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Oxy, other hardtech-focused organizations take up leases in Houston innovation hub

moving in

Oxy, Fathom Fund, and Activate have new offices inside the Ion. Photo courtesy of the Ion

The Ion in Midtown has some new tenants taking up residence in its 90 percent-leased building.

Occidental Petroleum Corporation, Fathom Fund, and Activate are the latest additions to the Ion, according to a news release from Rice University and the Rice Real Estate Company, which own and operate the 16-acre Ion District where the Ion is located. With the additions, the building has just 10 percent left up for grabs.

“As the Ion continues to attract leading companies and organizations across industries, it’s clear that our vision of creating a dynamic and collaborative environment for innovation is resonating,” Ken Jett, president of the Rice Real Estate Company and vice president of facilities and capital planning at Rice, says in the release. “We are proud to set the standard for how the workplace can evolve to foster the commercialization and growth of transformative technologies that enhance quality of life in our community and beyond.”

Oxy, which was named a corporate partner of the Ion last year, now has nearly 6,500 square feet on the fourth floor. The build out process is slated to be completed by early 2025.

While Oxy represents the corporate side of innovation, the other two additions have their own roles in the innovation arena. Houston-based Fathom Fund, which launched its $100 million fund earlier this year, is targeting deep-tech venture opportunities and is led by Managing Partners Paul Sheng and Eric Bielke.

Founded in Berkeley, California, Activate, which announced its expansion into Houston in 2023, has officially named its local office in the Ion. The hardtech-focused incubator program recently named its inaugural cohort and opened applications for the 2025 program.

Other recent joiners to the Ion includes Kongsberg Digital, Artemis Energy Partners, CES Renewables, and Eleox.

“The partnerships we’ve forged are vital to shaping the Ion into a vibrant ecosystem for startups, where collaborative innovation is not only driving local economic growth but also positioning Houston as a global leader in the energy transition,” Paul Cherukuri, chief innovation officer at Rice University, says. “With our team leading the programming and activation across the Ion district, we are creating companies that harness cutting-edge technology for the benefit of society—advancing solutions that contribute to social good while addressing the most pressing challenges of our time. This powerful network is redefining Houston’s role in the future of energy, technology, and social impact.”

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This article originally ran on InnovationMap.

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Activate's application is live from now through October 23, and all founders of early-stage, research-backed hardtech companies in Houston are encouraged to apply. Photo via Getty Images

Hardtech innovator fellowship opens applications for 2025 Houston cohort

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Applications are officially open for a hardtech-focused incubation and fellowship program's second Houston cohort.

Activate's application is live from now through October 23, and all founders of early-stage, research-backed hardtech companies in Houston are encouraged to apply. The Berkley, California-based program launched in Houston last year and recently named its inaugural Houston cohort.

“The Activate Fellowship provides an opportunity for approximately 50 scientists and engineers annually to transform into entrepreneurial leaders, derisk their technologies, define first markets, build teams, and secure follow-on funding,” says Activate’s executive managing director, Aimee Rose, in a news release. “With an average 30 percent annual growth in applications since 2015, we know there is high demand for what we do, and we’re excited to see the talent and impactful ideas that come through the pipeline this year.

The program, led locally by Houston Managing Director Jeremy Pitts, has 249 current Activate fellows and alumni that have collectively raised over $2.4 billion in public and private funding since the organization was founded in 2015.

“The success of Activate Fellows is ample evidence that scientists and engineers have the talent and drive to face global challenges head-on,” adds Activate chief fellowship officer, Brenna Teigler. “Our diverse fellows are transforming technical breakthroughs into businesses across the United States in 26 states across a range of sectors spanning carbon management, semiconductors, manufacturing, energy, chemicals, ocean tech, and more.”

The application is available online, and fellows will be selected in April of next year. The 2025 program will begin in June.

Activate is looking for local and regional early-stage founders — who have raised less than $2 million in funding — who are working on high-impact technology. Each cohort consists of 10 fellows that join the program for two years. The fellows receive a living stipend, connections from Activate's robust network of mentors, and access to a curriculum specific to the program.

