Fervo named to prestigious list of climate tech companies to watch

top honor

Fervo Energy has landed a coveted spot on MIT Technology Review's list of global climatetech companies to watch. Photo via fervoenergy.com

Houston-based Fervo Energy has received yet another accolade—MIT Technology Review named the geothermal energy startup to its 2025 list of the 10 global climatetech companies to watch.

Fervo, making its second appearance on the third annual list, harnesses heat from deep below the ground to generate clean geothermal energy, MIT Technology Review noted. Fervo is one of four U.S. companies to land on the list.

Fervo “uses fracking techniques to create geothermal reservoirs capable of delivering enough electricity to power massive data centers and hundreds of thousands of homes,” MIT Technology Review said.

MIT Technology Review said it produces the annual list to draw attention to promising climatetech companies that are working to decarbonize major sectors of the economy.

“Though the political and funding landscape has shifted dramatically in the US since the last time we put out this list,” MIT Technology Review added, “nothing has altered the urgency of the climate dangers the world now faces — we need to rapidly curb greenhouse gas emissions to avoid the most catastrophic impacts of climate change.”

In addition to MIT Technology Review’s companies-to-watch list, Fervo has appeared on similar lists published by Inc.com, Time magazine and Climate Insider.

In an essay accompanying MIT Technology Review’s list, Microsoft billionaire Bill Gates said his Breakthrough Energy Ventures investment group has invested in more than 150 companies, including Fervo and another company on the MIT Technology Review list, Redwood Materials.

In his essay, Gates wrote that ingenuity is the best weapon against climate change.

Yet climate technology innovations “offer more than just a public good,” he said. “They will remake virtually every aspect of the world’s economy in the coming years, transforming energy markets, manufacturing, transportation, and many types of industry and food production. Some of these efforts will require long-term commitments, but it’s important that we act now. And what’s more, it’s already clear where the opportunities lie.”

In a recent blog post highlighting Fervo, Gates predicted geothermal will eventually supply up to 20 percent of the world’s electricity, up from his previous estimate of as much as 5 percent.

Fervo is one of the pioneers in geothermal energy. Gates and other investors have pumped $982 million into Fervo since its founding in 2017. With an estimated valuation of $1.4 billion, Fervo has achieved unicorn status, meaning its valuation as a private company exceeds $1 billion.

Aside from Breakthrough Energy Ventures, oilfield services provider Liberty Energy is a Fervo investor. U.S. Energy Secretary Chris Wright was chairman and CEO of Denver-based Liberty Energy before assuming his federal post.

Axios reported on Oct. 1 that Fervo is raising a $300 million series E round, which would drive up the startup’s valuation. News of the $300 million round comes as the company gears up for a possible IPO, according to Axios.

Fervo co-founder and CEO Tim Latimer told Axios this spring that a potential IPO is likely in 2026 or 2027. Ahead of an IPO, the startup is aiming for a $2 billion to $4 billion valuation, Axios reported.

The first phase of Fervo’s marquee Cape Station geothermal energy plant in Utah is scheduled to go online next year, with the second phase set to open in 2028. Once it’s completed, the plant will be capable of generating 500 megawatts of power. This summer, the startup said it secured $205.6 million in capital to finance construction of the plant.

From Your Site Articles

Houston-based CO2 Energy Transition Corp., a SPAC focused on carbon capture, utilization, and storage (CCUS), raised $69 million in its IPO to target mid-sized CCUS companies. Photo via Getty Images

Houston energy SPAC goes public through IPO

blank check

Houston-based CO2 Energy Transition Corp. — a “blank check” company initially targeting the carbon capture, utilization, and storage (CCUS) sector — closed November 22 on its IPO, selling 6 million units at $10 apiece.

“Blank check” companies are formally known as special purpose acquisition companies (SPACs). A SPAC aims to complete a merger, acquisition, share exchange, share purchase, reorganization or similar business combination in certain business sectors. CO2 Energy Transition will target companies valued at $150 million to $250 million.

Each CO2 Energy Transition unit consists of one share of common stock, one warrant to purchase one share of common stock at a per-share price of $11.50, and the right to receive one-eighth of a share of common stock based on certain business conditions being met.

