Greentown Labs adds 5 new Houston startups to climatetech incubator

Going Green

Greentown Labs has announced its newest climatetech incubator cohort. Photo via GreentownLabs.com

Greentown Labs announced that it added five startups to its Houston community in Q1 of 2025.

The companies are among a group of 19 that joined the climatetech incubator, which is co-located in Houston and Boston, in the same time period. The companies that joined the Houston-based lab specialize in a number of "green" applications, from converting plastic waste into sustainable materials to developing energy-storage solutions.

The new Houston members include:

  • Concept Loop, a project of Pakistan-based Innova8e Inc., aims to repurpose post-industrial and post-consumer plastic waste into sustainable building materials.
  • GeoFuels, a Sugar Land-based company that produces hydrogen by using baseload geothermal power and methane pyrolysis.
  • PLASENE, a Houston-based company with an innovative platform that converts plastic waste into liquid fuel and low-carbon hydrogen through its proprietary catalysts and modular, scalable, pre-engineered units platform. The company was named to Greentown's ACCEL Year 3 cohort earlier this year.
  • RepAir Carbon, an Israeli company with a fully electric, zero-heat carbon-removal technology that consumes minimal energy, operates without liquids or solvents, and produces no hazardous materials or waste.
  • RotorVault from Pasadena, California, is commercializing energy-storage and load-following solutions that are containerized, modular, and field-deployable systems built on flywheel technology.

Fourteen other companies will join Greentown Boston's incubator. See the full list here.

PLASENE and five other new members—Thola, Respire Energy, Andros Innovations, FAST Metals and Tato Labs—join Greentown Labs through its most recent Advancing Climatetech and Clean Energy Leaders Program, or ACCEL, cohort. ACCEL, which works to advance BIPOC-led startups in the climatetech space, announced its third cohort last month.

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A version of this story originally appeared on our sister site, EnergyCapitalHTX.

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A report by web-hosting company Hostinger showed that Texas is making one of the biggest impacts on the digital economy. Photo via Getty Images

Texas lands top 10 spot in new future of tech study

report

Texas is among the top 10 states making the biggest investments in digital innovation, according to a new study.

The study, conducted by web-hosting company Hostinger, puts Texas in eighth place among the states when it comes to these key metrics:

  • Financial impact of the digital economy
  • Amount of venture capital and grants received by digital startups
  • Number of government-run tech hubs
  • Presence of top-rated business incubators

“To many, the Texas story is one of oil magnates and real estate tycoons. But in recent decades, the state has emerged as an innovation and high-tech hub,” according to a report from the Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas.

On a scale of 1 to 100, Texas received a score of 79. California nabbed the top spot with a score of 100. Appearing behind California and ahead of Texas in the ranking are:

  • No. 2: New York
  • No. 3: Washington
  • No. 4: Illinois
  • No. 5: Massachusetts
  • No. 6: Missouri
  • No. 7: Wisconsin

In terms of ranking factors, Texas benefited the most from landing at No. 2 among the states for its impact on the digital economy. The study pegged Texas’ digital economic impact at $141.7 billion, well below California’s impact of $492.8 billion.

Hostinger relied primarily on government data on 31 states to come up with the ranking. “The research provides a detailed ranking based on a composite score that reflects each state's overall investment and capacity for digital innovation,” the company says.

More than 30,000 businesses in Texas participate in the digital economy, according to the Computer & Communications Industry Association (CCIA). Those businesses employ more than 633,000 people and account for over six percent of the state’s GDP, a key measure of economic strength.

“As technology companies face increasing scrutiny through state and national legislation and litigation, it’s crucial to recognize the significant positive impacts of the digital economy that resonate across the United States,” says the CCIA.

Texas Medical Center Innovation won a Prix Galien Award, which has been described as being comparable to the Nobel Prize for the life science community. Photo by Natalie Harms/InnovationMap

Houston's Texas Medical Center wins prestigious global award recognizing leaders in life science innovation

new bling

Last month, a global organization honored innovation leaders in life sciences, and the Texas Medical Center was among the recipients of the prestigious awards program.

The 18th annual Prix Galien Awards Gala awarded TMC Innovation with the win in the "Incubators, Accelerators and Equity" category. The Galien Foundation created the awards program in 1970 in honor of Galien, the father of medical science and modern pharmacology. Alongside TMC, the other winners represented biotech, digital health, startups, and more.

