Houston startup hopes to revolutionize the chatbot business

chatterboxes

Houston-based alive5 has over 800 customers using their chatbox services — and has found a special niche in sports team's websites. Photo via alive5.com

It seems like every other webpage nowadays has a virtual assistant that pops up via a chat box. A Houston startups is hoping to ride the wave of this digital marketing initiative.

Houston-based alive5 has created a platform that allows small-to-medium-sized businesses to engage customers using Chatbot Technology, from their websites, apps, SMS text-message, and social media pages.

"What we do at alive5 is really simple," says Glenn Gutierrez, COO and co-founder of alive5. "We help your business make more conversations."

Gutierrez and his co-founder Dustin Yu started out in 2017 as Alive Chat System and they were one of the first chat systems in Texas.

"Our chat system was kind of a common system that you might see on a website that says, 'Hey, how can I help you today?" says Gutierrez. "And when you press that button, somebody on the other end sends a message and says, 'Hey, how are you doing today? How can I help you?"

After exploring how to take the company, which was initially a lifestyle product, to scale, they added new products and found new ways for their clients to have more conversations with their customers.

"We had to create as many channels as possible outside of web chat," says Gutierrez. "We talked about the live chat system, moving into SMS text message, moving into social media and interestingly enough, we started moving into business cards with QR codes where people can actually scan a QR code or text a phone number and we can automatically build a relationship with a customer at an event, in person or from a billboard.

"And that activates pretty much all the rest of the system for businesses to be able to engage a customer. So we think about ourselves as the best way to help you create more conversations, not just on your website, but pretty much anywhere you would engage a customer."

The platform enjoyed a meteoric rise in the chat space due to its participation in Capital Factory's accelerator program. From there, they were placed in another accelerator program in Philadelphia, the Comcast NBCUniversal LIFT Labs Accelerator, powered by Techstars.

"Because of the boost from the accelerator programs, we developed relationships with a lot of great organizations," says Gutierrez. "Today, we service over 800 customers, including 200 of the top college sports teams and pro teams like the NBA, NFL and NHL."

The platform's collaboration helps teams sell more tickets, especially premium seat tickets, by facilitating conversations with VIP clients and allowing fans the opportunity to go to the team's website to use the automated chat solution.

"A good example of one of those is the Jacksonville Jaguars website," says Gutierrez. "You can go there and see one of our chat boxes available to assist with inquiries or questions that you may have before, during or after a game. And our solution is built for organizations with a high volume of customer interactions to automate some of those tier one questions."

Alive5 also services customers like Royal Caribbean Cruise Line, major hotel brands and other companies in the hospitality space. They are also now collaborating with Spectra Venue Management, which manages hundreds of venues throughout North America, to pilot alive5's messaging and concierge services.

Outside of their inroads in the chat space, the platform is creating AI-powered strategies to help companies maximize their communication opportunities at personal touchpoint events such as conferences and trade shows.

"With our A.I. powered business cards, we're able to take an engagement that happens at a conference, an event or at a networking session and turn that into a prospect that's now part of a company's digital lead funnel," says Gutierrez. "What we're proposing is to give them a laser-etched metal business card with the QR code. That is better than just giving them a paper business card that they will take and may or may not call you and that's it, that's the end of the interaction.

"With the QR code, a potential contact can scan it and it will send them a demo of our product to their phone and it will give them all of a client's contact details so they can reach out to that client anytime they're ready to buy. The best part about that is that now you have something that no other system can do and you have that customer's phone number available to you at any point in time."

Moving forward, the Houston-based platform wants to do everything within its power to be one of the most successful chat companies nationwide.

"I like to think about our product like a Lego set," says Gutierrez. "It's up to you to choose what package you want. I've been in the startup space for a long time and to finally see that ecosystem starting to mature to the point that businesses are more open to digitally transforming their organizations, where they're understanding the need to take risks, to try new things, that's great for us.

"When you think about a company that can help you with your communication, I want alive5 to be the first company on their minds."

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This is the income required to be a middle class earner in Houston in 2026

Cashing In

A new study tracking the upper and lower thresholds for middle class households across the nation's largest cities has revealed Houstonians need to make at least a grand more than last year to maintain their middle class status this year.

According to SmartAsset's just-released annual report, "What It Takes to Be Middle Class in America – 2026 Study," Houston households need to make anywhere from $42,907 to $128,722 to qualify as middle class earners this year.

