3 Houston innovators to know this week

who's who

This week's roundup of Houston innovators includes Youngro Lee of Brassica, Anu Puvvada of KPMG Studio, and Brock Murphy of Parent ProTech. 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 corporate innovation to fintech — recently making headlines in Houston innovation.

Youngro Lee, founder of Brassica

Youngro Lee joins the Houston Innovators Podcast to discuss his latest endeavor on his mission to democratize investing. Photo courtesy

Brassica Technologies, a fintech infrastructure company that's providing a platform for alternative assets, is just the next step in his career in using tech to democratize finance. The idea came from Lee's experience as a startup founder and fintech exec — first at NextSeed and then at Republic, which acquired NextSeed two years ago.

"The reason why I thought this was what I wanted to focus on next was exactly because it was an issue I struggled with as a founder of NextSeed," Lee says on the show. "The backend was always an issue. There's not one single vendor that we felt really understood our business, was doing it efficiently, or enabled us to deliver those services to our end clients."

Lee shares more about the future of Brassica, including the challenges he's facing within regulation and the state of fintech as a whole, on the podcast. He also weighs in on how he's seen the Houston innovation ecosystem grow and develop alongside his own entrepreneurial journey. Read more.

Anu Puvvada, KPMG Studio leader

Anu Puvvada, KPMG Studio leader, shares how her team is advancing software solutions while navigating hype cycles and solving billion-dollar-problems. Photo courtesy of KPMG

In 2021, KPMG, a New York-based global audit, accounting, and advisory service provider, formed a new entity to play in the innovation space. The Houston-based team finds innovative software that benefit KPMG's clients across industries.

In an interview with InnovationMap, Anu Puvvada, leader of KPMG Studio, shares more about the program, its first spin out, and why she's passionate about leading this initiative from Houston.

"When you think about innovation as a whole, it's mired with risk and uncertainty," she says. "You never know if something's going to work or not. And part of what we have to do with any idea that we're building in the studio or anything that our clients are doing around innovation, we have to do as much as we can to mitigate that risk and uncertainty. And that's kind of what KPMG's wheelhouse is." Read more.

Brock Murphy, Parent ProTech co-founder

Brock Murphy launched Parent ProTech last fall. Photo via parentprotech.com

Houston-based Parent ProTech is a one-stop shop for parental education on technology and applications that their kids use.

“Our goal is to make everyone the best digital parent possible,” Brock Murphy, Parent ProTech co-founder, tells InnovationMap. “We understand technology and the role it plays in influencing the next generation. So we help parents when it comes to understanding the platforms, how to use them and how to unlock the parental controls that can be hidden, deeper into these platforms.”

Murphy — with co-founder Drew Wooten and creative director Joshua Adams — launched the platform in September 2022. Since then, Parent ProTech has made its mark through partnerships with schools in Texas. Read more.

Parent ProTech allows for parents to learn about the platforms their kids are active on — and how to protect them from potential danger. Photo via Canva and ParentProTech.com

Houston startup develops tech to protect children from online threats

imapct-driven innovation

Worry is an unavoidable part of the job description for any parent with children that continuously explore social media and other online applications and networks.

It seems as if with each passing day, a litany of horror stories centered around online bullying and online predators come to light replete with children who were approached and violated online and parents that had virtually no idea what their kids were up against.

But imagine a world where parents are able to not only monitor a child’s online activity, but are able to finally understand it, control it, and restrict it.

It’s a lofty task, but the team behind Parent ProTech, the one-stop shop for parental education on technology and applications that their kids use, are not only equipped to tackle it, they are passionate about finally giving parents the guide to parenting in the digital age.

Growing the tech platform

“Currently we’re at over 20,000 users and last week I closed a big deal with a national charter school, so they’re looking to launch in their Texas schools starting in August, which will pull us to 56,000 users signed up,” says Murphy. “The easiest way to get this important research into as many hands as possible was going to the schools.

