Nearly 20 Houston startups and innovators were named finalists for the 2024 Houston Innovation Awards this week. Photo via Getty Images

The Houston Innovation Awards have named its honorees for its 2024 awards event, and several clean energy innovators have made the cut.

The finalists, which were named on EnergyCapital's sister site InnovationMap this week, were decided by this year's judges after they reviewed over 130 applications. More 50 finalists will be recognized in particular for their achievements across 13 categories, which includes the 2024 Trailblazer Legacy Awards that were announced earlier this month.

All of the honorees will be recognized at the event on November 14 and the winners will be named. Registration is open online.

Representing the energy industry, the startup finalists include:

  • Amperon, an AI platform powering the smart grid of the future, was named a finalist in the Energy Transition Business category.
  • ARIXTechnologies, an integrated robotics and data analytics company that delivers inspection services through its robotics platforms, was named a finalist in the Energy Transition Business and the AI/Data Science Business categories.
  • CLS Wind, a self-erection wind turbine tower system provider for the wind energy industry, was named a finalist in the Minority-Founded Business category.
  • Corrolytics, a technology startup founded to solve microbiologically influenced corrosion problems for industrial assets, was named a finalist in the Minority-Founded Business and People's Choice: Startup of the Year categories.
  • Elementium Materials, a battery technology with liquid electrolyte solutions, was named a finalist in the Energy Transition Business category.
  • Enovate Ai, a provider of business and operational process optimization for decarbonization and energy independence, was named a finalist in the AI/Data Science Business category.
  • FluxWorks, developer and manufacturer of magnetic gears and magnetic gear-integrated motors, was named a finalist in the Deep Tech Business category.
  • Gold H2, a startup that's transforming depleted oil fields into hydrogen-producing assets utilizing existing infrastructure, was named a finalist in the Minority-Founded Business and the Deep Tech Business categories.
  • Hertha Metals, developer of a technology that cost-effectively produces steel with fewer carbon emissions, was named a finalist in the Deep Tech Business category.
  • InnoVentRenewables, a startup with proprietary continuous pyrolysis technology that converts waste tires, plastics, and biomass into valuable fuels and chemicals, was named a finalist in the Energy Transition Business and the People's Choice: Startup of the Year categories.
  • NanoTech Materials, a chemical manufacturer that integrates novel heat-control technology with thermal insulation, fireproofing, and cool roof coatings to drastically improve efficiency and safety, was named a finalist in the Scaleup of the Year category.
  • SageGeosystems, an energy company focused on developing and deploying advanced geothermal technologies to provide reliable power and sustainable energy storage solutions regardless of geography, was named a finalist in the Energy Transition Business category.
  • Square Robot, an advanced robotics company serving the energy industry and beyond by providing submersible robots for storage tank inspections, was named a finalist in the Scaleup of the Year category.
  • Syzygy Plasmonics, a company that's decarbonizing chemical production with a light-powered reactor platform that electrifies the production of hydrogen, syngas, and fuel with reliable, low-cost solutions, was named a finalist in the Scaleup of the Year category.
  • TierraClimate, a software provider that helps grid-scale batteries reduce carbon emissions, was named a finalist in the Energy Transition Business category.
  • Voyager Portal, a software platform that helps commodity traders and manufacturers in the O&G, chemicals, agriculture, mining, and project cargo sectors optimize the voyage management lifecycle, was named a finalist in the AI/Data Science Business category.

In addition to the startup finalists, two energy transition-focused organizations were recognized in the Community Champion Organization category, honoring a corporation, nonprofit, university, or other organization that plays a major role in the Houston innovation community. The two finalists in that category are:

  • Energy Tech Nexus, a new global energy and carbon tech hub focusing on hard tech solutions that provides mentor, accelerator and educational programs for entrepreneurs and underserved communities.
  • Greentown Houston, a climatetech incubator and convener for the energy transition community that provides community engagement and programming in partnership with corporations and other organizations.

Lastly, a few energy transition innovators were honored in the individual categories, including Carlos Estrada, growth partner at First Bight Ventures and head of venture acceleration at BioWell; Juliana Garaizar, founding partner of Energy Tech Nexus; and Neal Dikeman, partner at Energy Transition Ventures.

