Houston VC funding surged in 2024, fueled by major Q4 activity

by the numbers

Roughly half of the 2024 fundraising total for Houston-area startups came in the fourth quarter. Photo via Getty Images

The venture capital haul for Houston-area startups jumped 23 percent from 2023 to 2024, according to the latest PitchBook-NVCA Venture Monitor.

The fundraising total for startups in the region climbed from $1.49 billion in 2023 to $1.83 billion in 2024, PitchBook-NVCA Venture Monitor data shows.

Roughly half of the 2024 sum, $914.3 million, came in the fourth quarter. By comparison, Houston-area startups collected $291.3 million in VC during the fourth quarter of 2023.

Among the Houston-area startups contributing to the impressive VC total in the fourth quarter of 2024 was geothermal energy startup Fervo Energy. PitchBook attributes $634 million in fourth-quarter VC to Fervo, with fulfillment services company Cart.com at $50 million, and chemical manufacturing platform Mstack and superconducting wire manufacturer MetOx International at $40 million each.

Across the country, VC deals total $209 billion in 2024, compared with $162.2 billion in 2023. Nearly half (46 percent) of all VC funding in North America last year went to AI startups, PitchBook says. PitchBook’s lead VC analyst for the U.S., Kyle Stanford, says that AI “continues to be the story of the market.”

PitchBook forecasts a “moderately positive” 2025 for venture capital in the U.S.

“That does not mean that challenges are gone. Flat and down rounds will likely continue at higher paces than the market is accustomed to. More companies will likely shut down or fall out of the venture funding cycle,” says PitchBook. “However, both of those expectations are holdovers from 2021.”

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Cart.com has acquired OceanX, adding two new facilities and expanding its logistics network to enhance efficiency and support high-volume beauty, wellness, and lifestyle brands. Photo courtesy of Cart.com

Houston e-commerce platform expands logistics network with acquisition of fulfillment operations arm

M&A move

A Houston e-commerce unicorn has made its latest strategic acquisition.

Cart.com, which operates a multichannel commerce platform, announced that it has acquired Guthy-Renker's wholly-owned fulfillment operations arm OceanX. The terms of the deal were not disclosed. Around 200 OceanX employees will be assumed onto the Cart.com team, and the fast-growing company will add two new facilities totaling over 600,000 square feet to its network, expanding to include a West Coast distribution hub in Southern California and its third facility near Columbus, Ohio.

"Acquiring OceanX is part of Cart.com’s strategy to continue to scale our platform and capabilities across industries, leveraging our proprietary technology to improve efficiency and deliver superior results to our clients and their customers,” Omair Tariq, Cart.com founder and CEO, says in a news release. “By deploying our Constellation OMS and WMS software and seasoned operations team across these two new facilities, we will improve order visibility, labor efficiency, shipping costs and customer satisfaction for the benefit of our new clients.”

Cart.com now has 17 omnichannel fulfillment and distribution centers with around 10 million square feet and more than 1,600 team members, according to the company.

With the transition, Guthy-Renker's Co-Founder and Co-Chairman Bill Guthy will serve as a strategic adviser to Cart.com.

The move broadens Cart.com's presence in the high-volume beauty, wellness, and lifestyle industries, and the company now will work with supply chains from numerous brands, including Meaningful Beauty, The Body Firm, Smileactives, and Westmore Beauty.

“Cart.com has built a comprehensive, enterprise-grade logistics network with modern, digital capabilities that offer unparalleled visibility, control and efficiency for our brands,” Rick Odum, CEO of Guthy-Renker, says in the release. “This partnership will marry our own channel and marketing expertise with their track record of driving growth and savings for high-volume, high-SKU brands, supercharging performance across our portfolio.”

Earlier this year Cart.com secured $105 million in debt refinancing from investment manager BlackRock and a $25 million series C extension round.

In April, the company acquired an Amazon partner, Ohio-based Amify, a company that provides optimization and advertising solutions

Want to work for one of the top startups in Houston? These ones are hiring. Photo via Getty Images

Where to work: These 2024 Houston Innovation Awards finalists are hiring

growing biz

About a third of this year's startup finalists for the Houston Innovation Awards are hiring — from contract positions all the way up to senior-level roles.

The finalists, announced last week, range from the medical to energy to AI-related startups and will be celebrated next month on Thursday, November 14, at the Houston Innovation Awards at TMC Helix Park. Over 50 finalists will be recognized for their achievements across 13 categories, which includes the 2024 Trailblazer Legacy Awards that were announced earlier this month.

Click here to secure your tickets to see which growing startups win.

Let's take a look at where you could land a job at one of Houston's top startups.

Double-digit growth

When submitting their applications for the 2024 Houston Innovation Awards, every startup was asked if it was hiring. Four Houston startups replied that they are growing their teams rapidly.

