Space City Month officially came to a close this week, as did our weekly features with space innovators. Meanwhile, Amazon opened the doors of its Tech Hub in Houston and a local travel app startup secured millions in funding.
Check out this week's top stories in Houston innovation.
Amazon opens newest Tech Hub in Houston and plans to hire
Amazon has invested over $10 billion into Texas since 2010. Photo via blog.aboutamazon.com
A year and a half after Houston was left off the list of 20 cities Amazon was pursuing for its second United States headquarters, the tech giant chose the Bayou City to house its 18th North American Tech Hub.
Amazon opened the doors of the hub on Friday, July 26, in 25,000-square-feet of space in CITYCENTRE, and the company has plans to hire to round out its team of 150 Amazon Web Services employees to work out of the hub.
"We're looking forward to becoming a bigger part of the Houston community," says Kris Satterthwaite, Gulf Coast enterprise sales leader of AWS, in a release. "Houston is a fantastic place to live and work, and has a strong local economy that we look forward to investing in and growing together."Continue reading the story.
5 Houston startups keeping Houston known as the Space City
Houston celebrated 50 years since the Apollo moon landing on July 20. Here are some startups that are going to be a part of the next 50 years of space tech in Houston. Photo via NASA.gov
This month, for the most part, has been looking back on the history Houston has as the Space City in honor of the 50th anniversary of the moon landing on July 20. While it's great to recognize the men and women who made this city the major player in space exploration that it is, there are still entrepreneurs today with space applications and experience that represent the future of the Space City.
From space tech to former NASA expert-founded companies, here are five companies keeping Houston's rep as the Space City. Continue reading the story.
4 Houston innovators to know this week
This four Houstonians saw a need in their industries and — rather than accepting the status quo — found a solution. Courtesy photos
The crux of innovation is identifying a problem and using your skills to ideate a solution. Each of these four innovators had their "aha" moments that led to their research and development moments, and now to where they are today. Continue reading the story.
Houston-based travel software company closes multimillion-dollar Series A and plans growth
Houston-based Grab makes it so you're waiting in one less line at the airport. Getty Images
When you fly, you can definitely rely on the fact that you're going to encounter two things: long airport walks and even longer airport lines. This Houston startup is ensuring that you have less of both of those.
Grab is a mobile software company that's designed an app where travelers can see what eateries they are going to pass in their airport visit and order their meal from their phone. The company has also expanded on their technology to include restaurant kiosks and mobile ordering from the table.
Grab was founded by Mark Bergsrud, who worked in senior leadership roles for almost 20 years at Continental Airlines and then United Airlines, following the merger. For Bergsrud, Grab feels like another major mobile game changer the industry experienced. Continue reading the story.
Houston entrepreneur has created a way to protect vehicles from devastating floods
After the floods from Hurricane Harvey totaled her car, Rahel Abraham wanted to find a solution. ClimaGuard/Facebook
Floodwaters from Hurricane Harvey seriously damaged about 600,000 vehicles in the Houston area, driving millions upon millions of dollars in auto insurance claims. Rahel Abraham's 2008 Infiniti G35 was among them.
Rather than merely moving on from the hurricane, though, Abraham — drawing upon her experience as an engineer in Houston's petrochemical industry — invented something that she foresaw shielding cars from the economic wrath of flooding.
Now, Abraham's brainchild forms the backbone of her Houston-based startup, ClimaGuard LLC. The next several weeks promise to be momentous for the business — Abraham will enter the 12-week DivInc business accelerator program in Austin in late August, and the company's first product is set to hit the market in early September. Continue reading the story.