ADVERTISEABOUT USSUBMIT A STORYSUBSCRIBETERMS OF USEPRIVACY POLICY
Visit our family of Brands

Greentown Labs partners with California software developer on new center

power partnership

Nominal, a Los Angeles-based software development firm, will host workshops and office hours at Greentown Houston. Photo courtesy of Greentown Labs

Greentown Labs has partnered with Los Angeles-based software development firm Nominal to launch the new Industrial Center of Excellence at Greentown's Houston incubator.

Nominal will provide access to its connected test and operations stack to help engineers working at Greentown Houston startups boost their "efficiency, automation, and scalability," according to a news release. The news comes just a few days after Greentown announced a partnership with Houston-based EnergyTech Nexus, which will also open an investor lounge on-site.

"Our mission is to remove friction for innovative entrepreneurs, so they can rapidly scale their transformative solutions," Lawson Gow, Greentown's Head of Houston, said in the release. "The Industrial Center of Excellence with Nominal will complement Greentown's robust prototyping, equipment, and lab offerings to accelerate entrepreneurs' ability to bring disruptive technologies out of the lab and into the world."

According to Greentown and Nominal, the partnership will support startups that are focused on decarbonizing the manufacturing sector, which Greentown estimates represents about a third of startups in its Houston incubator.

The new center will host specialized workshops and Nominal will now offer weekly office hours for Greentown startups.

"The future belongs to teams who can deliver resilient hardware faster than anyone else," Bryce Strauss, co-founder of Nominal, added in the statement. "Competitive edge is defined by test velocity. Nominal is building a connected stack of software tools where every discipline works shoulder-to-shoulder to make confident, real-time decisions."

Nominal, which supports engineering work in the aerospace, energy, automotive and defense industries, closed a $75 million series B round this summer.

From Your Site Articles
EnergyTech Nexus will move into Greentown Labs and plans to open an investor lounge on-site. Photo courtesy Greentown Labs.

Greentown and EnergyTech Nexus announce ecosystem partnership

green team

Two of Houston’s leading energy transition organizations are joining forces.

Climatetech incubator Greentown Labs and founder community EnergyTech Nexus announced a "strategic ecosystem partnership," aimed at accelerating growth for clean energy startups. EnergyTech Nexus will move into Greentown Labs and plans to open an investor lounge on-site.

“Greentown Labs is the nexus for the energy transition, where startups can gather, collaborate and grow. Positioning our own extended community within the hallowed walls of Greentown will further foster the creation of authentic connections between founders and reduce friction to critical resources, bringing the village together will only accelerate the flywheel on innovation here in Houston, Texas,” Jason Ethier, EnergyTech Nexus founding partner, said in a news release.

Additionally, EnergyTech Nexus will launch Cephyron IRM, an AI-driven investor platform that will help founders of early-stage technologies connect with sources of capital. Greentown members will be granted early access to the platform.

According to the organizations, the ecosystem partnership represents years of collaboration. Ethier, whose startup Dynamo Micropower was one of the first to join Greentown's Cambridge, Massachusetts, incubator, previously served on Greentown's board of directors and in other leadership positions. He and Juliana Garaizar, a fellow founding partner of EnergyTech Nexus, were also instrumental in bringing Greentown Labs to Houston. Garaizar has also held numerous leadership roles at Greentown Houston.

“This partnership has been a long time coming—our organizations are kindred spirits that need to be working together to enhance the entrepreneurial support systems available to climate innovators in Houston,” Lawson Gow, Greentown’s Head of Houston, added in the release. “Capital is a top priority for climate and energy founders, and this team-up will directly address this challenge.”

Ad Placement 300x100
Ad Placement 300x600

CultureMap Emails are Awesome

Property Showcase

Japanese company launches solar module manufacturing at Houston-area plant

solar plant

A local subsidiary of a Japanese solar equipment manufacturer recently began producing solar modules at a new plant in Humble.

TOYO Co. Ltd.’s TOYO Solar LLC subsidiary can produce 1 gigawatt worth of solar modules per year at a 567,140-square-foot plant it leases in Lovett Industrial’s Nexus North Logistics Park on Greens Road. TOYO Solar’s next phase will accommodate 2.5 gigawatts’ worth of solar module manufacturing. The subsidiary eventually plans to expand manufacturing capacity to 6.5 gigawatts.

For now, TOYO Solar operates only one assembly line at the Humble plant. Once TOYO Solar has five assembly lines up and running, it could employ as many as 750 manufacturing workers there, according to Connect CRE.

TOYO says the plant enlarges its U.S. footprint “to be closer to the majority of its clients, meet the demand for American-made solar panels, and contribute to the growing demand for secure, sustainable energy solutions as demands on the grid continue to rise.”

Last month, TOYO purchased the remaining 24.99 percent stake in TOYO Solar to make it a wholly owned subsidiary. TOYO entered the Houston-area market through its 2024 acquisition of a majority stake in Solar Plus Technology Texas LLC.

40+ climatetech startups join Greentown, including a dozen from Houston

green team

More than 40 climatetech startups joined the Greentown Labs Houston community in the second half of 2025. Twelve hail from the Bayou City.

The companies are among a group of nearly 70 that joined the climatetech incubator, which is co-located in Houston and Boston, in Q3 and Q4.

