Houston innovators podcast episode 2

Investment group director calls for more startup funding out of Houston

Samantha Lewis is the director at The Goose Society of Texas. Courtesy of Samantha Lewis

A key factor in growing an innovation ecosystem is having the funds to fuel startup growth. Samantha Lewis, director for The GOOSE Society of Texas — a local group of investors — and an entrepreneur herself, is calling on the city's players to help move the needle.

"We have to think about getting more capital available for companies that add strategic value to Houston," Lewis says on the second episode of the Houston Innovators Podcast

Lewis is a Rice University MBA graduate and was involved in two startups before beginning her role at GOOSE, which stands for the Grand Order of Successful Entrepreneurs. The group of 25 high-net-worth individuals operates similar to an angel investment group, in that they invest in early stage companies, but also like a fund, in that they take an active role in the companies in which they invest. The group invests around $10 million annually, with a quarter of that being new deals ranging from $1.5 million to $2 million per check.

"What we do is, as we find these companies, there's usually me and one or two of the investors working on the sourcing and the due diligence. If we find a company and we like it, we bring it in front of the entire group of investors," Lewis says on the podcast. "Each investor gets to decide on its own whether or not they want to commit money.

On the podcast, Lewis talks a bit about GOOSE's recent investment with Syzygy Plasmonics, as well as an investment in Topl, a company she personally felt compelled to help make happen. Both deals came about with networking, a path she gives some guidance on during the episode.

"It's much easier to get in front of investors when you have a referral," she says.

For the full interview, check out the podcast below. Subscribe to the series so you never miss the latest Houston entrepreneur conversations.


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Building Houston

 
 

Baylor College of Medicine's Lillie and Roy Cullen Tower is set to open in 2026. Rendering courtesy of BCM

Baylor College of Medicine has collected $100 million toward its $150 million fundraising goal for the college’s planned Lillie and Roy Cullen Tower.

The $100 million in gifts include:

  • A total of $30 million from The Cullen Foundation, The Cullen Trust for Health Care, and The Cullen Trust for Higher Education.
  • $12 million from the DeBakey Medical Foundation
  • $10 million from the Huffington Foundation
  • More than $45 million from members of Baylor’s Board of Trustees and other community donors, including the M.D. Anderson Foundation, the Albert and Margaret Alkek Foundation, and The Elkins Foundation.

“The Cullen Trust for Health Care is very honored to support this building along with The Cullen Foundation and The Cullen Trust for Higher Education,” Cullen Geiselman Muse, chair of The Cullen Trust for Health Care, says in a news release. “We cannot wait to see what new beginnings will come from inside the Lillie and Roy Cullen Tower.”

The Baylor campus is next to Texas Medical Center’s Helix Park, a 37-acre project. Rendering courtesy of BCM

The Lillie and Roy Cullen Tower is set to open in 2026. The 503,000-square-foot tower is the first phase of Baylor’s planned Health Sciences Park, an 800,000-square-foot project that will feature medical education and research adjacent to patient care at Baylor Medicine and Baylor St. Luke’s Medical Center on the McNair Campus.

The Baylor campus is next to Texas Medical Center’s Helix Park, a 37-acre project that will support healthcare, life sciences, and business ventures. Baylor is the anchor tenant in the first building being constructed at Helix Park.

“To really change the future of health, we need a space that facilitates the future,” says Dr. Paul Klotman, president, CEO, and executive dean of Baylor. “We need to have a great building to recruit great talent. Having a place where our clinical programs are located, where our data scientists are, next to a biotech development center, and having our medical students all integrated into that environment will allow them to be ready in the future for where healthcare is going.”

In the 1940s, Lillie and Roy Cullen and the M.D. Anderson Foundation were instrumental in establishing the Texas Medical Center, which is now the world’s largest medical complex.

“Baylor is the place it is today because of philanthropy,” Klotman says. “The Cullen family, the M.D. Anderson Foundation, and the Albert and Margaret Alkek Foundation have been some of Baylor’s most devoted champions, which has enabled Baylor to mold generations of exceptional health sciences professionals. It is fitting that history is repeating itself with support for this state-of-the-art education building.”

The Cullen Foundation donated $30 million to the project. Rendering courtesy of BCM

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