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Houston agriculture robotics co. raises $21.5M series A to grow climatetech solution

freshly funded

The series A funding will support the deployment of its biochar machines across Texas, Oklahoma, Arkansas, and Louisiana. Photo courtesy of Applied Carbon

A Houston energy tech startup has raised a $21.5 million series a round of funding to support the advancement of its automated technology that converts field wastes into stable carbon.

Applied Carbon, previously known as Climate Robotics, announced that its fresh round of funding was led by TO VC, with participation from Congruent Ventures, Grantham Foundation, Microsoft Climate Innovation Fund, S2G Ventures, Overture.vc, Wireframe Ventures, Autodesk Foundation, Anglo American, Susquehanna Foundation, US Endowment for Forestry and Communities, TELUS Pollinator Fund for Good, and Elemental Excelerator.

The series A funding will support the deployment of its biochar machines across Texas, Oklahoma, Arkansas, and Louisiana.

"Multiple independent studies indicate that converting crop waste into biochar has the potential to remove gigatons of CO2 from the atmosphere each year, while creating trillions of dollars in value for the world's farmers," Jason Aramburu, co-founder and CEO of Applied Carbon, says in a news release. "However, there is no commercially available technology to convert these wastes at low cost.

"Applied Carbon's patented in-field biochar production system is the first solution that can convert crop waste into biochar at a scale and a cost that makes sense for broad acre farming," he continues.

Applied Carbon rebranded in June shortly after being named a top 20 finalist in XPRIZE's four-year, $100 million global Carbon Removal Competition. The company also was named a semi-finalist and awarded $50,000 from the Department of Energy's Carbon Dioxide Removal Purchase Pilot Prize program in May.

"Up to one-third of excess CO2 that has accumulated in the atmosphere since the start of human civilization has come from humans disturbing soil through agriculture," Joshua Phitoussi, co-founder and managing partner at TO VC, adds. "To reach our net-zero objectives, we need to put that carbon back where it belongs.

"Biochar is unique in its potential to do so at a permanence and price point that are conducive to mass-scale adoption of carbon dioxide removal solutions, while also leaving farmers and consumers better off thanks to better soil health and nutrition," he continues. "Thanks to its technology and business model, Applied Carbon is the only company that turns that potential into reality."

The company's robotic technology works in field, picking up agricultural crop residue following harvesting and converts it into biochar in a single pass. The benefits included increasing soil health, improving agronomic productivity, and reducing lime and fertilizer requirements, while also providing a carbon removal and storage solution.

"We've been looking at the biochar sector for over a decade and Applied Carbon's in-field proposition is incredibly compelling," adds Joshua Posamentier, co-founder and managing partner of Congruent Ventures. "The two most exciting things about this approach are that it profitably swings the agricultural sector from carbon positive to carbon negative and that it can get to world-scale impact, on a meaningful timeline, while saving farmers money."

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Vaulted Deep, Mati Carbon, and Climate Robotics secured finalists spots in XPRIZE's four-year global competition is designed to combat climate change with innovative solutions. Photo via Getty Images

3 Houston clean energy startups advance in Elon Musk-backed cleantech competition

finalists

Twenty promising climatetech companies were selected to advance to the final stage of a global competition backed by Elon Musk's foundation — and three of the finalists hail from Houston.

Vaulted Deep, Mati Carbon, and Climate Robotics secured finalists spots in XPRIZE's four-year global competition is designed to combat climate change with innovative solutions. XPRIZE Carbon Removal will offer $100 million to innovators who are creating solutions that removes carbon dioxide directly from the atmosphere or the oceans, and then sequester it sustainably.

"For the world to effectively address greenhouse gas emissions, carbon removal is an essential element of the path to Net Zero. There's no way to reverse humanity's impact on the climate without extracting carbon from our atmosphere and oceans," Anousheh Ansari, CEO of XPRIZE, says in a news release. "We need a range of bold, innovative CDR solutions to manage the vast quantities of CO2 released into our environment and impacting our planet.

"The teams that have been competing for this Prize are all part of building a set of robust and effective solutions and our 20 teams advancing to the final stage of XPRIZE Carbon Removal will have an opportunity to demonstrate their potential to have a significant impact on the climate," Ansari continues.

The finalists — categorized into four sections: air, rocks, oceans, and land — were selected based upon their performance in three key areas: operations, sustainability, and cost. The full list of 20 finalists is available online.

