Somewhere in the oil patch, gas that could power a city burns off into the night sky. Across industrial corridors, smokestacks release carbon dioxide that existing technology still struggles to intercept at scale. And in remote communities, reliable electricity remains a problem that conventional grids have never quite solved.
Five startups have each spent years working on one of these problems — flare gas, carbon storage, produced water, point-source emissions, modular nuclear. Now, despite targeting entirely different corners of the energy challenge, they’ve all ended up in the same place at the same time.
Five very different problems, one shared address
That shared place is Halliburton Labs, the Houston-based accelerator that announced its latest cohort on December 18, 2024. The program functions as a collaborative environment where entrepreneurs gain access to Halliburton’s facilities, global business network, commercialization expertise, and financing opportunities. The stated goal is direct: help early-stage companies use their time and capital efficiently to move from promising technology toward actual deployment.
What makes this particular intake stand out is the sheer breadth of what it covers — flare gas monetization, subsurface carbon storage, produced-water mineral recovery, point-source carbon capture, and modular nuclear fission. These aren’t adjacent problems. They span upstream oil and gas, industrial decarbonization, water management, and power generation. Yet every company arrived at the same conclusion: scaling deep-tech energy requires more than good science.
Turning wasted gas into data center fuel
360 Energy is going after one of the oil patch’s most visible inefficiencies. Its In-Field Computing technology captures flared or stranded natural gas at oil fields and routes it to modular, on-site data centers — converting waste into a productive energy input rather than a plume of combustion byproduct.
The dual benefit is what makes the model work. Upstream producers reduce their flaring emissions while simultaneously unlocking a new revenue stream from gas that would otherwise have no market value at that location. “Upstream producers are eager for a real alternative to flaring,” said Chris Alfano, founder and CEO of 360 Energy. “Our In-Field Computing technology reduces flaring and unlocks new revenue from natural gas.”
Locking carbon underground — and pulling minerals from wastewater
Cella takes a subsurface approach to carbon storage, offering end-to-end services running from resource assessment through proprietary injection technology and ongoing monitoring. Its scientific team draws on expertise in carbon mineralization in basalt formations — a method that converts injected CO₂ into stable minerals rather than simply holding it as a gas underground. The company’s near-term focus is building its first field-scale pilot to demonstrate the approach at operational scale.
Espiku works on a different kind of industrial waste stream: brines and produced water generated by energy operations. Its systems use low-pressure thermal cycles and a modular design to recover both clean water and valuable minerals, supporting domestic energy and materials supply chains rather than treating disposal as the only option.
Both companies reflect a broader shift in how the industry thinks about byproducts. The question is no longer just how to manage waste responsibly — it’s how to extract value from it.
Capturing 95% of smokestack carbon — and rethinking the nuclear reactor
Mitico’s technology targets the moment carbon leaves a smokestack. Its patent-pending granulated metal carbonate sorption technology — known as GMC and originally developed and validated at Caltech — captures more than 95% of CO₂ from post-combustion flue gases. The technology applies to gas-fired power plants, boilers, waste-to-energy facilities, and biomass-to-energy operations, covering a wide range of point sources that have historically been difficult to address at low cost.
NuCube Energy is working at a different scale entirely. Its modular microreactor produces both electricity and high-temperature heat, with output reaching up to 1,100°C for industrial applications. The design centers on enhanced safety and lower construction and operational costs compared to conventional nuclear builds. “The modular microreactor provides a novel solution to this complex problem,” said Cristian Rabiti, co-founder and CEO of NuCube Energy — framing it as a cost-competitive path for industries trying to meet decarbonization goals without sacrificing reliability.
What the accelerator model means for scaling deep-tech energy
Deep-tech energy startups face a well-documented gap between laboratory validation and commercial deployment. Pilot projects are expensive, supply chains for novel components don’t yet exist, and potential customers tend to be cautious when evaluating unproven technology. Access to an incumbent’s operational infrastructure, practitioner knowledge, and existing customer relationships can meaningfully compress that timeline — and that’s precisely what Halliburton Labs offers.
The program’s next public milestone is a Finalists Pitch Day in Denver on March 26, 2025, scheduled ahead of the opening of the 30th annual NREL Industry Growth Forum. The event signals that Halliburton Labs sees its role as part of a wider ecosystem — connecting startups not just to one corporation’s resources but to a broader community of investors and industry stakeholders.
For this cohort, the markers of success will be concrete: field-scale pilots for Cella, supply chain partnerships for Mitico, commercial deployments for 360 Energy, Espiku, and NuCube. The technologies exist. What the next few years will answer is whether the path from working prototype to operating asset can be navigated faster than it has been before.