Houston-based Rice Alliance Clean Energy Accelerator, as well as Activate Global and Greentown Labs, which each have Houston locations, will provide clean tech workshops at the DOE-backed event. Photo via Getty Images

3 organizations in Houston receive funding for DOE-backed programming

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A clean technology program backed by the Wells Fargo Foundation and co-administered by the United States Department of Energy's National Renewable Energy Laboratory has named three Houston organizations as recipients to an annual awards program.

The Wells Fargo Innovation Incubator, a $50 million program, announced its eighth cycle of IN2 Channel Partner Strategic Awards. The program is distributing $767,000 across 15 organizations within the Channel Partner network to create impactful workshops at the upcoming Camp Cleantech event in August at CSU Spur in Denver, Colorado.

Houston-based Rice Alliance Clean Energy Accelerator, as well as Activate Global and Greentown Labs, which each have Houston locations, have been named among the awards recipients. The organizations will present workshops aimed at providing critical tools and insights for clean tech startups.

"We are celebrating this year's Strategic Award winners and looking forward to Camp Cleantech," says Robyn Luhning, chief sustainability officer at Wells Fargo, in a news release. "As the real economy demands more lower-carbon solutions, Wells Fargo continues to support the scaling of new solutions for a successful shift to a low-carbon economy."

Registration for the event opens May 1. A full itinerary is available online.

The selected participants represent IN²'s broader goals of diversity, equity, and inclusion, per the release.

"The significance of this year's awards goes beyond the recognition of innovation; it embodies a concerted effort to elevate collaboration and engagement across the board," adds Sarah Derdowski, IN² program director at NREL. "Through Camp Cleantech, we're setting a new standard in how we gather, inspire, and propel our community forward."

Around $435,000 of the funding will go toward select recipients who will receive additional follow-on funding to enhance and expand their workshop content and insights towards entrepreneurs in their local networks.

The week, which will be hosted at the Ion and around Houston, will gather investors, industry leaders, and startups from across the energy industry to showcase Houston's growing sustainability community. Photo via the Ion

Houston to host inaugural climate tech and energy-focused week

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Three organizations are teaming up to put on a week of programming and events focused on energy and climate startups.

Greentown Labs, Halliburton Labs, and the Rice Alliance for Technology and Entrepreneurship have announced Houston Energy and Climate Startup Week 2024 taking place September 9 to 13.

“These organizations will execute events that will serve as a launching pad for an Energy and Climate Startup Week in Houston, showcasing the city as a national hub for the energy future,” Brad Burke, executive director of the Rice Alliance, says in the release. “We welcome the community to bring other energy and climate events to the week, which we’ll cross-promote as the dates approach.”

The week will assemble investors, industry leaders, and startups from across the energy industry and from around the world to showcase Houston's growing sustainable, low-carbon energy future.

The initiative is in collaboration with the Houston Energy Transition Initiative, or HETI, an initiative of the Greater Houston Partnership, as well as Activate, Digital Wildcatters, Renewable Energy Alliance Houston, and TEX-E.

“As the energy capital and one of the most diverse cities in the world, Houston stands as a center point for these solutions. The region is welcoming, diverse and has the know-how to play a critical role in building an energy abundant, low-carbon future," Jane Stricker, executive director of HETI and senior vice president at GHP, says in the release. "We welcome all who want to be part of the solution to join for this exciting, inaugural week of events.”

Attendees can expect tech and startup showcases, panels, pitches, discussions, and networking events to be hosted across Houston and at the Ion, Rice's innovation hub in Midtown. More details on the events will be added to the Ion's website as they become available.

“We look forward to the opportunity to highlight talented founders and connect them with investors, industry practitioners and university resources to help accelerate energy innovation,” Dale Winger, managing director of Halliburton Labs, says in the release. “The collaboration to launch Energy and Climate Startup Week reflects how Houston works together to scale solutions."

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This article originally ran on InnovationMap.

Jeremy Pitts of Activate joins the Houston Energy Transition Initiative for a Q&A. Photo via LinkedIn

Q&A: Houston organization empowers science entrepreneurs paving the way to a low-carbon future

THE VIEW FROM HETI

Founded in 2015, Activate Global Inc. is a 501(c)3 nonprofit organization that partners with US-based funders and research institutions to support scientists at the outset of their entrepreneurial journey by providing personalized expertise, tools, and resources that may otherwise be inaccessible. The organization recently launched its fifth community in Houston, and just closed the application window for the 2024 Activate Fellowship Cohort.

