Houston Innovators Podcast

In this episode, listeners get a chance to revisit an episode from 2023 with Josh Teekell, founder and CE of SmartAC.com. A lot has happened with SmartAC.com since Josh joined the show, and the most recent milestone the company has reached is an additional funding round closed last month with support from Houston-based Mercury. SmartAC.com's expanded platform enables contractors in the HVAC and plumbing industries monitor, manage, and optimize their maintenance memberships through advanced sensors, AI-driven diagnostics, and proactive alerts. Josh will be using the fresh funding to continue growth for the company. Original episode aired in May 2023. Link to read about SmartAC's latest raise: https://houston.innovationmap.com/smartac-mercury-follow-on-round-2670691230.html

In this episode, listeners get a chance to revisit an episode from last year with Tim Latimer. 2024 was an incredible year for Tim and his company Fervo Energy, which raised a cumulative $600M in multiple rounds of investment, financing, and federal support. Fervo wrapped up the year announcing $255 million dollars of fresh funding to continue its growth in the new year. When Tim joined the show, it was right in the middle of this successful year, and he shared on the show how Fervo's momentum is leading to 100x growth with its latest geothermal project, Project Cape, which is fully permitted up to 2 gigawatts and will begin generating electricity in 2026. Original episode aired in May 2024. Link to read about Fervo's latest raise: https://houston.innovationmap.com/fervo-energy-capricorn-geothermal-raise-2670498267.html

Samantha Lewis, partner Mercury, joins the show today for a record fourth time to discuss some of the venture capital trends in Houston and beyond — from fintech exits to GenAI and blockchain. We also take a moment to reflect on Houston's innovation ecosystem and its progress over the past several years.

Phillip Yates is the CEO of Equiliberty and chairman of Impact Hub Houston. Phillip, who also is a practicing lawyer, shares a bit on his background and how he evolved his career in law into an entrepreneur in the tech and startup space to create his fintech platform, which is expected to launch in early 2025. Phillip and I also discuss the Houston innovation ecosystem and what it meant to him to accept the award of Ecosystem Builder at the 2024 Houston Innovation Awards.

This week, Meagan Pitcher, CEO and co-founder of Bairitone Health, shares her journey into health tech entrepreneurship and the bright future for her company.

Vibhu Sharma is the CEO of InnoVent Renewables LLC, a Houston company that has the potential to revolutionize the automotive industry and make a huge impact on sustainability. InnoVent has created a proprietary technology that converts waste tires, into valuable fuels, steel and chemicals. Vibhu joins the show to share how he's quickly turned this company from concept to near commercial operations in just around two years. Plus he shares what the future holds for his unique company.

On this episode, host Natalie Harms is looking back at some of her favorite episodes of 2024 — featuring guests from across the Houston innovation landscape. 

Anwar Sadek is the CEO and founder at CORROLYTICS, a tech company that has designed a way to better detect microbial corrosion. Anwar joins the show today to discuss his entrepreneurial journey, how he's bootstrapped his company, and relocated to Houston to make the most of the energy and tech communities here.

In this episode, listeners get a chance to revisit an episode from last year with Ayse McCracken, the founder of Ignite Healthcare Network, an organization that accelerates female-founded businesses within health care. In November, Ignite hosted its annual Fire Pitch Competition, the main event for its accelerator that supports and connects female health tech founders with the Texas Medical Center's vast network of experts and health care organizations. At the event, the founders pitched their health tech solutions across lung health, renal therapy, breastfeeding tech, and more. This year's first place winner was Sarah Lee, CEO and co-founder of Relavo, a New York-based company that's making home dialysis more effective, safer, and more affordable. Link to read about the 2024 Fire Pitch Competition winners: https://houston.innovationmap.com/ignite-health-relavo-fire-pitch-2670292174.html

Reginald DesRoches was named president of Rice University in 2021. He joins the show to discuss the unprecedented growth the university has had under his first two and a half years of leadership — from growing the student body and faculty to establishing research institutions and initiatives to solve some of the world's most pressing problems.

Samina Farid is the managing director of Golden Seeds and co-lead of the national angel investing group's Houston chapter. Samina joins the show today to discuss her own entrepreneurial journey and how she got into investing with Golden Seeds, which has been growing in Houston for a few years now. She also shares advice for both startups and new angels on getting involved with Golden Seeds.

Dianna Liu is the CEO and founder at ARIX Technologies, a Houston hardtech and software startup that's created a robot to help industrial companies enhance efficiency and safety when it comes to pipeline corrosion. Dianna joins the show today to share ARIX's journey over the past several years as well as what the future looks like for her company.

