Houston home tech startup emerges from stealth with $10M series A round

smart home

A Houston startup has launched to keep an eye on your AC to predict and prevent outages and issues. Photo courtesy of SmartAC.com

It can get hot as Hades in Houston during the summer, and a new Houston startup is using machine learning and technology to ensure that users can count on their air conditioning units to stay up and running during the heat.

Houston-based SmartAC.com has emerged from stealth mode with $10 million in funding from a series A investment round. The company's technology focuses on maintaining air conditioning and heating (HVAC) health before a major service issue occurs.

"Over 70 million homes have central air in the U.S., making indoor comfort a regular way of life. People don't often think about their HVAC systems, taking it for granted, until the day the AC or heat goes out," says Josh Teekell, CEO and founder of SmartAC.com, in a news release. "These systems require regular upkeep, and when they aren't maintained, costs can get out of hand. SmartAC.com's offer is simple; we care about your AC so you don't have to."

The company's technology combines three hardware sensors — which users can install themselves — and machine learning software to analyze data to predict service issues. The comfort sensor monitors the temperature of the air coming out of the unit, the filter sensor tracks the lifespan of air filters by tracking pressure and airflow, and the water sensor protects against leaks and clogs.


The three SmartAC.com sensors are magnetic and easy to install. Photo courtesy of SmartAC.com

All three sensors are linked by SmartAC.com Hub, which sends data from the sensors to the cloud and the SmartAC.com app to translate the data into recommendations to help users reduce costs and get ahead of issues.

"The average AC replacement cost is $7,500 — an expense that can be a huge burden on homeowners. Caring for these assets is inconvenient and oftentimes confusing, resulting in 80 percent of homeowners skipping the recommended maintenance on their AC systems," says Andrew Fuselier, SmartAC.com's COO, in a news release. "It's time to digitize the AC ownership experience to solve a decades old problem. SmartAC.com was formed in stealth mode with feedback from thousands of homeowners, so we're thrilled to finally show the world what we've built."

In addition to working directly with consumers, SmartAC.com has teamed up with HVAC service providers.

"SmartAC.com is a total game-changer," says David Lewis of Mission AC in a news release. "Our clients love the additional transparency and the technology allows us to improve our service speed and quality because, for the first time, we have real-time data on the systems we service."

The data from the sensors is analyzed and sent to users via the smart phone app. Photo courtesy of SmartAC.com

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Houston startups win NASA funding for space tech projects

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Three Houston startups were granted awards from NASA this month to develop new technologies for the space agency.

The companies are among nearly 300 recipients that received a total agency investment of $44.85 million through the Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) and Small Business Technology Transfer (STTR) Phase I grant programs, according to NASA.

Each selected company will receive $150,000 and, based on their progress, will be eligible to submit proposals for up to $850,000 in Phase II funding to develop prototypes.

The SBIR program lasts for six months and contracts small businesses. The Houston NASA 2025 SBIR awardees include:

Solidec Inc.

  • Principal investigator: Yang Xia
  • Proposal: Highly reliable and energy-efficient electrosynthesis of high-purity hydrogen peroxide from air and water in a nanobubble facilitated porous solid electrolyte reactor

Rarefied Studios LLC

  • Principal investigator: Kyle Higdon
  • Proposal: Plume impingement module for autonomous proximity operations

The STTR program contracts small businesses in partnership with a research institution and lasts for 13 months. The Houston NASA 2025 STTR awardees include:

Affekta LLC

  • Principal investigator: Hedinn Steingrimsson
  • Proposal: Verifiable success in handling unknown unknowns in space habitat simulations and a cyber-physical system

Solidec and Affekta have ties to Rice University.

Solidec extracts molecules from water and air, then transforms them into pure chemicals and fuels that are free of carbon emissions. It was co-founded by Rice professor Haotian Wang and and was an Innovation Fellow at Rice’s Liu Idea Lab for Innovation and Entrepreneurship. It was previouslt selected for Chevron Technology Ventures’ catalyst program, a Rice One Small Step grant, a U.S. Department of Energy grant, and the first cohort of the Activate Houston program.