The IPO also included the full exercise of the underwriter’s option to buy 900,000 units to cover over-allotments. Kingswood Capital Partners LLC was the sole underwriter.

Gross proceeds from the IPO totaled $69 million. The money will enable the company to pursue CCUS opportunities.

“Recent bipartisan support for carbon capture legislation heavily emphasized the government’s willingness to advance and support technologies for carbon capture, utilization, storage, and other purposes as efforts to reduce greenhouse gas emissions [continue],” Co2 Energy Transition says in an October 2024 filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Brady Rogers is president and CEO of CO2 Energy Transition. He also is CEO of Carbon Capture Development Co., a Los Angeles-based developer of direct air capture (DAC) technology, and president of Houston-based Antelope Energy Partners LLC, a provider of oil and gas services.

A Houston-based SPAC run by the former Weatherford CEO has agreed to merge with a company that's sustainably producing a material required by several energy transition technologies. Photo via Getty Images

Former Houston energy services CEO's SPAC announces $700M merger with energy transition materials company

M&A moves

Houston-based Pyrophyte Acquisition Corp., a “blank check” SPAC, plans to merge with Canadian quartz silica producer Sio Silica Corp. in a deal valued at more than $700 million.

The companies say the deal carries an enterprise value of $708 million and an equity value of $758 million.

Sio is sitting on a potential supply of 15.2 billion metric tons of high-purity quartz silica, a material needed to produce energy transition technologies such as photovoltaics, solar panels, semiconductors, batteries, and other electronics. Proceeds from the merger will be earmarked for construction of the first phase of Sio’s silica extraction and processing facility near Winnipeg, Manitoba.

“We searched long and hard for the right candidate to combine with Pyrophyte and its energy transition mission. Sio fulfilled all our criteria,” Bernard Duroc-Danner, chairman of Pyrophyte, says in a news release. “We are proud to join Sio on its journey to supply what is becoming in many countries around the world one of the most important strategic minerals for the world’s energy transition.”

In 2021, Pyrophyte’s stock began trading on the New York Stock Exchange in an IPO valued at $201.25 million. Since then, it’s solely been a special purpose acquisition company (SPAC) without any business operations. Typically, a SPAC aims to acquire or merge with a private company that boasts a promising business model.

Duroc-Danner is former chairman, president, and CEO of Houston-based oilfield equipment and services company Weatherford International Ltd.

Calgary, Alberta-based Sio says high-purity quartz silica will represent a $30 billion global market opportunity by 2030. Among the products that rely on silica are semiconductors, solar panels, photovoltaic (solar) cells, optical fibers, and batteries.

Once the deal closes, the combined company will operate as Sio Silica Inc., whose stock will be traded on the New York Stock Exchange. Sio’s CEO, Feisal Somji, will lead the newly formed company.

The deal has been approved by Sio’s and Pyrophyte’s boards but still must be endorsed by the companies’ shareholders.

Houston-based Nauticus Robotics founder, Nicolaus Radford, shares the latest from his company. Image via LinkedIn

Q&A: Houston robotics entrepreneur on IPO, military innovation, and more

automation nation

Almost a decade ago, Nicolaus Radford founded a robotics company that automated underwater operations for heavy industry customers. Now, the company provides its robotics-as-a-service business to customers across industry, providing key analytics, risk-managed monitoring, and emission-reducing service.

Nauticus Robotics (Nasdaq: KITT) went public via SPAC last year, and Radford, CEO and founder, sat down with InnovationMap earlier this year to share the unique challenges he faced with the IPO, the company's partnerships with the United States Marine Corps, and more. Check out the shortened Q&A below and head to InnovationMap for the full conversation.

InnovationMap: Tell me about life after IPO. What’s been surprising for you leading your company through the transition and now on the other side of IPO?

Nicolaus Radford: I'll tell you what, it’s the hardest thing I ever did in my professional career by a factor of 10. It was a very exceptionally challenging period of time. It took a long to complete the transaction, and the market was just changing under our feet. Rules were and regulations were changing — were we grandfathered in or were we not?

