Houston fitness tech trended this year, along with other lifestyle stories. Photo courtesy of Kanthaka

Editor's note: As 2021 comes to a close, InnovationMap is looking back at the year's top stories in Houston innovation. When it came to the lifestyle innovation — whether it's fit tech companies or space bartenders — in Houston, five stories trended among readers.

Fitness tech platform expands to Houston and plans to hire

ClassPass is expanding into Houston with over 20 new jobs and a local office. Image courtesy of ClassPass

When a global technology company focused on fitness and wellness was looking for a city to open their fourth office in the United States, the team wanted a community that was active and full of young professionals. They landed on Houston.

Membership-based fitness and wellness company ClassPass is opening a local office in Houston and is planning on hiring over 20 professionals across departments — from analytics, customer experience, design, and engineering, to marketing, partnerships and product.

Rachel Moncton, vice president of global marketing for ClassPass, has already relocated to Houston to lead the new office.

"Houston is a friendly, community-focused city with a rich talent pool. We are thrilled to contribute to the Houston economy by creating new opportunities for professionals with varying skill sets, and hope to build a local team with a broad range of experiences and backgrounds," says Moncton says in a news release. Click here to continue reading.

Elon Musk taps into Texas workforce for out-of-this-world bartender gig

Looking to mix things up in your career? Elon's got a gig for you slinging cosmic cocktails. Mixology Crew

Can you mix a mean margarita? Are you capable of slinging a superb Aperol spritz? If so, Elon Musk wants you to become a "spaceport mixologist."

Musk's SpaceX, which builds and launches rockets, is hiring a "passionate, experienced" mixologist for its "spaceport" near Brownsville. The ideal candidate possesses at least two years of "superior" mixology experience at resorts, bars, and full-service restaurants, including the ability to pair drinks with themed menus.

Among other duties, the mixologist will prepare drinks, including handcrafted cocktails, and will ensure "consistency and compliance with the restaurant's recipes, portioning, and waste control guidelines." Click here to continue reading.

Houston fitness tech startup launches $1M crowdfunding campaign

Sylvia Kampshoff has launched Kanthaka's first crowdfunding campaign. Photo courtesy of Kanthaka

Calling all cardio lovers, yogis, and strength trainers alike — a Houston fitness platform is opening up investment opportunities through a new crowdfunding campaign.

Kanthaka, a Houston-based app that connects clients to personal trainers and yoga instructors on-demand, announced it will be launching a $1 million campaign through Republic, a crowdfunding platform. Kanthaka's users and trainers — or anyone interested — now have the option to become part owners in the company.

"We are very happy at Kanthaka to have been selected by Republic for their crowdfunding campaign," says Sylvia Kampshoff, founder and CEO of Kanthaka, in a press release. "I want our users as our evangelists.

"Since we started the company I've had clients reaching out wanting to invest but it was complicated — you had to be an accredited investor or VC," Kampshoff continues. "Now through this crowdfunding campaign, clients and trainers can participate in our journey." Click here to continue reading.

Houston supercar dealer now accepting Dogecoin as payment

Post Oak Motor Cars now accepts Dogecoin and Bitcoin as payment. Photo courtesy of Fertitta Entertainment

Post Oak Motor Cars is now accepting dogecoin, a cryptocurrency that recently gained new heights of popularity following support from Tesla founder Elon Musk, as a form of payment. New Bugatti, Bentley, Karma, and Rolls-Royce vehicles are sold at the boutique sales location next to Houston's only five-star hotel, The Post Oak Hotel at Uptown Houston.

This is the second form of cryptocurrency the Houston dealership has accepted. In 2018, Post Oak Motor Cars announced that it would allow customers to pay using bitcoin after integrating cryptocurrency processor Bitpay into its payment system.

Dogecoin was created in 2013 by software engineers from IBM and Adobe. In 2014, the currency briefly passed Bitcoin and all other cryptocurrencies in trading volume. Fast forward to 2020 when a TikTok trend encouraged people to purchase dogecoin in an effort to get the value to $1. By January 2021 Musk, Gene Simmons, Snoop Dogg, and GameStop short squeeze Redditors were all in on the buying binge pushing dogecoin's value to new heights. Click here to continue reading.