“In Texas they have the Texas Essential Knowledge and Skills, or TEKS, requirement, and so we’re filling some of the void when it comes to social and emotional learning when it comes to interacting with technology and others online, preventing violence and cyberbullying and different computer applications requirements that the state passes down to schools to teach to children.”

Brock Murphy launched Parent ProTech last fall. Photo via parentprotech.com

Murphy realized that there was a dearth in online protection when it comes to children when he first started looking at the data coming out of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Based on the data, it was evident that children from ages 11 to 14 years old spent over nine hours in front of a screen per day and, according to FBI reports, have the potential to encounter some 500,000 online predators during that time.

“We’re highlighting the good, the bad and the ugly,” says Murphy. “And then we’re monitoring the different platforms, so when Snapchat added a new feature, for example, and inappropriate content was popping up on my entire teams’ Snapchat, we definitely wanted to flag the families.

“We alerted them about the new feature and the inappropriate content popping up and informed them about what to look out for and how they can do to combat it. These platforms are constantly changing, and parents are busy, so we’re taking this off their plate. We’ll monitor it and let them know when there’s something major that happens that could put their child at risk.”

For convenience, Parent ProTech is web-based and mobile compatible, but with an update planned in the next few months, it will be more personalized based on the age of the child and the parent’s philosophy on social media and screen time.

Mission-driven origin with constant updates

Murphy founded the company without an application development background. Before creating Parent ProTech, Murphy took a very interesting path that brought him to the Houston area. First, he interned at the White House, then worked for SpaceX in Brownsville, Texas. After that, he was lured away to a company headquartered in Paris, France. That company, eventually sent him to Houston to open up a local branch office.

Murphy says he's routinely been asked by parents, teachers, administrators, and families about technology and how to keep their family safe online. That curiosity was the seed planted in early 2021 that sprouted into Parent ProTech and laid the foundation for the team’s mission to help parents understand technology and the role it plays in influencing the next generation.

So for those parents that have no idea what Discord or YikYak is or are still shaking their heads at the popularity of TikTok, with all of its sometimes disturbing viral challenges, Parent ProTech has it covered.

“Essentially what we’ve built is a database for families and schools to dive into the different platforms and understand them,” says Murphy. “We’re diving deep into these platforms so parents can quickly get what they need to put parental controls in place. This way, they can rest a little easier knowing that their children will see the content they want them to see and not be exposed to inappropriate content.”

Additionally, Parent ProTech wants to be able to equip parents with the tools to keep their children from talking to strangers online.

Parents, of course, love the idea for Parent ProTech, but it wasn’t as attractive to the kids on the business end of the restrictions and monitoring.

“It’s not an easy conversation because parents are scared of pushing their children away,” says the Texas A&M alum. “Kids don’t want their mom to know when they’re posting on TikTok. And that push/pull can sometimes put parents in a position where they are overwhelmed and can cause a paralysis state where they don’t do anything at all.

“I met with some sophomores in high school, and they weren’t keen on what we do, but then I told them the story about the family in San Diego where the oldest of three sons was approached by a pill pusher on Snapchat because the Snapchat map was turned on and there was Xanax delivered to the mailbox and it was laced with fentanyl and the son passed away," he continues. "Those are the kinds of stories that get the kids to listen to what we’re saying and the importance of monitoring the activity on these platforms.”

Involving the experts

The Parent ProTech team doesn’t just rely on real news fodder, though, it also regularly consults with therapists and developmental professionals for the best results.

“We talk to child psychologists and therapists on how we would recommend parents talk about the restrictions and the changes they make when they deep dive into these platforms,” says Murphy. “And what we’ve found is the education of the parents on what the platforms actually are is really important. That helps with conversation starters and plans like if a parent wants to limit their child’s screentime to 15 minutes a day.”

Parent ProTech isn’t just providing technology knowledge and parental controls, it’s also helping families monitor their digital footprint.