We recently connected with energy industry veteran and Activate Houston Managing Director Jeremy Pitts to learn more about how Activate is empowering scientists and engineers as they pave the way to a low-carbon future.

HETI: Activate was founded in 2015 and has established fellowship programs in Silicon Valley, Boston, New York, and a remote Anywhere Community. Why was Houston the next logical choice for an Activate Community?   

Jeremy Pitts: There is no doubt that Houston is going to be a major player in the energy transition, so it’s a logical place for Activate to be as we do our part to help bring ground-breaking technology out of the lab and deploy it to solve the world’s biggest challenges.

Houston is already the best place to scale a company working on the types of hard tech solutions that Activate focuses on. Houston has the talent, capital, and resources to build and deploy things at the scale needed to have a global impact. There is a good chance that many of our current Activate companies and alumni will end up in Houston as they pursue their scale-up plans. Activate alum Tim Latimer and Fervo Energy are great examples of this.

Houston is also an interesting fit for Activate as we believe we can fill a gap in the current ecosystem by providing support for entrepreneurs at the earliest stages of their journey. By providing funding and support, we can keep those entrepreneurs in Houston as opposed to moving to the coasts. We are hopeful that not only can we directly support a small number of the most promising entrepreneurs, but we can indirectly support many more by creating an ecosystem where early-stage capital starts to find its way to Houston to support these revolutionary and impactful technologies.

HETI: Activate Communities work closely with climate tech programs at leading colleges and universities, including UC Berkeley, U Mass Boston, and Columbia University. What can you tell us about Activate Houston’s plans for collaboration with area colleges and universities?

JP: Activate’s goal is to be as inclusive as possible. One of our main goals is to find fellows who we can have as big of an impact on as possible, potentially being the difference between whether they are successful or not. To that end, we plan to partner and engage with all of the research institutions across Houston and the surrounding areas. In just our first few months of being on the ground in Houston and recruiting for our first cohort, we have already engaged with Rice, UH, Prairie View A&M, TSU, Texas A&M, UT, and the Texas Medical Center. We have also begun outreach and preliminary conversations with institutions outside of the Houston area, like UT Dallas, SMU, Baylor, UTEP, etc. Our goal is to find the most promising entrepreneurs and the most impactful technologies that we can help and support, regardless of where they come from.

We will also be looking to engage with some of these institutions to make resources available to our fellows to support the research they are doing once in the Activate program. These conversations are in the early stages, but the facilities at UH Technology Bridge and TMC’s Innovation Factory are great examples of how the Houston ecosystem can support our fellows.

HETI: How do fellowships like Activate differ from traditional accelerator programs and why are they such an important component of the energy transition?

JP: Accelerators in general are a great resource for entrepreneurs to quickly learn the fundamentals around building a company and gain access to a network of investors, mentors, and partners that they would have trouble accessing on their own.

While Activate has a lot of overlap with accelerators in terms of what we provide, we classify ourselves as a fellowship and not an accelerator. The reasons for this primarily lie in the fact that we are a non-profit. This allows us to do a few things different from traditional accelerators. First, our program does not charge any fees or equity. Because our success is not tied to the financial outcomes of the companies, we are able to take much bigger risks in terms of the technology we support and we are also able to take a fellow first approach, as sometimes the best outcome for the fellow as a person is not the best financial outcome for the company. Second, we are much more patient, offering a full two years of support for our fellows and continuing to support our alumni community after they have left the program.

Activate’s unique fellowship program can play an essential role because many of the technologies and breakthroughs necessary to solve the world’s biggest challenges are really hard. It can take a long time to develop these technologies and often they are too risky and unproven at the early stages to be able to attract the capital they need to turn the technology into a commercial solution. Activate can support these hard technologies and provide a two-year safety net for our fellows as they work through those early challenges and progress their solution to a point that the private markets will support the business coming out of our program. We have been quite successful with this approach thus far, as the 145 companies we have created have raised nearly $1.4B in follow-on funding, representing a 23X multiplier on the funds Activate has directly deployed to support the fellows.