Hardworking Houston suburb tops list of biggest boomtowns in Texas

Conroe is tops in Texas and No. 3 in the nation's list of boomtowns. Photo courtesy of Visit Houston

The Houston suburb of Conroe has come a long way since Civil War veteran Isaac Conroe planted roots there in October 1881 with the purchase of a tract of land and the establishment of a sawmill.

Fast forward 140 years, and Conroe now reigns as the leading boomtown in Texas. On November 2, personal finance website SmartAsset released a study ranking Conroe as the No. 1 boomtown in the state. Even more impressive: The city ties with Meridian, Idaho, for the No. 3 spot among the nation's top boomtowns. The No. 1 city overall is Murfreesboro, Tennessee, a suburb of Nashville. Click here to continue reading.

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CultureMap Emails are Awesome

Top innovation leaders talk Houston's strengths, weaknesses

finalists weigh in

The six finalists in this year's Ecosystem Builder category for the Houston Innovation Awards shared many reasons why Houston has been a great place for them to launch their startups.

Still, they've seen first-hand how Houston can grow and change to better support founders like themselves. We asked each to share their thoughts on the strengths and weaknesses of the local innovation ecosystem and about the roles they're playing in the scene's evolution. Scroll down to see what each finalist had to say.

Secure your tickets to the November 14 event.


What are the strengths of the Houston innovation ecosystem?

Adrianne Stone, founder of Bayou City Startups: "Outside of our obvious advantages in health care, energy and space technology I would say that our biggest strength is in the diversity of our community. Everyone brings such unique perspectives, experiences, and ideas to the table that it allows Houston to truly think outside of the box when we leverage that superpower."

Atul Varadhachary, managing partner at Fannin Innovation Studio: "The city benefits from its strategic location as a hub for various industries, including energy, aerospace and health care/biotechnology. This diversity of sectors fosters cross-pollination of ideas and expertise, promoting innovation in multiple fields. In the biotechnology field, the Texas Medical Center in Houston, is a major driver of intellectual capital and contributes to a highly skilled workforce. This potential has not been fully leveraged as yet, but I have seen and contributed to much progress over the last three decades."

Carlos Estrada, growth partner at First Bight Ventures and head of venture acceleration at BioWell: "Houston’s strengths lie in its diverse industries, from energy to health care to bioindustrial manufacturing and its academic institutions which nurture talent and innovation. A new wave of startup organizations also provides startups and SMBs with mentorship, funding opportunities, and critical networking connections. This combination of industry diversity, academic excellence and supportive organizations creates an ideal environment for startups to grow."

Jesse Martinez, founder and CEO of invincible: "The Houston innovation ecosystem continues evolving as it naturally pivots and iterates like a startup. We have a number of existing and new stakeholders who deeply care about Houston, as we all work together to make it a global tech hub destination. Through our SDOs, TMC, Houston Methodist, Helix Park, The Ion, NASA, our universities, and startup community leaders, it's all about us helping to connect the dots for our entrepreneurs so they may grow and thrive in Houston."

Juliana Garaizar, founding partner of Energy Tech Nexus: "Houston has the talent, the corporations and the great intersection of industries were innovations happen: energy, medical and space. Houston knows how to do hard things. We are doers, and we know how to build on our key strengths and are resilient when things don't go according to plan. Our geographic situation and our port make us a global hub and the most diverse city in the U.S."

Phillip Yates, CEO of Equiliberty Inc.: "I believe Houston's innovative ecosystem's greatest strengths reside in its diverse group of citizens and our healthy local economy, which includes the energy sector, medical, and aerospace industries."

What are the weaknesses of the Houston innovation ecosystem? Are you helping to make improvements to these weaker aspects of the community and, if so, how?

