made the cut

Houston cleantech co. secures Canadian recognition as a top investible startup

Kanin Energy has been named a top investible startup. Photo via kaninenergy.com

A Canadian organization has called out the top 50 most investible energy transition companies in the country, and one Canada-founded, Houston-based startup made the cut.

The 2023 Foresight 50, Foresight Canada's 50 Most Investible Cleantech Ventures, sought to highlight the top companies moving the needle toward Net Zero. Kanin Energy — founded by CEO Janice Tran in Calgary in 2020 but relocated to Houston by way of Greentown Labs — developed a waste-heat-to-power concept for generating clean energy.

“The ventures included in this year’s Foresight 50 are nothing short of awe-inspiring. These game-changing innovators are scaling the critical climate solutions we need to solve the world’s most urgent climate challenges and accelerate the transition to net zero. Congratulations and thank you for all you are doing for Canadian cleantech," says Jeanette Jackson, CEO of Foresight Canada, in a news release.

According to the organization, 41 cleantech investors evaluated detailed profiles the companies submitted. They looked at investibility, potential environmental and employment impact, leadership and team, and probability of success, according to Foresight Canada.

"Canada has no shortage of inspiring innovators with the potential to solve global climate challenges. But these companies struggle to attract the long-term capital and recognition needed to make their businesses competitive on a global scale," Kanin Energy's team writes in its news release.

A year ago, the Kanin team visited Houston to see if the city could be a fit for an office. In July of 2022, Tran opened Kanin Energy offices in Greentown Labs.

“We’re hiring and building our team office out of Greentown. It’s been really great for us,” she previously told EnergyCapital.

Earlier this month, Kanin Energy was named a finalist in the 2023 Houston Innovation Awards.

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A View From HETI

PitchBook attributes $634 million in fourth-quarter VC to Fervo. Photo via Getty Images

The venture capital haul for Houston-area startups jumped 23 percent from 2023 to 2024, according to the latest PitchBook-NVCA Venture Monitor.

The fundraising total for startups in the region climbed from $1.49 billion in 2023 to $1.83 billion in 2024, PitchBook-NVCA Venture Monitor data shows.

Roughly half of the 2024 sum, $914.3 million, came in the fourth quarter. By comparison, Houston-area startups collected $291.3 million in VC during the fourth quarter of 2023.

Among the Houston-area startups contributing to the impressive VC total in the fourth quarter of 2024 was geothermal energy startup Fervo Energy. PitchBook attributes $634 million in fourth-quarter VC to Fervo, with fulfillment services company Cart.com at $50 million, and chemical manufacturing platform Mstack and superconducting wire manufacturer MetOx International at $40 million each.

Across the country, VC deals total $209 billion in 2024, compared with $162.2 billion in 2023. Nearly half (46 percent) of all VC funding in North America last year went to AI startups, PitchBook says. PitchBook’s lead VC analyst for the U.S., Kyle Stanford, says that AI “continues to be the story of the market.”

PitchBook forecasts a “moderately positive” 2025 for venture capital in the U.S.

“That does not mean that challenges are gone. Flat and down rounds will likely continue at higher paces than the market is accustomed to. More companies will likely shut down or fall out of the venture funding cycle,” says PitchBook. “However, both of those expectations are holdovers from 2021.”

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

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