Houston e-commerce startup Cart.com, one of the city's few $1 billion-plus “unicorns," reported that it is hiring approximately 50 new employees. The company, which focuses on commerce and logistics software development, secured $105 million in debt refinancing from investment manager BlackRock this summer following a $25 million series C extension round that brought Cart.com’s Series C total to $85 million. It currently has about 1,500 employees and 4 offices in three companies since it was founded in 2020, according to its website.

Houston energy tech company Enovate Ai (previously known as Enovate Upstream) reported that it is hiring 10-plus positions. The company, with 35 current employees, helps automate business and operational processes for decarbonization and energy optimization. Its CEO and founder, Camilo Mejia, sat down for an interview with InnovationMap in 2020. Click here to read the Q&A.

Square Robot is hiring about 10 new Houston employees and 15 total between Houston and other markets, according to its application. The advanced robotics company was founded in Boston in 2016 and opened its Houston office in August 2019. It develops submersible robots for the energy industry, specifically for storage tank inspections and eliminating the need for humans to enter dangerous and toxic environments. Last year it reported to be hiring 10 to 30 employees as well, ahead of the 2023 Houston Innovators Award. It currently has 25 Houston employees and about 50 nationally.

InnoVent Renewables LLC is also hiring 15 new employees to be based in Mexico. The company launched last year with its proprietary continuous pyrolysis technology that can convert waste tires, plastics, and biomass into fuels and chemicals. The company scaled up in 2022 and has operations in Pune, India, and Monterrey, Mexico, with plans for aggressive growth across North America and Latin America. It has 20 employees in Mexico and one in Houston currently.

Senior roles

Geothermal energy startup Sage Geosystems reported that it is looking to fill two senior roles in the company. It also said it anticipates further staff growth after its first commercial energy storage facility is commissioned at the end of the year in the San Antonio metro area. The company also recently expanded its partnership with the United States Department of Defense's Defense Innovation Unit and announced this month that it was selected to conduct geothermal project development initiatives at Naval Air Station in Corpus Christi. It has 12 full-time employees, according to its application.

Steady growth

Other companies reported that they are hiring a handful of new workers, which for some will increase headcount by about 50 percent to 100 percent.

Allterum Therapeutics reported that it is adding six employees to its current team of 13. The biopharmaceutical company that is under the Fannin Partners portfolio of med tech companies was awarded a $12 million product development grant from the Cancer Prevention and Research Institute of Texas this spring.

Dauntless XR will add between five and eight employees, according to its application. It currently has four employees. The augmented reality software company, originally founded as Future Sight AR in 2018, recently secured a NASA contract for space weather technology after rebranding and pivoting. The company's CEO, Lori-Lee Elliott, recently sat down with the Houston Innovators Podcast. Click here to hear the interview.

Syzygy Plasmonics is hiring four positions to add to its team of 120. The company was named to Fast Company's energy innovation list earlier this year.

Venus Aerospace is adding five to 10 key hires to its team of 72. Andrew Duggleby founded the company with his wife and CEO Sassie in 2020, before relocating to the Houston Spaceport in 2021. Last year, Venus raised a $20 million series A round, and it successfully ran the first long-duration engine test of their Rotating Detonation Rocket Engine in partnership with the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency, or DARPA, earlier this year.

​Seeking selectively

Other finalists are adding to their teams with a handful of new hires of contract gigs.

​Future roles

Other finalists reported that they are currently not hiring, but had plans to in the near future.

NanoTech Materials Inc., which recently moved to a new facility, is not currently. Hiring but said it plans with new funding during its series B.

Renewable energy startup CLS Wind is not hiring at this time but reported that it plans to when the company closes funding in late 2024.

This week's roundup of Houston innovators includes Omair Tariq of Cart.com, Nádia Skorupa Parachin of Cemvita, and Han Xiao of Rice University. Photos courtesy

3 Houston innovators to know this week

who's who

Editor's note: Every week, I introduce you to a handful of Houston innovators to know recently making headlines with news of innovative technology, investment activity, and more. This week's batch includes an e-commerce startup founder, an industrial biologist, and a cellular scientist.

Omair Tariq, co-founder and CEO of Cart.com

Omair Tariq of Cart.com joins the Houston Innovators Podcast to share his confidence in Houston as the right place to scale his unicorn. Photo via Cart.com

Houston-based Cart.com, which operates a multichannel commerce platform, has secured $105 million in debt refinancing from investment manager BlackRock.

The debt refinancing follows a recent $25 million series C extension round, bringing Cart.com’s series C total to $85 million. The scaleup’s valuation now stands at $1.2 billion, making it one of the few $1 billion-plus “unicorns” in the Houston area.

Cart.com was co-founded by CEO Omair Tariq in October 2020. Read more.