Energy founders — when you feel the market starting to tighten up, consider giving yourself, and your investors, some breathing space, then use that breathing space to drive value. Photo via Getty Images

Houston energy investor: How to build startup runway in a choppy venture funding market

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The venture funding market in 2023 has been very tough.

The number of rounds closing is significantly down from the 2022, and a record number of companies are raising. Overall VC fundraising is down, but great deals are getting funded well and at good valuations, while many are struggling. Fewer new investors are writing lead checks and being more cautious when they do, later stage investors are shifting earlier stage to manage risk, bad cap tables, operating plans, and reluctant insiders are killing otherwise good deals, and everyone is working on ensuring their portfolio is in good shape.

This is just another venture cycle. The sky is not falling, the playbook for this cycle was written long ago. But if you are a founder, you may need to take action. If you are less than 15 months of runway, it’s time to go to your investors with a plan. You need to either be well on your way to closing a round, starting your fundraise if the company is ready, know your investor group’s plan to bridge or do an inside round if necessary and what you need to achieve to unlock that, or bring them a realistic plan yourself to get to 18 to 30 months of runway. But whatever you need to do, you need to do it now.

The runway plan

The core of a good runway plan is building a cash wedge by taking a little from everywhere, and drop margin and cash. A little revenues, a little in pricing, a little headcount reduction, a little insider capital, a little new capital, and a little balance sheet help. How much a little is, depends on your own dynamic. The secret to a good cash wedge runway plan is starting early, and doing it now. Every day of delay increases the depth of the changes needed for the same runway – until you reach a point where the brutal burn math just doesn’t work, and the changes become costly or even untenable.

Focus on your customers. Nothing cures runway or fundraising ills like revenue. You’ve built these relationships for a reason. They are taking your calls because they care. If you and your team aren’t spending most of your time with customers right now, you are doing it wrong. Good customers get it. Focus their attention on how your product makes them money, and how much. Support their internal efforts to grow the account. Open book it, raise prices if it makes sense, and ask for more volume or contract extensions at good prices if you can’t. With new customers, focus on getting more phase ones that fit in the budget your champions have available quickly. Bet you and your customer can find more budget later when you’ve demonstrated value to them. Bid every grant and non-dilutive source that makes sense, which builds leverage for yourself and your investors.

Burn matters. In a tight market, no one likes to buy burn, and demonstrating efficiency of revenue and backlog relative to capitalization and burn level matters. If you’re going to cut (and you probably should), cut much deeper than you think, and do it now. You ran this company when it was four people and no money, you can do it again if you really had to. Start making quick decisions about what you can defer and cut in the near term, there is always an easy 5 to 10 percent of costs you can cut and push to next year, and often a few points that can be pulled from supply chain deals. Overplan for growth, but don’t release to spend until your capital markets plan is clear.

Rebalance your spend. Shift your cost structure and organization chart forward towards the customer. Aggressively expand customer facing lead generation, guerilla marketing, applications engineering and direct sales efforts, at the expense of internally facing ones like R&D, manufacturing, and overhead. Repurpose people, change comp structures, job descriptions, or adjust costs and headcount. Get your team on board with the focus and where your runway is. A 12-person startup has about 2,000 labor hours a month to throw at its problems, 3,000 hours on overdrive, when your runway shortens, it’s time to hurl those at customers. Keep in mind, none of this is permanent, good startup organizations are elastic and in six months you can shift back or add again. You’re only really making 180-day changes here. That’s what the nimble startup means. It’s about runway and quick product and operational shifts.

Hit the balance sheet for cash. Depending on company stage and type, sell any underutilized assets and inventory, defer some capex, put someone on collecting AR and adjust your contract terms and pricing to pull forward cash flow, term out and negotiate payment terms on AP, leases and debt. One huge caveat. Do not take venture debt. Until you are profitable, venture debt does not actually create the runway in the real world that you see on paper, and has killed more good startups on the cusp of greatness. Venture debt is Lucy, runway is the football, and you are Charlie Brown.

