Rice Alliance names 15 startups to its cleantech accelerator

ready to grow

Fifteen startups — with clean energy solutions involving everything from solar energy to hydrogen — are joining Rice Alliance's Clean Energy Accelerator later this summer. Photo via Getty Images

A clean energy program has announced its third cohort and named the 15 startups that were accepted into to the accelerator.

The Rice Alliance's Clean Energy Accelerator revealed its 2023 cohort that will be in the 10-week program that kicks of July 25. CEA, a hybrid program based out of the Ion, will wrap up with a Demo Day alongside the 20th Annual Rice Alliance Energy Tech Venture Forum on September 21.

The accelerator, led by Kerri Smith and Matt Peña, provides the cohort with programming, networking, and mentorship from six executives in residence — Nathan Ball, Fatimah Bello, Michael Egan, Michael Evans, Stephen Sims, and Deanna Zhang.

Since the Clean Energy Accelerator launched in 2021, the program has supported 29 ventures that have gone on to raise over $75 million in funding, identified and launched pilots, and created jobs, According to Rice, many of these companies relocated to Houston.

Class 3, which has already raised $23.3 million in funding, hails from four countries and seven states and are addressing a range of energy solutions — from advanced materials, carbon management/capture, energy storage, hydrogen, solar energy, wind energy, and more. They were selected by a screening committee consisting of more than 50 industry experts, investors, energy leaders, and entrepreneurs.

The third class, as announced by Rice Alliance, is as follows:

  • Ayrton Energy, based in Alberta, Canada, provides hydrogen storage technology that improves hydrogen transport logistics for distributed energy applications.
  • Headquartered in Massachusetts, Carbix transforms atmospheric carbon dioxide emissions into building materials using proprietary reactor technology.
  • Houston-based CryoDesalination lowers the carbon footprint and cost of removing salts and heavy metals from water and industrial effluents.
  • Digital Carbon Bank, based in Alberta, Canada, provides a carbon solution tailored for the energy industry.
  • Chandler, Arizona-based EarthEn provides compressed carbon dioxide-based energy storage and artificial intelligence solutions allowing grid owners/operators to be completely renewable.
  • H Quest Vanguard, from Pittsburgh, provides green hydrogen at a five to 10 times lower cost to users of natural gas to decarbonize industrial heat.
  • Calgary, Alberta-based Highwood Emissions Management's SaaS platform allows oil and gas companies to understand their emissions and develop robust plans to reduce them.
  • Icarus RT, from San Diego, California, improves photovoltaic efficiency while enabling useful heat energy storage.
  • Los Altos, California-based Khepra has developed a chemical manufacturing platform for the low-cost, sustainable production of agrochemicals.
  • Binghamton, New York-based Natrion’s electrolyte is a drop-in solid-state battery component that can be rapidly implemented into existing batteries.
  • Oceanways, based in London, provides low-cost, flexible and scalable zero-emission underwater "virtual pipelines" to energy producers.
  • Relyion Energy, from Santa Clara, California, is developing battery usage and intelligence solutions with deeper data and insights for retired electric vehicle batteries.
  • Massachusetts-based Triton Anchor provides a more cost-effective anchoring solution for offshore clean energy with minimal environmental impact.
  • TROES, from Markham, Ontario, provides a 4-in-1 microgrid solution with integrated hardware and software for a streamlined energy storage experience.
  • Mexico City-based Tycho Solutions supports clean energy project developers by saving time and money during the critical project-siting process.
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The Rice Alliance for Technology and Entrepreneurship identified eight startups that are best suited for disrupting energy tech and innovation. Photo courtesy of Rice Alliance

Rice Alliance pitch event identifies 8 most-promising energy tech startups

ones to watch

In honor of CERAWeek, the Rice Alliance for Technology and Entrepreneurship hosted its annual Energy Venture Day.