Aileen Allen has recently joined Houston VC firm Mercury as venture partner. A native Houstonian, Aileen has spent the bulk of her career in the tech ecosystems of the Bay Area and Austin as an operator at tech companies, eventually returning to her hometown in 2020. She's recently evolved her career to become an investor, and she shares some of these learnings on the show today — plus what she's looking for in her new role at Mercury.

Sarah Hein is the co-founder and CEO of March Biosciences, a cancer-fighting cell therapy company that recently closed a $28.4 million series A round and is getting ready to launch its phase II trial. Sarah joins me today to discuss the past two and a half years of growing March and the role Houston and its biotech ecosystem has played in the company's growth.

Chris George is the US Co-Lead at Octopus Electric Vehicles, a spinout of the UK-based energy retail provider Octopus Energy, which expanded to the US by way of Houston. Octopus EV provides customized EV leases paired with smart energy technology, and Chris joins the show today to explain the business — including their newest product launching this week — as well as his views on the EV industry as a whole and the momentum happening locally, in Texas, and across the country.

This week, InnovationMap announced the finalists for the 2024 Houston Innovation Awards, and I'd like to take this episode as an opportunity to introduce you to the incredible batch of startups, organizations, and innovators that made the cut for this year's awards. This year's finalists include 35 startups across 8 categories, plus 14 individual finalists across 3 categories. Six Houston organizations were named finalists in the community champion organization category, which honors impactful corporates, nonprofits, academic institutions, and more. Read more about the finalists: https://houston.innovationmap.com/2024-houston-innovation-awards-finalists-2669381682.html Register for the awards: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/2024-houston-innovation-awards-tickets-991320465197?aff=editorial Follow more awards coverage: https://houston.innovationmap.com/houston-innovation-awards/

This week, we are revisiting a conversation I had earlier this year with Scott Gale, who passed away two weeks ago after a years-long battle with cancer. As executive director of Halliburton Labs, he was instrumental in the program's success across the past four years, and he leaves a legacy of innovation, collaboration, and curiosity, all of which we touched on in our conversation. In the episode, we discussed Halliburton Labs, his career, and the Inaugural Houston Energy and Climate Startup Week, which Scott has a major role in creating. Unfortunately, Scott wasn't able to attend the week as he had already entered into hospice care. Scott Gale's legacy: Houston energy, innovation leader dies after hard-fought battle with cancer Join InnovationMap in celebrating Scott at the Houston Innovation Awards: Houston Innovation Awards to honor 2 trailblazers with posthumous recognition

Zimri T. Hinshaw is the CEO and founder of Rheom Materials, a bio-based materials company that's creating sustainable materials for the fashion, automotive, and other industries. Originally founding his company as Bucha Bio, Zimri recently rebranded his business to reflect its growth and evolution into new products and technologies. He shares a bit more about what he's been up to and where Rheom is going on the show today.

Ana Amicarella is the CEO of EthosEnergy, a Houston-based energy technology developer and provider that's helping its customers find the right tech for the energy transition. Ana joins the show today to discuss the recent acquisition of the company, which is transitioning from being owned by a joint venture into being private equity backed. She also shares about her career from immigrating from Venezuela to leading an energy company and promoting diversity and inclusion within her organization.

Today, we are looking back a conversation I had last year with Howard Berman, co-founder and CEO of Coya Therapeutics, which has had quite the busy summer. The company expanded its collaboration with Houston Methodist Research Institute and started looking into how GLP-1 drugs  can enhance the effects of its proprietary therapeutics. Read more about these two news stories from this summer on InnovationMap:  Houston neurodegenerative company expands research collaboration with Houston Methodist Houston therapeutics innovator looks into GLP-1 drugs for Alzheimer's treatment

Jon Nordby is the managing partner at investment firm Anthropy Partners and founder of EconWerx. With over a decade of experience in the Houston innovation community in various roles, Jon talks about the work he's doing now as a human potential tech investor and innovation ecosystem builder and adviser. He also zooms in on what he sees as achievements and needs within Houston's own innovation machine.

Kelly Pracht is the co-founder and CEO of nVenue, an AI- and machine learning-backed, real-time sports betting platform. Kelly joins the show today to share how she's grown the company over the past five years and expanded into new sports and opportunities, including to the NBA and NASCAR. Based in Houston, Kelly also explains why she's passionate about Houston and Texas stepping up to support sports tech startups.

Margarita Kelrikh, newly named counsel at Pillsbury's Houston office, is a diligent problem solver. She has a very diverse career from working in-house at WeWork to investment banking, but now she works specifically with startups from every industry. She joins the show today to share a bit about her background and what she's learned along the way as well as to give some very broad but free legal advice to startups based on some common challenges she sees from her clients.

