5 Houston startups beginning 2019 with new capital

Venture adventures

These five companies are starting 2019 out with some cash, and here's what they plan on doing with it. Getty Images

Finding growing Houston startups is as easy as following the money, and a few local companies are starting 2019 strong with a recent round of funding closed. InnovationMap has rounded up a few recent raises to highlight heading into the new year.

Apartment Butler

Ben Johnson's business idea turned into a growing company making the lives of apartment dwellers easier. Courtesy of Apartment Butler

Apartment Butler closed a $2 million seed funding round in October that was led by Houston-based Mercury Fund. The Houston startup partners with apartment communities to streamline services — like cleaning or dog walking — for residents.

Founder Ben Johnson recently spoke with InnovationMap about his career and the company. He says the company plans to launch in Austin this month and another market in March. Apartment Butler will also expand to microservices — smaller services that have only been available to the rich before.

The funding reportedly is being used to expand the company's footprint as well as make competitive hires.

Data Gumbo

Blockchain-as-a-service company, Data Gumbo, closed its seed fund with more money than it planned for. Getty Images

Data Gumbo, a Houston company that provides blockchain technology as a service, overachieved when it closed its seed round in August 2018. The company closed with $1.35 million, which is $300,000 more than the goal.

Led by CEO Andrew Bruce, Data Gumbo has a viable product and is producing revenue, according to a release. The company launched a full implementation of its technology on a Diamond Offshore rig this fall, which made it the first commercial installation of industrial blockchain technology.

Among the investors was Houston-based Carnrite Ventures and Silicon Valley's Plug and Play, the release notes.

Validere

Validere, a Canada-based energy logistics company, is expanding in Houston. Courtesy of Validere

While based in Canada, Validere is using its recent raise to expand into the Houston market. The seed round closed in October with $7 million raised. The company's co-founder, Nouman Ahmad, told InnovationMap in a recent article that they are focusing on expanding the Houston office and are actively hiring.

"The goal in 2019 is to be at the same stage — in terms of customer success — in the U.S. market as we were at the end of 2018 in the Canadian market," Ahmad says.

Intelligent Implants

Intelligent Implant's co-founder, Juan Pardo, told the crowd at Demo Day that his company's device allows for 50 percent faster bone growth in patients. Photo by Cody Duty/TMC

Recent graduate of the Texas Medical Center's TMCx medical devices program, Intelligent Implants created a technology that stimulates bone growth following corrective back surgery.

The Houston startup closed a funding round in October with two investors, according to Crunchbase. The total raise was reported as a $1 million Mezzanine round on AngelMD.

Saranas

Saranas Inc. is testing its technology that can detect and track internal bleeding complications. Getty Images

Saranas Inc., a Houston-based medical device company, is currently in its clinical trials thanks to a $2.8 million Series C fund that closed in May 2018. The trials are focused on the company's key device, called the Early Bird Bleed Monitoring System, which is designed to detect and track bleeding complications related to endovascular procedures. These medical procedures treat problems, such as aneurysms, that affect blood vessels.

In a story for InnovationMap, Zaffer Syed, president and CEO of Saranas, says the clinical trials are crucial for receiving approval from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration. That approval is expected this year.

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Venture adventures will be a regular roundup on InnovationMap. If your company is in the process of closing or recently closed on a round, please email Natalie Harms at natalie@innovationmap.com.

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Rice University lands $18M to revolutionize lymphatic disease detection

fresh funding

An arm of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services has awarded $18 million to scientists at Rice University for research that has the potential to revolutionize how lymphatic diseases are detected and help increase survivability.

The lymphatic system is the network of vessels all over the body that help eliminate waste, absorb fat and maintain fluid balance. Diseases in this system are often difficult to detect early due to the small size of the vessels and the invasiveness of biopsy testing. Though survival rates of lymph disease have skyrocketed in the United States over the last five years, it still claims around 200,000 people in the country annually.

Early detection of complex lymphatic anomalies (CLAs) and lymphedema is essential in increasing successful treatment rates. That’s where Rice University’s SynthX Center, directed by Han Xiao and Lei Li, an assistant professor of electrical and computer engineering, comes in.

Aided by researchers from Texas Children’s Hospital, Baylor College of Medicine, the University of Texas at Dallas and the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center, the center is pioneering two technologies: the Visual Imaging System for Tracing and Analyzing Lymphatics with Photoacoustics (VISTA-LYMPH) and Digital Plasmonic Nanobubble Detection for Protein (DIAMOND-P).

