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Dear Friends of Greentown Houston,

As Greentown Houston moves forward with its commitment to growing the regional climatetech ecosystem—which is seeing incredible momentum, including $6.1B in new investing—we are extremely thrilled to welcome two new leaders who will help Greentown maximize our impact and fulfill our mission.

Last week, we announced Greentown Labs’ next Chief Executive Officer, Kevin Knobloch! Kevin has held leadership roles at a myriad of organizations focused on climatetech and clean energy, including the U.S. Department of Energy, the Union of Concerned Scientists, OceanGrid LLC, and most recently, Knobloch Energy. We’re excited for Kevin to leverage his extensive knowledge of established and breakthrough energy technologies, clean energy business development, and climate policy as he charts Greentown’s next chapter of growth; read more in InnovationMap.

It’s been a busy month, as we also announced a first-ever leadership post at our Houston incubator, welcoming Timmeko Moore Love—a proven leader of venture capital and accelerator programs with a background in engineering—as our Houston General Manager and Senior Vice President! We are excited to have Timmeko at the helm of our work in the energy capital of the world, where she will lead Greentown Houston’s business operations and growing team and build on our current membership base of 75+ startups. Check out more in EnergyCapitalHTX!

This summer, we’ve also continued efforts to bring our member companies access to not only a growing list of investors and other member companies, but also corporate partners, grantmakers, and government agencies. Recent visits to Greentown Houston have included stops by Deputy Secretary of the Treasury Wally Adeyemo and representatives from our partner Acario Innovation, as well as networking opportunities such as our monthly Transition On Tap event, which saw another incredible turnout in August.

We know it’s critical for folks from across the energy transition ecosystem to connect and collaborate, and that’s why we’ve got a full lineup of fall events. We’ll kick things off with a great Investor Speaker Series panel focused on angel investors who prioritize identity-centric investing. And, a few weeks later, the ACCEL showcase will feature six BIPOC-led startups that are part of this year’s inaugural accelerator cohort.

Plenty more is in store later on for our events programming, as we create the space to strengthen connections in our startup community and help pave the way toward a future powered by climatetech innovators and entrepreneurs. We hope you can make it to one of our next events!

Do you know of a colleague or fellow climate champion who'd benefit from reading this newsletter? Forward this message to them, and let them know they can subscribe here!

Warmly,

The Greentown Houston Team

Meet Our Newest Member

Capwell is a methane-capture company that works with abandoned oil wells to capture methane using a fast, inexpensive, and versatile solution to provide immediate methane abatement to wells where plugging will not take place for years or decades.

Member Milestones

CalWave is working on a pilot to install its technology that converts wave energy into electricity at a wave energy test site in Oregon.
Fervo Energy’s geothermal-generated power technology was successfully piloted in a project for Google, and its CEO Tim Latimer was featured by InnovationMap as an innovator to know.
Moonshot Compost has partnered with Baylor University to divert food waste in Waco, Texas.
Greentown alum Renewell, whose technology repurposes existing oil and gas wells and converts them into renewable energy storage, won $40K at the U.S. Department of Energy’s EPIC Pitch Competition. Renewell and Carbon to Value Initiative Year 3 participant Capture6 were also selected for startup accelerator Third Derivative.
Varea Energy announced a $500,000 pre-seed funding round for its technology that involves deploying modular hydrogen fuel stations.
WIP International Services has contracted with schools in El Salvador to pilot a smaller version of its atmospheric water generators.

Startup Spotlight

Helix Earth Technologies is developing air-conditioning technology that could cut today’s global CO2 emissions by two percent while saving $100B in annual energy costs. Its founder and CEO Rawand Rasheed was recently accepted into Chain Reaction Innovations' Cohort 7, a program under the U.S. Department of Energy.

What Do You Want to See in Greentown Houston's Wet Lab?

As we continue charting the operational needs for our future Houston wet lab, we still need your input!