"We are super proud of this distinction," Tom Luby, director of TMC Innovation says at Envision 2024 last month, crediting the TMCi team and TMC leadership for the award. "We lean on a lot of advisers and experts — people who volunteer their time to work with startups. Without (them), we would not have been successful."

Luby explains that a Prix Galien Award holds a Nobel Prize level of significance for the community.

TMCi was named a finalist in August, and competed against programs from Cedars-Sinai, Mayo Foundation for Medical Education and Research, TechConnect, and more.

"The Awards Committee is honored to witness the exceptional dedication and creativity of our nominees as they turn visionary ideas into transformative solutions for patients worldwide," says Michael Rosenblatt, chair of the Prix Galien USA Awards Committee, in a news release. "Their unwavering commitment to advancing patient care is truly commendable, and we are honored to celebrate their outstanding contributions to global health."

The award is displayed at TMC Innovation's office, located in the medical center at 2450 Holcombe Blvd.

A Houston-based initiative has been selected by the DOE to receive funding to develop clean energy innovation programming for startups and entrepreneurs. Photo via Getty Images

Houston initiative selected for DOE program developing hubs for clean energy innovation

seeing green

Houston has been selected as one of the hubs backed by a new program from the United States Department of Energy that's developing communities for clean energy innovation.

The DOE's Office of Technology Transitions announced the the first phase of winners of the Energy Program for Innovation Clusters, or EPIC, Round 3. The local initiative is one of 23 incubators and accelerators that was awarded $150,000 to support programming for energy startups and entrepreneurs.

The Houston-based participant is called "Texas Innovates: Carbon and Hydrogen Innovation and Learning Incubator," or CHILI, and it's a program meant to feed startups into the DOE recognized HyVelocity program and other regional decarbonization efforts.

EPIC was launched to drive innovation at a local level and to inspire commercial success of energy startups. It's the third year of the competition that wraps up with a winning participant negotiating a three-year cooperative agreement with OTT worth up to $1 million.

“Incubators and Accelerators are uniquely positioned to provide startups things they can't get anywhere else -- mentorship, technology validation, and other critical business development support," DOE Chief Commercialization Officer and Director of OTT Vanessa Z. Chan says in a news release. “The EPIC program allows us to provide consistent funding to organizations who are developing robust programming, resources, and support for innovative energy startups and entrepreneurs.”

CHILI, the only participant in Texas, now moves on to the second phase of the competition, where they will design a project continuation plan and programming for the next seven months to be submitted in September.

Phase 2 also includes two national pitch competitions with a total of $165,000 in cash prizes up for grabs for startups. The first EPIC pitch event for 2024 will be in June at the 2024 Small Business Forum & Expo in Minneapolis, Minnesota.

Last fall, the DOE selected the Gulf Coast's project, HyVelocity Hydrogen Hub, as one of the seven regions to receive a part of the $7 billion in Bipartisan Infrastructure Law. The hub was announced to receive up to $1.2 billion — the most any hub will get.

The DOE's OTT selections are nationwide. Photo via energy.gov

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This article originally ran on EnergyCapital.

Tech startups are leaving Silicon Valley in droves — and some are finding benefits in heading back to school. Miguel Tovar/University of Houston

Siliconned: Leaving Silicon Valley for universities

Houston Voices

Silicon Valley has been a tech startup paradise for decades. It has been described as the modern day Florence in the Renaissance. Tech gods from Apple and Google to Facebook and Twitter were born here. We can credit Silicon Valley as the birthplace for such world-changing innovations like smartphones, microprocessor chips, Tesla automation, and WIFI-enabled teapots.

Okay, so maybe that last one isn't changing the world, but it was created in the Valley and it's changed my life, for whatever that's worth. If Silicon Valley were a country, it would have the 19th-biggest economy on the planet. There's no doubt it is an engineer's dream. A techie's haven. A capitalist's utopia. A beacon of the modern world.

Or at least, it used to be.

