3 Houston innovators to know this week

who's who

This week's roundup of Houston innovators includes Gautam Phanse of Chevron Technology Ventures, Dede Raad of Dress Up Buttercup, and Benjamin Foster of Nurseify. Photos courtesy

Editor's note: In this week's roundup of Houston innovators to know, I'm introducing you to three local innovators across industries — from climatetech to health care — recently making headlines in Houston innovation.


Gautam Phanse, strategic relationship manager for Chevron Technology Ventures

Gautam Phanse of Chevron Technology Ventures answers questions about this unique program. Photo courtesy

Houston-based Chevron Technology Ventures has applications open for its second Chevron Studio cohort that matches entrepreneurs with promising technologies coming out of universities and labs. The overall goal of the studio — a collaboration between Chevron and the National Renewable Energy Laboratory, or NREL — is to scale up and commercialize early-stage technologies that have the potential to impact the future of energy.

"The goal of Chevron Studio is to scale up and commercialize technology developed in the Universities and National Labs. We curate the intellectual property developed at universities and national labs and provide a platform to match entrepreneurs with the IP," says Gautam Phanse, the strategic relationship manager for Chevron Technology Ventures. "The program provides seed funding and a pathway through incubation, pilot and field trials to scale up the technologies. The uniqueness of this program is its target and the breadth of its scope — all the way from incubation to field trials."

Phanse joins InnovationMap for a Q&A to explain more about the opportunity. Read more.

Dede Raad, founder of Dress Up Buttercup

Dede Raad of Dress Up Buttercup created a unique pitch series — completely fueled by her social media community — that gave a spotlight to eight businesses. Photo via dressupbuttercup.com

After growing her audience to over a million followers on Instagram, Houston fashion blogger Dede Raad felt the pressure to expand her business — but she didn't feel inspired by any particular line of business to grow into.

"In the blogging world, which I've been doing for about seven years, everyone's next step is to start a brand and to start something of their own," Raad, founder of Dress Up Buttercup, tells InnovationMap. "I just don't have anything in my heart that I was really passionate about. I know once you start something, you have to give it your all."

But what Raad realized — after a year of thinking about her next move and a chance viewing of Shark Tank — was that tons of business founders were passionate about their own brands, and there was an opportunity for Raad use her community to support them instead of coming up with something of her own. She launched "Build Up Buttercup," an initiative that featured small business pitches for a select group of investors. Read more.

Benjamin Foster, CEO and founder of Nurseify

In honor of Black History Month, Houstonian Benjamin Foster shares some of his lessons learned about navigating the business world as a Black founder. Photo courtesy

Last month was a time to reflect on Black history — as well as to look forward to the future of Black Americans. Benjamin Foster, a Houston entrepreneur, wrote a guest column about his experience as a Black founder.

"No matter how smart or hard working you are, it is impossible for a nonprofit owner, entrepreneur, or business owner to know everything about running and managing a business," he writes. "For me, I understood the health care industry and business management side, but I acknowledged that as a founder, it was okay to not know it all and to need the support of a village to get traction to keep moving forward." Read more.

In honor of Black History Month, Houstonian Benjamin Foster shares some of his lessons learned about navigating the business world as a Black founder. Photo via Getty Images

Houston expert: What I've learned about navigating the business world as a Black founder

guest column

Entrepreneurship is the process of creating, developing and managing a new business venture with the aim of making a profit. Successful entrepreneurs are known for their creativity, tenacity and willingness to take risks, often disrupting existing markets and challenging traditional ways of doing things to make an impactful change in the world.

With the increasing demand on health care professionals over the past few years, medical professionals, especially nurses, are veering off the traditional nurse career path. Entrepreneurial ventures have slowly emerged as nurses look for different routes for employment that allow them to utilize their health care skillset, such as, transitioning to the health care technology industry or becoming a wellness coach.

