Houston — Andrew Douglass has voted in each election—from the high-profile presidential contests to more obscure local referendums and council races—since he was able to at age 18. Now he’s using his expertise as a freelance Web developer to make it easier for others to vote, too. “I’ve tried to be very civic minded,” he says. Douglass, … Continue reading “In Election Year, Houston Tech Ecosystem Works On Civic Engagement”
Author: Angela Shah
Angela Shah was formerly the editor of Xconomy Texas. She has written about startups along a wide entrepreneurial spectrum, from Silicon Valley transplants to Austin transforming a once-sleepy university town in the '90s tech boom to 20-something women defying cultural norms as they seek to build vital IT infrastructure in a war-torn Afghanistan. As a foreign correspondent based in Dubai, her work appeared in The New York Times, TIME, Newsweek/Daily Beast and Forbes Asia.
Before moving overseas, Shah was a staff writer and columnist with The Dallas Morning News and the Austin American-Statesman. She has a Bachelor's of Journalism from the University of Texas at Austin, and she is a 2007 Knight-Wallace Fellow at the University of Michigan. With the launch of Xconomy Texas, she's returned to her hometown of Houston.
Austin’s Lucid Aims to Make Artificial Intelligence More Human
Austin — Many of the advances in artificial intelligence have focused on the numbers, algorithms, and patterns that help computers to predict human behavior. An Austin, TX, company wants to connect that approach to one that uses more human-like reasoning, as well. “The ‘thinking like a human’ part is much more difficult to build,” says … Continue reading “Austin’s Lucid Aims to Make Artificial Intelligence More Human”
Digital Health, Mobility Startups Among Focus for Hatch Finalists
[Updated, 5:56 pm. See below] Austin — The organizers of the Hatch Pitch startup competition announced Thursday the finalists for this year’s contest to be held next month. [An earlier version of this paragraph mistakenly implied that the Hatch competition was part of this year’s South By Southwest festival. The competition is scheduled to take place at … Continue reading “Digital Health, Mobility Startups Among Focus for Hatch Finalists”
Austin Startup Vyopta Nets $5M Series A from AVX Partners
Austin, TX-based Vyopta, which provides a video conferencing system dashboard for businesses, has raised $5 million as the startup seeks to expand its reach. Vyopta helps businesses ranging from Stanford Health Care to the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs better manage the many Internet-enabled conference calls their employees participate each year. Ivan Montoya, Vyopta’s vice … Continue reading “Austin Startup Vyopta Nets $5M Series A from AVX Partners”
Tour of Texas: Cars, Insurance, E-commerce & Cloud Demo Day
Greetings, readers. We’re mixing up the usual rotation of roundup news to bring you an innovation “Tour of Texas”—stories on venture capital activity, startup re-branding, e-commerce, and a study of entrepreneurship—from around the state’s major metro areas. Austin: —The Zebra has set its sights on the murky confines of the insurance industry. Founder Adam Lyons … Continue reading “Tour of Texas: Cars, Insurance, E-commerce & Cloud Demo Day”
Dallas Fintech Firm StoneEagle Raises $76M for Payments System
Dallas — A Dallas area fintech company has raised $76 million from San Francisco-based venture firm FTV Capital. StoneEagle Services sells virtual “credit cards” for business-to-business payments to the healthcare and automotive industries, among others. The idea is to digitize traditional processes, such as insurance company payments to healthcare providers or reimbursements for automobile warranty claims. “If … Continue reading “Dallas Fintech Firm StoneEagle Raises $76M for Payments System”
Dallas E-commerce Startup FanPrint Connects Athletes to Fans
Dallas — Jerseys of professional athletes, the player’s number featured prominently on the back, are a staple in sports memorabilia. But a Dallas startup wants to make those shirts more personal for those who are wearing them. FanPrint, which was founded in 2012, uses social media to market sports-themed apparel. About 80 percent of its … Continue reading “Dallas E-commerce Startup FanPrint Connects Athletes to Fans”