“What you post today could come back and haunt you when you apply to medical school or that dream job,” says Murphy. “So we focus on that and how we can promote safety and well-being of our interactions with each other online.”

Moving forward, one of Parent ProTech’s biggest goals, outside of being that one stop shop for families/parents when it comes to safely navigating technology, is also being pro technology and promoting the tools and excitement that all of this advancement has on kids and the positive activity that can come out of it.

“We also want parents and kids to realize the potential there is with all of this advancement and continue pushing that message,” says Murphy. “We’d also like to develop some AI tools to help with bullying and inappropriate content to help prevent scammers from taking advantage of kids and elderly.”

Murphy also wants to put his time on Capitol Hill to good use by helping to advocate for various policy changes in Washington D.C. and state capitals that will help protect children online.

“We have to build this army of parents that want more priority of safety when it comes to children online and part of that is parents being more engaged in what their kids are doing and we’re here to help foster that.”

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Houston health tech co. lands NIH grant for AI cancer prediction tool

fresh funding

Houston-based CellChorus and Stanford Medicine were recently awarded a Phase I Small Business Innovation Research grant for the company's AI platform to test how certain cancer patients will respond to therapies.

The funding comes from the National Cancer Institute of the National Institutes of Health. According to a filing, the grant totaled just under $400,000.

CellChorus, which spun out from the University of Houston’s Technology Bridge, has developed TIMING (Time-lapse Imaging Microscopy In Nanowell Grids), which analyzes the behavior of thousands of individual immune cells over time and can identify early indicators of treatment success or failure.

The company will work with Stanford's Dr. David Miklos and Dr. Saurabh Dahiya, who have built the Bone Marrow Transplantation and Cell Therapy Biobank. The biobank manages and stores biological samples from patients treated at their clinic and in clinical trials.

"Predicting which patients will achieve durable responses after CAR-T therapy remains one of the most important challenges in the field,” Miklos said in a news release. “We aim to uncover functional cellular signatures that can guide treatment decisions and improve patient outcomes.”

The project will specifically profile cells from patients with relapsed/refractory large B-cell lymphoma (r/rLBCL). According to CellChorus, only about half of r/rLBCL patients who receive CAR-T therapy "achieve a durable, long-term remission." Others do not respond to therapy or experience relapse.

“The sooner we know whether a cancer therapy is working, the better. To maximize patient benefit, we need technology that can provide a robust and early prediction of response to therapy. The technology needs to be scalable, cost-efficient, and capable of rapid turnaround times,” Rebecca Berdeaux, chief scientific officer of CellChorus, added in the release. “We are excited to work with Drs. David Miklos and Saurabh Dahiya and their colleagues on this very important project.”

CellChorus has previously received SBIR grants from federal agencies, including a $2.5 million award in 2024 from its National Center for Advancing Translational Sciences (NCATS) and a $2.3 million SBIR Fast-Track award from the National Institute of General Medical Sciences in 2023.

Houston museum showcases America's founding documents in rare exhibit

Experience History

As the United States prepares to celebrate its 250th birthday, Houstonians have a chance to see rare documents from the founding of the nation. Freedom Plane National Tour: Documents That Forged a Nation, presented by the National Archives Foundation, will be on display at the Houston Museum of Natural Science through Monday, May 25.

The collection includes a rare engraving of the original Declaration of Independence; official Oaths of Allegiance signed by George Washington, Aaron Burr, and Alexander Hamilton; a draft of the Bill of Rights; the Treaty of Paris, the documented that recognized America's independence from Great Britain; and the tally of votes approving the Constitution.

The National Archives specifically chose Houston as one of only eight cities in the country to host the exhibit as a means to help the documents reach a wider audience outside of the main hub of semiquincentennial events in New England and the Washington, D.C. area.

