History
How It Started
Houston has become the hub for startups and companies scaling the technologies transforming the energy industry and advancing a sustainable, low-carbon future. Throughout the year, Houston’s anchor organizations were already bringing that community together, each hosting their own flagship event and drawing investors, startups, and energy enthusiasts back to the city time and again.
In 2023 came the tipping point. Several of these events began landing on the same day, and even the same week, as other cities’ energy weeks. Rather than compete for the same window on the calendar, the anchor organizers came together to ask a simple question: can the whole be greater than the sum of its parts?
That answer became Houston Energy and Climate Startup Week: one coordinated destination week, unifying the city’s flagship energy and climate startup events to showcase what Houston has to offer. A week designated to build on the momentum already present in the the city, providing a platform for groundbreaking technologies and innovations to be seen.
Founding Anchor Organizations
Founding Champion
Houston Energy and Climate Startup Week would not have happened without Scott Gale’s passion, vision and innate ability to bring together the people, ideas and community that launched the inaugural week. The teams at Houston Energy and Climate Startup Week recognize Scott’s leadership in building this initiative and are honored to continue championing his legacy through the week’s efforts.
Learn more about his impact by listening to the Rice Business tribute and read about his Innovation Map Trailblazer award.
Inaugural Year – 2024
The inaugural week ran September 9–13, 2024, featuring over 30 events, 100+ speakers, and 125+ startups, drawing more than 1,400 attendees across the week’s anchor events. Additional events were independently organized throughout Houston’s ecosystem, adding even more energy to the week.
Partners: Activate, Digital Wildcatters, Greentown Labs, Halliburton Labs, Houston Energy Transition Initiative, ION, Rice Alliance
The week opened with a kickoff event, featuring fireside chats with Houston founders from Solugen, Cemvita, Kanin Energy, and Syzygy. Signature keynotes included Halliburton Labs’ Pitch Day conversation with Reginald Desroches and Walter Isaacson, and the Rice Alliance Energy Tech Venture Forum with David Baldwin and Rachel Slaybaugh.
2025
Year Two ran September 15–19, 2025, drawing 30+ events, 145+ speakers, 289 startups, and 3,900+ global attendees. It put Houston’s unmatched innovation ecosystem into action, showcasing the depth and momentum the city has built since Year One.
Partners: Activate, Collide, Greentown Labs, Halliburton Labs, Houston Energy Transition Initiative, ION, Rice Alliance, TEX-E
The week kicked off with a panel conversation featuring leaders from TEX-E, Greentown Labs, Energy Tech Nexus, Activate, and Avatar Innovations. Signature keynotes included Halliburton Labs’ Pitch Day conversation with Maynard Holt and Kay Bailey Hutchison, and the Rice Alliance Energy Tech Venture Forum with Arjun Murti and Susan Schofer.
Houston’s Impact
Houston’s energy and climate innovation ecosystem isn’t just active, it’s investable. The city is home to 350+ cleantech and climatetech startups, backed by 147 venture capital and private equity investors based in Houston and a broader pool of 1,026 VC, private equity, and institutional investors who have put capital into Houston cleantech and climatetech companies. In 2025 alone, that translated to $614M in venture capital investment and 12 successful exits.
That capital is matched by infrastructure. Houston hosts 22 energy R&D centers, 23 corporate venture capital firms, and 30+ incubators, accelerators, and startup programs built specifically for cleantech and climatetech founders — part of a citywide network of 200+ incubators, accelerators, makerspaces, and coworking spaces supporting tech startups more broadly.
Behind all of it is a workforce built for this moment: 7,832 tech-related firms employing a net tech workforce of 154,905 across the region.
Data courtesy of the Greater Houston Partnership.
Why Houston?
Houston sits at an intersection no other energy hub can claim: the infrastructure, capital, and technical talent of the world’s legacy energy industry, layered with a fast-growing bench of climate tech founders and investors building what comes next. That’s not a coincidence. It’s the same pipelines, project-finance expertise, and industrial engineering talent that built the energy capital of the world, now being directed at the energy transition.
That’s why Houston is positioned to lead the energy transition, not just follow it. The city isn’t choosing between legacy energy and clean energy. It’s the place where both are being built together, backed by decades of infrastructure and expertise that most cities are still trying to build from scratch.
Houston Is Where It’s Happening
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