The Zebra Aims to Help Consumers Navigate the Insurance Jungle
Austin — One of the biggest promises of the Internet is its ability to make clear obscure corners of the marketplace. The Zebra, an Austin, TX startup, has set its sights on the murky confines of the insurance industry. “From early on, the goal was the simplify insurance,” says Adam Lyons, Zebra’s founder and CEO. “I … Continue reading “The Zebra Aims to Help Consumers Navigate the Insurance Jungle”
Teaching Innovation: Rice Professor Reviews Accelerator Programs
Houston — Entrepreneurship is considered the fuel that drives economic growth. But what are the best ways to help entrepreneurs be more successful—and what are best practices for startup accelerator programs? Those are questions, among others, that Rice University professor Yael Hochberg wants to try to narrow down. She is investigating which parts of the educational … Continue reading “Teaching Innovation: Rice Professor Reviews Accelerator Programs”
Houston Healthcare Firm Medical Adhesive Revolution Is Now Adhesys
Houston — Executives at Houston’s Medical Adhesive Revolution have been focusing on developing wound-closure technology since the company first came to prominence following its win at the 2014 Rice Business Plan Competition. Since that time, company president Alexander Schueller and his management team have turned their attentions to softer yet important issues such as marketing and … Continue reading “Houston Healthcare Firm Medical Adhesive Revolution Is Now Adhesys”
Roundup: San Antonio Fund, Filamet Labs, 5miles, Decisio, BioHouston
Let’s catch up with the latest innovation news from Xconomy Texas. —Early stage San Antonio, TX, startups can again tap into funds provided by the Texas Research & Technology Foundation (TRTF). The McDermott Legacy Fund, which is managed by the foundation’s subsidiary, the Texas Technology Development Center, is reloading a seed fund it operates that … Continue reading “Roundup: San Antonio Fund, Filamet Labs, 5miles, Decisio, BioHouston”
E-commerce App 5miles Raises $30M, Plans Expansion Beyond Dallas
Dallas—The garage sale has gone mobile. 5miles, a year-old online marketplace, is based in China but has its U.S. headquarters in Dallas. Last week, it announced a Series B+ fundraising round of $30 million from IDG, Morningside, and individual investors in Alibaba, the Chinese e-commerce company, among others. The company raised a Series B round … Continue reading “E-commerce App 5miles Raises $30M, Plans Expansion Beyond Dallas”
Houston HealthIT Company Decisio Raises $2.1M in Funds, Adds Lawson to Board
Houston’s Decisio Health has raised $2.1 million as part of a $5 million fundraising round and added local healthcare entrepreneur Larry Lawson to its board of directors. The healthIT company makes software to create a critical care dashboard for ER and ICU staff. Among the investors are Lawson, who will help to ramp up Decisio’s sales efforts, … Continue reading “Houston HealthIT Company Decisio Raises $2.1M in Funds, Adds Lawson to Board”
BioHouston Honors Women Pioneers in Energy, Life Sciences, Space
There’s a lot of talk about ways to enlarge the ranks of women and girls who take an interest in STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Math). A number of organizations in Texas are attempting to tackle the issue by raising awareness, building STEM networks, and organizing events focused on investing, entrepreneurship, and team-building. For BioHouston leaders, … Continue reading “BioHouston Honors Women Pioneers in Energy, Life Sciences, Space”
Texas Roundup: Datical, CPRIT, Pivot3, SonarMed, TMCx, & CareAline
Let’s catch up with the latest innovation news from Xconomy Texas. —Datical, an Austin, TX-based startup that says it makes updating apps easier, has raised $8 million in a Series B round from investors such as S3 Ventures, Austin Ventures and Houston-based Mercury Fund. The company’s customers include GE Transportation and Fidelity Investments. —A University … Continue reading “Texas Roundup: Datical, CPRIT, Pivot3, SonarMed, TMCx, & CareAline”
Texas Cancer Agency Names James Willson Top Science Officer