I'm part of some business organizations and, and some of those confidential relationships have turned into friendships. And a couple of them call me and they're like, “we're really worried. We think this is going to be we don't know if you're going to get it done. And we just want you to be aware that you're not you may not get it done.” It is a little scary because once you engage in it, you're running quite a tab with bankers and law firms and all sorts of things. And if you don't complete the deal, it just might kill the company.

But we did it. We were one of a few people last year to actually get a deal over the line. I'm very proud of that. I think it speaks to the quality of the deal that we had. The macro economic environment was exceptionally difficult. It remains to be very difficult today. But we had strong backing from our strategic investors and our partners that were already on the cap table. They put a tremendous amount of money into the deal.

You know, I look back on it and it's, you know, ringing the Nasdaq bell when we listed, and giving that speech at the podium — it was a surreal moment. I remember when I was standing there looking at the Nauticus logo on the seven-story Nasdaq tower, having as many people in the company as we could bring, and just sharing that moment with all of them.

I was excited but cautious at the same time. I mean, the life of a CEO of a public company at large, it's all about the process following a process, the regulations, the administration of the public company, the filings, the reportings — it can feel daunting. I have to rise to the occasion to tackle that in this the next stage of the company.

IM: You’re working with the military on a project that adapts Nauticus tech for Marine Corps use. What’s it been like working with the military on this project?

NR: We've probably worked with military interests for the last six years, but all of the things that we have been doing have been extremely confidential and hush. Now we've been able to work with customers that have a stronger public facing persona, and the Defense Innovation Unit is one of those.

Their charter is it's quite literally looking for commercial technology and adapting that towards military applications, and so it's been nice to be able to show the utility and the application of of a lot of our technology and what we've been working on for so long as it's applied on a broader scale to the big services, whether it's the Navy or the Marine Corps.

Both of the programs we’re working on are all about mine countermeasures, and mines are really, really difficult, especially underwater mines. We've been we've been applying all of Nauticus’s broad technology portfolio to being able to search autonomously and being able to identify and neutralize threats in the water. I love that mission because anytime we can remove our service men and women from these situations, that's just the right thing to do.

IM: What’s next for Nauticus?

NR: What’s next is tough to talk about, because I can only talk about what’s already been published. I see Nauticus being the preeminent ocean robotics company. I want Nauticus to be an empire. It starts small but it grows — and it grows in many different ways, and we’re exploring all of those different ways to grow. We’re leading a technology renaissance in the marine space — and that happens only a few times in an industry.

------

This conversation has been edited for brevity and clarity. This article originally ran on InnovationMap.

Ad Placement 300x100

Ad Placement 300x600

CultureMap Emails are Awesome

Property Showcase

Houston maritime startup raises $43M to electrify cargo vessels

A Houston-based maritime technology company that is working to reduce emissions in the cargo and shipping industry has raised VC funding and opened a new Houston headquarters.

Fleetzero announced that it closed a $43 million Series A financing round this month led by Obvious Ventures with participation from Maersk Growth, Breakthrough Energy Ventures, 8090 Industries, Y Combinator, Shorewind, Benson Capital and others. The funding will go toward expanding manufacturing of its Leviathan hybrid and electric marine propulsion system, according to a news release.

The technology is optimized for high-energy and zero-emission operation of large vessels. It uses EV technology but is built for maritime environments and can be used on new or existing ships with hybrid or all-electric functions, according to Fleetzero's website. The propulsion system was retrofitted and tested on Fleetzero’s test ship, the Pacific Joule, and has been deployed globally on commercial vessels.

Fleetzero is also developing unmanned cargo vessel technology.

"Fleetzero is making robotic ships a reality today. The team is moving us from dirty, dangerous, and expensive to clean, safe, and cost-effective. It's like watching the future today," Andrew Beebe, managing director at Obvious Ventures, said in the news release. "We backed the team because they are mariners and engineers, know the industry deeply, and are scaling with real ships and customers, not just renderings."