Now leaving the Bay Area

There is an exodus in Silicon Valley. It's been happening for about three years. For instance, according to a 2018 poll conducted by the Bay Area Council, 46 percent of survey takers admit they plan to leave the Bay Area in the next year. Couple that with the fact that Silicon Valley investors have allocated 66 percent of their funds into startups outside of Silicon Valley, compared with 50 percent just six years ago, and you have a recipe for a great exodus to other markets around the country.

Now, just for kicks, add to all of this that the Kauffman Foundation's research has pegged Miami-Fort Lauderdale as the number one city in America for startup activity. Where does Silicon Valley's Bay Area, formerly the world's preeminent hub for tech startups, rank? Fourteenth. How the mighty have fallen.

So, to what exactly can this mass egress be attributed?

Insufficient funds

The biggest reason is cost.

The cost of living in the Bay Area is one of the steepest on the planet. Startups in the Valley pay four times what they would in any other city in the country. In fact, just last year the California Association of Realtors reported that a typical family in San Francisco has to make over $300,000 a year in order to afford a median-priced house tagged at just over a million dollars. That includes a 20 percent down payment and an $8,000 monthly payment. Because most of the startups in Silicon Valley are in their infancies, the engineers, programmers, and non-technical employees don't get compensated enough to afford such a living. As a result, they are leaving the Bay Area in droves for places where the cost of living is manageable.

One location that tech startup entrepreneurs are flocking to is the university. Universities are also retaining tech wunderkinds on campus to blossom their startups, rather than seeing them leave for the microprocessor motherland known as Silicon Valley.

Now entering university life

One of the biggest reasons universities have become hotbeds for tech startups is that campuses provide a means for people with multidisciplinary backgrounds to intermingle within the same space. A chemical engineering student with a great idea might meet an MBA during a startup launch party. Together they can build and market the second iteration of "Secret Stuff" from Space Jam, or whatever that student has in mind.

The point is that universities position aspiring entrepreneurs to network with the right people for building their company from the ground up. Even the Innovation Leadership Forum attests that innovation is born when different ways of thinking clash. That is precisely what happens on campuses every day.

Furthermore, college students also have more room to take risks. Most aspiring entrepreneurs in college between 18 and 25 are not married, do not have kids, mortgages, or any other major financial responsibilities. This allows them to have the luxury of leeway when it comes to experimenting and trial and error.

The ecosystem of innovation

In essence, academic incubators are courting tech entrepreneurs because universities offer an ecosystem designed to support and grow startups from conception to commercialization. This ecosystem includes a space where researchers, faculty, and students of all disciplines interact and form working relationships. In many cases, it also includes university owned equipment and laboratories for use by startup researchers.

There is, of course, incentive for universities to concentrate so many resources to building incubators and luring startup entrepreneurs. There is an inherent sense of responsibility that universities have to create an academic climate that encourages students to explore new ideas. A sense of responsibility that encourages them to take more risks; to be fearless in their quest to use their intellect to enrich lives; to dream.

Moreover, university incubators also position schools as progressive institutions. Such positioning attracts elite researchers and enhances a university's reputation. Further, these incubators forge a bridge that links industry and academia in a way that Silicon Valley does not. That's because with academic incubators, startups are a stone's throw away from a place teeming with researchers, scientists, hungry students, and aspiring entrepreneurs: the university campus.

Consequently, it is no wonder that tech startups are leaving Silicon Valley for universities. It's also no surprise that students who have graduated are staying with their university's incubators to develop their companies. There, they have a place that cultivates innovation, encourages risk-taking, and is set up specifically to help them bring their tech to the world. In short, the university has become a hub set up to be conducive to thriving tech startups. And tech entrepreneurs have noticed.

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This article originally appeared on the University of Houston's The Big Idea.

Rene Cantu is the writer and editor at UH Division of Research.

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Houston space tech leader lands up to $10 million for Earth re-entry vehicle and lab

space funding

Houston-based space technology, infrastructure, and services company Intuitive Machines has been awarded a state grant of up to $10 million to help develop an Earth re-entry vehicle and in-space biomanufacturing lab.

The Texas Space Commission approved the grant, which is coming from the state’s Space Exploration and Research Fund.

Intuitive Machines says the money will support its “critical risk-reduction platform” for returning lunar samples to Earth. The funding will go toward an early 12-month phase of the project.

“Returning samples from space is one of the most complex challenges in exploration,” says Tim Crain, chief growth officer at Intuitive Machines.