The Cancer Prevention and Research Institute of Texas has a new chief scientific officer: James Willson. Willson comes from the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center and had also spent a decade as the director of the Case Comprehensive Cancer Center in Cleveland. I spoke with him this week as he prepares to move to … Continue reading “Texas Cancer Agency Names James Willson Top Science Officer”
FDA Gives Nod to SonarMed Device For Monitoring Newborns
Houston-area biotech SonarMed has received FDA clearance to sell its non-invasive medical device that can monitor, in real-time, endotracheal tube position in newborn babies—and help guard against suffocation. The company previously received regulatory approval for a version of the device used on adult patients since 2012. Executives didn’t disclose details on sales. “We wanted to … Continue reading “FDA Gives Nod to SonarMed Device For Monitoring Newborns”
UnLtd USA’s Third Social Venture Class Targets Education, Healthcare
Entrepreneurs in the Austin, TX-based UnLtd USA accelerator’s third startup class seek to have an impact around the globe. The five ventures aim to address underemployment in Haiti and Nepal, women’s economic empowerment in Mexico, and other issues that take their social enterprises far beyond the Texas state capital. Each project will receive $5,000 of … Continue reading “UnLtd USA’s Third Social Venture Class Targets Education, Healthcare”
Lucky 13: TMCx Accelerator Debuts Class of Digital Health Startups
The Texas Medical Center’s accelerator, TMCx, has announced its second group of startups, with 13 companies specializing in digital health. The cohort is the first of two classes TMCx plans to host this year. The health IT companies will be in the five-month program until June, and a second group of companies focusing on medical devices … Continue reading “Lucky 13: TMCx Accelerator Debuts Class of Digital Health Startups”
Texas Roundup: ATI, CPRIT, Techstars Austin, Mend, Epic Provisions
Happy Monday. Let’s catch up with the latest innovation news from Xconomy Texas. —Techstars Austin has a new face at the top. Amos Schwartzfarb, who founded BlackLocus and sold the company to Home Depot in 2012, is the three-year-old accelerator program’s latest managing director. Techstars Austin plans to announce its latest group of 10 startups … Continue reading “Texas Roundup: ATI, CPRIT, Techstars Austin, Mend, Epic Provisions”
Making Time to Think: Coffee Hours, Runs With Labs, & Disconnecting
Even as technology helps our lives—connecting us more closely to people across the globe, automating tasks to make life easier—we, as a society, still feel more harried than ever. We at Xconomy reached out to a select group of sources and advisors across our network (the Xconomists) to ask them a series of questions around … Continue reading “Making Time to Think: Coffee Hours, Runs With Labs, & Disconnecting”
Dallas’s Mend, Children’s Health Align to Expand Healthcare Access
Jonathan Clarke was a U.S. Navy surgeon and received much of his training in the unforgiving classroom of a battlefield. But it’s his memories watching his grandfather calling on patients in small-town East Texas that inspired his journey as an entrepreneur. “He would make house calls in the ’60s and ’70s,” Clarke recalls. “There are … Continue reading “Dallas’s Mend, Children’s Health Align to Expand Healthcare Access”
Dallas Entrepreneur Center Set to Franchise Startup ‘Blueprint’
Dallas Entrepreneur Center founder Trey Bowles has a quick metric he says shows how large the region’s technology and innovation community has grown. In 2013, he says, “We started the ‘State of Entrepreneurship’ event and we had 75 people. “We had 400 people in 2014 and 850 people attend this year.” The swell of interest … Continue reading “Dallas Entrepreneur Center Set to Franchise Startup ‘Blueprint’”
Texas Roundup: AT&T’s Foundry, Virtuix Omni, Silvercar, Innowatts, & CultureMap
Welcome to 2016 and our first roundup of Texas innovation news for the new year: —The Texas Medical Center has added another name to its list of innovation partners: AT&T. The telecommunications giant will open a research hub, called the Foundry, at the Houston campus to focus on “connected health.” AT&T also has a facility … Continue reading “Texas Roundup: AT&T’s Foundry, Virtuix Omni, Silvercar, Innowatts, & CultureMap”
AT&T’s Foundry to Open Skunkworks at Houston’s Texas Medical Center