After over 50 startup pitches and more than 300 meetings, venture investors identified eight startups that are the most-promising companies on a path to innovate and disrupt the energy ecosystem.

The 2023 Energy Venture Day's Most-Promising Startup winners were:

AeroShield Materials

Graphic via aeroshield.tech

Hyde Park, Massachusetts-based AeroShield Materials is creating thermally insulating transparent inserts. The inserts are only four millimeters of AeroShield's material and, when placed inside a double-pane window, provides 65 percent more energy efficiency.

Columbia Power Technologies (C-Power)

Image via cpower.co

C-Power, based in Charlottesville, Virgina, has a technology that harnesses the power of the ocean.

"C-Power delivers this renewable energy resource to the world, both through low-power solutions that bring energy and the cloud to the sea and large-scale solutions that help decarbonize terrestrial grids," the company's website reads.

EarthEn

Graphic via earthen.energy

Chandler, Arizona-based EarthEn is focused on long duration energy storage solutions that use CO2 in a closed loop to store 4 to 100 hours of energy at a low cost. The SaaS tools — with artificial intelligence and machine learning — optimize peak demand pricing and use predictive analysis to enable grid resiliency.

Group1

Photo via Twitter

Group 1, based in Austin, is focused on the commercialization of potassium-ion batteries. The core technology originates from the labs of University of Texas at Austin professor JB Goodenough, co-inventor of the lithium-ion battery.

Ionada Carbon Solutions

Photo via ionada.com

Houston-based Ionada, a member of Halliburton Labs, has created a technology that can remove up to 99 percent of the carbon dioxide emissions for the energy, marine, and e-fuels, according to the company.

"Our engineers have more than a century of combined expertise in reducing emissions for the power generation, chemical, road, rail, air and marine industries. We are here to help you find the best sustainable solution to reduce your emissions," reads the website.

H Quest Vanguard

Photo courtesy of Halliburton

Another Halliburton Labs member H Quest Vanguard, headquartered in Pittsburgh, has developed an electrically powered chemical conversion platform that leverages Microwave Plasma Pyrolysis to liberate zero-CO2 hydrogen from natural gas using only a quarter of energy required by electrolysis, while coproducing a high-value carbon or petrochemical coproduct.

Pressure Corp

Photo by Anton Petrus/Getty

Houston-based Pressure Corp is developing waste pressure power systems to help midstream gas companies solve how they reduce emissions by providing the technology, capital and expertise required to achieve their environmental, social and governance goals.

STARS Technology

Photo via starsh2.com

Based in Richland, Washington, STARS Technology Corp. is commercializing advanced micro-channel chemical process technology that originally was designed for NASA and the Department of Energy. The company's reactors and heat exchangers are compact, energy-efficient, and more.

Here are the most promising energy tech startups in the market today. Natalie Harms/InnovationMap

Houston investors, mentors name 9 most promising energy startups at Rice Alliance event

best of the rest

This week, 39 energy startup companies from all over the world pitched in Houston — and nine were recognized as being the most promising of the batch.

The Rice Alliance for Technology and Entrepreneurship returned its Offshore Technology Conference pitch event to its in-person capacity and host the annual event at the Ion Houston for the first time. The event featured three-minute pitches from the companies, and a select group of corporate and venture investors decided on the top nine to honor.

"We asked investors and corporates to look at the companies here today and help us determine the companies most promising — based on those that have an innovative technology that is solving a large problem, has customers willing to pay for it, and has the right team to build and grow their company," Brad Burke, managing director of the Rice Alliance says to the crowd at the event on May 3.

Here's which energy tech companies stood out to investors.

EarthEn

EarthEn, a Chandler, Arizona-based company, is a grid-scale energy storage solution. The technology can provide short-term — 6 to 8 hours — and long-term — over 100 hours — storage. The EarthEn pods provide a cheaper alternative and are built using 3D printing.