Adjust your capital markets strategy. The classic rule is raise all you can when you can, because capital is available most when you need it least. But that’s not the whole story. And founders need to realize it is really dangerous to take a deal to market that is not ready, and doesn’t have the right level of insider support, is priced or structured wrong. While the market sets the price and terms, once you’ve a cap table full of investors, both new and existing investor appetite, and valuation, becomes a partial function of existing and new investor appetite and support. Take out a deal that’s not ready, or with too much burn, too little insider support, too high a last valuation, too large a convert or safe overhang or prior capitalization, too little team ownership, or too much valuation or cash need relative to its team, technology, TAM and traction (and cap table), and a founder and board can turn a good opportunity into a death spiral headed straight off a cliff, fast.

The "Magical 25" percent ratio. This is an art not a science, but the Magical 25 percent ratio on a prototypical startup will give you an idea of how powerful a Runaway Plan can be to get a deal done and reset a founder’s opportunity.

Imagine a middle of the road seed funded SaaS startup, burning $350,000 gross, with $100,000 in MRR, which has raised $3 million in cash from three investors and spent half of it. On its current trajectory it has six months of cash left, and is bankrupt by March. Market turned down, and the initial investor calls don’t result in a lead VC leaning in. The logic of burn rate math is brutal. In 90 days the company is on fumes, and it has no term sheet in hand, with the odds of getting one generally falling. And in today’s market the $1 million in ARR has become the new minimum not sufficient condition for fundraising, and the company will need to get farther on it’s A to be attractive to a B round investor. If the founder does nothing and waits 90 days they’ll be begging their investors for a bridge, and begging new investors for a flat round, and will likely end up with downround or an ugly insider bridge. At $250,000-a-month burn and no term sheet, within 150 days the founder will then need an inside round of between $4.5 and $6 million to get to the prototypical 24 month runway, or a $1.5 to $2 million bridge to buy enough more months to fundraise and build value. That’s 1.5x to 2x the capital raised, or over half the existing capital in a bridge, and puts intense pressure on strength of your cap table, growth rate, broad insider support, and quality of revenues in a tight venture funding market.

If the founder instead cuts costs 25 percent immediately, and then throws all hands on deck to find 25 percent more revenue — at this level of burn the startup probably has a team of at least 12 to 15 people, meaning the founder can throw at least 2,000-3,000 man hours in an all hands customer push in just the next 30 days if they had to. At the same time, the founder goes to his largest investors, walks through the cash and cost plan, and asks them to give him a term sheet for a seed extension with existing investors all kicking in 25 percent of their contribution to date, with the extension equal to 25 percent of the total capital at close. It can be papered fast and cheap. That adds $750,000, leaving the founder to find one new investor to join the insiders at the last price for 25 percent of the extension – a much easier ask of a new investor in a tough market, and probably one the founder has a couple of interested parties that have been watching, or certainly one of the founder’s investors can make a quick call to a friend to close. Brutal burn rate math has now become magical burn rate math and the company has 18 months of runway, has halved its net burn, and can additionally get away with half the A round equal to 1x the capital it has raised to date at the end of it if need be.

The "magical" part is the founder has now changed the odds for everyone – his team only has to find 25 percent revenues and costs. His insiders are only asked for 25 cents on the dollar support at a price they should love, leaving the typical fund with plenty of follow-on reserves after that, a new investor does not have to carry the lion share of the burn, set price, do as much dd, or worry about investor fatigue, and the insiders don’t have to go it alone and have external validation, and the founder has minimized their dilution, and their fundraising time. If the founder then is able to keep costs flat for just 6 months in a sprint and pick up another 25 percent in revenues, the runway at the current cashout date is still 16 months, and the company is set up well for its next round, with on $4 million in capitalization on nearly $2 million in ARR, a new investor with dry powder in the deal, and plenty of reserves left on the cap table to support the A, with a lot more traction – leaving the size of A round the company has to have at less than half the level of before, the effective revenue multiple insiders and new investors are facing halved, the burn the new investor had to buy halved and lots of time and options for the founder to drive value, dilution, and scale.

Founders, it’s your company. Your decision. Just be aware, how and how fast you play the tough decisions when the market shifts, changes the calculus for your investors, and their level of confidence and ammunition to back your future decisions. When you feel the market starting to tighten up, consider giving yourself, and your investors, some breathing space, then use that breathing space to drive value.

