Why Houston’s oil and gas leaders need to prioritize becoming a modern energy workplace

Guest column

The energy industry needs to re-evaluate its priorities for the workplace. Photo courtesy of Thomas Miller/Breitling Energy

The oil and gas industry today is being shaped by truly unprecedented conditions. In the face of a global economic crisis, players in this space are grappling with how best to spend and save resources in a way that's smart, deliberate and centered on expanding a company's value.

But even when the price of oil was four times what it is today, only 13 percent of the oil and gas industry's leaders said they were moving fast enough from a tech investment perspective, according to data my company, Quorum Software, pulled back in October. This was the writing on the wall that the industry was unprepared for a crisis of this magnitude, let alone two.

At the same time, there are a number of critical labor challenges that could curb Houston's oil and gas sector's ability to rebound. In order to future proof the energy industry and attract and retain young and innovative talent, Houston's oil and gas leaders need to prioritize investments in technology and start creating specific business advantages through tech.

Create a place young talent will want to land

In the Houston area, millennials age 25 to 34 make up the largest percentage of the adult population, according to the most recent data from the U.S. Census Bureau. Despite this, oil and gas has historically suffered a gap in talent for this employee subset.

As the Houston energy economy seeks to attract talent from Gen Z and millennial pools, they must invest in transformative technology and become a modern energy workplace.

In our recently released industry report, oil and gas decision makers made it clear that they understand having better technology generates more efficient workplaces. What's more, four out of five of these industry leaders think employees will leave without access to sound technology.

Technology will play as an essential part of crisis recovery, and Houston's business leaders in this sector must align their tech investments over the next two quarters in order to both drive business success and also retain and attract a rich talent pool.

Prepare for the long road ahead

Oil and gas leaders in this region are familiar with managing volatility. Prices rise and fall much more quickly than in other industries, with fluctuating regulations, border skirmishes, trade deals, weather and local and global politics all impacting an ever-changing market. We have entered a period when short-term stability and long-term success are both in jeopardy unless you innovate now – especially as the prognosis for long-term structural change in the industry indicates that things might get a lot tougher before they turn around.

In my 30-plus years in the software industry, I've heard thoughtful people talk a lot about disruption. The idea that companies use software and/or technology to disrupt both their internal operations or disrupt markets to make sure that markets don't disrupt them. In just a few months, the commodity pricing shifts have disrupted economic forces on our businesses. As much as we've talked about technology for transformation and modernization, we need to adopt strategies that allows for more agility and sustainability during big market swings.

Judging by the responses in our recent report, oil and gas decision-makers are realistic about the business challenges ahead of them and their inability to solve the problems using the technologies they have in place. Like their IT decision-maker counterparts, 95 percent of oil and gas industry leaders agree that in today's marketplace, a company that doesn't embrace technological advances will not succeed in terms of streamlining operations (land management, accounting, etc.). In fact, in oil and gas, 97 percent of respondents believe the industry will decline if it doesn't adapt to the changes around it.

The takeaway? To survive today — and thrive tomorrow — you don't need to disrupt your business, but you do need to modernize it to be agile and sustain revenue production. You need to bring new technologies into the fold to improve your efficiencies. You need to challenge the status quo, not only to help you endure today's conditions, but also get where you want to go.

This point is only unscored by recent reports that highlight how the Texas Workforce Commission is relying on tech from the 1980s as unemployment claims overwhelm the system. Across industries, and especially those experiencing the volatility that the oil and gas industry is, technology holds the key to attracting and retaining talent, streamlining operations, and staying afloat in these uncharted waters.

------

Gene Austin is the CEO of Houston-based Quorum Software.

This week's innovators to know includes John Berger, Mary Beth Snodgrass, and Gene Austin. Courtesy photos

3 Houston innovators to know this week

Who's who

Houston is still — but most accounts — emerging as a tech and innovation hub, which could seem to mean that the startups that make up the innovation ecosystem reside in early stages of business scale.

However, this week's sampling of Houston innovators to know demonstrate the scope in scale of Houston's companies — from a CEO to a newly public company and recently hired CEO of a rapidly scaling software company to a health tech leader fresh out of the gates.

John Berger, CEO of Sunnova

Photo courtesy of Sunnova

Taking a company public brings on a slew of changes. One that might be overlooked is the change for the leader of that company. John Berger —CEO of Sunnova, a Houston-based solar energy company that went public last summer — joins the Houston Innovators Podcast to discuss the changes and where his company is headed.