Simply put, VISTA-LYMPH uses photoacoustic tomography (PAT), a combination of light and sound, to more accurately map the tiny vessels of the lymphatic system. The process is more effective than diagnostic tools that use only light or sound, independent of one another. The research award is through the Advanced Research Projects Agency for Health (ARPA-H) Lymphatic Imaging, Genomics and pHenotyping Technologies (LIGHT) program, part of the U.S. HHS, which saw the potential of VISTA-LYMPH in animal tests that produced finely detailed diagnostic maps.

“Thanks to ARPA-H’s award, we will build the most advanced PAT system to image the body’s lymphatic network with unprecedented resolution and speed, enabling earlier and more accurate diagnosis,” Li said in a news release.

Meanwhile, DIAMOND-P could replace the older, less exact immunoassay. It uses laser-heated vapors of plasmonic nanoparticles to detect viruses without having to separate or amplify, and at room temperature, greatly simplifying the process. This is an important part of greater diagnosis because even with VISTA-LYMPH’s greater imaging accuracy, many lymphatic diseases still do not appear. Detecting biological markers is still necessary.

According to Rice, the efforts will help address lymphatic disorders, including Gorham-Stout disease, kaposiform lymphangiomatosis and generalized lymphatic anomaly. They also could help manage conditions associated with lymphatic dysfunction, including cancer metastasis, cardiovascular disease and neurodegeneration.

“By validating VISTA-LYMPH and DIAMOND-P in both preclinical and clinical settings, the team aims to establish a comprehensive diagnostic pipeline for lymphatic diseases and potentially beyond,” Xiao added in the release.

The ARPA-H award funds the project for up to five years.

Houston doctor wins NIH grant to test virtual reality for ICU delirium

Virtual healing

Think of it like a reverse version of The Matrix. A person wakes up in a hospital bed and gets plugged into a virtual reality game world in order to heal.

While it may sound far-fetched, Dr. Hina Faisal, a Houston Methodist critical care specialist in the Department of Surgery, was recently awarded a $242,000 grant from the National Institute of Health to test the effects of VR games on patients coming out of major surgery in the intensive care unit (ICU).

The five-year study will focus on older patients using mental stimulation techniques to reduce incidences of delirium. The award comes courtesy of the National Institute on Aging K76 Paul B. Beeson Emerging Leaders Career Development Award in Aging.

“As the population of older adults continues to grow, the need for effective, scalable interventions to prevent postoperative complications like delirium is more important than ever,” Faisal said in a news release.

ICU delirium is a serious condition that can lead to major complications and even death. Roughly 87 percent of patients who undergo major surgery involving intubation will experience some form of delirium coming out of anesthesia. Causes can range from infection to drug reactions. While many cases are mild, prolonged ICU delirium may prevent a patient from following medical advice or even cause them to hurt themselves.

Using VR games to treat delirium is a rapidly emerging and exciting branch of medicine. Studies show that VR games can help promote mental activity, memory and cognitive function. However, the full benefits are currently unknown as studies have been hampered by small patient populations.

Faisal believes that half of all ICU delirium cases are preventable through VR treatment. Currently, a general lack of knowledge and resources has been holding back the advancement of the treatment.

Hopefully, the work of Faisal in one of the busiest medical cities in the world can alleviate that problem as she spends the next half-decade plugging patients into games to aid in their healing.

New accelerator joins the Ion and more Houston innovation news to know

Trending News

Editor's note: The Houston innovation scene is buzzing with big news this month, from a new accelerator joining the fold at the Ion to pre-IPO funding and national expansion plans. Below are the five most-read InnovationMap stories from Feb. 1-15, 2026:

New accelerator for AI startups to launch at Houston's Ion this spring

The new AI Native Dual-Use Sports, Health & Wellness Accelerator is expected to launch in March. Photo courtesy of the Ion

The Collectiv Foundation and Rice University have established a sports, health and wellness startup accelerator at the Ion District’s Collectiv, a sports-focused venture capital platform. The AI Native Dual-Use Sports, Health & Wellness Accelerator is scheduled to formally launch in March. Continue reading.

10+ can't-miss Houston business and innovation events in February

From recurring monthly favorites to the return of annual celebrations and summits, here's what not to miss in February. Photo courtesy the Ion.

February may be a short month, but its event calendar isn’t. From recurring monthly favorites to the return of annual celebrations and summits, here are the Houston business and innovation events not to miss — and how to register. Continue reading.

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