Sidd Gupta used to lie awake at night wondering how he would get his technology, which he describes as Alexa for the energy sector, into the hands of an oil and gas company. He needed feedback and money to expand his startup.

“With us being in Texas, the venture capital market is sort of conservative compared to California or New York,” said Gupta, co-founder and CEO of Nesh. “They want to see hard numbers rather than just the promise of the technology.”

A Houston-based company that launched last week, Eunike Ventures, is helping him with both of his needs. Eunike, pronounced “unique,” aids startups in testing their technology with exploration and production companies Anadarko Petroleum Corp., Equinor and Hess Corp. It plans to add two more companies this year.