———

Neal Dikeman is a venture capitalist and seven-time startup co-founder investing out of Energy Transition Ventures. This article originally ran on InnovationMap.

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10+ must-attend Houston energy transition events happening in Q3 2025

Must-Attend Meetings

Editor's note: Q3 is here, and with it, a full slate of must-attend events for Houston energy professionals. On the agenda are casual mixers, exciting showcases, week-long happenings, and more. Mark your calendars for these top Houston energy transition events coming up from July to September 2025, and begin registering today. Please note: this article may be updated to include additional events.

July 17 — TEX-E Energy, Innovation, and Entrepreneurship networking mixer

The Texas Exchange for Energy & Climate Entrepreneurship hosts this casual networking event to connect the Houston energy and climate tech ecosystem.

This event takes place Thursday, July 17 at 5 pm at Second Draught. Click here to register.

July 29 — Center for Houston's Future presents Summer Salon

This year's Summer Salon breakfast program is titled "Digital Technology and AI: Challenges and Opportunities for Driving Energy Innovation." Sponsored by bp, it will feature a timely conversation about the intersection of digital technology (including AI) and energy innovation.

This event takes place Tuesday, July 29 at 7:30 am at Junior League of Houston. Click here to register.

August 21 — Transition on Tap

Greentown Labs’ signature networking event returns in August to foster conversations and connections within Houston's climate and energy transition ecosystem. Entrepreneurs, investors, students, philanthropists, and more are invited to attend, meet colleagues, discuss solutions, and engage with the growing community.

This event takes place Thursday, August 21 at 5:30 pm at Greentown Labs. Click here to register.

August 22 – Determined to Lead Women Lunch: Investing Through Market Cycles with Ellen Wilkirson

EnergyTech Nexus hosts a monthly Determined to Lead Women’s Lunch as part of its ongoing efforts to create safe spaces for women leaders in the energy transition to connect, learn, and lead. The August session features Ellen Wilkirson, principal at Rev Innovations. With deep experience across traditional and transition energy sectors, Wilkirson will share how she’s approached investing through multiple market and commodity cycles and what it means to be a clean energy investor in today’s evolving landscape.

This event takes place Friday, August 22 at 1 pm. Click here to register.

August 27-28 — 6th Texas Energy Forum 2025

The 6th Texas Energy Forum will dive deep into the strategies, policies, and innovative solutions that reinforce energy security for the United States and its allies and fuel economic growth — centered on Texas’ pivotal role in the global energy landscape. Key discussions will address the future of regulatory reform, tariffs, and tax incentives; advancements in oil, gas, and LNG markets; the expansion of power generation; and breakthroughs in EVs and charging infrastructure. This year's topic is "Texas: The Energy Innovation Powerhouse."

This event begins Wednesday, August 27 at the Petroleum Club of Houston. Click here to register.

September 3-4 — 11th Annual Digitalization in Oil & Gas Conference

This conference will delve deep into the intersection of digitalization and decarbonization, highlighting the transformation required for the oil and gas sector to stay relevant, resilient, and achieve business value. This year, the focus is on leveraging AI and generative AI, driving sustainability and workforce development, and achieving operational excellence through digitalization. Key objectives include building future-ready facilities, planning for a lower carbon market, and realizing business value through innovative solutions.

This event begins Wednesday, September 3 at Hilton Americas Houston. Click here to register.

September 8-10 — SPE Energy Transition Symposium

The SPE Energy Transition Symposium brings together professionals from multiple disciplines across the energy sector, offering a comprehensive platform for learning, networking, and collaboration. Its primary objective is to facilitate the exchange and dissemination of knowledge drawn from the insights of industry leaders, technical experts, academics, practitioners, representatives from the financial community, and environmental, social, and governance (ESG) leaders. This year's symposium is titled "Synergizing Innovation and Collaboration: Transforming Energy for a Sustainable Future."

This event begins Monday, September 8 at Houston Marriott Sugar Land. Click here to register.

September 15-19 — Houston Energy & Climate Week

Houston Energy & Climate Week utilizes Houston's potential to propel global climate action. This gathering welcomes an unparalleled selection of global energy leaders and communities, giving participants opportunities to interact and discuss capital, technology, workforce, and policy needs. It is organized by Allies in Energy, a nonprofit dedicated to building energy and climate literacy and a pathway to the workforce of the future.

