3 Houston innovators to know with exciting new announcements

Who's who

New funds, new classes, and new opportunities for mentorship — these are this week's Houston innovators to know. Courtesy photos

While last week's innovators to know were all starting new jobs, these three for this week are starting new endeavors — from multi-million-dollar funds to education programs. Here are this week's three innovators to know.

Barbara Burger, president of Chevron Technology Ventures

Courtesy of CTV

Houston-based Chevron Technology Ventures announced a new $90 million fund to focus scalable tech companies that could improve and advance Chevron's oil and gas business.

Leading Fund VII is CTV president, Barbara Burger. According to the release, the fund will target early- to mid-stage companies and limited partnership funds.

"CTV serves as an excellent source within Chevron for new business models and novel technologies that can deliver value to the enterprise through their integration," Burger says in the release. "We are using venture capital as a conduit for early access to innovation and to build a pipeline of innovation for Chevron." Read the full story here.

Anthony Ambler, dean of the College of Technology at the University of Houston

Courtesy of UH

Undergraduate students at the University of Houston now have the option to major or minor in Technology Leadership and Innovation Management or minor in Applied Innovation, thanks, in part, to the College of Technology dean Anthony P. Ambler. All three options begin in the fall semester of this year, and the college is also interested in adding a master's and a PhD. program in Innovation Management or a post-graduate certificate program.

"We are about giving people the right tools to innovate," says Ambler in a release. "How do you get more people to the position where they are able to innovate?" Read the full story here.

Myrtle Jones, senior vice president at Halliburton

Courtesy of Myrtle Jones

Despite climbing through the ranks within the energy industry, Myrtle Jones says mentorship wasn't a big priority when she was in the early part of her career.

"I started working in the energy business in the early '80s, and women were new to the industry," Jones says. "We were somewhat getting ourselves established in the business world – there was no such thing as someone saying, 'We're going to get you linked up with mentors,' so you had to find role models."

Now, Jones has teamed up with Austin-based tech company, Bumble Bizz, that helps connect industry professionals and foster networking and mentoring opportunities. As of 2019, users have the option to see only women on the app, too, in order to foster their professional network of women. Read the full story here.

When Myrtle Jones was rising through the ranks of an energy company, she didn't have a female mentor to look up to. Now, she hopes help connect young women with mentors digitally. Courtesy of Myrtle Jones

This Houston energy executive is helping to create more women mentors in business

Featured Innovator

If you're a young woman in business, you're probably familiar with the struggle of finding a woman in business to be mentor. Here's some good news for those women: There's an app that's looking to change that, and there's a good chance you've already downloaded it on your phone.

In 2017, Austin-based Bumble, the dating and social mobile application, launched Bumble Bizz, an application that seeks to connect industry professionals and foster networking and mentoring opportunities. As of 2019, users have the option to see only women on the app, too, in order to foster their professional network of women.

Myrtle Jones, senior vice president at Houston-based Halliburton, knows a thing or two about the importance of mentorship, in large part because she went without it for much of her career. Jones, who's participating in Bumble Bizz's launch efforts, has become known as one of Houston's most influential and inspiring women in business. She spoke with InnovationMap about the importance of mentorship, how she wound up in the energy industry, and how interested professionals can become mentors to the next generation of professionals.

InnovationMap: What role did mentorship play in your career?

Myrtle Jones: I think people fail to realize that I came up in the industry before mentorship was really a thing. I started working in the energy business in the early '80s, and women were new to the industry. We were somewhat getting ourselves established in the business world – there was no such thing as someone saying, "We're going to get you linked up with mentors," so you had to find role models. I always had role models, and I always looked at the fact that women should have an equal opportunity in the workforce, and that we belonged in the workforce.

I was going to make my way in corporate America, and my motivation was believing that we had just as much right to be out here as men did.

IM: Did you have a mentor in your earlier days in the professional world?

MJ: A very wonderful sponsor came in as a treasurer when I was at GlobalSantaFe [now Transocean], and he was eventually promoted to CFO. He was someone who picked me out of the crowd and noticed I brought a lot of value. He brought me to executive meetings and board meeting and gave me an opportunity to show what I could do.

IM: How'd you get involved in the energy industry?

MJ: It wasn't that I was looking to go into energy. At the time I got out of school, the hottest job market was Houston, Texas, and it was the energy business. I went to Mississippi State, and the oil and gas companies were expanding their search outside of Texas and attracting people to move to Texas. So, that's how I ended up in the business. Other than the energy business, the economy was a bit slow around the rest of the country.