The new companies that have joined the Houston incubator specialize in a variety of clean energy applications, from green hydrogen-producing water-splitting cycles to drones that service wind turbines.

The local startups that joined Greentown Houston include:

  • Houston-based Wise Energie, which delivers turnkey microgrids that blend vertical-axis wind, solar PV, and battery storage into a single, silent system.
  • The Woodlands-based Resollant, which is developing compact, zero-emissions hydrogen and carbon reactors to provide low-cost, scalable clean hydrogen and high-purity carbon for the energy and manufacturing sectors.
  • Houston-based ClarityCastle, which designs and manufactures modular, soundproof work pods that replace traditional drywall construction with reusable, low-waste alternatives made from recycled materials.
  • Houston-based WattSto Energy, which manufactures vanadium redox flow batteries to deliver long-duration storage for both grid-scale projects and off-grid microgrids.
  • Houston-based AMPeers, which delivers advanced, high-temperature superconductors in the U.S. at a fraction of traditional costs.
  • Houston-based Biosimo, which is developing bio-based platform chemicals, pioneering sustainable chemistry for a healthier planet and economy.
  • Houston-based Ententia, which offers purpose-built, generative AI for industry.
  • Houston-based GeoKiln Energy Innovation, which is developing a new way to produce clean hydrogen by accelerating natural geologic reactions in iron-rich rock formations using precision electrical heating.
  • Houston-based Timbergrove, which builds AI and IoT solutions that connect and optimize assets—boosting visibility, safety, and efficiency.
  • Houston-based dataVediK, which combines energy-domain expertise with advanced machine learning and intelligent automation to empower organizations to achieve operational excellence and accelerate their sustainability goals.
  • Houston-based Resonant Thermal Systems, which uses a resonant energy-transfer (RET) system to extract critical minerals from industrial and natural brines without using membranes or grid electricity.
  • Houston-based Torres Orbital Mining (TOM),which develops autonomous excavation systems for extreme environments on Earth and the moon, enabling safe, data-driven resource recovery and laying the groundwork for sustainable off-world industry.

Other startups from around the world joined the Houston incubator in the same time period, including:

More than 100 startups joined Greentown this year, according to an end-of-year reflection shared by Greentown CEO Georgina Campbell Flatter.

Flatter joined Greentown in the top leadership role in February 2025. She succeeded former CEO and president Kevin Knobloch, who stepped down in July 2024.

"I moved back to the United States in March 2025 after six years overseas—2,000 miles, three children, and one very patient husband later. Over these months, I’ve had the chance to hear from the entrepreneurs, industry leaders, investors, and partners who make this community thrive. What I’ve experienced has left me brimming with urgent optimism for the future we’re building together," she said in the release.

According to Flatter, Greentown alumni raised more than $2 billion this year and created more than 3,000 jobs.

"Greentown startups and ecosystem leaders—from Boston, Houston, and beyond—are showing that we can move further and faster together. That we don’t have to choose between more energy or lower emissions, or between increasing sustainability and boosting profit. I call this the power of 'and,'" Flatter added. "We’re working for energy and climate, innovation and scale, legacy industry and startups, prosperity for people and planet. The 'and' is where possibility expands."

NRG makes latest partnership to grow virtual power plant

VPP partners

Houston-based NRG Energy recently announced a new long-term partnership with San Francisco-based Sunrun that aims to meet Texas’ surging energy demands and accelerate the adoption of home battery storage in Texas. The partnership also aligns with NRG’s goal of developing a 1-gigawatt virtual power plant by connecting thousands of decentralized energy sources by 2035.

Through the partnership, the companies will offer Texas residents home energy solutions that pair Sunrun’s solar-plus-storage systems with optimized rate plans and smart battery programming through Reliant, NRG’s retail electricity provider. As new customers enroll, their stored energy can be aggregated and dispatched to the ERCOT grid, according to a news release.

Additionally, Sunrun and NRG will work to create customer plans that aggregate and dispatch distributed power and provide electricity to Texas’ grid during peak periods.

“Texas is growing fast, and our electricity supply must keep pace,” Brad Bentley, executive vice president and president of NRG Consumer, said in the release. “By teaming up with Sunrun, we’re unlocking a new source of dispatchable, flexible energy while giving customers the opportunity to unlock value from their homes and contribute to a more resilient grid

Participating Reliant customers will be paid for sharing their stored solar energy through the partnership. Sunrun will be compensated for aggregating the stored capacity.

“This partnership demonstrates the scale and strength of Sunrun’s storage and solar distributed power plant assets,” Sunrun CEO Mary Powell added in the release. “We are delivering critical energy infrastructure that gives Texas families affordable, resilient power and builds a reliable, flexible power plant for the grid.”

In December, Reliant also teamed up with San Francisco tech company GoodLeap to bolster residential battery participation and accelerate the growth of NRG’s virtual power plant network in Texas.

In 2024, NRG partnered with California-based Renew Home to distribute hundreds of thousands of VPP-enabled smart thermostats by 2035 to help households manage and lower their energy costs. At the time, the company reported that its 1-gigawatt VPP would be able to provide energy to 200,000 homes during peak demand.

View All Listings