Houston energy-focused AI platform raises $5M in Mercury-led seed round

fresh funding

Houston-based Collide plans to use its seed funding to accelerate the development of its GenAI platform for the energy industry. Photo via Getty Images.

Houston-based Collide, a provider of generative artificial intelligence for the energy sector, has raised $5 million in seed funding led by Houston’s Mercury Fund.

Other investors in the seed round include Bryan Sheffield, founder of Austin-based Parsley Energy, which was acquired by Dallas-based Pioneer Natural Resources in 2021; Billy Quinn, founder and managing partner of Dallas-based private equity firm Pearl Energy Investments; and David Albin, co-founder and former managing partner of Dallas-based private equity firm NGP Capital Partners.

“(Collide) co-founders Collin McLelland and Chuck Yates bring a unique understanding of the oil and gas industry,” Blair Garrou, managing partner at Mercury, said in a news release. “Their backgrounds, combined with Collide’s proprietary knowledge base, create a significant and strategic moat for the platform.”

Collide, founded in 2022, says the funding will enable the company to accelerate the development of its GenAI platform. GenAI creates digital content such as images, videos, text, and music.

Originally launched by Houston media organization Digital Wildcatters as “a professional network and digital community for technical discussions and knowledge sharing,” the company says it will now shift its focus to rolling out its enterprise-level, AI-enabled solution.

Collide explains that its platform gathers and synthesizes data from trusted sources to deliver industry insights for oil and gas professionals. Unlike platforms such as OpenAI, Perplexity, and Microsoft Copilot, Collide’s platform “uniquely accesses a comprehensive, industry-specific knowledge base, including technical papers, internal processes, and a curated Q&A database tailored to energy professionals,” the company said.

Collide says its approximately 6,000 platform users span 122 countries.

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A new joint venture will work on four projects supplying 5 gigawatts of power from combined-cycle power plants for the ERCOT and PJM Interconnection grids. Photo via Getty Images.

NRG Energy forms joint venture to build power plants for ERCOT and AI-driven demand

teaming up

Houston-based power provider NRG Energy Inc. has formed a joint venture with two other companies to meet escalating demand for electricity to fuel the rise of data centers and the evolution of generative AI.

NRG’s partners in the joint venture are GE Vernova, a provider of renewable energy equipment and services, and TIC – The Industrial Co., a subsidiary of construction and engineering company Kiewit.

“The growing demand for electricity in part due to GenAI and the buildup of data centers means we need to form new, innovative partnerships to quickly increase America’s dispatchable generation,” Robert Gaudette, head of NRG Business and Wholesale Operations, said in a news release. “Working together, these three industry leaders are committed to executing with speed and excellence to meet our customers’ generation needs.”

Initially, the joint venture will work on four projects supplying 5 gigawatts of power from combined-cycle power plants, which uses a combination of natural gas and steam turbines that produce additional electricity from natural gas waste. Electricity from these projects will be produced for power grids operated by the Electric Reliability Council of Texas (ERCOT) and PJM Interconnection. The projects are scheduled to come online from 2029 through 2032.

The joint venture says the model it’s developing for these four projects is “replicable and scalable,” with the potential for expansion across the U.S.

The company is also developing a new 721-megawatt natural gas combined-cycle unit at its Cedar Bayou plant in Baytown, Texas. Read more here.

The NOV Supernova Accelerator will work to cultivate relationships between startups and NOV. Photo via Getty Images

NOV's Houston accelerator names inaugural cohort to propel digital transformation in energy

building tech

Houston-based Venture Builder VC has kicked off its NOV Supernova Accelerator and named its inaugural cohort.

The program, originally announced earlier this year, focuses on accelerating digital transformation solutions for NOV Inc.'s operations in the upstream oil and gas industry. It will support high-potential startups in driving digital transformation within the energy sector, specifically upstream oil and gas, and last five months and culminate in a demo day where founders will present solutions to industry leaders, potential investors, NOV executives, and other stakeholders.

The NOV Supernova Accelerator will work to cultivate relationships between startups and NOV. They will offer specific companies access to NOV’s corporate R&D teams and business units to test their solutions in an effort to potentially develop long-term partnerships.

“The Supernova Accelerator is a reflection of our commitment to fostering forward-thinking technologies that will drive the future of oil and gas,” Diana Grauer, director of R&D of NOV, says in a news release.

The cohort’s focus will be digital transformation challenges that combine with NOV’s vision and include data management and analytics, operational efficiency, HSE (Health, Safety, and Environmental) monitoring, predictive maintenance, and digital twins.