Transitioning from a private company CEO to a public company CEO has been eye opening, Berger says on the podcast, joking that he now has to watch what he says. But change is ultimately something Berger says he embraces.

"I really look at myself and how I can change myself," Berger says. "I'm a different CEO today than I was 12 months ago, and hopefully I'll be a different CEO in 12 months, because the company demands it." Read more and stream the episode here.

Mary Beth Snodgrass, co-founder of Healthiby

Mary Beth Snodgrass is convinced she can help people make life-enhancing changes that affect health and financial situations because, well, science.

The co-founder of Healthiby created the platform to use financial incentives to drive positive health and wellness decisions. The Houston company is in pilot mode but has plans to expand.

"What we're really focused on this year is, in addition to our incentives, digital content and coach guidance, is making sure that participants are engaging among themselves," Snodgrass tells InnovationMap. "Science shows there are benefits to surrounding yourself with other people who share similar health goals." Read more.

Gene Austin, CEO of Quorum Software

Photo courtesy of Quorum

A new CEO is tasked with exponential growth at a Houston-based software company. Gene Austin joined Houston-based Quorum Software last year at a time of rapid M&A activity.

The energy industry software solutions provider, which is a portfolio company of California-based private equity firm Thoma Bravo LLC since 2018, has big plans to continue the exponential growth with more acquisitions that diversify their portfolio of services and a Houston office expansion later this year. According to Austin, he expects this growth spurred by M&A activity to double Quorum's revenue of $200 million in the next 3 to 5 years.

"We are always thinking about how to best serve our customers," Austin says. "We've made millions of dollars of investments in our support organization and cloud team services that are foundational to reinvigorate innovation and help our customers see how the future can unfold for them." Read more.

Quorum Software is growing fast by adding to its suite of technology by making strategic acquisitions. Getty Images

Houston energy software company prepares to continue acquisition growth in 2020

M&A moves

A Houston software company specializing in cloud-based accounting and finance technology for oil and gas companies is growing at a rapid pace thanks to recent acquisitions.

Houston-based Quorum Software has grown its company over 100 employees last year, and Gene Austin, who was recently named CEO, says it's just the beginning.

The software solutions provider, which is a portfolio company of California-based private equity firm Thoma Bravo LLC since 2018, has big plans to continue the exponential growth with more acquisitions that diversify their portfolio of services and a Houston office expansion later this year.

According to Austin, he expects this growth spurred by M&A activity to double Quorum's revenue of $200 million in the next 3 to 5 years.

"We are always thinking about how to best serve our customers," Austin says. "We've made millions of dollars of investments in our support organization and cloud team services that are foundational to reinvigorate innovation and help our customers see how the future can unfold for them."

Courtesy of Quorum

Quorum is in the midst of a transformation into a software provider, focusing on cloud operations and digital software with significant acquisitions. Most recently, they launched OGsys on Demand, a cloud-based accounting software, after acquiring OGsys in August of 2019. The integration of OGsys expands the cloud-based capabilities for accounting products tailored for upstream medium-sized energy companies.

The launch was right on the heels of two other acquisitions that included Irving, Texas-based Archeio Technologies in June, a document classification smart search technology provider, and Pasadena, Texas-based Coastal Flow Measurement Inc. in March, a family of energy measurement services, one of which was Flow-Cal, a measurement data management software for oil and natural gas.

"Using innovation for us means not only acquiring new technologies but also investing in the right areas for our business and our current products," says Austin.

Quorum, who provides software solutions for a broad spectrum of energy companies' needs, from operations to accounting, plant management, and financial forecasting, began as a consulting firm more than 20 years ago. The company got its start with a customer-oriented structure for large oil and gas companies, known as enterprise organizations in the industry.

Eventually, the business transitioned to working with mid-size firms along with their larger set of clients. It was then when Quorum began to hear from clients their need for better accounting software that met the specific challenges of mid-size companies.

"Our products are designed to help our clients know much more about what's happening inside the business, making sure efficiency is possible," Austin tells InnovationMap. "We're doing that by using web applications that allow our clients to use mobile devices, that's a fairly new innovation in the energy world, we're trying to lead the way."