HETI: You’re the co-founder of Greentown Labs, now the nation’s biggest climate tech incubator. How does that experience help in your new role as MD at Activate Houston?

JP: The biggest takeaway for me from my time building Greentown is the power of community. Early-stage deep tech founders face monumental challenges. Having a community of like-minded individuals nearby who are facing their own similar challenges and serve as both a support network and a sounding board to help work through those challenges can be the difference between success and failure. I hope to leverage those learnings to really focus on Activate Houston being an incredibly strong community where the founders can lean on each other, and me, for the support they need.

In addition, Greentown also serves as a gathering place for bringing the larger climate community together, which is so vital in pushing forward the energy transition. In the early days of Greentown, those events happened on an almost ad hoc basis, as there wasn’t previously a place for people interested in climate to gather. Greentown has changed a lot over the years – the facilities are quite a bit nicer than where we started – but it has done an amazing job continuing to fill that role as the center of the climate ecosystem and bringing together a community of like-minded individuals. Anyone who attended the recent Greentown Climatetech Summit and experienced the standing-room-only crowds of passionate people can attest to that. Certainly, Greentown already fills that role for Houston and does it well, but my experience with the power of community will lead me to lean into Houston’s climate community and encourage our fellows to do the same, to be active members in strengthening the entire climate and innovation ecosystem in Houston. All boats rise together in the rising sea that is Houston’s climate and innovation ecosystem.

HETI: What are you most looking forward to with the upcoming launch of Houston’s 2024 Cohort?

JP: I’m looking forward to getting started – welcoming our first cohort into Houston and showing the rest of the country that Houston can hold its own when it comes to hard tech and world-changing innovation.

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This article originally ran on the Greater Houston Partnership's Houston Energy Transition Initiative blog. HETI exists to support Houston's future as an energy leader. For more information about the Houston Energy Transition Initiative, EnergyCapitalHTX's presenting sponsor, visit htxenergytransition.org.

This roundup of things to know this week is full of PSAs for the energy startup community. Photo courtesy of The Cannon

Energy transition startups to know, event not to miss, and more to be on your radar this week

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Editor's note: It's a new week — start it strong with three quick things to know in Houston's energy transition ecosystem. A new-to-Houston program is calling for applicants, the most promising energy tech businesses pitched here in Houston, and learn about an event not to miss this week.


Most-promising startups named at energy tech event

Ten companies from around the world were named as most promising. Photo courtesy of Rice

At Rice Alliance's annual Energy Tech Venture Forum, 10 startups were named most-promising by investors and experts — and one additional company jumped out to the audience.

"The selection process was both exhilarating and challenging given the incredible ideas we've seen today," says Jason Sidhu, director of information services business engagement at TC Energy, who announced the top companies. "I want to extend my gratitude to every company that participate din this year's Energy Tech Venture Forum. Your commitment to solving energy problems and pursuing ambitions ideas is truly commendable."

From circular economy solutions to hydrogen infrastructure, all 11 of the startups are ones to watch. Click here to find the full list.

Activate is looking for Houston applicants

Calling all hardtech innovators in Houston. Photo via Getty Images

Got an early-stage hardtech innovation? As of today, Houston innovators can apply for a new-to-Houston program that supports researchers on their entrepreneurial journeys. Activate opened the application period for its 2024 cohort, and the window closes October 17.

Applications are open across Activate's five programs. The two-year, hardtech-focused program was founded in Berkeley, California, in 2015 and expanded to Boston and New York before launching its virtual program, Activate Anywhere. Activate announced its expansion into Houston earlier this year, naming Jeremy Pitts as Houston managing director.

“Activate’s recruitment process is crucial, as it centers around finding scientists directly interested in solving urgent problems,” Pitts says. “Activate fellows are turning their technical breakthroughs into businesses that can help industries like manufacturing, energy, chemicals, computing, and agriculture, to meet their decarbonization and resiliency goals.” Click here to read more.

Chevron Technology Ventures hosting pitch competition

The Cannon and Chevron Technology Ventures are hosting a pitch competition. Photo courtesy of The Cannon

On September 28, Chevron Technology Ventures is hosting a pitch competition to identify novel technologies and innovation systems that stand to transform and improve facility-focused operational efficiencies at the Chevron Technology Ventures Pitch Competition. Six Houston companies will compete to win a tailored field trial opportunity with CTV experts, plus a six-month, complimentary, flexible-workspace membership at The Cannon.