Echogen Power Systems

Based in Akron, Ohio, Echogen Power Systems has created a technology that captures heat that would otherwise be lost and converts it to a useable power source. The solution allows for any customer that operates at significant levels of heat to have a cost-effective energy option.

FuelX Innovation

Based in Aiken, South Carolina, FuelX Innovation is manufacturing solid-state hydrogen products and power systems, impacting mobile hydrogen fuel cell-powered applications. The company is focused on producing the lowest cost Alane, or aluminum hydride, for the fuel cell.

Lillianah Technologies

Lillianah Technologies, based in the Houston area in Spring, uses algae to remove carbon dioxide from the atmosphere. The company sells carbon offsets to corporations.

oPRO.ai

​oPRO.ai — which is based in Los Altos, California — is providing its customers with deep learning optimization software for process and responsible operations for oil and gas, petrochemical, chemicals, and metal industries.

Proteum Energy

Phoenix, Arizona-based Proteum Energy provides its customers low-cost, clean hydrogen by reforming renewable ethanol into renewable hydrogen.

Sync Power Solutions

Embracing a clean sheet approach, Sync Power Solutions, based in Abilene, Texas, created a solution involving a redesign of electric motors and generators to increase energy efficiency, save on costs, and more.

Utility Global

Houston-based Utility Global is using high temperature electrolysis without the use of electricity to produce hydrogen from waste gases.

ZL Innovations

Based in Portland, Oregon, ZL Innovations is focused on eliminating greenhouse gas emissions from failed industrial valves. The company's solution is a magnetic actuation assembly that can be better sealed to prevent emissions.

The Rice Business Plan Competition is back in person this year, and these are the 42 teams that will go head to head for investments and prizes. Photo courtesy of Rice University

Rice University's student startup competition names 42 teams to compete for over $1 million in prizes

ready to pitch

The Rice Alliance for Technology and Entrepreneurship and the Jones Graduate School of Business have announced the 42 student teams that will compete in the 2022 Rice Business Plan Competition, which returns to an in-person format on the Rice University campus in April.

Of the teams competing for more than $1 million in prizes and funding in this year's competition, six hail from Texas — two teams each from Rice University, University of Texas at Austin, and Texas A&M University. The student competitors represent 31 universities — including three from European universities. The 42 teams were narrowed down from over 400 applicants and divided into five categories: energy, cleantech and sustainability; life sciences and health care solutions; consumer products and services; hard tech; and digital enterprise.

This is the first in-person RBPC since 2019, and the university is ready to bring together the entrepreneurs and a community of over 250 judges, mentors, and investors to the competition.

“As we come out on the other side of a long and challenging two years, we're feeling a sense of renewal and energy as we look to the future and finding inspiration from the next generation of entrepreneurs who are building a better world,” says Catherine Santamaria, director of the RBPC, in a news release.

“This year's competition celebrates student founders with a strong sense of determination — founders who are ready to adapt, build and grow companies that can change the future,” she continues. “We hope their participation will provide guidance and inspiration for our community.”

According to a news release, this year's RBPC Qualifier Competition, which narrowed down Rice's student teams that will compete in the official competition, saw the largest number of applicants, judges, and participants in the competition’s history. The Rice Alliance awarded a total of $5,000 in cash prizes to the top three teams from the internal qualifier: EpiFresh, Green Room and Anvil Diagnostics. From those three, Rice teams EpiFresh and Green Room received invitations to compete in the 2022 RBPC..