The focus on quick and efficient software technologies is reaping benefits for Quorum. Eighty percent of the largest oil and gas producers in the United States use Quorum, and its technology powers 80,000 miles of pipeline and that accounts for 80 percent of all-natural gas processed in the U.S.

"We believe because of the products we represent and the way we position our services, including our cloud-based accounting and financial application," Austin says. "We are well-positioned to help our clients do a great job of driving efficiency."

Ad Placement 300x100
Ad Placement 300x600

CultureMap Emails are Awesome

Property Showcase

Houston-area VC funding sunk to 5-year low in Q3 2025, report says

by the numbers

Fundraising for Houston-area startups experienced a summertime slowdown, sinking to a five-year low in the third quarter, according to the latest PitchBook-NVCA Venture Monitor.

The PitchBook-NVCA Venture Monitor shows startups in the Houston metro area attracted $204.4 million in venture capital from June through August. That’s 55 percent below the total for the previous quarter and 51 percent below the total for the third quarter of 2024.

More telling than those figures is that the third-quarter haul dropped to its lowest total for Houston-area startups since the fourth quarter of 2020, when $133.4 million in VC was raised. That was the third full quarter after health officials declared the pandemic in the U.S.

In Q3 2025, AI accounted for nearly 40 percent of VC deal volume in the U.S., Kyle Stanford, director of U.S. venture research at PitchBook, said in the report. And through the first nine months of 2025, AI represented 64 percent of U.S. deal value.

VC deal activity “has been nearly steady, emphasizing a consistent influx of companies, especially at the pre-seed and seed stages,” Stanford said. “Large deals remain the primary driver of market deal value, with almost all of these deals focused on AI.”

Bobby Franklin, president and CEO of NVCA, said that while fundraising hasn’t returned to pre-pandemic highs, deal values are going up in sectors such as AI, manufacturing, robotics and space tech, many of which have already exceeded their investment totals for all of 2024.

Meet 6 of the fastest-growing scaleup companies in Houston right now

meet the finalists

From raising funding rounds to earning FDA acceptance, some of Houston's most innovative companies have reached major milestones this year.

The 2025 Houston Innovation Awards will recognize their progress by bringing back our Scaleup of the Year category for the second year. The award honors an innovative later-stage startup that's recently reached a significant milestone in company growth.

Six breakthrough businesses have been named finalists for the 2025 award. They range from climatetech startups to a biotech company developing new drugs for neurodegenerative diseases and more.

Read more about these businesses and their impressive growth below. Then join us at the Houston Innovation Awards on Nov. 13 at Greentown Labs, when the winner will be unveiled at our live awards ceremony.

Tickets are now on sale for this exclusive event celebrating all things Houston Innovation. Corporate 10-packs, featuring reserved seating and custom branding, and individual tickets are still available. Secure your seats today.

Coya Therapeutics

Clinical-stage biotechnology company Coya Therapeutics (NASDAQ: COYA) has developed COYA-302 that enhances anti-inflammatory T cell function and suppresses harmful immune activity. The drug candidate is being advanced for several neurodegenerative diseases—including ALS, Alzheimer’s, Parkinson’s, and frontotemporal dementia—and has demonstrated promising reductions in neuroinflammation in preclinical and early clinical studies, according to the company.

Coya, founded in 2021, received FDA acceptance for its investigational new drug application for COYA-30 this summer. It closed its IPO in January 2023 for more than $15 million and added $26 million in PIPE funding that same year. Last year, the company secured an additional $15 million in PIPE funding.

Fervo Energy

Houston-based Fervo Energy is working to provide 24/7 carbon-free energy through the development of cost-competitive geothermal power. The company is developing its flagship Cape Station geothermal power project in Utah, which is expected to generate 400 megawatts of clean energy for the grid. The first phase of the project will supply 100 megawatts of power beginning in 2026. The second phase is scheduled to come online by 2028.

The company raised $205.6 million in capital to help finance the project earlier this year and fully contracted the project's capacity with the addition of a major power purchase agreement from Shell. Founded in 2017 by CEO Tim Latimer and CTO Jack Norbeck, Fervo is now a unicorn, meaning its valuation as a private company has surpassed $1 billion. In March, Axios reported Fervo is targeting a $2 billion to $4 billion valuation in an IPO.