Stone: "The first thing that comes to mind is a lack of early stage funding for startups, especially for those with founders from underserved backgrounds. And the second thing is the sheer size of our geographic distribution makes it hard for folks to connect and those kismet collisions to occur. I'm working to improve this by inviting investors to our events, networking more broadly outside of the region and inviting folks to come back to visit, and by hosting a predictable recurring meetup every month so folks can get plugged into the broader ecosystem."

Varadhachary: "In the life sciences space, where I primarily play, our biggest challenge is that the early-stage drug development process is complex and requires direct product development experience. At Fannin, I have helped address this challenge by creating one of the largest talent development programs in the U.S., boasting over 350 alumni. I am especially proud of our alumni diversity — about half are women and most are BIPOC. Fannin draws from local institutions and major institutions across the country. Half of our alumni remain in Houston, many of whom, alongside students I’ve taught, have gone on to join or found startups. Other Fannin alumni have joined major companies around the U.S. and have often come back to help support our local ecosystem."

Estrada: "Houston’s biggest challenge is limited early-stage venture capital. To address this, I organized pitch events at WeWork Labs to attract outside investors and guided startups on how to raise funds while keeping their headquarters in Houston. Furthermore at Rice University’s Liu Idea Lab and Rice Alliance, supporting commercialization was key to launching more local scientist-entrepreneur-led startups. Through First Bight Ventures, I also support local startups like Via Fuels and attract outside startups to scale their manufacturing operations in Houston, further growing the ecosystem."

Martinez: "The current weaknesses of our current Houston innovation ecosystem is two-fold: We need true early stage capital (pre-seed and seed) to support our founders. We also need more incubators and accelerators across the Houston area to support our geographically disbursed founders and founders-to-be in The Woodlands, Katy, and Sugar Land, along with more in central Houston. At invincible, we are committed to helping support and champion our Houston-area innovation community by launching a Mom Tech Incubator (HERA), an early-stage fund, and an industry-specific venture studio. Long term, we will need a growth-stage fund to better support our local startups and those expanding here for strategic reasons."

Garaizar: "Although Houston has a lot of later stage capital, access to early stage capital is a weakness that we are trying to overcome with capital activation, formation and innovation finance. Although Houston is the most diverse city in the U.S. it is not the most inclusive and equitable, that is why I studied the gender gap in investing and launched initiatives like Portfolia or the Houston Equitable Energy Transition Initiative and I am part of the City of Houston's Women Commission."

Yates: "Houston has a problem with economic disparities, including income inequality, poverty, and lack of access to resources. These economic indicators create real barriers for some individuals to have meaningful access to the Houston innovative ecosystem.Through my work with Equiliberty and other non-profits, I have provided my time and resources to help build a more equitable ecosystem. Through the work I am doing with Equiliberty, Houston Area Urban League, Impact Hub and others, I believe we're making improvements to ensure that any person with a dream of changing the world can do it right here in Houston, Texas. We are all working towards the day when their ZIP code, education background or financial status will not be a determining factor."

Houston startup launches platform to enhance health care information access

now online

Anyone who has had to Google their way to home health care knows that it’s not the best way to get effective help. That’s where MedVendor comes in.

Houstonian Chris Hunt and his wife, Ashton, created MedVendor to be a search platform that features up-to-date information for caseworkers for case workers for patients seeking at-home care.

At the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, Chris Hunt was at a loss for how to help patients. He had recently taken on a new role in wound care sales. His company would send dressings directly to patients, but finding someone who could apply and change them was a different matter.

“It was an absolute nightmare using [Google] as a resource because you had all of these out-of-date listings. So it was a 50-50 shot whether that company would even be in business… And so it would be one in every seven, one in every eight calls that I would make that I could actually get ahold of somebody that I could talk to about wound care services,” Chris Hunt recalls.

In 2020, the couple began interviewing developers to take their idea to reality. They incorporated as an LLC in 2021.

Chris Hunt calls the platform a home-care equivalent to Angie’s List or Yelp. Though it’s currently designed for users in the medical field, he says that they are working on crafting MedVendor to be used by the general public as well.

