who will take home the win?
InnovationMap names 28 Houston startup finalists for inaugural awards
Who are Houston's rising stars across energy transition, sports tech, health, and more? InnovationMap set out on a quest to discover that for its inaugural awards. Ahead of the September 8 event, we're revealing the finalists across all categories.
Eight judges evaluated over 100 applications across eight categories for the 2021 InnovationMap Awards presented by Techwave. This year's judges included: Juliana Garaizar, head of the Houston incubator and vice president of innovation at Greentown Labs; Alex Gras, managing director at The Cannon; Rajasekhar Gummadapu, co-founder and CEO of Techwave; Natalie Harms, editor of InnovationMap; Serafina Lalany, interim president at Houston Exponential; Jon Nordby, managing director at MassChallenge; Emily Reiser, senior manager of innovation community engagement at the Texas Medical Center; and Grace Rodriguez, CEO and executive director of Impact Hub Houston.
The winners will be announced and celebrated — along with this year's previously announced Trailblazer Award recipient, Barbara Burger of Chevron Technology Ventures — at the September 8 event at The Cannon - West Houston. Honorees, sponsors, judges, and their guests will celebrate in person, and the rest of the innovation community is invited to tune in to the livestream. Click here to RSVP.
Sponsorships are still available! If you are interested in partnering with InnovationMap as a sponsor of this event, send an email to awards@innovationmap.com.
Without further adieu, here are this year's finalists:
BIPOC-Founded Business Finalists
The finalists for the BIPOC-Founded Business Award category, honoring innovative tech companies founded or co-founded by BIPOC representation, are:
- Allotrope Medical — creator of StimSite, a device that improves surgical safety and efficiency in millions of operations performed every year.
- Hello Alice — a small business owner's passport through entrepreneurship that helps with networking, raising capital, and accessing growth tools.
- LAMIK Beauty — a tech-enabled clean color cosmetics company focusing on women of all diverse backgrounds
- Molecule Software — creator of a leading cloud-native energy trading software.
Female-Founded Business Finalists
The finalists for the Female-Founded Business Award category presented by Veritex Community Bank, honoring innovative tech companies founded or co-founded by women, include:
- DonateStock — simplifying the process of donating stock and helping nonprofits solicit, process, and manage stock donations.
- Hello Alice — a small business owner's passport through entrepreneurship that helps with networking, raising capital, and accessing growth tools.
- re:3D Inc. — producer of large, affordable industrial 3D printers, and services that can print with new or recycled filament, pellets, or flake.
- RingOn — wearable GPS tracker that is also a panic button that's designed for school kids and with an impact-driven mission of ending child trafficking.
- Topl — impact monetization engine that enables digital and sustainable transformation across value chains and empowers the monetization of impact verified on the Topl Blockchain.
- Zibrio Inc. — a fall prevention solution that empowers both clinicians and patients for better outcomes.
Health Care Business Finalists
The finalists for the Health Care Business Award category presented by Gray Reed, which honors health care businesses with an innovative solution within life sciences, include:
- Allotrope Medical — creator of StimSite, a device that improves surgical safety and efficiency in millions of operations performed every year.
- Medical Informatics Corp. — creator of Sickbay, which features web-based applications that transform data into actionable information to help care teams make better, faster decisions.
- Saranas — creator of the Early Bird, the first and only FDA-approved bleed detection system for endovascular procedures.
- Starling Medical — using AI and telehealth enabled medical devices to enable millions with bladder dysfunctions to be able to urinate safely and conveniently again.
Energy Transition Business Finalists
The finalists for the Energy Transition Business category, which honors energy business with innovative solutions within renewables, climatetech, clean energy, and beyond, are:
- Cemvita Factory — engineering microbes that eat CO2 and produce valuable chemicals.
- Data Gumbo — creator of an interconnected industrial smart contract network secured and powered by blockchain.
- Enercross LLC — automation software for the energy industry.
- Nanotech — a material science company with a mission to fireproof the world and reduce energy consumption.
- re:3D Inc. — producer of large, affordable industrial 3D printers, and services that can print with new or recycled filament, pellets, or flake.
- Renewell Energy — converting idle oil and gas wells into flexible energy storage.
Sports Tech Business Finalists
The finalists for the Sports Tech Business category, which is honoring a sports tech business with an innovative solution within sports are:
- FitLift — a wearable device and mobile platform that tracks motion and gives real-time feedback on lifting technique, allowing trainers, and athletes to drive results.
- Mainline — an esports tournament management system, tournament organizer, and event production company.
- sEATz — a mobile ordering and delivery platform for food, drinks, and merchandise at large events.
Space Tech Business Finalists
The finalists for the Space Tech Business category, which is honoring an aerospace business with an innovative solution within space exploration. are:
- Cemvita Factory — engineering microbes that eat CO2 and produce valuable chemicals.
- Cognitive Space — providing a scalable satellite constellation management solution to the space industry.
- NANCO Aero — developing package- and person-carrying air vehicles.
Top Founder Under 40 Finalists
The finalists for the Top Founder Under 40 category, which honors an innovative founder younger than 40 by Sept. 8, 2021, are:
- Pamela Singh of CaseCTRL — using artificial intelligence and automation to streamline surgical scheduling.
- Timothy Neal of GoExpedi — an e-commerce, supply chain, and analytics company that is streamlining procurement for industrial and energy MRO (maintenance, repair and operations).
- Kim Roxie of LAMIK Beauty — a tech-enabled clean color cosmetics company focusing on women of all diverse backgrounds.
- Emma Fauss of Medical Informatics Corp. — creator of Sickbay, which features web-based applications that transform data into actionable information to help care teams make better, faster decisions.
- Emily Cisek of The Postage — a legacy planning platform using tech to make afterlife decision making easier.
People’s Choice: Startup of the Year Finalists
The finalists for the People's Choice: Startup of the Year category, which will each present a 60-second live elevator pitch at the event on September 8, are:
- Cheers Health — creating products that are designed to support your liver and help you feel better after consuming alcohol.
- GoCo — all-in-one employee management platform.
- Hello Alice — a small business owner's passport through entrepreneurship that helps with networking, raising capital, and accessing growth tools.
- Liongard — a platform that helps Information Technology companies automatically discover, document, and audit their customers' IT systems.
- Nanotech — a material science company with a mission to fireproof the world and reduce energy consumption.
- re:3D Inc. — producer of large, affordable industrial 3D printers, and services that can print with new or recycled filament, pellets, or flake.
- Topl — impact monetization engine that enables digital and sustainable transformation across value chains and empowers the monetization of impact verified on the Topl Blockchain.