Our experience building a wet lab at our Boston incubator five years ago yielded an impactful innovation space for many cutting-edge startups, but part of what makes Greentown unique is that we build our programs, offerings—and of course our facilities!—based on feedback from our startups, partners, and friends in the climatetech ecosystem. So with that, if you’re an entrepreneur or innovator who could benefit from a wet lab, please let us know what you’d like to see in there. What would help advance your technology? Dedicated fume hoods? Reverse osmosis deionized water? Hazardous waste management? What resources would you benefit from?

And if you represent a corporation or supplier that might be interested in supporting our wet lab, please don’t hesitate to reach out! This wet lab is being built in partnership with Ion District, Rice Management Company, Shell, and others.

Mark Your Calendar for These Upcoming Events

Aug. 22: Greentown Houston + MCJ Meetup [Ecosystem Event]
Houston climatetech innovators are invited to this event for founder-curious people, early-stage founders/founding teams, investors, and ecosystem partners.

Aug. 23: Investor Speaker Series: Celebrating Identity in Angel Investing [Greentown Houston]
At our next Investor Speaker Series event, we’re celebrating efforts to create an equitable fundraising landscape. Representatives from several angel networks and other investing groups that prioritize and celebrate founders’ unique identities will join us for this special event to share their insights and perspectives.

Sept. 7: Venture Houston 2023 [Ecosystem Event]
Join HX Venture Fund for this event to learn how you can decarbonize in a digital world; connect with Houston's best founders, corporate leaders, and top-tier investors; and develop meaningful relationships across the ecosystem, featuring a panel with our Chief Development and Investment Officer Juliana Garaizar. Use code VH-JulianaGaraizar for 10% off your ticket!

Sept. 12: ACCEL Showcase [Greentown Houston]
You don’t want to miss the showcase for ACCEL, an accelerator program for BIPOC-led startups from Greentown and Browning the Green Space! Join the inaugural ACCEL cohort to learn about their technologies, what they’ve accomplished in the first six months of the program, and where they’re headed next.

Sept. 15: Ion District Career Fair and Company Expo [Ecosystem Event]
Greentown is thrilled to partner with The Ion and Capital Factory on this year’s Ion District Career Fair!. What better way to connect with the climatetech ecosystem than by exploring job and internship opportunities and meeting the tech innovators behind some of the area's most exciting new companies?

Oct. 5: Houston CDR Happy Hour [Greentown Houston]
We’re bringing together the growing carbon management community in Houston with this happy hour featuring startups from the Carbon to Value Initiative’s Year 3 Cohort. Connect with our community of climatetech startups and partners over snacks and drinks!

Nov. 1: Climatetech Summit [Greentown Houston]
Just announced: the Climatetech Summit 2023 Houston agenda!
For our biggest event of the year, we’re inviting you, your colleagues, and all the climate champions in your life into our Houston, TX and Boston, MA incubators for a day of hands-on exploration with our 200+ startups and their climatetech solutions; keynotes and sessions featuring leaders across climatetech, finance, policy, and justice; and networking with industry trailblazers.

Open Applications

TEX-E Bootcamp for Climatetech Entrepreneurship 2023: Students, faculty, and staff from Texas universities: apply by Aug. 27! Join instructors from MIT’s groundbreaking Climate & Energy Ventures Course and faculty from multiple Texas universities who will offer a collaborative deep dive into energy innovation and entrepreneurship.

Greentown Go Build 2023: This program with Saint-Gobain is accepting applications through Aug. 31! Go Build 2023 will focus on enabling circularity and decarbonizing the built environment by revolutionizing buildings, old and new. We’re seeking applications from innovative startups at TRL 3 and above developing innovations to extend product life cycles, alternative raw materials, and enabling technologies for waste revalorization; see the full request for applications here.

Thank You to Our Founding + Grand Opening Partners 🌎

Welcoming Two New Greentown Labs Leaders

From The Ecosystem

Welcoming Two New Greentown Labs Leaders