Houston universities reveal teams for summer accelerators

bayou startups

Four Houston accelerators will be working together this summer to advance nearly 30 university-associated startups. Photo via UH.edu

The University of Houston and Rice University have announced the cohorts for their summer accelerators that advance university-founded startups and small businesses.

The two schools run four programs in tandem with each other every summer for about a decade. There are nearly 30 companies this year being accelerated across the four programs, which are:

  • Rice's OwlSpark is focused on early-stage startup teams.
  • UH's RED Labs is focused on early-stage startup teams.
  • Rice's BlueLaunch is focused on non-tech small businesses.
  • UH's RED Launch is focused on non-tech small businesses.

"A very cool part of the program is that we partner every summer with Rice University's OwlSpark and Blue Launch," says Liana Gonzalez-Schulenberg, managing director of RED Labs. "It creates this really incredible network across the universities and allows both schools to bolster and benefit from each other.

"We share staff, we share mentors, we share speakers, we co-host the demo day, and we even share the catering bill," she continues. "It's a really special part of the program that I think has brought endless value to the founders, the universities, and Houston."

The 12-week program takes each of the teams — all of which have a university-affiliated founder, from undergrad to faculty — through key programming and mentorship. The final event includes a pitch day, called the Bayou Startup Showcase, where all of the companies share their business plans they've created through the program.

“I’m excited to support these new ventures with highly curated offerings and rich mentorship, propelling them to commercial success,” said Jessica Fleenor, managing director of BlueLaunch and OwlSpark. "We have built a long-standing culture of advocacy and collaboration, and look forward to upholding that in our largest cohort to date."

The selected companies for the four programs are as follows.

RED Labs (cohort 11)

  • We Felt It 3-D prints customized modifications to mobility devices like canes, walkers, and wheelchairs that maximizes comfort during use.
  • Zoop makes nutrition easy, clean and sustainable smoothie premixes which can be consumed anywhere and anytime by just mixing it with any of the preferred mixer (Water, Vegan milk, Milk, etc.)
  • Orbit is an application that allows users to understand the stock market through practice and training.
  • Team X is creating a company around nanoporous membrane technologies that recovers metals from wastewater and brine.

OwlSpark (cohort 11)

  • Terradote will manufacture cost-competitive, petroleum-free chemicals using captured carbon dioxide, methane and renewable bio-based materials.
  • Biomethanator’s biofilm bioreactors utilize biomethanation to convert industrial-waste carbon dioxide to methane, which can be used as fuel or in other industrial applications.
  • Taurus Vascular is developing a minimally invasive catheter for addressing the most pressing complication of endovascular aortic aneurysm repair: endoleaks.
  • Voythos offers a mobile physician companion that monitors electronic medical records, prompting action and initiating care workflows.
  • AiKYNETIX is developing a video analytics platform for human motion insights, focusing on a mobile running lab for runners and coaches.
  • AllStars is building an affect-sensitive educational tool for self-studying and blended classroom learning.
  • Eureka Hub is developing a marketplace where data and research scientists can publish, manage, share and revise analytical models for data sets across diverse applications.
  • ScoutBetter is an end-to-end recruiting platform that connects students with corporate campuses and provides recruiters access to university talent.

RED Launch (cohort 2)

  • Curio Sweets is a vegan dessert brand that provides wholesale desserts and services including: consultation; recipe development; and contract baking of their product.
  • Space City Vinyl is a vehicle wrapping business that offers a quick and non permanent color change of vehicles.
  • Venus by Design is a handmade jewelry company
  • First Byte Digital consulting firm that helps mom and pop restaurants and non-profits establish a robust online presence by offering a wide range of digital conversion services.
  • 2tinys designs, prints, and cuts stickers with the plan of expanding into art prints and stationery items.
  • Lacey's Art paints dog portrait artwork. They partner with shelters to find models (and provide some help to getting the dog adopted), and then sells the prints.

BlueLaunch (cohort 2)

  • Archway Family Medicine provides medical care to patients through a monthly membership model known as direct primary care.
  • rdy helps communities recover from disasters faster and more equitably by working with local organizations to plan for them.
  • 610 Smokehouse is a mobile food service and catering company that serves “Texan Fusion,” a unique cuisine that combines traditional Texas barbecue with diverse Houston food.
  • Serendipity Picnic is a unique picnic with all the goodies and essentials wrapped in a beautiful, lightweight, easy-to-carry and reusable “BlanKIT.”
  • La Mer Macaron offers an assortment of homemade French macarons.
  • TenTwelve provides residential construction and remodeling services.
  • DHA America customizes, designs and sells powder-coated and galvanized fence panels, posts and accessories.
  • All About Baby provides bespoke tableware for babies transitioning to solid foods.
  • MeowPlanet is opening a cat lounge.