The Texas Medical Center’s Innovation Institute has a new partner in building up its digital health ecosystem: AT&T. The global telecommunications giant will in February open its latest “Foundry” at the TMC campus, a skunkworks designed to boost health IT innovation. The facility will be the sixth one AT&T (NYSE: [[ticker:T]]) has in the country; … Continue reading “AT&T’s Foundry to Open Skunkworks at Houston’s Texas Medical Center”
Virtuix Omni Ships First Units, Plans Possible Crowdfunding Round
Virtuix Omni, the Houston-born virtual gaming company, has a special affinity for crowdfunding. On its way to its second appearance at the International Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas this week, founder and CEO Jan Goetgeluk says the company—now based in Austin, TX—is considering using newly passed Jobs Act investing rules to solicit money from … Continue reading “Virtuix Omni Ships First Units, Plans Possible Crowdfunding Round”
Texas 2015: Bio IPOs, Mark Cuban, Dell, & Startups in Wine, Aviation
[Corrected 1/07/16, 5:56 am. See below.] As 2015 draws to a close, let’s take a look back at the innovation stories our readers found most interesting. The list spans across the major metros of the state—Dallas, Houston, and Austin—and highlights themes that mark the signature of Texas’ rapidly growing technology communities. Money, money, money: It was … Continue reading “Texas 2015: Bio IPOs, Mark Cuban, Dell, & Startups in Wine, Aviation”
Smart Power: Houston’s Innowatts Connects Utilities & Clients
Houston’s Innowatts says it can help electric utilities find that perfect client. The startup’s software is deployed through smart meters installed by utilities. Data analytics helps those utilities figure out which clients use how much energy and when, enabling them to tailor the energy efficiency programs they offer customers. “We do predictive analysis on which … Continue reading “Smart Power: Houston’s Innowatts Connects Utilities & Clients”
Austin’s Trunkist Uses the Web to Offer Prêt-à-Porter On Demand
Dustin Hindman wants to bring the made-to-order manufacturing system Dell Computer pioneered in technology to fashion. “I learned firsthand the build-to-order model,” says Hindman, who worked at the Austin, TX-area computer company for eight years. “You produce exactly what the consumer wanted. There’s no waste. I thought, why doesn’t fashion do that?” To answer that … Continue reading “Austin’s Trunkist Uses the Web to Offer Prêt-à-Porter On Demand”
Texas Roundup: Sketch City, Everfest, Neosensory, & Holiday Poetry
(With apologies to Clement Clarke Moore.) ‘Twas three days before Christmas, and all through Xconomy Texas, The developers were coding, dreams filled with exits. Through software and apps, innovation is born, All towards the goal of that billion-dollar unicorn. And with that, let’s catch up on the latest news from Xconomy Texas: —Houston has a … Continue reading “Texas Roundup: Sketch City, Everfest, Neosensory, & Holiday Poetry”
Sketch City: New Home for Houston’s Civic-Minded Tech Entrepreneurs
Houston has a new hub dedicated to fostering civic innovation. Called Sketch City, it’s the latest organization to pop up on the city’s startup scene, and its goal is to connect techies with civil servants interested in using software to make Houston and Harris County run better. “It’s more important than ever that our government … Continue reading “Sketch City: New Home for Houston’s Civic-Minded Tech Entrepreneurs”
Contact Management Software Maker FullContact Buys Dallas’s nGame
FullContact, a Denver-based software company, announced Thursday it has bought nGame, a Dallas-area marketing tech startup. FullContact makes software that takes data from address books and contact lists people keep in apps like Gmail, Facebook, LinkedIn, and Twitter. Its selling point is that it handles the work of consolidating and cleaning up messy address books … Continue reading “Contact Management Software Maker FullContact Buys Dallas’s nGame”
Start Houston, Gigster Partner to Match Developers With Startups
Start Houston co-founder and tech entrepreneur Apurva Sanghavi found himself in a predicament familiar to many entrepreneurs: an incomplete project was stalled because of a lack of developers. Almost on a whim, he turned to Gigster, a San Francisco-based startup that connects freelance developers to entrepreneurs like Sanghavi. Hiring Gigster gave him the developer talent … Continue reading “Start Houston, Gigster Partner to Match Developers With Startups”