IM: What are some of the professional obstacles and adversities that you've faced as a female, especially in a stereotypically male-dominated industry?

MJ: First off, it was men getting used to seeing women in this industry, and just having to build those relationships and build mutual trust. A lot of it was just building trust, and overcoming a lot of prior stereotypes and beliefs that people had about the role [of women] in the workplace.

IM: Tell me about the role of technology and innovation at Halliburton.

MJ: There's so much technology development at Halliburton. A lot of people don't realize that Halliburton is a technology company. We have a fully fledged research and development center and we file hundreds of patents each year. The technology that Halliburton has developed has led to significant improvements in terms of oilfield services.

IM: What's your advice for folks reading this who are interested in mentoring, but aren't sure how to get started?

MJ: Make yourself open to it. When I'm in networking situations, and I'm meeting someone who's committed to their career, and they're looking for ways to talk to me, I open myself to that opportunity. I have a number of people who I mentor at Halliburton. For people who want to be mentors, it's really not that hard. [Mentees] are looking for that sounding board, and for someone who's "been there, done that."

So, even without having a formal organization to go through, people can become a mentor through their own network, or seek out organizations that have formal mentoring programs.

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Portions of this interview have been edited.

Alice founders, Elizabeth Gore (left) and Carolyn Rodz, will talk more about the partnership at Bumble's SXSW event, which the duo attended last year. Getty Images

Bumble Fund makes investment and partnership deals with AI-driven startup platform with Houston ties

Money moves

Rather than just imagining a world where investments made are representative of the diverse population, these two tech companies with Texas roots are teaming up to do something about it.

Austin-based Bumble, a social network with over 50 million users, has reached a deal with Alice, an artificial intelligence-powered platform for entrepreneurs founded by Houstonian Carolyn Rodz and Californian Elizabeth Gore, to use the platform for Bumble's next round of funding.

Additionally — but actually separate from the partnership — Bumble Fund, an early stage corporate investing vehicle focused on businesses founded and led by underrepresented women founders, has invested in Alice in its most recent round of funding.

"We are looking to invest in entrepreneurs whose company purpose solves a problem that disproportionately affects women," says Sarah Jones Simmer, COO at Bumble, in a release. "While we can't fund every promising business and entrepreneur, we strongly believe these companies and founders deserve access to grow, evolve, and thrive. Through community, access to experts, how-to guides, and more, Bumble and Alice are committed to helping women founders find the support and resources they need on their path to success."

The next cohort of fund recipients of the Bumble Fund will be applying through Alice's website, which provides education, support, mentorship and guidance to burgeoning startup founders. Even if applicants don't get funding from Bumble, they leave with a network of resources.

The partnership with Alice will allow Bumble to better connect the dots of its fund recipients using data and AI, and even help to eliminate any bias when it comes to selecting the recipients. The fund is open to all United States entrepreneurs who identify as women. It launched in summer of last year and cuts checks ranging from $5,000 to $250,000, with an average of $25,000.

"For the last several years, only 2 percent of venture capital went to women founders. At Alice and Bumble, we see that as a 98 percent opportunity," says Rodz in the release. "The Bumble Fund, powered by Alice, is that opportunity in action; together, we're going to rewrite the rules of venture capital to be more accessible, more transparent and more supportive for women founders."

Here are all four of Bumble Fund's second round of recipients, according to the release.

  • Alice - founded by Carolyn Rodz and Elizabeth Gore: an AI-powered technology helping entrepreneurs find the right path to start and grow their companies.
  • Gixo - founded by Selina Tobaccowala: a fitness company founded to improve global health and activity rates by democratizing access to live workouts with professional trainers.
  • Translator - founded by Natalie Egan: the world's most advanced diversity & inclusion training system for corporations, schools and nonprofits.
  • Promise - founded by Phaedra Ellis-Lamkins: a technology company that creates cost-effective, equitable, and humane alternatives to incarceration with a mission to get people out of jail and provide ongoing support to help them stay out.

Bumble's first round of investments were in Beautycon, Cleo Capital, Female Founders Fund, Mahmee, and Sofia Los Angeles, a winner of the inaugural Bumble Bizz Pitch Competition.