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Houston boasts No. 2 biggest population gain in U.S., Census data shows

Boomtown

Houston saw the second-highest population increase in the United States in 2024, according to the U.S. Census Bureau.

The new population report revealed Houston gained 43,217 residents from July 2023 to July 2024, bringing the city's population to 2,390,125.

Houston hung on to its ranking as the fourth largest city in the country and joined 11 other Southern cities that saw the largest numeric population gains in 2024, the report added.

Elsewhere in Texas, Fort Worth is now home to more than 1 million residents, surpassing Austin as the 11th largest city in the U.S. Fort Worth had the fifth-highest numeric increase in population, adding 23,442 residents during that same time frame to bring the city's total population to 1,008,106 residents.

Dallas retained its No. 9 spot on the list of the 15 most populous cities in the U.S. The city gained more than 23,000 residents during the one-year period, bringing its population to 1,326,087 people in 2024.


Austin slipped two spots and now ranks as the 13th largest city after adding more than 13,000 residents to bring the Texas Capital's population to 993,588.

San Antonio gained 23,945 residents — the fourth-highest increase nationwide — and was the only other city besides Houston to have a higher numerical growth rate than Fort Worth during the one-year period.

Fastest-growing U.S. cities
Princeton, a North Texas suburb of Dallas, topped the charts as the No. 1 fastest-growing U.S. city in 2024. The Census Bureau says the city's population has more than doubled in the last five years to more than 37,000 residents.

Fulshear, 34 miles from downtown Houston, has continued its rapid expansion as the second-fastest growing city. The suburb grew nearly 27 percent since the previous year, and its population rose to 54,629 residents as of July 2024.

Five additional Texas cities made the list of fastest-growing U.S. cities:

  • Celina, near Dallas (No. 4) with 18.2 percent growth (51,661 total population)
  • Anna, near Dallas (No. 5) with 14.6 percent growth (31,986 total population)
  • Fate, near Dallas (No. 8) with 11.4 percent growth (27,467 total population)
  • Melissa, near Dallas (No. 11) with 10 percent growth (26,194 total population)
  • Hutto, near Austin (No. 13) with 9.4 percent growth (42,661 total population)

The Austin suburb of Georgetown's growth has continued to slow down since 2023, and it no longer appears in the list of fastest-growing cities. However, it did surpass 100,000 residents in 2024. San Angelo, a small city in West Texas, also surpassed the 100,000-population threshold.

Most populous U.S. cities in 2024
New York City maintained its stronghold as the biggest in America in 2024, boasting a population of nearly 8.5 million residents. Los Angeles and Chicago also retained second and third place, with respective populations of nearly 3.88 million and more than 2.7 million residents.

"Cities in the Northeast that had experienced population declines in 2023 are now experiencing significant population growth, on average," said Crystal Delbé, a statistician in the Census Bureau’s Population Division. "In fact, cities of all sizes, in all regions, showed faster growth and larger gains than in 2023, except for small cities in the South, whose average population growth rate remained the same."

The 15 populous U.S. cities as of July 1, 2024 were:

  • No. 1 – New York, New York (8.48 million)
  • No. 2 – Los Angeles, California (3.88 million)
  • No. 3 – Chicago, Illinois (2.72 million)
  • No. 4 – Houston, Texas (2.39 million)
  • No. 5 – Phoenix, Arizona (1.67 million)
  • No. 6 – Philadelphia, Pennsylvania (1.57 million)
  • No. 7 – San Antonio, Texas (1.53 million)
  • No. 8 – San Diego, California (1.4 million)
  • No. 9 – Dallas, Texas (1.33 million)
  • No. 10 – Jacksonville, Florida (1 million)
  • No. 11 – Fort Worth, Texas (1 million)
  • No. 12 – San Jose, California (997,368)
  • No. 13 – Austin, Texas (993,588)
  • No. 14 – Charlotte, North Carolina (943,476)
  • No. 15 – Columbus, Ohio (933,263)
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A version of this article originally appeared on CultureMap.com.

