An oilfield is an expensive place to discover that your assumptions were wrong. Rock Flow Dynamics gives engineers a shared modelling workspace to test them before the drilling starts.
Oil and gas runs on forecasts. ComboCurve built a business around the hours lost getting those forecasts into a form everyone can use.
A Shell spinout is betting that a better electric cable can coax more oil from stubborn wells. The clever part is removing the little connections that used to ruin the whole proposition.