead the overall strategic direction of Deloitte's oil and gas arm while she continues to serve as managing partner of the company's Houston office. She succeeds Duane Dickson, who will be retiring from the leadership role in May.

Chronis is a licensed CPA and known to be a thought leader in aspects of the energy transition with a 30-year background in the oil and gas, technology, and manufacturing industries.

"Our industry is at a crossroads and going through one of the most challenging business environments on record," Chronis said in a statement. "It's an honor to take on this role at such a pivotal time for our oil, gas and chemicals clients engaging in the energy transition and emerging from the pandemic. I look forward to helping them navigate the winding road ahead."

Chronis spoke with InnovationMap earlier this year about Houston's evolving image and impressive innovation in the health, space, and energy industries that often gets overlooked.

"Houston needs to step up and state our case as often as possible," she told InnovationMap last month.

Chronis is also an advocate for inclusion in the workplace. She co-leads the Houston cohort of Deloitte's Board Ready Women and Women on Boards programs and will aim to advance Deloitte's diversity, equity, and inclusion efforts in her new role.

Click here to read a run down of Chronis's address to the GHP earlier this year.
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