The six companies pitching this week are:

  • Corrolytics
  • GuiseAI
  • OctoRD
  • Flite
  • Magic Asset
  • Pike Robotics

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Port Houston receives $25 million grant for Bayport hydrogen project

The Port of Houston Authority (Port Houston) received a $25 million grant from The Department of Transportation and the Federal Highway Administration this month to go toward a hydrogen fueling station for heavy-duty trucks in Bayport, known as Bayport HRS.

The funds will also support a public-private collaboration between the port and industrial gas company Linde Inc. with additional partners GTI Energy, Argonne National Laboratory and Center for Houston’s Future, according to a statement.

“The Houston Ship Channel is the busiest waterway in the nation,” Charlie Jenkins, Port Houston CEO, said in the news release. “As one of the channel’s leading advocates, Port Houston is committed to fostering sustainability, resilience, collaboration, and quality of life for the community and nation we serve.”

Bayport HRS will be an innovative pipeline-based hydrogen refueling station (HRS), which will be able to offer high fueling throughput and be publicly accessible. Linde will design, construct, own and operate the new facility.

“Partnering with Linde, one of the largest hydrogen producers in the world and owner of a major pipeline complex that serves the Houston region, is in line with the Port’s strategy of engaging the Houston Ship Channel industry on projects that benefit the community, promote sustainability, decarbonization, and clean transportation,” Rich Byrnes, Port Houston chief infrastructure officer, said in the news release.

Bayport HRS supports the Port’s Sustainability Action Plan and its net-zero emissions goal by 2050. The project will also align with national strategies for clean hydrogen and transportation decarbonization.

Another goal of the collaboration is to support the U.S. National Blueprint for Transportation Decarbonization, the National Zero-Emission Freight Corridor Strategy, and U.S. National Clean H2 Strategy and Roadmap.

In 2024, Port Houston secured nearly $57M in grant funding in sustainability efforts.

"The Houston/Gulf Coast's regional clean hydrogen economy continues to gain momentum, including with announcements such as this,” Brett Perlman, managing director at the Center for Houston's Future, said in the news release. "We are excited to be part of this important work to build out a clean hydrogen transportation network. This is also another great example of collaboration among business, government and community to get things done."

Innovative Houston clean hydrogen company expands to Brazil

on the move

Houston biotech company Cemvita has expanded into Brazil. The company officially established a new subsidiary in the country under the same name.

According to an announcement made earlier this month, the expansion aims to capitalize on Brazil’s progressive regulatory framework, including Brazil’s Fuel of the Future Law, which was enacted in 2024. The company said the expansion also aims to coincide with the 2025 COP30, the UN’s climate change conference, which will be hosted in Brazil in November.

Cemvita utilizes synthetic biology to transform carbon emissions into valuable bio-based chemicals.

“For decades Brazil has pioneered the bioeconomy, and now the time has come to create the future of the circular bioeconomy,” Moji Karimi, CEO of Cemvita, said in a news release. “Our vision is to combine the innovation Cemvita is known for with Brazil’s expertise and resources to create an ecosystem where waste becomes opportunity and sustainability drives growth. By joining forces with Brazilian partners, Cemvita aims to build on Brazil’s storied history in the bioeconomy while laying the groundwork for a circular and sustainable future.”

The Fuel of the Future Law mandates an increase in the biodiesel content of diesel fuel, starting from 15 percent in March and increasing to 20 percent by 2030. It also requires the adoption of Sustainable Aviation Fuel (SAF) and for domestic flights to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 1 percent starting in 2027, growing to 10 percent reduction by 2037.

Cemvita agreed to a 20-year contract that specified it would supply up to 50 million gallons of SAF annually to United Airlines in 2023.

"This is all made possible by our innovative technology, which transforms carbon waste into value,” Marcio Da Silva, VP of Innovation, said in a news release. “Unlike traditional methods, it requires neither a large land footprint nor clean freshwater, ensuring minimal environmental impact. At the same time, it produces high-value green chemicals—such as sustainable oils and biofuels—without competing with the critical resources needed for food production."