Compared to 2025, Houstonians need to make $1,153 more per year to meet the minimum threshold for a middle class status, whereas the upper bound has stretched $3,448 higher. The median income for a Houston household in 2024 was $64,361, the study added.

SmartAsset's experts used 2024 Census Bureau median household income data for the 100 biggest U.S. cities and all 50 states and determined middle class income ranges by using a variation of Pew Research's definition of a middle class household, stating the salary range is "two-thirds to double the median U.S. salary."

In the report's ranking of the U.S. cities with the highest household incomes needed to maintain a middle class status, Houston ranked No. 80.

In the report's state-by-state comparison, Texas has the 24th highest middle class income range. Overall, Texas households need to make between $53,147 and $159,442 to be labeled "middle class" in 2026. For additional context, the median income for a Texas household in 2024 came out to $79,721.

"Often, the expectations that come with the term 'middle class' include reaching home ownership, raising kids, the comfort of modest emergency funds and retirement savings, and the occasional splurge or vacation," the report said. "And as the median household income varies widely across the U.S. depending on the local job market, housing market, infrastructure and other factors, so does swing the bounds on what constitutes a middle class income in America."

What it takes to be middle class elsewhere around Texas

Two Dallas-Fort Worth suburbs – Frisco and Plano – have some of the highest middle class income ranges in the country for 2026, SmartAsset found.

Frisco households need to make between $96,963 and $290,888 to qualify as middle class this year, which is the third-highest middle class income range nationwide.

Plano's middle class income range is the eighth highest nationally, with households needing to make between $77,267 and $231,802 for the designation.

Salary range needed to be a middle class earner in other Texas cities:

  • No. 28 – Austin: between $60,287 and $180,860
  • No. 40 – Irving: between $56,566 and $169,698
  • No. 44 – Fort Worth: between $55,002 and $165,006
  • No. 57 – Garland: between $50,531 and $151,594
  • No. 60 – Arlington: between $49,592 and $148,77
  • No. 61 – Dallas: between $49,549 and $148,646
  • No. 73 – Corpus Christi: between $44,645 and $133,934
  • No. 77 – San Antonio: between $44,117 and $132,352
  • No. 83 – Lubbock: between $41,573 and $124,720
  • No. 84 – Laredo: between $41,013 and $123,038
  • No. 89 – El Paso: between $39,955 and $119,864
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This article originally appeared on CultureMap.com.

Houston leads Texas with 7 new National Academy of Inventors senior members

top honor

The University of Houston is now home to seven new senior members of the National Academy of Inventors.

The distinction honors active faculty, scientists and administrators from NAI member institutions that have demonstrated innovation and produced technologies that have “brought, or aspire to bring, real impact on the welfare of society,” according to the NAI. The members have also succeeded in patents, licensing and commercialization, and educating and mentoring.

According to UH, its seven new members represent the largest group from any single Texas institution this year, bringing the university's total senior member count to 46.

UH faculty also represented three of Houston's four new senior members in 2025. Six Houstonians were also named to the NIA's class of fellows late last year.

“This recognition affirms what we see every day at the University of Houston—bold, collaborative innovation focused on improving lives," Ramanan Krishnamoorti, vice president of energy at UH, said in a news release. "Having seven faculty members named Senior Members reflects our momentum and a culture where discovery moves beyond the lab into solutions that strengthen communities and drive economic growth.”

UH’s new senior members include:

  • Haleh Ardebili, endowed professor of mechanical and aerospace engineering and assistant vice president for Entrepreneurship and Startup Ecosystem. Ardebili develops flexible lithium batteries and holds four patents
  • Vemuri Balakotaiah, distinguished university chair and professor of chemical and biomolecular engineering. Balakotaiah holds is patents, with five pending, and develops mathematical models for the clean energy research.
  • Jakoah Brgoch, professor of chemistry. Brgoch develops next-generation inorganic materials and holds four patents.
  • Jose L. Contreras-Vidal, distinguished professor in electrical and computer engineering and director of UH’s NSF neurotechnology research center. Conreras-Vidal develops brain-machine interface technologies. He holds five patents, with two technologies advancing through clinical trials.
  • Preethi Gunaratne, professor in the department of biology and biochemistry and director of the UH Sequencing Core in UH’s College of Natural Sciences and Mathematics. Gunaratne holds five patents in biology and energy technologies and has made significant large-scale genome discoveries.
  • Jae-Hyun Ryou, professor of mechanical and aerospace engineering. Ryou holds 13 patents and has develops innovative semiconductor materials and devices for flexible electronics.
  • Yingcai Zheng, professor in applied geophysics and director of the UH Rock Physics Lab. Zheng's work focuses on energy production, geothermal development and carbon management strategies. He holds two patents.