Following an invite-only dinner on Sunday, September 14, this event begins with Opening Ceremonies on Monday, September 15. Click here for details.

September 15-19 — Houston Energy + Climate Startup Week

Launched in 2024, the official Houston Energy and Climate Startup Week returns for its second year, showcasing how Houston is developing and scaling real solutions for the dual challenge of meeting growing global energy demand while reducing carbon emissions. Join leading energy and climate venture capital investors, industry leaders, and startups from around the world for this showcase of the most innovative companies and technologies that are transforming the energy industry while driving a sustainable, low-carbon energy future.

This event begins Monday, September 15 with a kickoff event at the Ion Plaza. Click here for details.

September 16 — Pilotathon 2025 & Company Showcase

EnergyTech Nexus hosts its annual Pilotathon — a high-impact event designed to fast-track pilot deployments for climate and energy tech startups. Expect a full day of curated startup pitches, a 50-plus company innovation showcase, and direct engagement with corporate partners, investors, and ecosystem leaders. The afternoon will also feature participants from the ETN CoPilot Accelerator. Startup applications and event registration is now open at www.pilotathon.com.

This event takes place Tuesday, September 16 at 8 am at GreenStreet. Click here to register.

September 18 — ACCEL Year 3 Showcase

As part of Houston Energy and Climate Startup Week, Greentown Labs will celebrate ACCEL, an accelerator program for startups led by BIPOC and other underrepresented founders. The third ACCEL cohort will present a showcase featuring their technologies, what they’ve accomplished in the first six months of the program, and where they’re headed next. Attendees will also have the opportunity to network with industry leaders who are passionate about and building an inclusive and sustainable future.

This event takes place Thursday, September 18 at 5 pm at Greentown Labs. Click here to register.

Greentown Labs adds 6 Texas clean energy startups to Houston incubator

green team

Greentown Labs announced the six startups to join its Houston community in Q2 of 2025.

The companies are among a group of 13 that joined the climatetech incubator, which is co-located in Houston and Boston, in the same time period. The companies that joined the Houston-based lab specialize in a number of clean energy applications, from long-duration energy storage systems to 3D solar towers.

The new Houston members include:

  • Encore CO2, a Louisiana-based company that converts CO2 into ethanol, acetate, ethylene and other sustainable chemicals through its innovative electrolysis technology
  • Janta Power, a Dallas-based company with proprietary 3D-solar-tower technology that deploys solar power vertically rather than flatly, increasing power and energy generation
  • Licube, an Austin-based company focused on sustainable lithium recovery from underutilized sources using its proprietary and patented electrodialysis technology
  • Newfound Materials, a Houston-based company that has developed a predictive engine for materials R&D
  • Pix Force, a Houston-based company that develops AI algorithms to inspect substations, transmission lines and photovoltaic plants using drones
  • Wattsto Energy, a Houston-based manufacturer of a long-duration-energy-storage system with a unique hybrid design that provides fast, safe, sustainable and cost-effective energy storage at the microgrid and grid levels

Seven other companies will join Greentown Boston's incubator. See the full list here.

Greentown Houston also added five startups to its local lab in Q1. Read more about the companies here.

How Planckton Data is building the sustainability label every industry will need

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There’s a reason “carbon footprint” became a buzzword. It sounds like something we should know. Something we should measure. Something that should be printed next to the calorie count on a label.

But unlike calories, a carbon footprint isn’t universal, standardized, or easy to calculate. In fact, for most companies—especially in energy and heavy industry—it’s still a black box.

That’s the problem Planckton Data is solving.

On this episode of the Energy Tech Startups Podcast, Planckton Data co-founders Robin Goswami and Sandeep Roy sit down to explain how they’re turning complex, inconsistent, and often incomplete emissions data into usable insight. Not for PR. Not for green washing. For real operational and regulatory decisions.

And they’re doing it in a way that turns sustainability from a compliance burden into a competitive advantage.

From calories to carbon: The label analogy that actually works

If you’ve ever picked up two snack bars and compared their calorie counts, you’ve made a decision based on transparency. Robin and Sandeep want that same kind of clarity for industrial products.

