Exclusive: Plug and Play announces 15 energy tech companies for inaugural Houston cohort

onboarding

Plug and Play Technology Center has named its first 15 startups in its Houston Energy and Sustainability cohort. Getty Images

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
Money raised: $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
Money raised: $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
Money raised: $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
Money raised: $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
Money raised: $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
Money raised: $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
Money raised: $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
Money raised: $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
Money raised: $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
Money raised: $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
Money raised: $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
Money raised: 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
Money raised: 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
Money raised: $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
Money raised: $3 million
Employees: 10 full time, 5 part time
Headquarters: Edmonton, Canada
About: Terrapin is a designer and developer of industrial heat recovery projects.

Startups from across the world pitched at the Rice Alliance Startup Roundup at the Offshore Technology Conference. Getty Images

Rice Alliance names the 10 most promising startups at Houston's Offshore Technology Conference

Best of the rest

Over 50 different startups from across the globe gathered at the Offshore Technology Conference for the fifth annual Rice Alliance Startup Roundup event. The full day of speed pitching and presentations, hosted by Rice Alliance Managing Director Brad Burke, took place at NRG Arena on Monday, May 6.

After interacting with all the various startups, the Rice Alliance's panel of experts voted on the 10 most promising startups. Half of the companies that were recognized are based in Houston — and even more have an office or some sort of operations in town. Here's which technologies the offshore oil and gas industry has its eye on.

Oliasoft AS

Oliasoft provides solutions for digitizing well planning operations. Photo via oliasoft.com

Oslo, Norway-based Oliasoft kicked off the presentations at OTC and walked away with an award 2.5 hours later. The cloud-based technology allows for enhanced well planning, casing and other drilling engineering processes.

Syzygy Plasmonics

Syzygy Plasmonics is a chemicals company in Houston lead by Trevor Best. Best presented his company's hydrogen as a fuel alternative technology. According to best, Syzegy's technology is a lower cost solution to gasoline that doesn't put out any chemical waste.

Toku Systems Inc.

Canadian IIoT company, Toku Systems Inc., has a inexpensive monitoring device. Photo via tokuindustry.com

When it comes to monitoring operations, it can be pricey and inaccurate. Edmonton, Alberta-based Toku Systems Inc. has designed a solution. Toku's device is durable and uses IIoT technology to allow for oil and gas companies to monitor their operations remotely.

Ingu Solutions

Ingu Solutions' Pipers technology might look small — but it's able to save a whole lot of cash for oil companies and prevent leaks. Photo via ingu.co

Another Canadian company, Ingu Solutions from Calgary, Alberta, took home an award from Rice. The company's pipeline detection technology can access pipes' conditions and prevent leaks and damage from causing major, costly events. Ingu's Pipers technology works off a subscription model, so clients have access to support and supplies with their monthly fees to the company.

LaserStream

LaserStream uses its imaging technology to track the wear and tear on pipes. Photo via laserstreamlp.com

Humble-based LaserStream provides laser-based scans of pipeline. The technology can evaluate damage and corrosion as well as calculate measurements of various equipment. The company has inspected over 350,000 feet of materials , including tubing, casing, drilling risers, production risers, and more, according to the website.

Ondaka

Ondaka's technology allows you to visualize your infrastructure before you act. Photo via ondaka.com

Ondaka isn't your typical Bay Area startup. The company uses an alphabet soup of buzzword technologies — IoT, AI, VR — and allows oil and gas companies to really visualize their infrastructure. The Palo Alto-based startup is a StartX company and a member at Station Houston for its local office.

Dark Vision Technologies Inc.

Canada-based Dark Vision has created a tool that can take ultrasound images of wells. Photo via darkvisiontech.com

North Vancouver, British Columbia-based Dark Vision has spent years developing its ultrasound technology that can get a 360-degree view of oil wells. According to the website, Dark Vision can find a number of downhole issues, such as tubing defects, casing corrosion, obstructions, and more.