In 2022, Intuitive Machines began preliminary design work on an Earth re-entry vehicle for missions returning from low Earth orbit, the moon, or Mars. In tandem with development of the re-entry vehicle, the company has teamed up with Houston-based biotech company Rhodium Scientific on in-space biomanufacturing. This biomanufacturing will involve certain materials, processes and pharmaceuticals that can be handled more efficiently in space or that exhibit unique non-Earth properties.

Gámez Holzhaus, founder and CEO of Rhodium Scientific, says his company’s federally backed work “has enabled us to establish all hardware and protocols necessary for a pipeline to develop and scale biomanufacturing in space.”

Intuitive Machines and Rhodium Scientific say the state grant should pave the way for future grants and large-scale projects to bring the re-entry system closer to flight readiness.

9 can't-miss Houston business and innovation events for May

where to be

There's a lot to learn this month at events around Houston. Hear from AI and energy experts or gain insights into how to tap into funding at informative panels or sessions.

Here are the Houston business and innovation events you can't miss in May and how to register. Please note: This article might be updated to add more events.

May 1 - Ion Block Party + 3rd Annual Crawfish Cookoff

Head to this special edition Block Party, featuring a crawfish cook-off competition among the Ion’s businesses. Competing teams include Ion/Rice Alliance, Transwestern, Black at Microsoft, United Protective Services, Nexus, PersonaAI, South Main Baptist, Late August, Lymbar and LickleLab/Sports Monkey.

This event is Thursday, May 1, from 4-7 p.m. at the Ion. Register here.

May 5 - Fireside Chat and Book Launch: ‘AI Made Simple: Results Made Real.’

Learn more about how AI is reshaping business and what leadership in the AI era looks like at the launch of Kathleen Perley’s book, AI Made Simple: Results Made Real, hosted by Rice Business Executive Education. Perley is founder and CEO of DemystifAI and an instructor and advisor at Rice University. She will sit down with Marie Myers, CFO of Hewlett Packard Enterprise, for a discussion and will be signing copies of her book after the fireside chat.

This event is Monday, May 5, from 5:30-7:30 p.m. at the Ion. Register here.

May 6 - Houston’s AI-Driven Data Center Boom: Investment, Innovation, and Policy

In light of Houston’s growing influence as a data center hub, the Greater Houston Partnership will present an informative panel focused on the investment landscape, technological advancements, and policy considerations shaping the future of AI-driven data centers in Houston. Panelists include leaders from Moelis, Quanta, and the Houston Northwest Chamber of Commerce.

This event is Tuesday, May 6, from 11:30 a.m.-1 p.m. at Partnership Tower. Register or become a member here.

May 6 - Doing Business with the Federal Government - The Woodlands

The SBA Houston District Office, in collaboration with Sam Houston State University SBDC, will host an informative session to share insights on how small business owners can work with the U.S. government. Topics include how the government buys goods and services, the SBA’s role in government contracting, federal government contracting programs, the advantages of small business set-asides, marketing your business, identifying federal opportunities and more.

This event is Tuesday, May 6, from 10-11:30 a.m. at Sam Houston State University - The Woodlands Center. Register here.

May 8 - Industrious Launch Party

Attend the opening of Industrious’ new coworking space at the Ion. Anteendees can tour the new space, meet the team, enjoy a silent disco and network. Light bites will be provided by Late August, Lymbar, and Stuff’d.

This event is Thursday, May 8, from 5-8 p.m. at the Ion. Register here

May 12 - Headshot Happy Hour 

Hosted by Natalie Presnediue, Headshot Happy Hour caters to entrepreneurs, business owners, creatives and professionals who want to enhance or update their online presence. Each session includes a 15- to 20-minute mini shoot and three professionally retouched images. Light refreshments will be served.

This event is Monday, May 12, at the Ion. Learn more here.

May 12-14 - Greentown Labs’ Investor Activation Series

Greentown Labs will host a three-day series for investors interested in climatetech, centered around the incubator’s invitation-only Manufacturing Sector Pitch Day. Panels throughout the event will focus on early-stage investment, emerging opportunities, and tools for investors, presented by organizations like Houston Angel Network and New Climate Ventures.

This event begins Monday, May 12, at Greentown Labs. Register here.