Neosensory Translates Sounds Into Vibrations to Aid Hearing-Impaired
David Eagleman, noted for his work at his eponymous lab at Baylor College of Medicine in Houston and the face of a popular public television series on the brain, figured out something rather unexpected about himself this year: He likes being an entrepreneur. “Maybe it’s not surprising but somehow I’m surprised by it,” he says. “What … Continue reading “Neosensory Translates Sounds Into Vibrations to Aid Hearing-Impaired”
Pure Vino Looks to Find Personalized Deals for Wine Aficionados
Jim Roberts likes New World wines, especially Carmenere from Chile or Malbecs from Argentina. His business partner, Mike Boyd, with whom he owns Setcom in Austin, TX, a supplier of communications devices for fire, police, and military needs, prefers storied vintages from Europe. Between the two of them, the pair were receiving a deluge of … Continue reading “Pure Vino Looks to Find Personalized Deals for Wine Aficionados”
Texas Roundup: Houston’s Biotech Ecosystem, RealSavvy, Q2, Stellarray
Let’s catch up with the latest innovation news in Texas. —Austin, TX app company RealSavvy wants to help real estate agents leverage technology rather than being replaced by it. The company’s mobile app uses a Pinterest-like approach, letting buyers search home websites and “pin” those selections to a personalized board. —In the last year, Houston’s … Continue reading “Texas Roundup: Houston’s Biotech Ecosystem, RealSavvy, Q2, Stellarray”
Key for Houston’s Biotech Ecosystem? Building a Bench of Executives
Life sciences leaders have lamented that one part missing from the biotech ecosystem in Texas is a robust community of executives who know how to turn good ideas into profitable businesses. In Houston, Fannin Innovation Studio has set out to fill that gap. “If you are in Boston, you already have a management team nearby … Continue reading “Key for Houston’s Biotech Ecosystem? Building a Bench of Executives”
Austin’s Stellarray Looks to Develop the Next Wave of X-Ray
Austin, TX’s Stellarray aims to democratize access to radiography. Right now, imaging machines like CT scanners are large, bulky, and expensive, and usually housed in major medical centers. “We’re taking an open architecture approach to radiography,” says Mark Eaton, Stellarray’s founder and CEO. “We want to make it affordable and portable.” Stellarray has developed imaging … Continue reading “Austin’s Stellarray Looks to Develop the Next Wave of X-Ray”
Austin Fintech Company Q2 Holdings Acquires Iowa Software Firm
Q2 Holdings, an Austin, TX, fintech company, announced Tuesday it has acquired Des Moines, IA-based Social Money for $10.6 million. Social Money makes cloud-based software that targets millennial consumers as well as populations called “underbanked,” who are frequently minorities or immigrants who do not interact with the mainstream financial sector. In particular, Social Money’s SmartyPig … Continue reading “Austin Fintech Company Q2 Holdings Acquires Iowa Software Firm”
Dallas’s Aristos Aims to Micro-Size Investment for Tech Startups
Felipe Mendoza’s first experience at a startup, Monterrey Networks, ended up with a sale to computing giant Cisco Systems. Exhilarated by success, Mendoza says he threw himself into another startup, one that “was not bought by Cisco.” Though the second startup was a bust, Mendoza says both experiences hooked him to entrepreneurship and the challenges … Continue reading “Dallas’s Aristos Aims to Micro-Size Investment for Tech Startups”
TMC’s New Innovation Chief Aims to Boost Houston Biotech Ecosystem
A veteran of commercialization and tech transfer efforts at universities like Harvard and Tufts and Boston Children’s Hospital, Erik Halvorsen was, at first, puzzled at receiving an offer to lead those initiatives at the Texas Medical Center. “The Texas Medical Center? I had never heard of that hospital,” he says, laughing. “But, of course, I … Continue reading “TMC’s New Innovation Chief Aims to Boost Houston Biotech Ecosystem”
Roundup: Station Houston, Launch Health, Pryor Medical, DEC, Fannin