Other Texas institutions also had strong showings this year. Additional new Texas senior members from NAI institutions include:

Texas A&M University

  • Guillermo Aguilar
  • Stavros Kalafatis
  • Narendra Kumar
  • Heng Pan
  • Xingyong Song
  • Yubin Zhou

Texas State University

  • Bahram Asiabanpour
  • Martin Burtscher
  • Nihal Dharmasiri
  • Alexander Kornienko
  • Ted Lehr
  • Christopher Rhodes

The University of Texas at Arlington

  • Brian H. Dennis
  • Nicholas Gans
  • Frederick M. MacDonnell
  • Charles Philip Shelor
  • Liping Tang

The University of Texas at San Antonio

  • Robert De Lorenzo
  • Marc Feldman
  • Daohong Zhou

The University of Texas at El Paso

  • XiuJun Li
  • Yirong Lin
  • David Roberson

Texas Tech University Health Sciences Center

  • Thomas John Abbruscato
  • Annette Louise Sobel
  • Sanjay K. Srivastava

Texas Tech University

  • Gerardo Games
  • Dy Dinh Le

Baylor University

  • David Jack

The University of Texas Rio Grande Valley

  • Upal Roy

This year's class is the largest since the NAI launched its senior member recognition program in 2018. The new senior members come from 82 NAI institutions ad hoe more than over 2,000 U.S. patents. Accoring to the NAI, it has 945 senior members who hold more than 11,000 U.S. patents today.

“This year’s senior member class is a truly impressive cohort. These innovators come from a variety of fields and disciplines, translating their technologies into tangible impact,” Paul R. Sanberg, president of NAI, added in a news release. “I commend them on their incredible pursuits and I’m honored to welcome them to the Academy.”

The Senior Member Induction Ceremony will honor the 2026 class at NAI’s Annual Conference June 1-4 in Los Angeles.

Texas takes the No. 1 spot on new energy resilience report

Ranking It

A new report by mineral group Texas Royalty Brokers ranks Texas as the No. 1 most energy-resilient state.

The study focused on four main sources of electricity in hydroelectric dams, natural gas plants, nuclear reactors and petroleum facilities. Each state was given an Energy Resilience Score based on size and diversity of its power infrastructure, energy production and affordability for residents.

Texas earned a score of 71.3 on the report, outpacing much of the rest of the country. Pennsylvania came in at No. 2 with a score of 55.8, followed by New York (49.1) and California (48.4).

According to the report, Texas produces 11.7 percent of the country’s total energy, made possible by the state’s 141,000-megawatt power infrastructure—the largest in America.

Other key stats in the report for Texas included:

  • Per-capita consumption: 165,300 kWh per year
  • Per-capita expenditures: $5,130 annually
  • Total summer capacity: 141,200 megawatts

Despite recent failures in the ERCOT grid, including the 2021 power grid failure during Winter Storm Uri and continued power outages with climate events like 2024’s Hurricane Beryl that left2.7 million without power, Texas still was able to land No. 1 on an energy resilience list. Texas has had the most weather-related power outages in the country in recent years, with 210 events from 2000 to 2023, according to an analysis by the nonprofit Climate Central. It's also the only state in the lower 48 with no major connections to neighboring states' power grids.

Still, the report argues that “(Texas’ infrastructure) is enough to provide energy to 140 million homes. In total, Texas operates 732 power facilities with over 3,000 generators spread across the state, so a single failure can’t knock out the entire grid here.”

The report acknowledges that a potential problem for Texas will be meeting the demands of AI data centers. Eric Winegar, managing partner at Texas Royalty Brokers, warns that these projects consume large amounts of energy and water.

According to another Texas Royalty Brokers report, Texas has 17 GPU cluster sites across the state, which is more than any other region in the United States. GPUs are specialized chips that run AI models and perform calculations.

"Energy resilience is especially important in the age of AI. The data centers that these technologies use are popping up across America, and they consume huge amounts of electricity. Some estimates even suggest that AI could account for 8% of total U.S. power consumption by 2030,” Winegar commented in the report. “We see that Texas is attracting most of these new facilities because it already has the infrastructure to support them. But we think the state needs to keep expanding capacity to meet growing demand."

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This article originally appeared on EnergyCapitalHTX.com.

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