In 2024, Cemvita became capable of generating 500 barrels per day of sustainable oil from carbon waste at its first commercial plant. As a result, Cemvita quadrupled output at its Houston plant. The company had originally planned to reach this milestone in 2029.

Capitalism and climate: How financial shifts will shape our behavior

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I never imagined I would see Los Angeles engulfed in flames in this way in my lifetime. As someone who has devoted years to studying climate science and advocating for climate technology solutions, I'm still caught off guard by the immediacy of these disasters. A part of me wants to believe the intensifying hurricanes, floods, and wildfires are merely an unfortunate string of bad luck. Whether through misplaced optimism or a subconscious shield of denial, I hadn't fully processed that these weren't just harbingers of a distant future, but our present reality. The recent fires have shattered that denial, bringing to mind the haunting prescience of the movie Don't Look Up. Perhaps we aren't as wise as we fancy ourselves to be.

The LA fires aren't an isolated incident. They're part of a terrifying pattern: the Canadian wildfires that darkened our skies, the devastating floods in Spain and Pakistan, and the increasingly powerful hurricanes in the Gulf. A stark new reality is emerging for climate-vulnerable cities, and whether we acknowledge the underlying crisis or not, climate change is making its presence felt – not just in death and destruction, but in our wallets.

The insurance industry, with its cold actuarial logic, is already responding. Even before the recent LA fires, major insurers like State Farm and Allstate had stopped writing new home policies in California, citing unmanageable wildfire risks. In the devastated Palisades area, 70% of homes had lost their insurance coverage before disaster struck. While some homeowners may have enrolled in California's limited FAIR plan, others likely went without coverage. Now, the FAIR plan faces $5.9 billion in potential claims, far exceeding its reinsurance backup – a shortfall that promises delayed payments and costlier coverage.

The insurance crisis is reverberating across the nation, and Houston sits squarely in its path. As a city all too familiar with the destructive power of extreme weather, we're experiencing our own reckoning. The Houston Chronicle recently reported that local homeowners are paying a $3,740 annually for insurance – nearly triple the national average and 60% higher than the Texas state average. Our region isn't just listed among the most expensive areas for home insurance; it's identified as one of the most vulnerable to climate hazards.

For Houston homeowners, Hurricane Harvey taught us a harsh lesson: flood zones are merely suggestions, not guarantees. The next major hurricane won't respect the city's floodplain designations. This reality poses a sobering question: Would you risk having your largest asset – your home – uninsured when flooding becomes increasingly likely in the next decade or two?

For most Americans, home equity represents one of the largest components of household wealth, a crucial stepping stone to financial security and generational advancement. Insurance isn't just about protecting physical property; it's about preserving the foundation of middle-class economic stability. When insurance becomes unavailable or unaffordable, it threatens the very basis of financial security for millions of families.

The insurance industry's retreat from vulnerable markets – as evidenced by Progressive and Foremost Insurance's withdrawal from writing new policies in Texas – is more than a business decision. It's a market signal. These companies are essentially pricing in the reality of climate change, whether we choose to call it that or not.

What we're witnessing is the market beginning to price us out of areas where we've either built unsustainably or perhaps should never have built at all. This isn't just about insurance rates; it's about the future viability of entire communities and regional economies. The invisible hand of the market is doing what political will has failed to do: forcing us to confront the true costs of our choices in a warming world.

Insurance companies aren't the only ones sounding the alarm. Lenders and investors are quietly rewriting the rules of capital access based on climate risk. Banks are adjusting mortgage terms and raising borrowing costs in vulnerable areas, while major investment firms are factoring carbon intensity into their lending decisions. Companies with higher environmental risks have faced higher loan spreads and borrowing costs – a trend that's accelerating as climate impacts intensify. This financial reckoning is creating a new economic geography, where access to capital increasingly depends on climate resilience.

The insurance crisis is the canary in the coal mine, warning us of the systemic risks ahead. As actuaries and risk managers factor climate risks into their models, we're seeing the beginning of a profound economic shift that will ripple far beyond housing, affecting businesses, agriculture, and entire regional economies. The question isn't whether we'll adapt to this new reality, but how much it will cost us – in both financial and human terms – before we finally act.

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Nada Ahmed is the founding partner at Houston-based Energy Tech Nexus.

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