Fleetzero also announced that it has opened a new manufacturing and research and development facility, which will serve as the company's new headquarters. The facility features a marine robotics and autonomy lab, a marine propulsion R&D center and a production line with a capacity of 300 megawatt-hours per year. The company reports that it plans to increase production to three gigawatt-hours per year over the next five years.

"Houston has the people who know how to build and operate big hardware–ships, rigs, refineries and power systems," Mike Carter, co-founder and COO of Fleetzero, added in the release. "We're pairing that industrial DNA with modern batteries, autonomy, and software to bring back shipbuilding to the U.S."

Shell partners with UK-based co. for hydrogen electrolyzer pilot

ultra-efficient electrolyzer

Shell Global Solutions International, a subsidiary of Shell, which maintains its U.S. headquarters in Houston, has signed a collaboration agreement with London-based Supercritical Solutions to advance Supercritical’s ultra-efficient hydrogen electrolyzer technology toward a field pilot demonstration.

In the deal, the companies will collaborate on a paid technology feasibility study that will support the evaluation and planning of the pilot demonstration, according to a news release. Supercritical Solutions’ technology aims to deliver high-efficiency renewable hydrogen at a lower cost for the industrial hydrogen market.

"Signing this collaboration agreement with Shell is a major milestone for Supercritical Solutions and an important step on our commercialisation journey,” Luke Tan, co-founder of Supercritical, said in the news release. “We are directly addressing the cost and complexity barriers facing the renewable hydrogen market. We are excited to move forward with a company like Shell, whose global leadership has been proven to accelerate innovative technologies to market.”

Supercritical’s hydrogen electrolyser technology can operate at high temperatures and pressures of up to 220 bar without the need for an external hydrogen compressor, rare-earth materials or easily degradable membranes. The technology removes the typical compression step in the process while delivering hydrogen at industry standards. It requires significantly less energy than many traditional electrolyzers and is more cost-efficient.

This recent investment builds on an ongoing relationship between Shell and Supercritical. Supercritical was founded in 2020 and was runner-up in Shell’s New Energy Challenge, which helps startups and scaleups develop sustainable technologies, in 2021. Shell Ventures then invested in Supercritical’s Series A funding round in 2024 with Toyota Ventures.

3 Houston-area companies named to Global Cleantech 100

Energized

Three Houston-area companies—Amperon, Hertha Metals and Vaulted Deep—appear on this year’s Global Cleantech 100 list.

The unranked list, generated by market intelligence and advisory firm Cleantech Group, identifies the 100 privately held companies around the world that are most likely to make a significant impact in the cleantech market over the next five to 10 years.

For the 2026 list, Cleantech Group received more than 24,000 Global Cleantech 100 nominations from nearly 60 countries. Cleantech Group scored those companies and narrowed the contenders to 264. An expert panel reviewed those nominees, and the list was whittled down to the 100 winners.

Here’s a rundown of the three Houston-area honorees:

Amperon

Founded in 2018 by Sean Kelly and Abe Stanway, Houston-based Amperon offers an AI-enabled energy forecasting and analytics platform designed to help stabilize electric grids. Amperon received undisclosed amounts of venture capital from National Grid Partners and Tokyo Gas Co. Ltd. last year and announced a recent investment from Samsung Ventures earlier this month.

Hertha Metals

Founded in 2022 by Laureen Meroueh, Conroe-based Hertha Metals provides a single-step process for producing sustainable steel. Last year, the company emerged from stealth mode and raised more than $17 million in venture capital.

Vaulted Deep

Vaulted Deep’s technology injects excess organic waste underground to remove carbon dioxide from the atmosphere. Julia Reichelstein and Omar Abou-Sayed founded the Houston-based company in 2023. Last year, the startup raised $32.3 million in venture capital. Also in 2025, Vaulted Deep signed a 12-year deal with software giant Microsoft to remove up to 4.9 million metric tons of carbon dioxide from the environment.

Vaulted Deep also made the list last year, along with Houston-based Syzygy Plasmonics and Fervo Energy. Fervo was also named the 2025 North American Company of the Year by Cleantech Group.

View All Listings

ENERGYCAPITALHTX EMAILS ARE AWESOME