When exploring entrepreneurship, one must be passionate about what type of company or service he or she chooses to create, build, develop and invest in. The extensive list of work to be done can be overwhelming, so to keep the motivation going, one must have the drive to see the concept come to fruition. To make an idea become a reality, trustworthy legal counsel is critical. Navigating legalese is not a common skill, so guarantee the legal safety of your company by allowing the experts to fight on your behalf. It is vital to have a strong team as reinforcement to help your organization propel forward.

Successful businesses often have work environments where employees are encouraged to be innovative. For nurses, this can be prioritized through the introduction of online platforms that allow nurses and medical facilities to pick what schedule, location, shift length or compensation works best for them. Through an extensive database, these preferences can be personalized for the benefit of the person on the website.

To address the challenges faced by Black entrepreneurs, there is a growing movement to provide targeted support and resources to help them succeed. This includes initiatives to increase access to capital and business development support, as well as efforts to address systemic inequalities and promote greater diversity and inclusion in the business world. In industry meetings, it is rare to be a part of discussions where there is more than one African American representative and, to be honest, that is probably the toughest part of being a Black entrepreneur. Through these efforts, African American entrepreneurs have the opportunity to build successful businesses and make a positive impact on their communities and the wider economy.

No matter how smart or hard working you are, it is impossible for a nonprofit owner, entrepreneur, or business owner to know everything about running and managing a business. For me, I understood the health care industry and business management side, but I acknowledged that as a founder, it was okay to not know it all and to need the support of a village to get traction to keep moving forward.

As a Black business founder, I take pride in being able to voice the concerns and requests of African Americans across the health care industry and believe that is part of our responsibility as an organization. It is rewarding to spearhead efforts to increase diversity within the health care industry and represent the individuals and the voices that have been overlooked. It is our job to continue to be creative and ambitious in the support we can offer.

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Benjamin Foster is the CEO and founder of Nurseify.

This week's roundup of Houston innovators includes Philip Dutton of Solidatus, Benjamin Foster of Nurseify, and Tasos Katsaounis of Bread Man Baking Co. Photos courtesy

3 Houston innovators to know this week

who's who

Editor's note: In this week's roundup of Houston innovators to know, I'm introducing you to three local innovators across industries — from baking to software development — recently making headlines in Houston innovation.


Philip Dutton, CEO of Solidatus

Philip Dutton is the new Houston-based CEO of Solidatus, a London-founded data management startup. Photo via LinkedIn

As part of a company reorganization, data management startup Solidatus has established Houston as its North American headquarters and has named co-founder Philip Dutton as its Houston-based CEO.

Founded in London in 2017, Solidatus initially focused on supplying data management software to businesses in Europe, the Middle East, and Africa, but has since extended its reach to North America. Overall, Solidatus employs more than 110 people. It plans to triple its U.S. headcount over the next year.

“Solidatus serves visionary organizations that desire streamlined access and clarity of their data to build smarter and more profitable businesses. That’s everyone from Fortune 500 companies that have an unmanageably complex data landscape to startups and scale-ups that want to optimize their data practices from the get-go. There is no greater concentration of these organizations than in the U.S.,” Dutton, who had been the co-CEO, says in a news release. Click here to read more.

Benjamin Foster, founder and CEO of Nurseify

Benjamin Foster was leading human resources at Gulf Coast Division during Hurricane Harvey when he saw a huge need for an alternative to hiring short-term nurses quickly. That's when he had the idea for Nurseify, a platform that allows for nurses to find jobs — and for facilities to find nurses with the specialties they need. The platform is now live in five pilot states — Texas, Georgia, Florida, South Carolina, and Nevada.

Nurses are facing a significant amount of burnout — in part due to what they went through during the pandemic, but also because of the stressful work environments due to hiring misalignment. Foster says he's intentionally designed the platform to be supportive of nurses.

"We want Nurseify to be known as the most nurse-friendly company in the world. We believe we can bridge the gap between administration and operations and nurses," Foster says. "We want 'Nurseify' to become a verb at some point." Click here to read more.

Tasos Katsaounis, CEO and founder of Bread Man Baking Co.