BumbleSpot launched in Houston at all three Nourish Juice Bar locations. Courtesy of Nourish

Texas-based Bumble launches Houston meet-up hubs for safe and productive interactions

Digital turned reality

Turning digital connections into real-life associations can be a little nerve wracking, no matter the context. Austin-based Bumble, a dating app that's expanded to become a networking resource, is trying to make that first face-to-face meeting a little safer and smoother.

"The idea for BumbleSpot is to create a network of physical locations across the US and Canada that support our mission to end misogyny and empower women in their relationships across all aspects of life," Andee Olson, director of partnerships at Bumble, says in a press release.

Over 80 BumbleSpots have been named — with more promised to announce over the next year. While Houston wasn't among the roll-out cities, it officially has three BumbleSpots to choose from, as all three Nourish Juice Bar locations have signed on as partners.

Jessica Huffman opened the first Nourish Juice Bar in the summer of 2015 in Montrose, and her Rice Village and Heights locations followed suit. She says when Bumble reached out to her, she jumped onboard since she has mutual friends with Bumble's founder and CEO, Whitney Wolfe Herd.

To be a BumbleSpot, the establishment must agree to uphold the mission and values of Bumble, which prioritizes safety, kindness, respect, equality, accountability, and growth, according to a Bumble spokesperson.

Huffman says Nourish is perfect for Bumble with its focus on healthy foods and a friendly environment.

"When you're in Nourish, you're probably going to see me or my brother or one of our employees who's worked there for a while," Huffman says. "We talk to everyone all the time and always try to make people feel comfortable."

A spokesperson says more Houston partners are coming, as local business have expressed interest following the launch of BumbleSpot.

Bumble premiered in 2014 as a female-first dating app, and moved its headquarters to Austin in 2017. In March of 2016, it launched BumbleBFF focused on creating friendships. Then, just a few months later, it launched BumbleBizz focusing on making business connections.

In August, the company launched Bumble Fund — an early-stage investment fund focused on female-led companies. The fund's first five benefactors were named as BeautyCon, Cleo Capital, Female Founders Fund, Mahmee, and Sofia Los Angeles.

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Rice scientist earns $600K NSF award to study distractions in digital age

fresh funding

Rice University psychologist Kirsten Adam has received a $600,000 National Science Foundation CAREER Award to research how visual distractions like phone notifications, flashing alerts, crowded screens and busy workspaces can negatively impact focus—and how the brain works to try to regain it.

The highly competitive five-year NSF grants are given to career faculty members with the potential to serve as academic models and leaders in research and education. Adam’s work will aim to clarify how the brain refocuses in the age of screens, instant gratification and other lingering distractions. The funding will also be used to train graduate students in advanced cognitive neuroscience methods, expand access to electroencephalography (EEG) and for public data sharing.

“Kirsten is a valued member of the School of Social Sciences, and we are thrilled that she has been awarded the prestigious NSF CAREER,” Rachel Kimbro, dean of social sciences, said in a news release. “Because distractions continue to increase all around us, her research is timely and imperative to understanding their widespread impacts on the human brain.”

In Adam’s lab, participants complete simplified visual search tasks while their brain activity is recorded using EEG, allowing researchers to measure attention shifts in real time. This process then captures the moment attention is drawn from a goal and how much effort it takes to refocus.

According to Rice, Adam’s work will test long-standing theories about distraction. The research is meant to have real-world implications for jobs and aspects of everyday life where attention to detail is key, including medical imaging, airport security screening and even driving.

“At any given moment, there’s far more information in the world than our brains can process,” Adam added in the release. “Attention is what determines what reaches our awareness and what doesn’t.”

Additionally, the research could inform the design of new technologies that would support focus and decision-making, according to Rice.

“We’re not trying to make attention limitless,” Adam added. “We’re trying to understand how it actually works, so we can stop designing environments and expectations that fight against it.”

12 Houston climatetech startups join Greentown Labs' growing incubator

Startup Talk

More than 40 climatetech startups joined the Greentown Labs Houston community in the second half of 2025, 12 of which hail from the Bayou City.

The companies are among a group of nearly 70 total that joined the climatetech incubator, which is co-located in Houston and Boston, in Q3 and Q4.

The new companies that have joined the Houston incubator specialize in a variety of clean energy applications, from green hydrogen-producing water-splitting cycles to drones that service wind turbines.