Whether it’s a shampoo bottle, a plastic feedstock, or a specialty chemical—there’s now consumer and regulatory pressure to know exactly how sustainable a product is. And to report it.

But that’s where the simplicity ends.

Because unlike food labels, carbon labels can’t be standardized across a single factory. They depend on where and how a product was made, what inputs were used, how far it traveled, and what method was used to calculate the data.

Even two otherwise identical chemicals—one sourced from a refinery in Texas and the other in Europe—can carry very different carbon footprints, depending on logistics, local emission factors, and energy sources.

Planckton’s solution is built to handle exactly this level of complexity.

AI that doesn’t just analyze

For most companies, supply chain emissions data is scattered, outdated, and full of gaps.

That’s where Planckton’s use of AI becomes transformative.

  • It standardizes data from multiple suppliers, geographies, and formats.
  • It uses probabilistic models to fill in the blanks when suppliers don’t provide details.
  • It applies industry-specific product category rules (PCRs) and aligns them with evolving global frameworks like ISO standards and GHG Protocol.
  • It helps companies model decarbonization pathways, not just calculate baselines.

This isn’t generative AI for show. It’s applied machine learning with a purpose: helping large industrial players move from reporting to real action.

And it’s not a side tool. For many of Planckton’s clients, it’s becoming the foundation of their sustainability strategy.

From boardrooms to smokestacks: Where the pressure is coming from

Planckton isn’t just chasing early adopters. They’re helping midstream and upstream industrial suppliers respond to pressure coming from two directions:

  1. Downstream consumer brands—especially in cosmetics, retail, and CPG—are demanding footprint data from every input supplier.
  2. Upstream regulations—especially in Europe—are introducing reporting requirements, carbon taxes, and supply chain disclosure laws.

The team gave a real-world example: a shampoo brand wants to differentiate based on lower emissions. That pressure flows up the value chain to the chemical suppliers. Who, in turn, must track data back to their own suppliers.

It’s a game of carbon traceability—and Planckton helps make it possible.

Why Planckton focused on chemicals first

With backgrounds at Infosys and McKinsey, Robin and Sandeep know how to navigate large-scale digital transformations. They also know that industry specificity matters—especially in sustainability.

So they chose to focus first on the chemicals sector—a space where:

  • Supply chains are complex and often opaque.
  • Product formulations are sensitive.
  • And pressure from cosmetics, packaging, and consumer brands is pushing for measurable, auditable impact data.

It’s a wedge into other verticals like energy, plastics, fertilizers, and industrial manufacturing—but one that’s already showing results.

Carbon accounting needs a financial system

What makes this conversation unique isn’t just the product. It’s the co-founders’ view of the ecosystem.

They see a world where sustainability reporting becomes as robust as financial reporting. Where every company knows its Scope 1, 2, and 3 emissions the way it knows revenue, gross margin, and EBITDA.

But that world doesn’t exist yet. The data infrastructure isn’t there. The standards are still in flux. And the tooling—until recently—was clunky, manual, and impossible to scale.

Planckton is building that infrastructure—starting with the industries that need it most.

Houston as a launchpad (not just a legacy hub)

Though Planckton has global ambitions, its roots in Houston matter.

The city’s legacy in energy and chemicals gives it a unique edge in understanding real-world industrial challenges. And the growing ecosystem around energy transition—investors, incubators, and founders—is helping companies like Planckton move fast.

“We thought we’d have to move to San Francisco,” Robin shares. “But the resources we needed were already here—just waiting to be activated.”

The future of sustainability is measurable—and monetizable

The takeaway from this episode is clear: measuring your carbon footprint isn’t just good PR—it’s increasingly tied to market access, regulatory approval, and bottom-line efficiency.

And the companies that embrace this shift now—using platforms like Planckton—won’t just stay compliant. They’ll gain a competitive edge.

Listen to the full conversation with Planckton Data on the Energy Tech Startups Podcast:

Hosted by Jason Ethier and Nada Ahmed, the Digital Wildcatters’ podcast, Energy Tech Startups, delves into Houston's pivotal role in the energy transition, spotlighting entrepreneurs and industry leaders shaping a low-carbon future.