"One of the things we decided when we put the tour together because we wanted to be off the East Coast," said Patrick Madden, CEO of the National Archives Foundation, who was onsite for the exhibit's opening in Houston. "There's a lot of 250th celebration stuff happening in the original 13 colonies. How do we get it to major markets where larger numbers of people can see it? So in the case of Houston, obviously, [is a] major market in this part of the country, but also we've partnered with the museum twice before with National Archives exhibits, so we knew that they would be up to the task of handling the exhibit and the crowds."

The star of the collection is a rare engraving of the original Declaration of Independence. Secretary of State and future president John Quincy Adams commissioned 200 exact replicas of the document from engraver William J. Stone in 1823. Less than 50 now remain. Madden joyfully pointed out that there are errors in this document, a potent reminder that the men who forged a nation made mistakes.

"There's a couple of typos in it where they had to make corrections," said Madden. "So even the founders, you know, they're all human. That resonates because here these people are making this move against the most powerful nation in the world and putting their lives on the line for a country based on ideas."

Other impressive parts of the collection include official Oaths of Allegiance signed by George Washington, Aaron Burr, and Alexander Hamilton, as well as one of the drafts of the Bill of Rights. Many states would not ratify the Constitution until certain rights were included in the document, leading to Washington going on a national tour assuring state leaders enshrining protections was first on the list. The draft copy on display specifically shows the First Amendment in progress.

Houston is the fourth stop on the exhibition's tour, which will take the documents to Denver, Miami, Dearborn, and Seattle through the summer. Freedom Plane is just one part of a larger patriotic celebration at the HMNS, which includes a film series celebrating American science and culture and general Americana decoration throughout the main hall.

Admission to Freedom Plane is free to the public, but separate from general admission to the museum. Space is limited, and passes are available on a first-come, first-serve basis. Non-members should expect long waits or the possibility that the day's passes are sold out. Only museum members can reserve passes for specific times. Flash photography is prohibited due to the fragile nature of the documents.

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This article originally appeared on CultureMap.com.

Houston quantum energy chip startup emerges from stealth with $12M round

seed funding

Houston-based Casimir has emerged from stealth with a $12 million seed round to commercialize its quantum energy chip.

The round was led by Austin-based Scout Ventures. Lavrock Ventures, Cottonwood Technology, Capital Factory, American Deep Tech, and Tim Draper of Draper Associates also participated in the round. The oversubscribed round exceeded the company’s original $8 million target, according to a news release.

Casimir’s semiconductor chips can generate power from quantum vacuum fields without the need for batteries or charging. The company plans to commercialize its first-generation MicroSparc chip by 2028.

The MicroSparc chip measures 5 millimeters by 5 millimeters and is designed to produce 1.5 volts at 25 microamps, comparable to a small rechargeable battery, without degradation and no replacement cycle.

“Casimir represents exactly the kind of breakthrough dual-use technology Scout Ventures was built to back,” Brad Harrison, founder and managing partner at Scout Ventures, said in the release. “This is based on 100 years of science and we’re finally approaching a commercial product … We’re proud to lead this round and support Casimir’s journey from applied science to deployed technology.”

Casimir says it aims to scale its technology across the ”full power spectrum,” including large-scale energy systems that can power homes, commercial infrastructures and electric vehicles.

Casimir's scientific work has been supported by DARPA-funded nanofabrication research and its technology was incubated at the Limitless Space Institute (LSI). LSI is a nonprofit that works to innovate interstellar travel and was founded by Kam Ghaffarian. Technology investor and serial entrepreneur Ghaffarian has been behind companies like X-energy, Intuitive Machines, Axiom Space and Quantum Space.

Harold “Sonny” White, founder and CEO of Casimir, believes the technology can power devices for years without replacements.

“Millions of devices will operate for years without a battery ever needing to be replaced or recharged because we have engineered a customized Casimir cavity into hardware capable of producing persistent electrical power,” White added in the release. “I spent nearly two decades at NASA studying how we power humanity’s future. That work led me to the Casimir effect and the quantum vacuum, where new tools have allowed us to build on a century of scientific knowledge and bring abundant power to the world.”

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