Cemvita Factory

The Karimi siblings have created a way to synthetically convert CO2 into glucose, and they are targeting the energy and aerospace industries for their technology. Courtesy of Cemvita Factory

Houston-based Cemvita Factory didn't present its CO2-to-glucose conversion technology at the roundup, but the company's presence earlier in the day was enough for the judges. Co-founder Moji Karimi tells InnovationMap in a previous story about how the technology has many applications in oil and gas, but also in space operations,

Lift Etc.

Even though Lift ETC didn't present in the roundup, the Houston-based company walked away with an award for its artificial lift technology that is more efficient and cheaper for companies to use. According to the website, Lift ETC has a technology that's proven to lower the surface compressor requirements up to 75 percent and increase production.

SensorField

Houston-based SensorField didn't present, but still walked away with recognition from Rice. Photo via sensorfield.com

When it comes to using IoT for remote oilfield site monitoring, Houston-based SensorField is ahead of the curve. The company's device — so small it can fit in the palm of your hand — is powerful enough to provide complete monitoring capabilities from fluid level and pressure to rotating machinery health and location security, according to the website.
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Houston cleantech company sees shining success with gold hydrogen

bling, bling

Houston-based cleantech startup Cemvita Factory is kicking things into high gear with its Gold Hydrogen product.

After successfully completing a pilot test of Gold Hydrogen in the oil-rich Permian Basin of West Texas, Cemvita has raised an undisclosed amount of funding through its new Gold H2 LLC spin-out. The lead investors are Georgia-based equipment manufacturer Chart Industries and 8090 Industries, an investment consortium with offices in New York City and Los Angeles.

Gold Hydrogen provides carbon-neutral hydrogen obtained from depleted oil and gas wells. This is achieved through bioengineering subsurface microbes in the wells to consume carbon and generate clean hydrogen.

Cemvita says it set up Gold H2 to commercialize the business via licensing, joint ventures, and outright ownership of hydrogen assets.

“We have incredible conviction in next-generation clean hydrogen production methods that leverage the vast and sprawling existing infrastructure and know-how of the oil and gas industry,” Rayyan Islam, co-founder and general partner of 8090 Industries, says in a news release.

Traditional methods of producing hydrogen without greenhouse gas emissions include electrolysis powered by renewable sources like wind, solar or water, according to Cemvita. However, production of green hydrogen through normal avenues eats up a lot of energy and money, the startup says.

By contrast, Cemvita relies on depleted oil and gas wells to cheaply produce carbon-free hydrogen.

“The commercialization and economics of the hydrogen economy will require technologies that produce the hydrogen molecule at a meaningful scale with no carbon emissions. Gold H2 is leading the charge … ,” says Jill Evanko, president and CEO of Chart Industries.

Investors in Cemvita include Oxy Low Carbon Ventures, an investment arm of Houston-based Occidental Petroleum, as well as BHP Group, Mitsubishi, and United Airlines Ventures.

Oxy Low Carbon Ventures and United Airlines Ventures are financing Cemvita’s work on sustainable jet fuel. United Airlines operates a hub at George Bush Intercontinental Airport Houston.

Founded by brother-and-sister team Moji and Tara Karimi in 2017, Cemvita uses synthetic biology to turn carbon dioxide into chemicals and alternative fuels.

Houston named best city in Texas and No. 11 in U.S. in prestigious report

best in tx

At least according to one new report, Houston is not only the Energy Capital of the World but also the livability capital of Texas.

A new study from Best Cities, powered by Resonance Consultancy, puts Houston at No. 11 among the best cities in the U.S. That’s the top showing among the six Texas cities included in the ranking. Houston appeared at No. 17 on last year’s list.

“Educated, diverse and hard-working, Houston is America’s stealthy powerhouse on the rise,” Best Cities proclaims.