Users input the type of service they’re looking for, then can select multiple individual patient needs to further tailor the search. “It'll give you a short list from that of companies that can service those criteria. And once you've been given that list, then you can filter patient zip code as well as patient insurance plan to then whittle that search further and really get to a granular level in terms of what resources that you want to find,” Chris Hunt explains.

The couple says that their Houston location has been both a blessing and a curse for their burgeoning business, which released the MedVendor platform on October 1. Though Chris Hunt says that cutting his business’ teeth in Southeast Texas, with its expansive medical community “proves your worth and holds a ton of weight. There you can go to other markets and really capitalize.”

However, MedVendor doesn’t want to be known just as a Texas company — the Hunts hope to expand far beyond the Houston area to eventually become a household name.

Ashton Hunt, who was also in medical sales before the couple took the leap to pursue MedVendor full-time, is marketing director for the company. She adds that in Q4 of this year, they plan to release a phone app version of the platform, which will make using it even easier for medical teams.

“Ideally, a case manager or social worker, if they're working on a discharge plan for a patient, they can even be bedside with them with their phone to help find some resources to then pass along to the family or the caregiver,” Chris Hunt says.

Ultimately, the goal of the company, the couple says, is to open up possibilities for patients. By providing up-to-date, vetted information, the hope is that MedVendor will not only supply them with the care they need, but educate them in the process.

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Affluent Houston enclave is the richest small town in Texas for 2024

elite address

An upscale Houston community is home to the richest residents in Texas: Bunker Hill Village, a historically affluent Memorial neighborhood, was crowned the richest small town in Texas in a 2024 report.

The analysis, by loan provider TitleMax, determined the richest small towns in all 50 states using median household income data from the U.S. Census Bureau. In Bunker Hill Village, the median household income is about $250,000, the report says.

In addition to being the wealthiest town in the Lone Star State, Bunker Hill Village ranked as the No. 8 wealthiest small town in America.

Of course, "small town" is a bit of a misnomer for Bunker Hill Village. Situated 13 miles west of downtown Houston, Bunker Hill joins five other communities – Hunters Creek, HiIlshire, Hedwig, Piney Point, and Spring Valley – to make up Houston's iconic Memorial Villages. In 2023, Bunker Hill was ranked the third-most expensive Houston neighborhood, with homes on the market for upwards of $2.7 million.

Notably, the area is home to Houston's only Frank Lloyd Wright-designed house.

"We are very proud of our quiet, wooded environment, and as a community, we work hard to preserve it for future generations," the city's website says.

The study found that more than half (56.5 percent) of the 1,250-home community make over $200,000 a year, while the enclave's median household income amounts to $247,188.

To put that into perspective, TitleMax revealed that the national median household income is $67,521. The Census Bureau's 2023 American Community Survey estimates the median income of a household in Texas came out to $75,780 in 2023.

Bunker Hill joins the likes of Houston's Bellaire and West University Place as some of the most affluent suburbs in America.

The San Jose, California suburb of Monte Sereno took the No. 1 spot in the ranking for the wealthiest small town in America. Monte Sereno's median household income is more than $250,000, according to the report.

"While many people consider cities to be the epicenters of the rich, many retreat to small towns that offer safety, beauty, and privacy," the report's author wrote.

These are the top 10 wealthiest small towns in America, with their median household incomes:

  • No. 1 – Monte Sereno, California ($250,000-plus)
  • No. 2 – Cherry Hills Village, Colorado ($250,000-plus)
  • No. 3 – Mission Hills, Kansas ($250,000-plus)
  • No. 4 – Short Hills, New Jersey ($250,000-plus)
  • No. 5 – Scarsdale, New York ($250,000-plus)
  • No. 6 – Belle Meade, Tennessee ($250,000-plus)
  • No. 7 – Glencoe, Illinois ($248,851)
  • No. 8 – Bunker Hill Village, Texas ($247,188)
  • No. 9 – Clyde Hill, Washington ($238,958)
  • No. 10 – Chevy Chase Village, Maryland ($238,333)
The full report can be found on titlemax.com.

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This article originally ran on CultureMap.