Houston investor backs carbon capture startup's series A

promising tech

CarbonQuest, a company with a compact carbon capture technology, announced it received series A funding from Houston-based Riverbend Energy Group. Photo via CarbonQuest

Houston investors are betting on a New York-based carbon capture startup's technology.

CarbonQuest announced it received series A funding from Houston-based Riverbend Energy Group. The terms of the deal were not disclosed. Founded in 2019, the company created its Distributed Carbon Capture technology that captures CO2 from buildings and onsite power generation systems, then liquifies and transports it to local businesses that need carbon for their production processes.

“We are one of the few carbon capture companies with commercial products on the market today, and this investment will enable us to continue bringing distributed carbon capture to a wider swath of the market,” Shane Johnson, president and CEO of CarbonQuest, says in a news release. “We are also excited to attract new talent and expand our North American operations.”

The company's compact, modular carbon capture solution has already been deployed in several New York City buildings and reports that it is focused on natural gas emissions from distributed onsite power generation in 2024. The fresh funding will help CarbonQuest lower its cost for customers and address new market segments, including biogenic sources of CO2, utility infrastructure, and more, per the release.

Additionally, the company plans to advance development of its Carbon Management Software, a platform that provides real-time data and analytics for users. Riverbend's Joe Passanante and Eric Danziger will join CarbonQuest’s board of directors as a part of the deal.

“We are thrilled to partner with CarbonQuest, a company at the forefront of distributed carbon capture technology,” Passanante, managing director at Riverbend, says in the release. “This investment reflects our commitment to advancing solutions that play a critical role in decarbonization.

"CarbonQuest’s innovative approach not only addresses that need, but also offers scalable, economically viable solutions that can be deployed across a wide range of markets," he continues. "We are excited to collaborate with CarbonQuest’s experienced and talented team and believe this partnership will be a game changer in multiple markets, helping to unlock the full potential of distributed carbon capture and significantly contribute to global climate goals.”

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LiNova will use the funds to advance its polymer cathode battery technology. Photo via Getty Images

Chevron, TotalEnergies back energy storage startup's $15.8M series A

money moves

A California startup that's revolutionizing polymer cathode battery technology has announced its series A round of funding with support from Houston-based energy transition leaders.

LiNova Energy Inc. closed a $15.8 million series A round led by Catalus Capital. Saft, a subsidiary of TotalEnergies, which has its US HQ in Houston, and Houston-based Chevron Technology Ventures, also participated in the round with a coalition of other investors.

LiNova will use the funds with its polymer cathode battery to advance the energy storage landscape, according to the company. The company uses a high-energy polymer battery technology that is designed to allow material replacement of the traditional cathode that is made up of cobalt, nickel, and other materials.

The joint development agreement with Saft will have them collaborate to develop the battery technology for commercialization in Saft's key markets.

“We are proud to collaborate with LiNova in scaling up its technology, leveraging the extensive experience of Saft's research teams, our newest prototype lines, and our industrial expertise in battery cell production," Cedric Duclos, CEO of Saft, says in a news release.

CTV recently announced its $500 million Future Energy Fund III, which aims to lead on emerging mobility, energy decentralization, industrial decarbonization, and the growing circular economy. Chevron has promised to spend $10 billion on lower carbon energy investments and projects by 2028.

Houston-based Sage Geosystems announced the first close of $17 million round led by Chesapeake Energy Corp. Photo via sagegeosystems.com

Chesapeake Energy backs Houston geothermal tech co. in $17M series A

fresh funding

A Houston geothermal startup has announced the close of its series A round of funding.

Houston-based Sage Geosystems announced the first close of $17 million round led by Chesapeake Energy Corp. The proceeds aim to fund its first commercial geopressured geothermal system facility, which will be built in Texas in Q4 of 2024. According to the company, the facility will be the first of its kind.

The venture is joined by technology investor Arch Meredith, Helium-3 Ventures and will include support from existing investors Virya, LLC, Nabors Industries Ltd., and Ignis Energy Inc.

“The first close of our Series A funding and our commercial facility are significant milestones in our mission to make geopressured geothermal system technologies a reality,” Cindy Taff, CEO of Sage Geosystems, says in a news release. “The success of our GGS technologies is not only critical to Sage Geosystems becoming post-revenue, but it is an essential step in accelerating the development of this proprietary geothermal baseload approach. This progress would not be possible without the ongoing support from our existing investors, and we look forward to continuing this work with our new investors.”

The 3-megawatt commercial facility will be called EarthStore and will use Sage’s technology that harvests energy from pressurized water from underground. The facility will be able to store energy — for short and long periods of time — and can be paired with intermittent renewable energy sources like wind and solar. It will also be able to provide baseload, dispatchable power, and inertia to the electric grid.

