ONEOK, Microsoft invest in tech that sustainably promotes oil and gas energy security

(WO) – CruxOCM, a leader in co-pilot technology for control room operators, announced the closing of a $17 million Series A funding round. The round was led by M12 (Microsoft's Venture Fund), with participation from new investors, including ONEOK, Raven Indigenous Capital Partners and EIC Rose Rock Fund and with continued support from existing investors Angular Ventures, Bullpen Capital, Root Ventures, Industry Ventures, Cendana Capital, Pipeline Capital Partners, and Golden Ventures.

This funding brings CruxOCM's total capital raised to $27 million and will be used to fuel innovation and deliver greater value to its energy industry clients.

"This investment from leading industry VCs empowers us to bring co-pilot to even more control rooms across the energy sector," said Vicki Knott, Co-founder, and CEO of CruxOCM. "Our mission is to empower control room operators and ensure the streamlined and safe operation of the essential energy infrastructure we rely on every day."

The energy sector faces complex challenges with ever increasing global demands, and CruxOCM's solutions are designed to address them head-on. By enabling "adaptive cruise-control" functionality for control room operators in critical industrial control centers, CruxOCM is transforming how the energy sector operates.

Their co-pilot platform delivers real-time automation, optimization, and real-time data connectivity for business decisions, leading to increased top line revenue generation, productivity, safety, and consistency.

"M12 is excited to back CruxOCM's mission to equip energy industry control room operators with advanced tools," stated Michelle Gonzalez, Corporate Vice President, and Global Head at M12, Microsoft's Venture Fund.

"Their innovative technology is set to disrupt the energy sector, enhancing efficiency and safety by providing operators with co-pilot capabilities. This is crucial for our critical energy infrastructure. We look forward to supporting CruxOCM's growth and seeing their impact on the energy industry."

"ONEOK is excited to invest in CruxOCM to help support their continued development," said Greg Lusardi, ONEOK Senior Vice President, Corporate Development. "CruxOCM's technology would support our core businesses by offering our control room operators enhanced capabilities for their critical jobs. We see numerous use cases for the technology and believe it can benefit our assets, operations, customers, employees, and the communities in which we operate."

"We are excited to join M12 and ONEOK in this investment to continue delivering innovation and value to our corporate partners. This investment will enable Crux to scale and deploy this world-class technology to maximize the existing pipeline assets that are not only crucial to Oklahoma's energy infrastructure but also our ability to deliver the secure, reliable, and affordable energy that drives the American economy while minimizing environmental impact," said David Clouse, Managing Director of the EIC Rose Rock fund.