Participated · Seed · Jul 2026

Shower Stream builds a smart shower system designed for hotels to reduce water and energy waste while maintaining the guest experience. Its solution is intended to operate without requiring guests to change their behavior. The company has been deploying the technology commercially and is expanding those deployments. Shower Stream plans to use the new seed funding to grow its team and to continue improving its technology. The company’s fundraising and progress were featured in Hospitality Technology.

Participated · Seed · Jul 2025

Solidec's platform uses modular reactors to produce commodity chemicals on-site—including hydrogen peroxide, formic acid, acetic acid, and ethylene—without post-processing. The company is initially focused on hydrogen peroxide, a widely used chemical across semiconductor fabrication, mining, and wastewater treatment. Solidec positions its technology as a replacement for centralized, energy-intensive chemical manufacturing to slash emissions, supply-chain risk, and cost. The company has secured early commercial customers and plans to accelerate go-to-market through pilot deployments and scaling to meet customer-specific needs. Solidec raised an oversubscribed $2+ million pre-seed round to fund these efforts. The company spun out of Professor Haotian Wang's lab at Rice University in 2024 and is based in Houston, Texas; it is an Activate Fellowship recipient, a Chevron Catalyst Program graduate, and a member of Greentown Labs Houston.

Participated · Seed · Nov 2024

Helix Earth Technologies, founded in 2022 and spun out of Rice University, builds hardware rooted in proprietary liquid-gas chemistry and aerospace technology co-invented at NASA to address energy efficiency and humidity control in commercial HVAC and adjacent markets. The company is developing a retrofit add-on that separates temperature management from moisture control and targets a large portion of the estimated $150 billion commercial air conditioning market. Helix has been incubated at Greentown Labs since 2023 and has received a Phase II SBIR from the NSF plus grants from the U.S. Department of Energy. With $12 million raised in an oversubscribed Seed 2 round led by Veriten, Helix plans to scale manufacturing and accelerate deployment of its first product. The company has attracted industry attention and awards, including Cleantech 50 to Watch and first place in the 2025 SXSW Pitch competition, positioning it to pursue broader industrial filtration and CO2 capture opportunities.