In 2023, Sage Geosystems debuted the EarthStore system in a full-scale commercial pilot project in Texas. The pilot produced 200 kilowatt for more than 18 hours, 1 megawatt for 30 minutes, and generated electricity with Pelton turbines. The system had a water loss of less than 2 percent and a round-trip efficiency (RTE) of 70-75.

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This article originally ran on InnovationMap.

Houston startup Sage Geosystems released the results of its pilot at a Shell-drilled oil well in the Rio Grande Valley’s Starr County. Photo via sagegeosystems.com

Houston-based geothermal energy startup releases promising results of Texas pilot

hot off the press

As it seeks an additional $30 million in series A funding, Houston startup Sage Geosystems has released promising results from a test of its technology for underground storage of geothermal energy.

Sage says the pilot project, conducted at a Shell-drilled oil well in the Rio Grande Valley’s Starr County, showed the company’s long-term energy storage can compete on a cost basis with lithium-ion battery storage, hydropower storage, and natural gas-powered peaker plants. Peaker plants supply power during periods of peak energy demand.

Furthermore, Sage’s geothermal technology will provide more power capacity at half the cost of other advanced geothermal systems, the company says.

Sage’s storage system retrofits oil and gas wells with the company’s geothermal technology. But the company says its technology “can be deployed virtually anywhere.”

The system relies on mechanical storage instead of battery storage. In mechanical storage, heat, water, or air works in tandem with compressors, turbines, and other machinery. By contrast, battery storage depends on chemistry to get the job done.

“We have cracked the code to provide the perfect complement to renewable energy. … The opportunities for our energy storage to provide power are significant — from remote mining operations to data centers to solving energy poverty in remote locations,” former Shell executive Cindy Taff, CEO of Sage, says in a September 12 news release.

Sage says its storage capacity can be connected to existing power grids, or it can develop microgrids that harness stored energy.

An August 2023 article in The New York Times explained that Sage “is pursuing fracked wells that act as batteries. When there’s surplus electricity on the grid, water gets pumped into the well. In times of need, pressure and heat in the fractures pushes water back up, delivering energy.”

The pilot project, a joint venture between Sage and the Bureau of Economic Ecology at the University of Texas at Austin, was performed as part of a feasibility study financed by the Air Force. Now that the test results are in, Sage plans to build a prototype geothermal project at the Air Force’s Ellington Field Joint Reserve Base in Houston.

Sage says another feasibility study is underway in the Middle East in partnership with an unnamed oil and gas company.

Founded in 2020, Sage plans to raise another $30 million to accompany its previous series A funding.

The Virya climate fund and Houston-based drilling contractor Nabors Industries helped finance the pilot project in Starr County.

Last year, Sage announced it received an undisclosed amount of equity from Houston-based Ignis H2 Energy, a geothermal exploration and development company, and Dutch energy company Geolog International. Also last year, Sage said Nabors and Virya had teamed up for a $12 million investment in the startup.

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Houston startups named to World Economic Forum cohort for carbon removal, clean technologies

top honor

Two Houston-based startups have been selected to join the World Economic Forum's Technology Pioneers community.

The two-year program aims to help mission-driven, early-stage start-ups scale their innovations through multi-stakeholder initiatives, co-creating partnerships and other gatherings for community members. One-hundred startups are selected each year from around the globe, this year hailing from 23 countries and working in AI, energy, space, biotech markets and more.

Cleantech startup Vaulted Deep was one of 11 energy and climate companies to be named to the cohort. Julia Reichelstein and Omar Abou-Sayed founded the company in 2023. Its technology injects excess organic waste underground to remove carbon dioxide from the atmosphere.

Last year, Vaulted Deep inked a 12-year deal with Microsoft to remove up to 4.9 million metric tons of carbon dioxide from the environment.

The startup has earned several accolades in recent years, including a No. 3 spot on Fast Company’s list of the World’s Most Innovative Companies of 2026. It was also recently named to market intelligence and advisory firm Cleantech Group's annual Global Cleantech 100 list for a second year in a row.

"Waste management is one of the world's great invisible infrastructure systems ... The need for new infrastructure is growing as disposal challenges become more complex and regulations evolve. Vaulted is building the first new disposal pathway for organic waste in decades by putting it deep underground, permanently," the company shared in a LinkedIn post. "This year, we're joining the World Economic Forum's 2026 Tech Pioneers alongside innovators working on the many interconnected challenges shaping our future."

Houston-based Venus Aerospace was also selected to join the cohort, along with six other spacetech companies. The company was founded in 2020 by Sassie and Andrew Duggleby.

The startup specializes in next-generation rocket engine propulsion as a cleaner alternative to traditional combustion engines. The company's rotating detonation rocket engine (RDRE) burns fuel more efficiently and completed a successful high-thrust test flight last year. Venus says it’s the only company in the world that makes a flight-proven, high-thrust RDRE with a “clear path to scaled production.”