How Tasos Katsaounis took his hobby and let it rise into a booming Houston business. Image via breadmanco.com

Four years ago, while looking to escape the daily rigors of his corporate work stress, Houstonian Tasos Katsaounis began to bake bread between Zoom calls. He took that hobby and turned it into Bread Man Baking Co. – a Houston-based artisan bread business that can now be tasted in restaurants all throughout the city.

“You know, there’s just something about the idea of growing something from nothing,” Katsaounis, CEO and founder of the company, tells InnovationMap. “I really feel like for the first time in my 26 years of working professionally, that I'm doing what I'm supposed to be doing and I'm super passionate about what I do every day.”

At the end of 2021, the company expanded from its 5,000-square-foot kitchen and moved its operations into a new 40,000-square-foot facility on the northeast side of Houston, close to the Budweiser and Kroger distribution buildings. At the time of the move, it had 17 employees and this year it has since grown to 42. Click here to read more.

Benjamin Foster joins the Houston Innovators Podcast to talk about Nurseify. Image courtesy of Nurseify

Houston innovator tackles growing nursing shortages with startup platform

houston innovators podcast episode 148

The past few years have been challenging for health care workers, and even before the pandemic, hospital systems were facing a nursing shortage, says Benjamin Foster on this week's episode of the Houston Innovators Podcast.

It was during Hurricane Harvey that Foster, leading human resources at Gulf Coast Division at the time, saw a huge need for an alternative to hiring short-term nurses quickly. That's when he had the idea for Nurseify, a platform that allows for nurses to find jobs — and for facilities to find nurses with the specialties they need. The platform is now live in five pilot states — Texas, Georgia, Florida, South Carolina, and Nevada.

"Part of the reason those are our pilot states is those are states that are projected to have five of the top 10 nursing shortages," Foster says on the show. "We also see a lot of seasonality in those states. If there are certain periods of time where patient volume increases a lot, you need to bring in more nurses."

Now, having launched, Foster says he's focused on growing density in those regions — for both the facility side and the nursing side — so that there are more opportunities for users of the platform.

Nurses are facing a significant amount of burnout — in part due to what they went through during the pandemic, but also because of the stressful work environments due to hiring misalignment. Foster says he's intentionally designed the platform to be supportive of nurses.

"We want Nurseify to be known as the most nurse-friendly company in the world. We believe we can bridge the gap between administration and operations and nurses," Foster says. "We want Nurseify to become a verb at some point."

In addition to being a marketplace for nurses and health care facilities, Foster says he is staying completely tapped into ways to provide resources and support for the user base — which, statistically, is a primarily female industry.

"Nurses are worn out because we've asked them to work so much during the pandemic, and I would argue that as an industry, we have not done enough to protect them," he says. "We want to be a voice for that."

Foster shares more on the future of Nurseify and the difference his platform is making in the industry on the podcast. Listen to the interview below — or wherever you stream your podcasts — and subscribe for weekly episodes.


Nurseify is an on-demand platform that allows nurses and health care organizations to take part in the gig economy. Photo via unsplash.com

Houston-based gig platform for nurses to launch app next month

help in health care

Health care executive Benjamin Foster knows that nurses are essential — especially in times of crisis.

In 2017, when Hurricane Harvey struck Houston, he watched as local health care organizations struggled to find nurses who could meet the desperate need at hard-to-reach facilities. And as Regional Chief Human Resources Officer at HCA Houston Healthcare, he had also grown accustomed to the high costs and inefficiencies of traditional medical staffing agencies.

In 2020, in response to the demand for nurses in the pandemic, he decided it was time to act, launching Nurseify in May of that year.

Nurseify is an on-demand platform that allows nurses and health care organizations to take part in the gig economy.With guidance from Rama Walker, Nurseify’s Chief Nursing Officer and Chief Operating Officer with a background in ER administration, the platform uses AI to match nurses with facilities looking to fill short-term assignments.