Around 20 Houston-area companies were initially identified by the challenge. Here's a look at the three that are advancing to the finals:

  • Mati, in the Rocks category, durably removes carbon from the atmosphere using basalt based enhanced rock weathering (ERW) in smallholder rice paddy farms. This process, which is being demonstrated in India, removes atmospheric CO2 while adding key nutrients in the soil helping to restore degraded soils to benefit smallholder farmers.
  • Climate Robotics, in the Land category, enables broad-scale agriculture adoption of biochar which builds soil health and removes excess carbon from the atmosphere. The company's mobile technology converts crop residues into durable biochar on the fly and in the field, making the economics work for farmers and our ecosystems.
  • Vaulted Deep, also in the Land category, delivers scalable, permanent, carbon removal by geologically sequestering carbon-filled organic wastes. Their patented slurry sequestration, which involves the geological injection of minimally processed wastes for permanent (10,000+ year) carbon removal.

"This cohort of exceptional teams represents a diversity of innovations and solutions across a range of CDR pathways, and shows the significant progress the industry is making in a short period of time," Nikki Batchelor, executive director of XPRIZE Carbon Removal, says in the release. "Over the past three years, this competition has helped accelerate the pace of technology development for a whole new industry of high-potential solutions aimed at reversing climate change."

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CenterPoint's resiliency plan, Chevron starts up new site, and more trending Houston energy transition news

what's trending

Editor'snote: From Chevron's new deepwater project going online to two Texas companies collaborating on energy storage, these are the top headlines that resonated with EnergyCapital readers on social media and daily newsletter this week.

CenterPoint Energy releases details of resiliency plan

As part of the “Taking Action Now” section, more than 2,500 CenterPoint frontline workers and contractors will be taking a series of targeted actions to strengthen the grid and reduce the risk of outages. Photo via Getty Images

To improve resiliency and reduce the risk of outages from storms or hurricanes, CenterPoint Energy announced its Greater Houston Resiliency Initiative.

The initiative will include an “accelerated timeline to execute specific actions to strengthen electric infrastructure across Houston, and more than 40 critical actions in total to strengthen the electric grid, and improve the company's customer communications and emergency coordination before the next hurricane,” according to a news release.

As part of the “Taking Action Now” section, more than 2,500 CenterPoint frontline workers and contractors will be taking a series of targeted actions to strengthen the grid and reduce the risk of outages before the next major storm that includes installing stronger and more storm-resilient poles, trimming or removal of vegetation from lines, and installing 300 automated devices, which CenterPoint says can help reenergize certain lines and lead to less without power. Continue reading.

Chevron launches production at deepwater project that aims to lower carbon intensity off offshore activity

Chevron's newest deepwater oil and natural gas production project, called the Anchor, is an all-electric facility. Photo courtesy of Chevron

Chevron's new massive deepwater oil and natural gas project in the Gulf of Mexico is officially up and running.

Chevron Corp., which recently announced its relocating its global headquarters to Houston, has officially started oil and natural gas production from its Anchor project in the U.S. Gulf of Mexico.

The semi-submersible floating production unit features a high-pressure technology that operates at up to 20,000 psi with reservoir depths reaching 34,000 feet below sea level, Chevron reports, and has a capacity of 75,000 gross barrels of oil per day and 28 million gross cubic feet of natural gas per day. Continue reading.

Two Texas companies combine to enhance hydrogen fueling, storage infrastructure

Celly offers logistics, storage, and dispensing to innovative modular refueling station services. Photo via cellyh2.com

A provider of hydrogen infrastructure solutions Celly H2 has announced its acquisition of ChemTech Energy (CNE) to continue Celly's mission of leading hydrogen fueling and storage infrastructure.

The Willis, Texas-based company offers logistics, storage, and dispensing to innovative modular refueling station services. Montgomery’s Chemtec Energy has a 25-year legacy in the oil and gas market and specializes in modular hydrogen fueling and storage infrastructure solutions.

"This acquisition marks a significant milestone for Celly as we continue to expand our portfolio in the renewable energy market," Founder and CEO of Celly Austin Terry says in a news release. Continue reading.

Houston clean energy provider raises $10.8M series A

Branch Energy aims to provide customers with clean energy at a lower cost than competitors. Photo via Getty Images

A tech-driven retail energy provider based in Houston has secured an oversubscribed series A round of funding.