Startups selected for the program include:

AnyLog, an edge data management platform that replaces proprietary edge projects with a plug-and-play solution that services real-time data directly at the source, eliminating cloud costs, data transfer, and latency issues.
Equipt, an AI-powered self-serve platform that maximizes Asset & Field Service performance, and minimizes downtime and profit leakages.
Geolumina's platform is a solution that leverages data analytics to enhance skills, scale insights, and improve efficiency for subsurface companies.
Gophr acts as the "Priceline" of logistics, using AI to provide instant shipping quotes and optimize dispatch for anything from paper clips to rocket ships.
IoT++ simplifies industrial IoT with a secure, AI-enabled ecosystem of plug-and-play edge devices.
Kiana's hardware-agnostic solution secures people, assets, and locations using existing Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, UWB, and cameras, helping energy and manufacturing companies reduce risks and enhance operations.
Novity uses AI and physics models to accurately predict machine faults, helping factory operators minimize downtime by knowing the remaining useful life of their machines.
Promecav is redefining crude oil conditioning with patented technology that slashes water use and energy while reducing toxic exposure for safer, cleaner, and more sustainable oil processing.
RaftMind's enterprise AI solution transforms how businesses manage knowledge. Our advanced platform makes it easier to process data and unlock insights from diverse sources.
Spindletop AI uses edge-based machine learning to make each well an autonomous, self-optimizing unit, cutting costs, emissions, and cloud dependence.
Taikun.ai combines generative AI with SCADA data to create virtual industrial engineers, augmenting human teams for pennies an hour.
Telemetry Insight’s platform utilizes high-resolution accelerometer data to simplify oilfield monitoring and optimize marginal wells for U.S. oil and gas producers via actionable insights.
Visual Logging utilizes fiber optic and computer vision technology to deliver real-time monitoring solutions, significantly enhancing data accuracy by providing precise insights into well casing integrity and flow conditions.

“Each startup brings unique solutions to the table, and we are eager to see how these technologies will evolve with NOV’s support and expertise,” Billy Grandy, general partner of Venture Builder VC, says in the release. “This partnership reflects our ongoing commitment to nurturing talent and driving innovation within the energy sector.”

Venture Builder VC is a consulting firm, investor, and accelerator program.

“Unlike mergers and acquisitions, the venture client model allows corporations like NOV to quickly test and implement new technologies without committing to an acquisition or risking significant investment,” Grandy previously said about the accelerator program.

Accenture's Houston hub will introduce a new generative AI studio. Photo via Getty Images

Global corporation to open generative AI studio geared toward energy, chemicals industries in Houston

coming soon

Accenture has announced a new studio coming to Houston that will help its industrial clients with generative artificial intelligence.

The company announced that it will launch a network of studios across North America that will work with clients to explore generative AI applications in business. The initiative will support companies in navigating use cases, conducting AI pilots, and scaling programs. The studios will be in Accenture Innovation Hubs in Chicago, Houston, New York, San Francisco, Toronto and Washington, D.C.

“The studios are designed to help our clients move from interest to action to value, in a responsible way with clear business cases,” Manish Sharma, North America CEO of Accenture, says in the news release. “We are constantly refreshing our learnings from more than 3,000 client conversations on generative AI this year. We use these conversations as demand signals to understand the real-world challenges our clients face and invest in the areas of greatest need and opportunity.”

Each of the studios will have a specific industrial focus as well as broad support. Houston's location will specialize in Industry X, chemicals, energy and utilities industries. The other five markets, according to Accenture, are as follows:

Chicago will specialize in financial services, health, life sciences, consumer goods and services, Industry X and manufacturing.
New York will specialize in life sciences and financial services.
San Francisco will specialize in software and platforms and communications, media, and technology.
Toronto will specialize in financial services, retail, health, and public service.
Washington, D.C. will specialize in health, public service, including federal government services.

The initiative is a part of Accenture’s $3 billion investment in data and AI, and each of the studios will leverage Accenture’s top data and AI experts and partners, including expertise from within Accenture's Center for Advanced AI. Resource access also includes more than 1,450 patents and patent applications in AI solutions, as well as learnings from more than 300 active generative AI projects the company has worked on.

“Clients are ready to move beyond generative AI experimentation. They want to harness generative AI at scale to fundamentally reinvent their business,” Sharma adds. “Clients will come to the studios to access the latest innovations, experiment with new technologies, tools, and approaches to advance their skills, and develop roadmaps to adopt generative AI at scale.”

As the world becomes more reliant on renewable energy, artificial intelligence is proving to be a major game-changer. Photo via Getty Images

How AI technology is advancing a low-carbon future

the view from heti

In the midst of a continuously changing global energy landscape, industry experts, leading energy companies and corporations have rallied together for one common goal: to reach net zero by 2050. As the demand for energy increases, so does the urgency to develop more energy efficient technologies that reduce emissions.

As the world becomes more reliant on renewable energy, artificial intelligence is proving to be a major game-changer. AI is one of the world’s largest disruptors in tech to date with some tech giants pouring millions into research surrounding AI technologies.