Nurses are able to set their rates and schedules through the app. Health care facilities can directly vet applicants through their profiles and ratings. The platform also can predict when there might be a higher demand for contract nurses at various facilities based on vacancies and increased patient volume.

“We hope to empower nurses and help individuals take control of their careers by offering transparency and a way to create schedules to better fit their lifestyles,” says Foster, CEO of Nurseify, in a statement. “In this gig-economy, it’s imperative to have an easy and effective way for nurses and healthcare facilities to communicate directly about opportunities, and Nurseify provides a place where they can do just that.”

Additionally, the platform features educational, financial, and support resources for nurse users, as well as options to work with entrepreneurial mentors and wellness coaches with the goal of empowering nurses in what's proven to be a demanding field, especially since the onset of the pandemic.

“As nurse advocates, we prioritize an honest hiring process and nurses’ work-life balance and overall wellbeing,” Walker adds in a statement.

According to the Nurseify team, more than 5,000 nurses have created profiles on the platform at press time; and 60 healthcare facilities have access to Nurseify.

Through the Nuresify mobile app, which launches in May, the company aims to attract more users and health care facilities.

Currently the company is focused on its operations in Texas, Georgia, Florida, and South Carolina, which were pilot states for Nurseify. But the company aims to expand nationally and internationally in the future.

Houston-based acute care startup Kare Technologies launched a similar platform for staffing within the senior living facility and caregiving realms in 2021. Read more about that company here.

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Tech giant Apple doubles down on Houston with new production facility

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Tech giant Apple announced that it will double the size of its Houston manufacturing footprint as it brings production of its Mac mini to the U.S. for the first time.

The company plans to begin production of its compact desktop computer at a new factory at Apple’s Houston manufacturing site later this year. The move is expected to create thousands of jobs in the Houston area, according to Apple.

Last year, the Cupertino, California-based company announced it would open a 250,000-square-foot factory to produce servers for its data centers in the Houston area. The facility was originally slated to open in 2026, but Apple reports it began production ahead of schedule in 2025.

The addition of the Mac mini operations at the site will bring the footprint to about 500,000 square feet, the Houston Chronicle reports. The New York Times previously reported that Taiwanese electronics manufacturer Foxconn would be involved in the Houston factory.

Apple also announced plans to open a 20,000-square-foot Advanced Manufacturing Center in Houston later this year. The project is currently under construction and will "provide hands-on training in advanced manufacturing techniques to students, supplier employees, and American businesses of all sizes," according to the announcement. Apple opened a similar Apple Manufacturing Academy in Detroit last year.

Apple doubles down on Houston with new production facility, training center Photo courtesy Apple.

“Apple is deeply committed to the future of American manufacturing, and we’re proud to significantly expand our footprint in Houston with the production of Mac mini starting later this year,” Tim Cook, Apple’s CEO, said in the news release. “We began shipping advanced AI servers from Houston ahead of schedule, and we’re excited to accelerate that work even further.”

Apple's Houston expansion is part of a $600 billion commitment the company made to the U.S. in 2025.

Houston energy trailblazer Fervo taps into hottest reservoir to date

Heating Up

Things are heating up at Houston-based geothermal power company Fervo Energy.

Fervo recently drilled its hottest well so far at a new geothermal site in western Utah. Fewer than 11 days of drilling more than 11,000 feet deep at Project Blanford showed temperatures above 555 degrees Fahrenheit, which exceeds requirements for commercial viability. Fervo used proprietary AI-driven analytics for the test.

Hotter geothermal reservoirs produce more energy and improve what’s known as energy conversion efficiency, which is the ratio of useful energy output to total energy input.

“Fervo’s exploration strategy has always been underpinned by the seamless integration of cutting-edge data acquisition and advanced analytics,” Jack Norbeck, Fervo’s co-founder and chief technology officer, said in a news release. “This latest ultra-high temperature discovery highlights our team’s ability to detect and develop EGS sweet spots using AI-enhanced geophysical techniques.”