The first blast of wintry air has come to Texas this week of Thanksgiving. Before we get to the turkey, let’s catch up with the latest innovation news. —Houston will be home to a new startup hub. Station Houston is looking to launch in early 2016 and is the brainchild of Emily Keeton, a Houston … Continue reading “Roundup: Station Houston, Launch Health, Pryor Medical, DEC, Fannin”
New Space Health Challenge Aimed at Life Science Innovators
An important untapped resource for biotech researchers? That’s the final frontier. So say the organizers of a new startup initiative called the Launch Health Challenge, a year-long effort to help healthcare entrepreneurs leverage the environment of space in order to accelerate their proposed medical devices and, possibly, therapies. “Many researchers don’t know how easy it … Continue reading “New Space Health Challenge Aimed at Life Science Innovators”
Michael Lang to Head Product Development for Texas Cancer Agency
The Cancer Prevention and Research Institute of Texas has hired a former biotech executive as its new chief product development officer. Michael Lang formerly had leadership positions NanoVision, a Pennsylvania cancer diagnostics company, and Dallas-based Galt Medical, a medical device company. He succeeds Tom Goodman, a former vice president of business development at Arizona Technology Enterprises—the … Continue reading “Michael Lang to Head Product Development for Texas Cancer Agency”
Cybersecurity Firm Assured Enterprises Moves Headquarters to Austin
The secret to building a robust cybersecurity firm? Hire video gamers. That’s partly why Assured Enterprises announced last week it was relocating its headquarters to Austin, TX, from northern Virginia. CEO Stephen Soble told me that engineering talent is top of the 3-year-old cybersecurity company’s to-do list. “They are comfortable thinking outside of the box,” … Continue reading “Cybersecurity Firm Assured Enterprises Moves Headquarters to Austin”
Pryor Medical’s Reboa Device Aims to Prevent Internal Bleeding Deaths
Nobody should bleed to death. That sums up the mission of San Antonio, TX-based Pryor Medical Devices, which has licensed technology from the San Antonio Military Medical Center that could prevent internal bleeding from causing death. “For the Army, the number one problem is truncal hemorrhage,” says Pryor co-founder and CEO David Spencer, referring to … Continue reading “Pryor Medical’s Reboa Device Aims to Prevent Internal Bleeding Deaths”
Houston’s Cricket Huddle Aims to Create Online Community of Fans
Some of sports’ biggest stars played at Houston’s Minute Maid Park Wednesday. Their names were Sachin and Shane; the game was cricket. Never heard of it, you say? “There are thousands of people who play in cricket leagues all over Houston,” says Rugved Damle, co-founder of Cricket Huddle, a Houston-based online community for fans of … Continue reading “Houston’s Cricket Huddle Aims to Create Online Community of Fans”
Houston’s Fannin Launches New Biotech, Exotect, to Treat Asthma
Asthma treatments have typically focused on treating inflammation and constricted airways. Houston’s Fannin Innovation Studio has launched a company that tackles the disease’s third symptom: reducing overproduction of mucus. The company, called Exotect, is still in the early stages. Stemming from research led by Burton Dickey, chair of the pulmonary department at the University of … Continue reading “Houston’s Fannin Launches New Biotech, Exotect, to Treat Asthma”
Big Deals in Texas (ZS Pharma, HomeAway, Gravitant) & Other News
Let’s get caught up on the latest innovation news in Texas. —AstraZeneca scoops up Texas-born biotech ZS Pharma in a $2.7 billion deal. The British drug maker announced the purchase Friday, saying that ZS Pharma’s key therapy, ZS-9, which is being developed to fight chronic kidney disease, will boost its pipeline of drugs that fight cardiovascular … Continue reading “Big Deals in Texas (ZS Pharma, HomeAway, Gravitant) & Other News”
AstraZeneca Buys Texas-Born Biotech ZS Pharma in $2.7B Deal
British drugmaker AstraZeneca said Friday it is acquiring ZS Pharma for $2.7 billion. ZS Pharma was founded in the Fort Worth suburb of Coppell, TX, and relocated to San Mateo, CA following the company’s $107 million IPO last year. The biotech’s primary drug, ZS-9, aims to reduce levels of potassium levels in patients who have … Continue reading “AstraZeneca Buys Texas-Born Biotech ZS Pharma in $2.7B Deal”