While artificial intelligence may not be the first thing to come to mind when talking about the energy industry, it’s already proven its value in fueling the energy transition in multiple domains: improving renewable energy forecasting, grid operations, materials innovation and more. Companies like Accenture have shown how artificial intelligence can play a huge role in steering the energy transition toward a more efficient future.

As a technology services provider, Accenture bridges the gap between technology and human ingenuity to solve some of the world’s most complex issues. With more than 15 years of leadership in metaverse-related technology and more than 1,400 patents, the Accenture Metaverse team brings together metaverse-skilled professionals and market-leading capabilities across Accenture.

The Dublin, Ireland-based company recently announced plans to invest more than $3 billion in artificial intelligence and double its AI-related staff to accommodate demands. Accenture also plans to use generative AI for client work and launch an AI Navigator for Enterprise platform to help guide AI strategy, use cases, decision-making and policy.

With decades of investments and patents, Accenture is no stranger to AI. The company also recently introduced their Net Zero Metaverse, an immersive experience that allows users to explore the future of energy, at the third annual Future of Global Energy conference hosted by the Greater Houston Partnership and the Houston Energy Transition Initiative presented by Chevron. The innovative software system consists of multiple digital worlds including a Charge Stations of the Future, Energy Transition Igloo, a Space Lab and Hydrogen Heights, a renewable-powered neighborhood named after The Heights of Houston.

While Accenture is helping to shift to a more sustainable future, three ways that AI software has already transformed the way we generate, distribute and consume energy are through smart grids, optimized electricity consumption and electricity mobility.

Smart Grids
AI technology can help optimize the efficiency of smart grids, reducing the number of outages and mitigating impact for both residential and commercial customers. In its ability to analyze data collected by smart grids, AI can predict the demand of energy and adjust the flow of electricity accordingly.

Optimized electricity consumption
According to the World Economic Forum, reducing carbon emissions in buildings will be critical to achieving net zero emissions by 2050; buildings represent 39% of global greenhouse gas emissions. AI powered smart buildings and homes can help to reduce energy consumption and operating costs. With the ability to analyze data from sensors and other sources, AI software can identify patterns, predict equipment failures and maintenance needs and help building managers schedule maintenance repairs more efficiently.

Electricity mobility
According to the Congressional Budget Office, transportation is the largest source of greenhouse gas emissions in the United States with CO2 emissions representing about 97% of the global warming potential of all greenhouse emissions. AI software plays a key role in monitoring driving conditions, speed and load levels predicting the most efficient way to use available energy. AI software also helps in safety management and aids in the race to a pollution-free eco-friendly environment.

While AI technology is still advancing, and there is uncertainty in its accuracy, this breakthrough technology is shaping the future of society offering new approaches to optimize energy systems’ operation and reliability.

Learn more about what companies like Accenture are doing with AI technologies.

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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.

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Houston energy startups named finalists for 2026 Innovation Awards

Meet the Innovators

InnovationMap.com, EnergyCaptialHTX's sister website, has revealed the finalists for the 2026 Houston Innovation Awards, and the local energy sector is well-represented throughout the awards.

The sixth annual Houston Innovation Awards program returns in an all-digital format this fall to honor the best of Houston's innovation ecosystem, including startups, entrepreneurs, mentors, and more.

Finalists were determined by an esteemed panel of judges. The panel reviewed applications across 10 prestigious categories to determine our finalists. They will select the winner for each category, except for Startup of the Year, which will be chosen by the public via online voting launching later this month.

We will announce the honoree of our annual Trailblazer Award in the coming weeks, then stay tuned as we unveil all of this year's winners on InnovationMap.com in mid-November.

Without further ado, here are the 2026 Houston Innovation Awards finalists:

Minority-founded Business

Honoring an innovative startup founded or co-founded by BIPOC or LGBTQ+ representation:

AI Made Fun
Deep Anchor Solutions
HEXAspec
Prana Surgical
Torres Orbital Mining Inc.

Female-founded Business

Honoring an innovative startup founded or co-founded by a woman:

Adair
ARIX Technologies
Bairitone Health
FlowCellutions
ParaDocs Health

Energy Transition Business

Honoring an innovative startup providing a solution within renewables, climatetech, clean energy, alternative materials, circular economy and beyond:

Capwell Services
FlowCellutions
Hertha Metals
Mars Materials
Solidec

Health Tech Business

Honoring an innovative startup within the health and medical technology sectors:

Bairitone Health
InformAI Inc.
Prana Surgical
Skybound MedTech

Deep Tech Business

Honoring an innovative startup providing technology solutions based on substantial scientific or engineering challenges, including those in the AI, robotics and space sectors:

Casimir
Focis AI
Machine Saver Inc.
Square Robot
Venus Aerospace

Startup of the Year (People's Choice)

