Ahead of Houston Energy & Climate Startup Week, we’re continuing our conversations with the people shaping Houston’s energy startup ecosystem. We interviewed Dr. Laureen Meroueh, founder and CEO of Hertha Metals, the company that is on track to become the first domestic producer of high-purity iron for rare earth magnets and is currently breaking ground on a commercial plant in Conroe. Where John Jeffers gave us the mentor’s view, Kathy Anderson the founder finding her footing, Meroueh brings the industrial founder’s perspective on support systems and why re-industrialisation has to be rooted in cost, not green premiums.

Take us back to what the early days of Hertha Metals look like?

I brought us here in 2023, and we needed to find a location. It was taking longer than expected, but I couldn’t wait to start testing, so I moved into TXRX. They gave me a corner in one of their buildings which had almost no AC and I got to work on the couch with two cats. It was a very humbling experience, but also a very telling one about how Houston works, because most places would require you to go through months of permitting before you could even begin testing. TXRX understood the technology, understood the hazards, and was flexible enough to let us get started, and that made all the difference. 

From a corner with cats to a pilot plant. How did that transition actually happen?

There are so many support systems you don’t realise until you look back on it. The Conroe Economic Development Council helped us navigate permitting and get the power infrastructure we needed at the site, which was critical. And then we hit what I can only describe as an insane problem: we were told the transformer at our site had a certain capacity, we move in, and come to find out it’s a lot less than what I need. Back in 2023, new transformers had an 18-month lead time, so we were very frantic trying to figure out how to solve this without losing our entire timeline. Entergy, our power company, really rallied behind us and managed to get a refurbished transformer in place, and for a power company to move that fast for a small pilot that isn’t even a major consumer yet, when they didn’t have to, that was really amazing and I’m very grateful for it. And Entergy, if you’re listening, you can give us a discount, please, because the prices are going up.

That is a very different startup support story than what we have heard in other interviews.

We’ve had a maker-space let us test in a corner, a power company rush a transformer, Congressman Luttrell advocate for us in Washington about the need for iron and steel innovation domestically, and local officials clear the path on permitting. It really takes a village. These have all been different pockets of support, and every single one was critical to keeping us on track. And beyond the direct support, just knowing that there are others here also doing the really hard things helps you keep the motivation to keep going, because I’m not the only one trying to take on Goliath.

How have Ion and the broader Rice Alliance network played into things?

First, they gave us a voice. I spent six years in Boston and Cambridge at MIT, so I had a well-established network there, but here I was starting completely fresh. Greentown Labs put us on stage even though we weren’t working out of their space, and that visibility mattered enormously when we were new and unknown in this city.

Second is how Ion is a form of market intelligence in itself.  When you notice who’s showing up and who’s not, and when they’re showing up and when they’re not. That gives you an insight into the macro of what’s happening across industry, which corporates are leaning in, which CVCs are active, where the winds are changing. I think founders underestimate how much you can learn just by paying attention to who’s in the room.

I also have to mention the value of the entrepreneurial workshops the Ion hosts. I’ll speak there and give a lesson on something, and I know that’s creating value for other founders coming up behind me, and that matters to me because this ecosystem only works if people keep investing in the next generation of builders.

What’s the defining challenge and opportunity for the next generation of energy founders?

Data centre build-out in Texas is fragmenting the grid into local markets, and heavy industry competes for those same electrons. I’m trying to get the same electrons that the data centers are trying to get, and now, with data centres moving towards natural gas-powered turbines for their own power production, I’m also competing for the same molecules. The producers who use less power or can flex around peak pricing are going to pull ahead, and what’s interesting is how fast the framing has shifted: two years ago, the conversation was about flexing around intermittency from renewables, and now it’s flexing around data centers. There’s always something you know in this industry.

The opportunity is re-industrialisation. Iron and steel should not have been at the bottom of a list or an afterthought for so many years, especially when we’re the largest importer of steel in the world. We do a great job recycling our scrap steel, but you cannot make all steel from scrap; you have to make some from ore. Hertha Metals is going to be the first domestic producer of the iron that goes into rare earth magnets, and here’s what a lot of people don’t know: 70% of those magnets is the iron, not the rare earths. We’re breaking ground on a commercial plant right next to our pilot in Conroe, forming what will be the country’s first modern iron and steel innovation complex.

The next generation of founders really needs to internalize that you have to root sustainability in cost reduction, not in premiums. Climate tech 2.0 was very much centered around green premiums and carbon taxes, but we all know that commodities are driven by cost. If you don’t build something that is cost competitive, it doesn’t matter how sustainable it is, because eventually the market will tell you that.

What made you choose Houston?

I had a very clear set of criteria, and I went through them methodically. One: where is there operational labour talent? I found that the oil and gas operators here were incredibly multi-skilled, particularly those who worked on offshore drilling rigs.

Two: where is energy made? Our process needs both power and natural gas, and Texas is the hub for both.

Three: where is there an entrepreneurial ecosystem for what we’re building? Silicon Valley is where they all go for software and AI because there is that village, and I see Houston as the centre for industrial startup companies.

And four: permitting speed, which turned out to be a make-or-break factor. I cannot wait three years to get permitted for a pilot plant. My startup will be dead by then.

Were you aware of Houston’s ecosystem before you came, and what do you think it takes for founders like you to find out?

It was actually my husband, Trevor, at Syzygy Plasmonics, who told me how great Houston is, and without that conversation, I wouldn’t have really known. But now that we have Houston Energy and Climate Startup Week, that’s no longer how founders have to find out. It puts Houston in the conversation on a global stage and tells the rest of the country that this is where you come to build energy and industrial hard tech.

This is the third year of HECSW for me, and I hope it reinforces the collaborative culture that makes this ecosystem work in the first place, because it is that collaboration amongst founders, investors, utilities, and government officials that attracts the talent. In an industry as challenging as ours- and it is one of the most challenging but most essential- we need everyone moving in the same direction, and a week like this is how you build that shared momentum.

Bio: Dr. Laureen Meroueh is the founder and CEO of Hertha Metals, headquartered in Conroe, Texas. She holds dual bachelor’s degrees in civil and mechanical engineering from the University of Florida and a master’s and PhD from MIT, and has spent nearly two decades innovating in industrial technology.

Houston Energy & Climate Startup Week runs September 14–18, 2026, bringing together energy and climate startups, investors, and industry leaders from across the region and beyond. Stay tuned on Instagram and Linkedin for event updates.