Houston VC firm closes $21M fund for underrepresented founders

fresh funding

Houston-based South Loop Ventures recently closed its debut fund for more than $21 million, led by investments from Rice Management Company and Chevron Technology Ventures.

The funds will go toward teams with at least one underrepresented founder of color working in the energy, health, space, sports and fintech sectors. Additional investments came from The Great Commission Foundation of the Episcopal Diocese of Texas, Texas CapitalBank and others organizations.

According to South Loop Ventures, less than 3 percent of venture capital reaches underrepresented founders of color. Zach Ellis Jr., founder and general partner of South Loop, says the firm wants to address this "billion-dollar blind spot."

"Inequitable distribution of venture capital represents a clear market inefficiency—and market inefficiencies translate into exceptional opportunities," Ellis said in a release.

He added that the firm's location in Houston will help it make an impact.

"Being anchored here gives us front-row access to world-class corporations eager to engage and support innovation from founders with underrepresented voices and perspectives," he added in the release.

Ellis founded South Loop Ventures in 2022. It has funded 13 companies since August 2023 and plans to fund several more this year. Its portfolio includes Houston-based Milkify, a breast milk freeze-drying service; Lokum App, a Houston-founded platform for recruiting certified registered nurse anesthetists; and others.

Ellis' background spans the United States Military, academia, and roles at Rev1 Ventures and PepsiCo’s corporate venture team. He previously told InnovationMap that he was called to invest in founders of color after George Floyd's murder. He says he also realized how much money was being left on the table by overlooking these innovators.

"The mission of South Loop is to become the preeminent source of venture capital dollars for underrepresented, diverse teams nationally to serve as a beacon for the best underrepresented talent and to enable them to be successful through leveraging the unique resources and talent of Houston," he said on the Houston Innovators Podcast in 2024. "A big part of our mission is also to help catalyze Houston as an ecosystem for tech entrepreneurship."

Listen to the full interview with Ellis here. The recent funding news and Ellis were also featured in a profile by TechCrunch earlier this week. Click here to read more.

$44 million mass timber project at UH slashed energy use in first year

Building Up

The University of Houston has completed assessments on year one of the first mass timber project on campus, and the results show it has had a major impact.

Known as the Retail, Auxiliary, and Dining Center, or RAD Center, the $44 million building showed an 84 percent reduction in predicted energy use intensity, a measure of how much energy a building uses relative to its size, compared to similar buildings. Its Global Warming Potential rating, a ratio determined by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, shows a 39 percent reduction compared to the benchmark for other buildings of its type.

In comparison to similar structures, the RAD Center saved the equivalent of taking 472 gasoline-powered cars driven for one year off the road, according to architecture firm Perkins & Will.

The RAD Center was created in alignment with the AIA 2030 Commitment to carbon-neutral buildings, designed by Perkins & Will and constructed by Houston-based general contractor Turner Construction.

Perkins & Will’s work reduced the building's carbon footprint by incorporating lighter mass timber structural systems, which allowed the RAD Center to reuse the foundation, columns and beams of the building it replaced. Reused elements account for 45 percent of the RAD Center’s total mass, according to Perkins & Will.

Mass timber is considered a sustainable alternative to steel and concrete construction. The RAD Center, a 41,000-square-foot development, replaced the once popular Satellite, which was a food, retail and hangout center for students on UH’s campus near the Science & Research Building 2 and the Jack J. Valenti School of Communication.

The RAD Center uses more than 1 million pounds of timber, which can store over 650 metric tons of CO2. Aesthetically, the building complements the surrounding campus woodlands and offers students a view both inside and out.

“Spaces are designed to create a sense of serenity and calm in an ecologically-minded environment,” Diego Rozo, a senior project manager and associate principal at Perkins & Will, said in a news release. “They were conceptually inspired by the notion of ‘unleashing the senses’ – the design celebrating different sights, sounds, smells and tastes alongside the tactile nature of the timber.”

In addition to its mass timber design, the building was also part of an Energy Use Intensity (EUI) reduction effort. It features high-performance insulation and barriers, natural light to illuminate a building's interior, efficient indoor lighting fixtures, and optimized equipment, including HVAC systems.

The RAD Center officially opened Phase I in spring 2024. The third and final phase of construction is scheduled for this summer, with a planned opening set for the fall.

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This article originally appeared on EnergyCapitalHTX.com.

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