Fervo says an independent review confirms the site’s multigigawatt potential.

The company has increasingly tapped into hotter and hotter geothermal reservoirs, going from 365 degrees at Project Red to 400 degrees at Cape Station and now more than 555 degrees at Blanford.

The new site expands Fervo’s geologic footprint. The Blanford reservoir consists of sedimentary formations such as sandstones, claystones and carbonates, which can be drilled more easily and cost-effectively than more commonly targeted granite formations.

Fervo ranks among the top-funded startups in the Houston area. Since its founding in 2017, the company has raised about $1.5 billion. In January, Fervo filed for an IPO that would value the company at $2 billion to $3 billion, according to

Axios Pro.

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This article originally appeared on EnergyCapitalHTX.com.

11 Houston researchers named to Rice innovation cohort

top of class

The Liu Idea Lab for Innovation and Entrepreneurship (Lilie) has named 11 students and researchers with breakthrough ideas to its 2026 Rice Innovation Fellows cohort.

The program, first launched in 2022, aims to support Rice Ph.D. students and postdocs in turning their research into real-world ventures. Participants receive $10,000 in translational research funding, co-working space and personalized mentorship.

The eleven 2026 Innovation Fellows are:

Ehsan Aalaei, Bioengineering, Ph.D. 2027

Professor Michael King Laboratory

Aalaei is developing new therapies to prevent the spread of cancer.

Matt Lee, Bioengineering, Ph.D. 2027

Professor Caleb Bashor Laboratory

Lee’s work uses AI to design the genetic instructions for more effective therapies.

Thomas Howlett, Bioengineering, Postdoctoral 2028

Professor Kelsey Swingle Laboratory

Howlett is developing a self-administered, nonhormonal treatment for heavy menstrual bleeding.

Jonathan Montes, Bioengineering, Ph.D. 2025

Professor Jessica Butts Laboratory

Montes and his team are developing a fast-acting, long-lasting nasal spray to relieve chronic and acute anxiety.

Siliang Li, BioSciences, Postdoctoral 2025

Professor Caroline Ajo-Franklin Laboratory

Li is developing noninvasive devices that can quickly monitor gut health signals.

Gina Pizzo, Statistics, Lecturer

Pizzo’s research uses data modeling to forecast crop performance and soil health.

Alex Sadamune, Bioengineering, Ph.D. 2027

Professor Chong Xie Laboratory

Sadamune is working to scale the production of high-precision neural implants.

Jaeho Shin, Chemistry, Postdoctoral 2027

Professor James M. Tour Laboratory

Shin is developing next-generation semiconductor and memory technologies to advance computing and AI.

Will Schmid, Electrical and Computer Engineering, Postdoctoral 2025

Professor Alessandro Alabastri Laboratory

Schmid is developing scalable technologies to recover critical minerals from high-salinity resources.

Khadija Zanna, Electrical and Computer Engineering, Ph.D. 2026

Professor Akane Sano Laboratory

Zanna is building machine learning tools to help companies deploy advanced AI in compliance with complex global regulations.

Ava Zoba, Materials Science and Nano Engineering, Ph.D. 2029

Professor Christina Tringides Laboratory

Zoba is designing implantable devices to improve the monitoring of brain function following tumor-removal surgery.

According to Rice, its Innovation Fellows have gone on to raise over $30 million and join top programs, including The Activate Fellowship, Chain Reaction Innovations Fellowship, the Texas Medical Center’s Cancer Therapeutics Accelerator and the Rice Biotech Launch Pad. Past participants include ventures like Helix Earth Technologies and HEXASpec.

“These fellows aren’t just advancing science — they’re building the future of industry here at Rice,” Kyle Judah, Lilie’s executive director, said in a news release. “Alongside their faculty members, they’re stepping into the uncertainty of turning research into real-world solutions. That commitment is rare, and it’s exactly why Lilie and Rice are proud to stand shoulder-to-shoulder with them and nurture their ambition to take on civilization-scale problems that truly matter.”

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