The local startups that joined Greentown Houston include:

  • Houston-based Wise Energie, which delivers turnkey microgrids that blend vertical-axis wind, solar PV, and battery storage into a single, silent system.
  • The Woodlands-based Resollant, which is developing compact, zero-emissions hydrogen and carbon reactors to provide low-cost, scalable clean hydrogen and high-purity carbon for the energy and manufacturing sectors.
  • Houston-based ClarityCastle, which designs and manufactures modular, soundproof work pods that replace traditional drywall construction with reusable, low-waste alternatives made from recycled materials.
  • Houston-based WattSto Energy, which manufactures vanadium redox flow batteries to deliver long-duration storage for both grid-scale projects and off-grid microgrids.
  • Houston-based AMPeers, which delivers advanced, high-temperature superconductors in the U.S. at a fraction of traditional costs.
  • Houston-based Biosimo, which is developing bio-based platform chemicals, pioneering sustainable chemistry for a healthier planet and economy.
  • Houston-based Ententia, which offers purpose-built, generative AI for industry.
  • Houston-based GeoKiln Energy Innovation, which is developing a new way to produce clean hydrogen by accelerating natural geologic reactions in iron-rich rock formations using precision electrical heating.
  • Houston-based Timbergrove, which builds AI and IoT solutions that connect and optimize assets—boosting visibility, safety, and efficiency.
  • Houston-based dataVediK, which combines energy-domain expertise with advanced machine learning and intelligent automation to empower organizations to achieve operational excellence and accelerate their sustainability goals.
  • Houston-based Resonant Thermal Systems, which uses a resonant energy-transfer (RET) system to extract critical minerals from industrial and natural brines without using membranes or grid electricity.
  • Houston-based Torres Orbital Mining (TOM),which develops autonomous excavation systems for extreme environments on Earth and the moon, enabling safe, data-driven resource recovery and laying the groundwork for sustainable off-world industry.

Other startups from around the world joined the Houston incubator in the same time period, including:

More than 100 startups joined Greentown this year, according to an end-of-year reflection shared by Greentown CEO Georgina Campbell Flatter.

Flatter joined Greentown in the top leadership role in February 2025. She succeeded former CEO and president Kevin Knobloch, who stepped down in July 2024.

"I moved back to the United States in March 2025 after six years overseas—2,000 miles, three children, and one very patient husband later. Over these months, I’ve had the chance to hear from the entrepreneurs, industry leaders, investors, and partners who make this community thrive. What I’ve experienced has left me brimming with urgent optimism for the future we’re building together," she said in the release.

According to Flatter, Greentown alumni raised more than $2 billion this year and created more than 3,000 jobs.

"Greentown startups and ecosystem leaders—from Boston, Houston, and beyond—are showing that we can move further and faster together. That we don’t have to choose between more energy or lower emissions, or between increasing sustainability and boosting profit. I call this the power of 'and,'" Flatter added. "We’re working for energy and climate, innovation and scale, legacy industry and startups, prosperity for people and planet. The 'and' is where possibility expands."

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This article originally appeared on EnergyCaptialHTX.com.

Intuitive Machines forms partnership with Italian companies for lunar exploration services

to the moon

Houston-based space technology, infrastructure and services company Intuitive Machines has forged a partnership with two Italian companies to offer infrastructure, communication and navigation services for exploration of the moon.

Intuitive Machines’ agreement with the two companies, Leonardo and Telespazio, paves the way for collaboration on satellite services for NASA, a customer of Intuitive Machines, and the European Space Agency, a customer of Leonardo and Telespazio. Leonardo, an aerospace, defense and security company, is the majority owner of Telespazio, a provider of satellite technology and services.

“Resilient, secure, and scalable space infrastructure and space data networks are vital to customers who want to push farther on the lunar surface and beyond to Mars,” Steve Altemus, co-founder and CEO of Intuitive Machine, said in a news release.

Massimo Claudio Comparini, managing director of Leonardo’s space division, added that the partnership with Intuitive Machines is a big step toward enabling human and robotic missions from the U.S., Europe and other places “to access a robust communications network and high-precision navigation services while operating in the lunar environment.”

Intuitive Machines recently expanded its Houston Spaceport facilities to ramp up in-house production of satellites. The company’s first satellite will launch with its upcoming IM‑3 lunar mission.

Intuitive Machines says it ultimately wants to establish a “center of space excellence” at Houston Spaceport to support missions to the moon, Mars and the region between Earth and the moon.

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