The full list of student teams that will be competing April 7 to 9 this year include:

  • Acorn Genetics from Northwestern University
  • Advanced Optronics from Carnegie Mellon University
  • Aethero Space from University of Missouri
  • AImirr from University of Chicago
  • AiroSolve from UCLA
  • Algeon Materials from UC San Diego
  • Anise Health from Harvard University
  • Beyond Silicon from Arizona State University
  • Bold Move Beverages from University of Texas at Austin
  • Diamante from University of Verona
  • EarthEn from Arizona State University
  • Empower Sleep from University of Pennsylvania
  • EpiFresh from Rice University
  • EpiSLS from University of Michigan
  • Green Room from Rice University
  • Horizon Health Solutions from University of Arkansas
  • Hoth Intelligence from Thomas Jefferson University
  • INIA Biosciences from Boston University
  • Invictus BCI from MIT
  • Invitris from Technical University of Munich (TUM)
  • KLAW Industries from Binghamton University
  • LIDROTEC from RWTH Aachen
  • Locus Lock from University of Texas at Austin
  • LymphaSense from Johns Hopkins University
  • Mallard Bay Outdoors from Louisiana State University
  • Mantel from MIT
  • Olera from Texas A&M University
  • OpenCell AI from Weill Cornell Medicine
  • OraFay from UCLA
  • Pareto from Stanford University
  • Photonect Interconnect Solutions from University of Rochester
  • PLAKK from McGill University
  • PneuTech from Johns Hopkins University
  • Rola from UC San Diego
  • RotorX from Georgia Tech
  • SimulatED from Carnegie Mellon University
  • SuChef from University of Pennsylvania
  • Symetric Finance from Fairfield University
  • Teale from Texas A&M University
  • Team Real Talk from University at Buffalo
  • TransCrypts from Harvard University
  • Woobie from Brigham Young University
Last year's awards had 54 student teams competing virtually, with over $1.4 million in cash and prizes awarded. Throughout RBPC's history, competitors have gone onto raise more than $3.57 billion in capital and more than 259 RBPC alumni have successfully launched their ventures. Forty RBPC startups that have had successful exits through acquisitions or trading on a public market, per the news release.
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New Houston biotech co. lands $30M for pulmonary fibrosis drug

drug money

Most of us can claim a scar or two on our bodies. But when scarring develops inside the body, it’s known as a fibrotic disorder. A freshly launched Houston company, Oorja Bio Inc., is working on a treatment that can help to repair cells and reduce the damage wrought by the growth of fibrotic tissue in patients.

Late last month, Oorja Bio hit the scene with a pair of big announcements. Not only has the company raised a $30 million Series A thanks to founding investor California-based Westlake BioPartners, but it has also already paved the way for a Phase 2 study to take place this year.

Oorja Bio received Investigational New Drug (IND) clearance from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA), allowing the company to test its treatment in patients with idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis (IPF), a scarring of the lung tissue. IPF affects more than 150,000 adults in the United States and can result in a range of symptoms from shortness of breath to organ failure and death as it progresses.

Oorja Bio’s lead drug candidate, ORJ-001, was shown in a Phase 1 in-human trial to demonstrate “therapeutically relevant exposure and favorable tolerability” in 64 healthy adult volunteers in whom it was administered daily or weekly, according to a news release. Pre-clinical studies of ORJ-001 showed durable target tissue engagement and biomarker activity in bleomycin-induced lung fibrosis.

Administered subcutaneously, ORJ-001 is intended to improve and even restore function in cells that can reduce the signaling that causes IPF. It stops advancement of IPF and also allows for tissue repair. Currently available treatments for the disease can slow the development of IPF down, but do not address the declining lung function that’s inherent in its progression.

“The clinical and preclinical results from our studies to date give us confidence that ORJ-001 represents a novel treatment approach with the potential to repair and reverse fibrosis and modify disease progression in IPF,” Dr. Janethe Pena, CMO of Oorja Bio, said in the release.

“Our team is energized to deliver on our goal of redefining the future of fibrotic diseases, beginning with ORJ-001,” CEO and founder Sujay Kango added. “As we advance ORJ-001 in the clinic, we are embracing the paradigm shift in our biological understanding of IPF pathology that aligns with the central role of the alveolar epithelium. ORJ-001 was designed with this biology in mind and may provide, for the first time, a therapeutic intervention that repairs and reverses fibrosis and promotes disease modification.”