"Frontier technologies matter most when they expand what people, industries, and nations can do," Sassie Duggleby, co-founder and CEO of Venus, said in a news release. "For Venus, RDRE does not just represent a more efficient engine. It is a foundation for faster movement, more capable space systems, and new forms of connectivity across the planet. Being named a Technology Pioneer validates the potential of this technology to help shape a future where distance is less limiting."

Premium EV robotaxis from Uber will roll into Houston next year

Rolling On

More autonomous vehicles are expected to hit the roads in Houston next year.

Ridesharing giant Uber announced that it plans to roll out its premium robotaxi service in the Bayou City in mid-2027. Houston will be Uber’s second planned market for the program, following the San Francisco Bay Area, where the program is expected to be rolled out later this year.

Uber, Nuro and Lucid Group will bring the robotaxi program to Houston with more markets planned for the future. Currently, Nuro is conducting autonomous on-road testing with safety operators in Houston. Testing includes simulation, closed-course testing and supervised public-road testing.

“Houston is a city Nuro knows well, and we’re excited to help bring this robotaxi service to the city through our partnership with Uber and Lucid,” Andrew Chapin, chief operating officer at Nuro, said in a news release. “Houston’s large, complex metro area is an ideal market for demonstrating how Nuro’s universal autonomy platform can generalize across different geographies and operating environments. We look forward to continued engagement with the community as we prepare to launch service in 2027.”

The fleet of 100 vehicles across California and Texas will feature Lucid Gravity EVs and future Lucid Midsize vehicles equipped with Nuro Driver technology, Nuro’s Level 4 universal autonomy platform, plus a redundant sensor suite with cameras, lidar, radar and a roof-mounted halo.

The vehicles will be owned and operated by Uber and its fleet partners and made available to riders through the Uber network, according to the company.

In addition to the fleet of autonomous vehicles, Uber also announced that it has secured a 50,000-square-foot depot facility and dedicated charging pitstop in Houston. The facility will allow Uber and its partners to control vehicle maintenance, repairs, charging, cleaning, and day-to-day operations.

“Houston marks an important next step in our partnership with Lucid and Nuro as we expand autonomous mobility to more riders throughout the world,” Sarfraz Maredia, global head of autonomous mobility & delivery at Uber, added in the release. “Together, we’re combining best-in-class vehicle and autonomy technology with Uber’s scale, fleet operations expertise, and infrastructure capabilities to build a service that can grow across dozens of markets in the years ahead.”

Waymo launched its autonomous vehicle program in Houston in February.

The company later suspended its driverless car services in Houston, other major Texas cities, and Atlanta, after one of its vehicles was stranded by flooding during heavy rains. However, according to the Houston Chronicle, the fleet has resumed activity in Houston and is fully active.

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This article originally appeared on InnovationMap.com.

Chevron inks 20-year deal to power massive Microsoft data center in West Texas

power deal

Chevron and Microsoft have signed a 20-year deal in which Chevron will provide natural-gas-fired power for a future West Texas data center, known as Project Kilby.

The proposed Microsoft data center could be one of the biggest in the U.S. and is expected to deliver 2.67 gigawatts of capacity. It will be built through a “phased, modular approach that enables incremental expansion over time,” according to Chevron.

Chevron expects the facility to be up and running by 2028, though the company won’t make a final investment decision on the project until later this year. The company is collaborating on Project Kilby with investment fund Engine No.1.

Project Kilby is projected to bring in $10 billion in state and local tax revenue and support 2,000 jobs, according to Chevron. The plant will use non-potable, brackish groundwater for power plant operations and aims to find new ways to reuse water produced by oil and gas operations.

The site will use selective catalytic reduction systems to reduce nitrogen oxide emissions and minimize noise and light impacts and will utilize other advanced air emissions control technologies. A majority of the generation will come from large turbines developed by Chevron partner GE Verona with additional capacity from Caterpillar’s solar turbines. The plant will be fed by natural gas from the Permian Basin.

“Chevron is uniquely positioned to deliver power to customers with certainty, speed and at a competitive cost, leveraging Permian natural gas and our proven execution capabilities,” Jeff Gustavson, Chevron president of new energies, said in a news release. “This project links Chevron’s traditional strengths to emerging demand, creating differentiated value for our shareholders and the communities where we operate.”

According to BloombergNEF, the U.S. is expected to increase its data center capacity to 77 gigawatts by 2030. Another report from Bloom Energy predicts Texas will see a 142 percent increase in its market share for data centers from 2025 to 2028.

“The rapid growth we’re experiencing in AI and cloud, driven by customer demand, requires energy infrastructure that can scale quickly and reliably,” Noelle Walsh, Microsoft president of cloud operations and innovation, added in the news release. “Our agreement with Chevron helps ensure we’ll have dedicated, large-scale power to support the evolution and reliability of advanced computers. Through this partnership, we’re delighted to grow with and become a deeper part of the West Texas community.”

Chevron was named No. 21 on the 2026 Fortune 500 list earlier this month.

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