Koda Health

Houston-based Koda Health has developed an advance care planning platform (ACP) that allows users to document and share their care preferences, goals and advance directives for health systems. The web-based platform guides patients through values-based decisions with interactive tools and generates state-specific, legally compliant documents that integrate seamlessly with electronic health record systems. The company also added kidney action planning to its suite of services for patients with serious illnesses last year.

Koda Health was founded out of the TMC's Biodesign Fellowship in 2020 by CEO Tatiana Fofanova, chief medical officer Dr. Desh Mohan, and chief technology officer Katelin Cherry. The company raised a $7 million series A earlier this year, and also announced major partnerships and integrations with Epic, Guidehealth, Medical Home Network, Privia Health and others.

Mati Carbon

Houston climatetech company Mati Carbon removes carbon through its Enhanced Rock Weathering (ERW) program that works with agricultural farms in Africa and India. Mati says the farmers it partners with are some of the most vulnerable to the impacts of climate change. The nonprofit won the $50 million grand prize in the XPRIZE Carbon Removal competition, backed by Elon Musk’s charitable organization, The Musk Foundation, earlier this year.

Mati Carbon scaled operations in India, Zambia, and Tanzania this year and has advanced its proprietary measurement, reporting and verification (MRV) platform, known as matiC, enabling seamless field data capture, chain-of-custody and carbon accounting at scale. The company was founded in 2022 by co-directors Shantanu Agarwal and Rwitwika Bhattacharya.

Molecule

Houston-based Molecule Software has developed an energy trading risk management (ETRM) platform that allows companies trading power, oil and gas, biofuels, renewables and more stay ahead as the markets evolve.

The company closed a Series B round earlier this year for an undisclosed amount. Sameer Soleja, founder and CEO of Molecule, said at the time that the funding would allow the company to "double down on product innovation, grow our team, and reach even more markets." The company was founded in 2012 by CEO Sameer Soleja and participated in the Surge Accelerator the same year.

Utility Global

Houston-based Utility Global has developed its proprietary eXERO technology that produces low-cost, clean hydrogen from water and industrial off-gases without requiring grid electricity.

First founded in 2018 by CEO Parker Meeks, the company participated in Greentown Labs and the Rice Alliance for Technology and Entrepreneurship programs. It raised a $55 million funding round earlier this year and launched commercial partnerships with ArcelorMittal Brazil and Hanwha Group in South Korea to deploy its hydrogen solutions at scale.

---

The Houston Innovation Awards program is sponsored by Houston Community College, Houston Powder Coaters, FLIGHT by Yuengling, and more to be announced soon. For sponsorship opportunities, please contact sales@innovationmap.com.

Venus Aerospace picks up investment from Lockheed Martin Ventures

space funding

Venus Aerospace, a Houston-based startup specializing in next-generation rocket engine propulsion, has received funding from Lockheed Martin Ventures, the investment arm of aerospace and defense contractor Lockheed Martin, for an undisclosed amount. The product lineup at Lockheed Martin includes rockets.

The investment follows Venus’ successful high-thrust test flight of its rotating detonation rocket engine (RDRE) in May. Venus says it’s the only company in the world that makes a flight-proven, high-thrust RDRE with a “clear path to scaled production.”

Venus says the Lockheed Martin Ventures investment reflects the potential of Venus’ dual-use technology for defense and commercial uses.

“Venus has proven in flight the most efficient rocket engine technology in history,” Venus co-founder and CEO Sassie Duggleby, a board member of the Texas Space Commission, said in a news release. “With support from Lockheed Martin Ventures, we will advance our capabilities to deliver at scale and deploy the engine that will power the next 50 years of defense, space, and commercial high-speed aviation.”

Chris Moran, executive director and general manager of Lockheed Martin Ventures, said Lockheed Martin has been a longtime supporter of early-stage “transformational” technologies.

“Our investment in Venus Aerospace reflects a conviction that next-generation propulsion will define which nations lead in space and defense for decades to come,” Moran added in the release. “We are committed to helping Venus scale this technology and integrate it into critical systems.”

Since its founding in 2020, Venus has secured more than $106 million in funding. In addition to Lockheed Martin Ventures, investors include Airbus Ventures, America’s Frontier Fund, Trousdale Ventures, and Prime Movers Lab. Supporters of Venus include NASA, the Air Force Research Lab and the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA).
View All Listings