Most patients live only three to five years following their IPF diagnosis. Soon, ORJ-001 and Oorja Bio could give them a fighting chance.

Axiom Space tops $525M in oversubscribed round, announces Swiss subsidiary

funding boost

Axiom Space tacked on an additional $175 million to a previously announced capital raise, bringing the oversubscribed round to a total of more than $525 million.

Axiom shared in February that it had secured $350 million in a financing round led by Type One Ventures and Qatar Investment Authority. In the latest release from the company, Axiom reports that Japan-based MUFG Bank Ltd. joined the round as a new investor, in addition to continued participation from existing backers.

The funding will go toward developing the company's commercial space station, known as Axiom Station, and the production of its Axiom Extravehicular Mobility Unit (AxEMU) under its NASA spacesuit contract.

“Investor interest in this round outpaced what we set out to raise, which speaks to the moment we’re in,” Jonathan Cirtain, CEO and president of Axiom Space, said in the news release. “Our partners see what is possible in low-Earth orbit, and they see who is positioned to lead it.”

Axiom announced last month that it planned to open a Japanese subsidiary July 1. Earlier this week, it also shared plans to establish Axiom Space Switzerland, a wholly owned subsidiary based in Lucerne that is also expected to begin operations this summer.

The Switzerland subsidiary aims to establish Axiom's presence in Europe and help it partner with the European Space Agency and other space organizations and companies on the continent.

“Europe is a founding leader in the creation of the commercial space economy, and Switzerland is uniquely positioned to convene the government agencies, research institutions, and industrial entities that will shape its next decade,” Cirtain added in a separate release. “Axiom Space Switzerland facilitates the scaling of development and deployment of the infrastructure that will succeed the International Space Station.”

Texas cashes in among 10 best U.S. state economies in 2026 report

State Economics

A new study gauging the success or decline in economic performance in every state has revealed Texas' economy remains stable in 2026 after it dropped out of the top five to No. 8 last year.

Texas boasts the No. 8 best state economy in the U.S. this year, according to WalletHub's annual "Best & Worst State Economies" report. The personal finance website's analysts ranked all 50 states and the District of Columbia across 28 relevant metrics to measure each state's economic activity and health status, and its "innovation potential."

Notably, Texas leads the nation for the most exports per capita in the U.S. in a five-way tie with Louisiana, Kentucky, North Dakota, and Indiana. Across the study's three main categories, Texas ranked highly for its economic activity (No. 7) and economic health (No. 11), and the state's "innovation potential" rank is the 24th best in the nation.

This is how WalletHub ranked Texas' economic performance, where No. 1 is considered the best and No. 25 is considered average:
  • No. 6 – Change in non-farm payrolls
  • No. 8 – Change in GDP
  • No. 8 – Startup activity
  • No. 11 – Annual median household income
  • No. 18 – Government surplus/deficit per capita
  • No. 21 – Percentage of jobs in high-tech industries
  • No. 30 – Unemployment rate
WalletHub previously ranked Texas one of the top three states to start a business in 2026, with Houston earning its own entrepreneurial acclaim in separate rankings of the best big cities for new businesses and for starting a career.

"U.S. economic growth depends heavily on the performance of individual states, and some contribute more than others," the report's author wrote. "For example, California, Texas, New York and Florida have economies so large that if they were countries, they would rank in the top 20 in the world."

The five states with the worst state economies in 2026 are Rhode Island (No. 47), Maine (No. 48), Louisana (No. 49), Kentucky (No. 50), and West Virginia (No. 51).

The top 10 best state economies for 2026 are:

  • No. 1 – Massachusetts
  • No. 2 – Washington
  • No. 3 – Utah
  • No. 4 – California
  • No. 5 – Delaware
  • No. 6 – North Carolina
  • No. 7 – New York
  • No. 8 – Texas
  • No. 9 – Colorado
  • No. 10 – Florida

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This article originally appeared on CultureMap.com.

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