Dr. William E. Cohn is a leader in cardiovascular surgery and medical device innovation here in Houston. Dr. Cohn shares a bit about his role as director of the Center for Device Innovation at the Texas Medical Center as well as his experience as chief medical officer of BiVACOR, a unique medical device company that has created a total artificial heart that Dr. Cohn expects to revolutionize heart transplants.

Megan Eddings is the founder of Accel Lifestyle, a fashion company that created a patented anti-microbial material for stink-resistant clothing. Megan and I discuss her journey growing the company over the past several years all the way to its recent acquisition. She also shares a bit about her new role at a Houston oil and gas company and how she's pivoting to positivity with a new podcast and TV show.

This week, we're revisiting another enlightening chat with a Houston innovator. One year ago, Dr. Joseph Rogers, the president and CEO of Texas Heart Institute, shared his story and how he came to be at the helm of THI, as well as the incredible technologies the institute is working on to address heart failure, a global epidemic affecting at least 26 million people worldwide, 6.2 million adults in the U.S. This month, one of THI's technologies reached a major milestone. BiVACOR, a Houston company successfully implanted the company's first Total Artificial Heart in a human. In addition to this breakthrough in health tech, THI is focused on addressing Cardiometabolic Syndrome at a new conference on Friday, August 23, in Houston. The full-day symposium will take place in collaboration with Arianna Huffington, the founder and CEO of Thrive Global. Dr. Rogers is co-directing the program with Dr. Stephanie Coulter, medical director for THI Center for Women's Heart & Vascular Health.  Episode's original run date: July 26, 2023

Ali Mostafavi is the founder of Resilitix, a data and AI-empowered digital twin platform for disaster and resilience. The software uses data and algorithms to provide its partners with important information — such as road flooding, hospital capacity, power outages, and more — in near real time. On the show today Ali shares how he navigated Hurricane Beryl to provide critical information to emergency teams and took the opportunity to grow and improve his company's platform.

This week, we're revisiting another one of my favorite conversations with a Houston innovator. Last fall, I spoke with Tim Crain, the co-founder and CTO at Intuitive Machines, and he shared a bit about the evolution of the company from a think tank to a scaling space exploration enterprise. Since we spoke, Intuitive Machines has made history by successfully completing its mission of sending the first commercial lunar lander to the moon. The company was also selected by NASA to create a lunar rover, and this week, Intuitive Machines announced a major milestone for the engine its developing on that project. Episode's original run date: Oct. 18, 2023

Matthew Costello is the CEO and co-founder of Voyager Portal, a maritime shipping and logistics software as a service company. Matthew joins the show for the first time in a few years to provide an update on how he's grown the platform to profitability and to solving some of the industry's biggest and most expensive problems. 

On this summer holiday week, we're revisiting a conversation from last year with Ramanan Krishnamoorti, the vice president of energy and innovation at the University of Houston. UH recently announced a new partnership with the Houston Angel Network to activate more investors with deep connections to UH. Read about that news story on InnovationMap.com, and listen to this episode for more context into how the university is looking at growing its role in Houston's innovation ecosystem, including building a new central campus innovation hub. Episode's original run date: May 23rd, 2023

Angela Wilkins is the chief data officer at Starling Medical, a medical device company working on solutions within urinalysis. Angela joins the show today to share how she's evolved her career, which has spanned academia, venture, and more, into her new role at the startup. We also discuss the evolving intersection of data and health care — and what the future holds for that industry. 

Taylor Anne Adams is the head of venture acceleration at Liu Idea Lab for Innovation and Entrepreneurship, a part of Rice University that supports student entrepreneurs with classes, events, and other programming. Taylor Anne is leading the second year of the Summer Venture Studio, which just recently named its cohort of eight innovative companies. She shares a bit about the program's process and why she's bullish on Houston's innovation ecosystem on the episode today.

Prabhdeep Singh Sekhon is the newly named CEO of Gold H2, a spin-off company of Houston-based Cemvita. Gold H2 has seen some early success for its biotechnology that uses microbes to turn the uneconomic oil leftover in a well into gold hydrogen. The process is unique and very promising for the energy transition, and Prab shares how the company is gearing up to meet the anticipated demand for its tech.

Carlos Estrada is the head of Venture Acceleration at BioWell, a new bioindustrial startup accelerator founded by First Bight Ventures. Carlos and his team are working to select the inaugural cohort, which will launch this summer. On the show today, he explains the mission of BioWell, how its $700,000 “Build to Scale” grant is fueling its development, and the unique challenges biotech startups are facing.