Honoring a startup celebrating a recent milestone or success. The winner will be selected by the community via an online voting experience:

Fluxworks
IronLattice
Lumino
Progress Report
Rosarium Health
Thread
TokenRoster

Scaleup of the Year

Honoring an innovative later-stage startup that's recently reached a significant milestone in company growth:

Erock
Hertha Metals
Venus Aerospace

Incubator/Accelerator of the Year

Honoring a local incubator or accelerator that is championing and fueling the growth of Houston startups:

Activate
Impact Hub Houston
MarMo Innovation

Mentor of the Year

Honoring an individual who dedicates their time and expertise to guide and support budding entrepreneurs:

Al Danto, Rice University
Eric Rubenstein, New Climate Ventures
Jeremy Pitts, Activate
Joe Alapat, Liongard
Kyle Judah, Rice University's Liu Idea Lab for Innovation & Entrepreneurship
Rachel Bickham, Bickham Services Unlimited LLC

Trailblazer Recipient

To be announced

Energy AI company opens first U.S. office in Houston after Halliburton deal

houston expansion

Building on its partnership with Houston-based oilfield services provider Halliburton, energy-sector AI company Shape Digital recently opened an office at The Ion. It’s the company’s first U.S. location.

Shape Digital’s workforce in Houston includes employees specializing in tech support, business development and client services. The company’s local hiring projections and headcount weren’t available. The new office will be located within Industrious at the Ion, according to Rice Alliance.

A key driver of the new Houston office: The company forecasts North America will account for more than 20 percent of its business in 2027.

“North America is a critical market for industrial innovation, and Houston sits at the center of companies driving that progress,” Caio Sene, vice president of client services at Shape Digital, said in a release. “Growing our presence here allows us to work alongside operators as they look for practical ways to turn existing operational data into clear recommendations for what to do next.”

Shape Digital, which also has offices in Singapore and Brazil, develops decision-making platforms for the oil and gas sector.

The Ion District office gives Shape Digital a presence close to Halliburton’s headquarters. In May, the two companies forged a partnership to combine Halliburton’s Digital Field Solverdecision-making system with Shape Digital’s AI portfolio.

Shape Digital layers AI software atop existing operations data rather than replacing legacy systems or adding new software.

The company’s suite of AI agents draws on more than 200 operations-monitoring algorithms, continually learning from company and industry data. The suite comprises four products: Shape Aura, Shape Lighthouse, Shape Lumen and Shape Reef.

Shape Digital says that by working with a customer’s existing operations data, it can deliver ROI in less than two months without any additional investment in equipment or infrastructure.

The company is a 2021 spinoff of Japan-based Modec. Modec builds, owns, and operates floating offshore oil and gas production facilities. Its Modec America subsidiary is based in Houston.

This article originally appeared on our sister site, InnovationMap.

Houston energy startup names former Cheniere execs to C-suite

new leaders

Houston-based energy infrastructure startup Joulent has brought aboard a new chief financial officer and new chief operating officer—both former executives at Houston-based Cheniere Energy.

The C-suite moves come three months after Joulent raised $1.75 billion from National Grid Ventures.

Michael Wortley joins Joulent as co-president and CFO. Wortley most recently was executive vice president and CFO at Cheniere, an LNG producer and exporter.

In conjunction with Wortley’s hiring, Brian Boland, who was Joulent’s interim CFO, has been named executive vice president, chief investment officer, and head of strategy.

Corey Grindal comes to Joulent as co-president and COO. Grindal most recently was executive vice president and COO at Cheniere.

“As Joulent evolves to meet the growing demand for power infrastructure, our expanded leadership team will help ensure we continue delivering the execution certainty our customers, partners, and investors expect,” Chris James, Joulent’s founder and CEO, said in a press release.

“Corey and Michael are accomplished operators with exceptional records of building and leading world-class energy infrastructure businesses, where they have embedded a culture defined by operational excellence and disciplined execution,” James added.

Joulet builds dedicated power-generating facilities that feed directly into data centers and other power-dependent facilities. This eliminates the need for companies to draw power from grids.

“With an initial multi-gigawatt development portfolio and strategic partnerships across the energy, infrastructure, and data center ecosystem, Joulent is helping remove power constraints to enable the next chapter of American innovation and U.S. reindustrialization,” the company says.

The $1.75 billion minority investment from National Grid Ventures complements Joulent’s existing partnerships.

Joulent, founded in 2023, emerged from stealth mode this summer. The company was founded by investment firm Engine No. 1.

Joulent’s first project, the Project Kilby natural gas facility in West Texas, will be co-located with a Microsoft data center. It’ll deliver about 2.67 gigawatts of power under a 20-year deal between Microsoft and Energy Forge One, a 50/50 joint venture between Chevron and Joulent.

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