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Dear Friends of Greentown Houston,

Earlier this week, we published our 2023 Impact Report—an overview of Greentown’s work toward our mission of building an inclusive community that convenes, connects, and inspires entrepreneurs and ecosystems to advance climate solutions.

Convening ecosystems around climatetech entrepreneurship is one of our key focus areas across both our locations, and especially in Houston—an energy hub unlike any other that’s capable of leading the way in renewable energy and the decarbonization of our planet. Here’s just a sampling of our work toward this aim in 2023:

We hosted 20 public events in Houston, including our largest Greentown Houston Climatetech Summit to date.
We helped 87 corporate partners, many of which have a Houston presence, engage with our entrepreneurs.
We collaborated with universities across Texas and MIT’s Martin Trust Center for Entrepreneurship to run a successful second year of the Texas Entrepreneurship Exchange for Energy (TEX-E)—a program that’s creating a powerful, student-driven entrepreneurship ecosystem in the Lone Star State focused on energy innovation and education.
We hosted a career fair, helping catalyze the energy-transition workforce in the energy capital of the world.
We proudly served 70+ Greentown Houston startups, providing them with the community, connections, and resources they need to thrive.

As we reflect on 2023, we’d like to extend our heartfelt thanks to all of you—climate action takes a village, and none of the progress noted here would’ve been possible without the support of folks from across the entire climatetech ecosystem.

But our work is just getting started—as evidenced by a new initiative to strengthen Houston’s energy-transition ecosystem that we’re excited to announce today. The Houston Ion District Investor Activation Program, run by Greentown Houston in partnership with the Ion District and with support from the U.S. Economic Development Administration, is helping build an equitable climatetech industry capable of rapid deployment by addressing a fundamental challenge: the region’s lack of funding for early-stage climatetech startups, and especially for those led by underrepresented founders.

This program brings early-stage investors from Greater Houston into the fold, offering education on climatetech investing, channeling a pool of capital to young startups, and catalyzing a thriving climatetech investment ecosystem that prioritizes diversity, equity, and inclusion.

The Investor Activation Program program is free to join and open to accredited investors; sign up here, and please share the link with investors in your network!

As always, thank you for your commitment to climate action!

Warmly,
The Greentown Houston Team

Meet Our Newest Members

Element Resources is a project-development company focused on the production of 100 percent green hydrogen. The startup participated in Greentown Go Energize 2022 and is now rejoining the Greentown community!

Solidec’s patent-pending electrolyzer platform captures carbon and manufactures chemicals using only air, water, and renewable electricity—electrifying carbon capture and chemical production at substantially lower capital and energy costs.

Member Milestones

Syzygy Plasmonics announced that its light-powered reactor cell for industrial chemical reactions has met initial performance targets and is now available for order.
Boxes is partnering with IBM to integrate the IBM watsonx Assistant into Boxes’s devices, which combine physical and digital technology to democratize convenient, space-efficient, affordable, and sustainable retail.
CeraPhi Energy acquired former fracking company Third Energy Limited, with plans to repurpose the existing wells into clean geothermal energy centers.
FluxWorks received the Technology in Space Prize, funded by Boeing and the Center for the Advancement of Science in Space, which manages the International Space Station.
Fervo Energy released results from its Cape Station project that exceed the U.S. Department of Energy’s expectations for enhanced geothermal, demonstrating increased drilling efficiency and significant cost savings via a 70 percent reduction in drilling time.
DrinKicks won the NFL Players Association Pitch Day and will receive $25k in NFLPA marketing consultation, services, and player activations.
Terrapin Geothermics announced a merger with TerraScale to "enhance green infrastructure and renewable power development capabilities." The new entity will be called Climate Transition Development Corporation.
Several Greentown members and alumni received vouchers from the Department of Energy, including AeroShield, Air Company, Capwell, e-Zinc, Ebb Carbon, Lydian, Optigon, Syzygy Plasmonics, and Verne.
EarthEn won the 2024 Deep Tech Climate Startup Challenge at CES.
Alma Energy Founder Hermann Lebit received a Hill Prize for developing clean, emission-free direct lithium extraction using geothermal energy.

Startup Spotlight

EarthEn's efficient, cost-effective CO₂battery system can store energy for four to 100 hours, has a lifespan of 30 years, and isn’t prone to battery fires or explosions. Learn more about the startup and its thermo-mechanical energy-storage system!

Mark Your Calendars for These Upcoming Events

Feb. 20-22: ADI Forum [Ecosystem Event]
Catch energy-transition trailblazers at the ADI Forum, a high-level platform for leaders across the energy transition, chemicals, and oil & gas sectors to meet, share insights, and strategize on the most pressing issues facing their industries.

Feb. 27: Empowerment Through Investment [Greentown Houston]
Join this Black History Month event with The Ion and Greentown, which will feature a panel of Black climatetech investors and information on our new Houston Ion District Investor Activation Program for angel and early-stage investors.

Feb. 29: H-Town Roundup 2024: Climatetech and Energy Transition Session [Greentown Houston]
We’re excited to host this H-Town Roundup session, featuring workshops, a panel on carbon-capture technologies, a fireside chat between the Greater Houston Partnership’s Jane Stricker and our Houston General Manager and SVP Timmeko Moore Love, networking, and more.

March 20: Transition On Tap [Greentown Houston]
If you’re attending CERAWeek, join us at Greentown Houston for our signature Transition On Tap networking event, sponsored by Baker Botts!

March 20: TEX-E Prize Pitch Competition [Ecosystem Event]
Have a CERAWeek Agora pass? Watch student entrepreneurs compete for $50k in cash prizes at the TEX-E Prize’s pitch competition, a partnership among the Texas Entrepreneurship Exchange for Energy (TEX-E), the Houston Energy Transition Initiative (HETI), and the Rice Alliance for Technology and Entrepreneurship.

March 20: CERAWeek Panel: How Universities and Incubators Provide Early-stage Support for Startups [Ecosystem Event]
We’re excited to have Greentown’s CEO Kevin Knobloch speak on this CERAWeek panel—please join us for this session, and catch our team and startups throughout the conference!

March 27: Accelerating Net-Zero Solutions: CCUS Innovation and Startup Showcase [Greentown Houston]
Watch the Go Make 2023 cohort pitch their innovations in carbon utilization, storage, and traceability; hear about their work with Shell throughout the startup-corporate-partnerships accelerator; and learn from CCUS industry experts.

April 23-25: EarthX’s E-Capital Summit [Ecosystem Event]
The EarthX annual E-Capital Summit is an invitation-only conference that has convened, inspired, and catalyzed action from thousands of investment firms, early- to late-stage innovators, established global companies, industry thought leaders, national policymakers, incubators and accelerators, and researchers. We're excited to have our Houston General Manager and SVP Timmeko Moore Love speak at this year's summit!

Sept. 9-13: Houston Energy and Climate Startup Week [Ecosystem Event]
Greentown, Halliburton Labs, and The Rice Alliance for Technology and Entrepreneurship are joining forces to launch the inaugural Houston Climate and Energy Startup Week 2024! The week will bring together energy and climate investors, industry leaders, and startups from across the globe to showcase and discuss the most innovative and promising companies and technologies that are transforming the energy industry and driving a sustainable, low-carbon energy future.

Greentown is Hiring!

Vice President of Philanthropy (Houston, TX or Boston, MA)

Thank You to Our Founding + Grand Opening Partners 🌎

Announcing the Houston Ion District Investor Activation Program

From The Ecosystem

Announcing the Houston Ion District Investor Activation Program