May 13 - Women in Venture Investing: Expanding Influence and Building Wealth

Houston Angel Network will host a luncheon focused on how women can enter and thrive in the venture capital space. Anthea Zhang, professor of strategic management at Rice University, will present the keynote address along with a panel featuring leaders from Hunton, JP Morgan Private Bank, HRSS CPAs, Weathergage Capital, and Houston Angel Network.

This event is Tuesday, May 13, from 11 a.m.-1:30 p.m. at the Junior Leauge of Houston. Get tickers here.

May 28-30 - CHARGE North America

This intimate, immersive experience is tailored to forward-thinking energy professionals. The conference includes hands-on interactive workshops led by top strategists; real-world case studies; and insights from leading speakers on resilient branding, consumer expectations, and climate action. Attendees will engage in panel discussions on sustainability and energy diversification and enjoy exclusive networking opportunities with global executives and innovators.

This event begins Wednesday, May 28, at the Ion. Register here.

Houston clean energy co. wins $50 million at Elon Musk-backed competition

xprize winners

Houston-based Mati Carbon has won the $50 million grand prize in the XPRIZE Carbon Removal competition, backed by Elon Musk’s charitable organization, The Musk Foundation.

Mati was selected in 2024 as one of 20 global finalists. The company removes carbon through its Enhanced Rock Weathering (ERW) program that works with agricultural farms in Africa and India.

The 3-year-old startup accelerates the natural process of rock weathering (ERW) by applying pulverized basalt to croplands of partnered smallholder farmers, free of charge. Mati says the farmers it partners with are some of the most vulnerable to the impacts of climate change.

“Winning this XPRIZE competition is an incredible honor and a definitive validation of our research and development, and building out the infrastructure needed to impact millions of farmers while delivering verifiable carbon dioxide removal at a gigaton scale,” Mati Carbon Founder and CEO Shantanu Agarwal, said in a news release. “I couldn’t be prouder, not just of the Mati team, but of our collaborators, research partners and the thousands of smallholder farmers who let us be part of their lives. This XPRIZE recognition will allow us to collaborate with local partners to accelerate the use of enhanced rock weathering across the Global South.”

Mati reports that it plans to use the award to “scale its efforts working with smallholder farmers worldwide.” Apart from the XPRIZE funding, Mati plans to grow its model through the sale of CDR credits. According to the company, it counts Shopify, Stripe, and H&M among its early carbon credit buyers.

“Mati Carbon’s deployments bolster farmers’ livelihoods through improved soil health, reduced agricultural inputs, and increased income at zero cost to them. Mati Carbon’s team has developed a scientifically rigorous approach to monitoring and verification, and excelled across each of XPRIZE’s prize evaluation criteria – operational, sustainability, and cost metrics – giving the XPRIZE judges the highest confidence in Mati Carbon’s solution’s long-term scalability,” the XPRIZE judges wrote.

Houston-based Vaulted Deep took home the second-runner-up prize in the competition and $8 million for its organic waste storage process. The company provides permanent carbon storage by injecting nonhazardous organic waste deep underground. It spun off with $8 million in seed funding from Advantek Waste Management Services in 2023.

"Our approach is grounded in geomechanical injection techniques that have been safely deployed globally for decades by our team and predecessors," Omar Abou-Sayed, co-founder and executive chairman of Vaulted, said in a separate release. "XPRIZE recognized that this is a proven approach—already in use, delivering impact, and built on the kind of reliability the industry needs to scale responsibly."

Launched in 2021, the four-year XPRIZE Carbon Removal competition challenged global innovators to deploy scalable solutions for removing carbon dioxide from the atmosphere and oceans. More than 1,300 teams from 88 countries competed. XPRIZE finalists were required to remove at least 1,000 tonnes of CO2 over a one-year demonstration period.

French company NetZero took home the first-runner-up prize of $15 million, and London-based UNDO came in as third-runner-up with a $5 million prize.

Since the announcement of the XPRIZE Carbon Removal competition, the Musk-led Department of Government Efficiency has cut climate funding for agencies, projects and research. While the Musk Foundation sponsored the XPRIZE event, it is not affiliated with the California-based organization, according to the Associated Press.

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This story originally appeared on our sister site, EnergyCapitalHTX.com.

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