Best Cities notes that while Austin grabs much of the best-city attention, “the promise of the Lone Star State drawing Californians and New Yorkers is quietly being fulfilled in Houston.” The website points out that the Houston metro area has gained nearly 300,000 residents in the past year, thanks to both domestic and international migration.

Here are some of the individual rankings that contribute to Houston’s 11th-place finish:

  • No. 4 for restaurants
  • No. 7 for culture
  • No. 8 for foreign-born population

“Houston is a diverse and vibrant metro where individuals can start a family, grow their business, attend world-class institutions and universities, or be immersed in the 145 languages that are spoken by our residents,” Houston Mayor Sylvester Turner says in a news release. “The quality of life we have in Houston is second to none, and the data we receive from placements such as … Best Cities further reaffirm the strength and resiliency that has come to define this great city of ours.”

A few spots behind Houston on the Best Cities list are No. 14 Dallas and No. 15 Austin.

What lifts Dallas to the No. 14 spot? These are some of the factors cited by Best Cities:

  • Location of more than 10,000 corporate headquarters
  • Strong showing (No. 2) in the airport connectivity category
  • Kudos for the soon-to-be-expanded Kay Bailey Hutchinson Convention Center Dallas
  • Home of the country’s sixth largest LGBTQ+ community
  • Presence of the 28-block, 68-acre Dallas Arts District

Austin comes in at No. 15, one notch behind Dallas.

Best Cities praises Austin as “a place that’s incredibly livable. Talk to any entrepreneur leaving Silicon Valley or Seattle and chances are they’ve considered Austin.”

The website points to a number of Austin’s assets, such as:

  • Growing presence of Fortune 500 headquarters
  • Comparatively low unemployment rate
  • Location of the University of Texas’ flagship campus
  • Status as the Live Music Capital of the World
  • Home of the annual SXSW gathering

Two other Texas cities make the Best Cities list: No. 34 San Antonio and No. 94 McAllen.

Best Cities bases its list of the best U.S. cities on Resonance Consultancy’s combination of statistical performance plus qualitative evaluations by locals and visitors. Those figures are grouped into six main categories. This year’s ranking features 100 U.S. cities. To come up with the ranking, Resonance Consultancy assessed all U.S. metro areas with at least 500,000 residents.

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This article originally ran on CultureMap.

How a Houston med device startup pivoted to impact global health and diagnostics

HOUSTON INNOVATORS PODCAST EPISODE 153

In the span of a couple years, a Houston startup went from innovating a way for patients with degenerative eye diseases to see better to creating a portable and affordable breath-based diagnostics tool worthy of a prestigious grant from the Bill and Melinda Gates foundation.

Steradian Technologies, founded in 2018, set out to create human super-sight via proprietary optics. In early 2020, the company was getting ready to start testing the device and fundraising. Then, the pandemic hit, knocking the company completely off course.

Co-founder and CEO of the company, Asma Mirza, says on this week's Houston Innovators Podcast that the Steradian co-founders discussed how their optic technology could detect diseases. Something just clicked, and the RUMI device was born.

"We are from Houston, Texas, which is one of the most diverse and accessible cities in the country, and we were having trouble with basic diagnostic accessibility. It was taking too long, it was complicated, and people were getting sick and didn't know if they were positive or negative," Mirza says on the show. "That's when we pivoted the company and decided we were going to pivot the company and use optics to detect diseases in breath."

Fast forward two years and the company has been recognized by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation with a grant to sport the development of the tool — which costs about the same price as a latte to make. The impact for global health is huge, Mirza says, allowing for people to test their breath for diseases from their own homes in the same time it takes to take your temperature.

"You blow into a cartrige and we're able to take the air from your breath into a liquid sample," Mirza says, explaining how the device uses photons to produce quick results. "It's wild that we still don't have something like that yet."

She shares more details about the grant and the future applications for the technology — as well as the role Houston and local organizations have had on the company — on the podcast. Listen to the interview below — or wherever you stream your podcasts — and subscribe for weekly episodes.


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