CLASS 2 | 2022
Meet the 17 Companies Accelerating the Energy Transition in Class 2
The Rice Alliance Clean Energy Accelerator supports the success of emerging, tech-enabled ventures who are advancing decarbonization solutions and efficiency strategies that accelerate the transition to a clean energy economy. Read more about our founding story.
The 2022 application season sought early to mid-stage startups looking to advance technology and product development and to scale their companies and with an interest in leveraging the Houston market. The startups in Class 2, selected from an impressive pool of global applicants, are located in seven states and four countries.
Collectively, these companies are driving innovation in Advanced Materials, Digital Technology for Energy, Energy Efficiency, Energy Storage, Geothermal Energy, Hydrogen, Waste Heat to Power, Wave Energy and Wind Energy. While a key goal is to prepare companies to raise funding necessary for growth, ventures enter the accelerator having already raised a collective $54.5+ million.
CLASS 2 CELEBRATIONS
- LiNa Energy closes £3M late seed funding round.
- FuelX awarded $1.7M Army SBIR for development of Carbon-Free Soldier Power Generator.
- Eden GeoPower secures a pilot with Petroleum Development Oman.
- Nobel Works,signs a strategic agreementwith R3 Aerospace.
- NanoTech appointed Carrie Horazeck as Chief Commercial Officer.
- Quino Energy raises a total of $4.55M.
- CLS Wind selected as one of 11 companies to participate in DEP's Energy Starter program.
- Fuel X, Quino Energy and LiNa Energy were finalist in Halliburton Labs pitch day.
2022 COMPANIES
THE SELECTION PROCESS AND CRITERIA
The Rice Alliance Clean Energy Accelerator is best suited for seed stage to series A that have demonstrated feasibility of their technology/solution and are looking to scale or refine (on a Technology Readiness Level assessment, this would equate to Levels 3 to 7). The technology or innovation should serve one or more of our industry sectors. All of our startups include at least two active founders or co-founders, and while were looking for early-stage companies, startups needed to be officially registered or legally incorporated as a business.
Startups were selected based on our expertise and ability to support their needs and the following criteria:
- Innovation - is the technology scalable? Does it demonstrate promise for a sustainable competitive advantage? Having a prototype is very important and will be heavily considered in the evaluation process.
- Market - is the potential market size large enough for sustained business growth, and aligned with the expectations of possible funding sources?
- Strategy - Do you have quantifiable value propositions and a sound business model?
- Viability/Validation - Have you demonstrated your technology or ability to raise funding?
- Capability - Does the team have the ability to deliver on the identified opportunity? Have gaps been clearly identified? Do the founder's perceived needs align with CEA offerings?
The Rice Alliance Clean Energy Accelerator is for early-stage startups that contribute to significant energy efficiency improvements, are developing energy derived from renewable, zero-emissions sources or are curbing the environmental impact of all types of energy production, distribution or usage, or enabling progress toward net zero carbon.
- Phase I: Screening - a panel of industry experts evaluated the merits and commercial promise of each applicant company and made recommendations to accelerator leadership and XiRs.
- Phase II: Interviewing - companies advancing to this phase were invited to participate in a required team interview (virtual) conducted by accelerator leadership and XiRs.
- Phase III: Onboarding - accepted companies received an invitation roughly seven weeks from the application closing date. We had a 100% acceptance rate for Class 2.
TO STAY UPDATED WITH CLASS 2
CLASS 2 XiRs
The XiR supports clean energy companies through key milestone development and enables access across our network of advisors and service providers that enable progress toward commercialization. Each XiR had a "pod" of startups which the work with weekly. In addition, startups have access to nearly 70 mentors.