Affekta, an AI course, AI assistance and e-learning platform, was a part of Rice's OwlSpark in 2023.

Houston energy tech startup Molecule closes series B funding round

Big Bang

Houston-based energy trading risk management (ETRM) software company Molecule has completed a successful series B round for an undisclosed amount, according to a July 16 release from the company.

The raise was led by Sundance Growth, a California-based software growth equity firm.

Sameer Soleja, founder and CEO of Molecule, said in the release that the funding will allow the company to "double down on product innovation, grow our team, and reach even more markets."

Molecule closed a $12 million Series A round in 2021, led by Houston-based Mercury Fund, and has since seen significant growth. The company, which was founded in 2012, has expanded its customer base across the U.S., U.K., Europe, Canada and South America, according to the release.

Additionally, it has launched two new modules of its software platform. Its Hive module, which debuted in 2022, enables clients to manage their energy portfolio and renewable credits together in one scalable platform. It also introduced Elektra, an add-on for the power market to its platform, which allows for complex power market trading.

"Four years ago, we committed to becoming the leading platform for energy trading," Soleja said in the release. "Today, our customers are managing complex power and renewable portfolios across multiple jurisdictions, all within Molecule.”

Molecule is also known for its data-as-a-lake platform, Bigbang, which enables energy ETRM and commodities trading and risk management (CTRM) customers to automatically import trade data from Molecule and then merge it with various sources to conduct queries and analysis.

“Molecule is doing something very few companies in energy tech have done: combining mission-critical depth with cloud-native, scalable technology,” Christian Stewart, Sundance Growth managing director, added in the statement.

“Sameer and his team have built a platform that’s not only powerful, but user-friendly—a rare combination in enterprise software. We’re thrilled to partner with Molecule as they continue to grow and transform the energy trading and risk management market.”

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This article originally appeared on EnergyCapitalHTX.com.

Rice University professor earns $550k NSF award for wearable imaging tech​

science supported

Another Houston scientist has won one of the highly competitive National Science Foundation (NSF) CAREER Awards.

Lei Li, an assistant professor of electrical and computer engineering at Rice University, has received a $550,000, five-year grant to develop wearable, hospital-grade medical imaging technology capable of visualizing deep tissue function in real-time, according to the NSF. The CAREER grants are given to "early career faculty members who demonstrate the potential to serve as academic models and leaders in research and education."

“This is about giving people access to powerful diagnostic tools that were once confined to hospitals,” Li said in a news release from Rice. “If we can make imaging affordable, wearable and continuous, we can catch disease earlier and treat it more effectively.”

Li’s research focuses on photoacoustic imaging, which merges light and sound to produce high-resolution images of structures deep inside the body. It relies on pulses of laser light that are absorbed by tissue, leading to a rapid temperature rise. During this process, the heat causes the tissue to expand by a fraction, generating ultrasound waves that travel back to the surface and are detected and converted into an image. The process is known to yield more detailed images without dyes or contrast agents used in some traditional ultrasounds.

However, current photoacoustic systems tend to use a variety of sensors, making them bulky, expensive and impractical. Li and his team are taking a different approach.

Instead of using hundreds of separate sensors, Li and his researchers are developing a method that allows a single sensor to capture the same information via a specially designed encoder. The encoder assigns a unique spatiotemporal signature to each incoming sound wave. A reconstruction algorithm then interprets and decodes the signals.

These advances have the potential to lower the size, cost and power consumption of imaging systems. The researchers believe the device could be used in telemedicine, remote diagnostics and real-time disease monitoring. Li’s lab will also collaborate with clinicians to explore how the miniaturized technology could help monitor cancer treatment and other conditions.

“Reducing the number of detection channels from hundreds to one could shrink these devices from bench-top systems into compact, energy-efficient wearables,” Li said in the release. “That opens the door to continuous health monitoring in daily life—not just in hospitals.”

Amanda Marciel, the William Marsh Rice Trustee Chair of chemical and biomolecular engineering and an assistant professor at Rice, received an NSF CAREER Award last year. Read more here.

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