Branch Energy raised a $10.8 million round led by climate-focused venture capital firm Prelude Ventures with co-investor Zero Infinity Partners, an infrastructure tech-focused firm. The fresh funding will go toward accelerating the company's battery management tech and build out the infrastructure of its field services.

A vertically integrated power provider, Branch Energy aims to provide customers with demand management software and battery storage systems to ensure long-term, stable, and clean energy at a lower cost than competitors. Continue reading.

Woodside to acquire clean ammonia project outside of Houston in  $2.4B deal

OCI broke ground on the project in 2022. Photo via oci-global.com

Woodside Energy has announced its acquiring a Beaumont, Texas, clean ammonia project that's slated to deliver its first ammonia by 2025 and lower carbon ammonia by 2026.

The agreement is for Woodside to acquire 100 percent of OCI Clean Ammonia Holding and its lower carbon ammonia project in Beaumont in an all-cash deal of approximately $2.35 billion. According to Woodside CEO Meg O’Neill, the acquisition positions Woodside as an early mover in clean ammonia within the energy transition.

“This transaction positions Woodside in the growing lower carbon ammonia market," O’Neill says in a news release. "The potential applications for lower carbon ammonia are in power generation, marine fuels and as an industrial feedstock, as it displaces higher-emitting fuels. Continue reading.

New report maps Houston workforce development strategies as companies transition to cleaner energy

to-do list

The University of Houston’s Energy University latest study with UH’s Division of Energy and Innovation with stakeholders from the energy industry, academia have released findings from a collaborative white paper, titled "Workforce Development for the Future of Energy.”

UH Energy’s workforce analysis found that the greatest workforce gains occur with an “all-of-the-above” strategy to address the global shift towards low-carbon energy solutions. This would balance electrification and increased attention to renewables with liquid fuels, biomass, hydrogen, carbon capture, utilization and storage commonly known as CCUS, and carbon dioxide removal, according to a news release.

The authors of the paper believe this would support economic and employment growth, which would leverage workers from traditional energy sectors that may lose jobs during the transition.

The emerging hydrogen ecosystem is expected to create about 180,000 new jobs in the greater Houston area, which will offer an average annual income of approximately $75,000. Currently, 40 percent of Houston’s employment is tied to the energy sector.

“To sustain the Houston region’s growth, it’s important that we broaden workforce participation and opportunities,” Ramanan Krishnamoorti, vice president of energy and innovation at UH, says in a news release. “Ensuring workforce readiness for new energy jobs and making sure we include disadvantaged communities is crucial.”

Some of the key takeaways include strategies that include partnering for success, hands-on training programs, flexible education pathways, comprehensive support services, and early and ongoing outreach initiatives.

“The greater Houston area’s journey towards a low-carbon future is both a challenge and an opportunity,” Krishnamoorti continues. “The region’s ability to adapt and lead in this new era will depend on its commitment to collaboration, innovation, and inclusivity. By preparing its workforce, engaging its communities, and leveraging its industrial heritage, we can redefine our region and continue to thrive as a global energy leader.”

The study was backed by federal funding from the Department of the Treasury through the State of Texas under the Resources and Ecosystems Sustainability, Tourist Opportunities, and Revived Economies of the Gulf Coast States Act of 2012.

Houston geothermal startup selects Texas location for first energy storage facility

major milestone

Houston-based geothermal energy startup Sage Geosystems has teamed up with a utility provider for an energy storage facility in the San Antonio metro area.

The three-megawatt EarthStore facility will be on land controlled by the San Miguel Electric Cooperative, which produces electricity for customers in 47 South Texas counties. The facility will be located in the town of Christine, near the cooperative’s coal-fired power plant.

Sage says its energy storage system will be paired with solar energy to supply power for the grid operated by the Electric Reliability Council of Texas (ERCOT). The facility is set to open later this year.

“Once operational, our EarthStore facility in Christine will be the first geothermal energy storage system to store potential energy deep in the earth and supply electrons to a power grid,” Cindy Taff, CEO of Sage Geosystems, says in a news release.

The facility is being designed to store geothermal energy during six- to 10-hour periods.

“Long-duration energy storage is crucial for the ERCOT utility grid, especially with the increasing integration of intermittent wind and solar power generation,” says Craig Courter, CEO of the San Miguel Electric Cooperative.

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