The winter storm that assaulted Texas last month was unprecedented, forcing nearly 4 million Texans to go without power while temperatures plunged to the single-digits. When the power came back on, the destruction to lives and property was widespread, causing several adjusters to compare the event to a major hurricane hitting every major town in Texas on the same day.

As a result of the storm, there was an immediate and significant uptick in demand for funding from companies of all sizes in general, but particularly in the energy space, say Laina Hammond, an investment manager and head of the Houston office at Validity Finance, and Sarah Williams, a portfolio counsel at Validity Finance.