Tim Latimer is the CEO and co-founder of Fervo Energy, a fast-growing geothermal energy company that raised $244 million earlier this year to scale its 24/7 clean energy model. Tim shares about his mission-driven path to entrepreneurship and the momentum Fervo is seeing with its ongoing projects. Tim also weighs in on the history and hype of geothermal energy, along with the challenges and opportunities it's come with.

Zach Ellis is the founder and managing partner of South Loop Ventures, a Houston-based venture capital firm that's investing in diverse founders from Houston and beyond and leveraging the city's resources to grow and scale its portfolio companies. Zach shares more about the investment thesis and mission of the firm, as well as why Houston is the best place for this business opportunity.

Jon Lambert is the CEO of The Cannon, which just announced its ninth location in the greater Houston area. Jon shares a bit about the history of The Cannon as well as the future growth opportunities — both in and outside of the Bayou City. 

Rushi Patel is the co-founder and COO of Homebase, a software company providing HR tech tools to small businesses across the country. Rushi joins me on the podcast during National Small Business Week to discuss some of the challenges and opportunities of small businesses, as well as how key the city of Houston has been to Homebase's growth. 

Mitra Miller is the vice president and board member of the Houston Angel Network, the oldest angel network in Texas and one of the most active angel networks in the country. Mitra shares a bit about the organization and how interested investors can get involved, as well as her experience as a judge for this year's Rice Business Plan Competition.

Jessica Traver Ingram is the co-founder and CEO of IntuiTap, a company that was founded out of the Texas Medical Center's Biodesign Fellowship Program. Jessica describes the device as a stud finder for the spine, improving upon the way health care providers administer spinal taps. IntuiTap received FDA clearance earlier this year, and Jessica explains what that means for the company's commercialization journey.

Barbara Burger, a well-known pillar within Houston's energy innovation ecosystem, previously served as an executive at Chevron for decades and led the company's venture arm. On the show, shee shares how she spends her time these days helping innovative energy startups. She also recaps her observations of CERAWeek, the “Super Bowl of the energy industry,” which took place last month.

Aziz Gilani is the managing director of Mercury Fund, a Houston venture capital firm that closed its fifth fund last September to the tune of $160 million. Aziz joins the show today to share some trends in both the software and VC worlds, as well as why he's optimistic about his hometown of Houston and its developing innovation ecosystem.

Sean Kelly is the co-founder and CEO of Amperon, a real-time energy data provider that is supplying forecasts and analytics crucial to the energy transition. Sean joins the show today to discuss his company's recent partnership with Microsoft and why he's running his energy business as a tech company to make the biggest impact in the space. 

Stephanie Campbell and Diana Murakhovskaya are co-founders of The Artemis Fund, a Houston-based, female founder-focused venture capital firm that just announced its $36 million fund II. Stephanie and Diana share how this second round of fundraising went and some of their new portfolio companies they are excited about — as well as why they are optimistic about the future of women in VC.

Marc Nathan is senior director of market development at Michael Best. He works exclusively with startups and has a special passion for Texas's entrepreneurial community — and specifically founders hailing from his home city of Houston. Now based in Austin, Marc is a seasoned expert on all things SXSW. on the show today, he shares all of his tips for founders looking to tackle SX this year.

Scott Gale is the executive director of Halliburton Labs, which has a unique mission of incubating early stage climate tech companies. Scott joins me to talk about Halliburton Labs, as well as the recently announced Houston Energy and Climate Startup Week 2024 which is taking place in September. The week of events is being spearheaded by Halliburton Labs, the Rice Alliance, and Greentown Labs, but Scott says they are looking for more organizations and events to join the initiative to truly spotlight Houston's innovative energy transition community. 

Emma Konet is the co-founder and chief technology officer of Tierra Climate, an energy transition software technology that's creating a new market within energy storage. She shares what led her to starting her company and the challenges within energy storage, as well as what the business is focused on this year. Emma, who led her company to fourth place in the Rice Business Plan competition, also gives her tips and advice for perfecting a startup pitch.

Dave Pruner is the executive director of the Texas Entrepreneurship Exchange for Energy, known as TEX-E, a nonprofit housed out of Greentown Labs that connects Texas college students on a mission to innovate within the energy transition. Dave joins the show today to share how TEX-E has expanded beyond just an annual student startup competition, and he also weighs in on how Houston is doing as a leader within the energy transition. 

Omair Tariq is the founder and CEO of Cart.com, a fast-growing, Houston-founded commerce enablement platform that's raised over $500 million in funding and reached unicorn status last year. Omair joins the show today to discuss the company's rapid growth and why Houston is the perfect city for its next phase of business.