Nádia Skorupa Parachin, vice president of industrial biotechnology at Cemvita

Nádia Skorupa Parachin joined Cemvita as vice president of industrial biotechnology. Photo courtesy of Cemvita

Houston-based biotech company Cemvita recently tapped two executives to help commercialize its sustainable fuel made from carbon waste.

Nádia Skorupa Parachin came aboard as vice president of industrial biotechnology, and Phil Garcia was promoted to vice president of commercialization.

Parachin most recently oversaw several projects at Boston-based biotech company Ginkjo Bioworks. She previously co-founded Brazilian biotech startup Integra Bioprocessos. Read more.

Han Xiao, associate professor of chemistry at Rice University

The funds were awarded to Han Xiao, a chemist at Rice University.

A Rice University chemist has landed a $2 million grant from the National Institute of Health for his work that aims to reprogram the genetic code and explore the role certain cells play in causing diseases like cancer and neurological disorders.

The funds were awarded to Han Xiao, the Norman Hackerman-Welch Young Investigator, associate professor of chemistry, from the NIH's Maximizing Investigators’ Research Award (MIRA) program, which supports medically focused laboratories. Xiao will use the five-year grant to advance his work on noncanonical amino acids.

“This innovative approach could revolutionize how we understand and control cellular functions,” Xiao said in the statement. Read more.

Cart.com announced a $25 million series C extension round and $105 million in debt refinancing from investment manager BlackRock. Photo courtesy of Cart.com

Houston e-commerce unicorn secures $130M in financing

scaling up

Houston-based Cart.com, which operates a multichannel commerce platform, has secured $105 million in debt refinancing from investment manager BlackRock.

The debt refinancing follows a recent $25 million series C extension round, bringing Cart.com’s series C total to $85 million. The scaleup’s valuation now stands at $1.2 billion, making it one of the few $1 billion-plus “unicorns” in the Houston area.

“Scaleup” refers to a startup that has achieved tremendous growth and has maintained a stable workforce, among other positive milestones. Airbnb, Peloton, and Uber are prime examples of businesses that evolved from startup to scaleup.

Cart.com says the new term loan facility from BlackRock consolidates its venture debt into one package “at competitive terms.” Those terms weren’t disclosed.

The company says the refinancing will enable it to expand into new markets and improve its technology, including its Constellation OMS order management system.

“Cart.com is one of the fastest-growing providers of commerce and logistics solutions today, and I’m excited to partner with BlackRock as we continue to aggressively invest to help our customers operate more efficiently,” Omair Tariq, the company’s founder and CEO, says in a news release.

Through a network of 14 fulfillment centers, Cart.com supports over 6,000 customers and 75 million orders per year.

"BlackRock is pleased to support Cart.com as it advances its mission to unify digital and physical commerce infrastructure," says Keon Reed, a director at BlackRock. “This latest facility underscores our confidence in the company’s differentiated product offerings and financial strategy as it enters its next stage of growth.”

This week's roundup of Houston innovators includes Melanie Johnson of Collaborative for Children, Aditya Mohite of Rice University, Lani Doyle of Cart.com. Photos courtesy

3 Houston innovators to know this week

who's who

Editor's note: Every week, I introduce you to a handful of Houston innovators to know recently making headlines with news of innovative technology, investment activity, and more. This week's batch includes a nonprofit leader introducing new technologies, a solar tech-focused Rice University professor, and a new hire for a Houston fast-growing startup.

Melanie Johnson, president and CEO of Collaborative for Children

Collaborative for Children is focused on utilizing social-emotional learning robots and coding tech toys. Photo courtesy

Generally, when children are under the age of five, educators believe that they are best suited for and interested in learning, because those are the years in which there is the strongest opportunity to build a broad and solid foundation for lifelong literacy and well-being.

That sentiment is deeply held by Collaborative for Children, the Houston-based nonprofit organization with the mission to meaningfully improve the quality of early childhood education and provide access to cutting-edge technology through its Centers of Excellence to all children, especially those in low-income and marginalized communities.

“The reason the organization was started about 40 years ago is that a group of philanthropists in the greater Houston area suggested that this was so important because 90 percent of the brain develops or grows in the time frame between ages zero to five years of age,” Melanie Johnson, president and CEO of Collaborative for Children, tells InnovationMap. Read more.

Aditya Mohite, director of Rice Engineering Initiative for Energy Transition and Sustainability

The new process developed by Rice University researchers makes solar cells that are about 10 times more durable than traditional methods. Photo courtesy

Presented on the cover of a June issue of Science, a study from Rice University engineer Aditya Mohite's lab uncovered a method to synthesize a high-efficiency perovskite solar cell, known as formamidinium lead iodide (FAPbI3), converting them into ultrastable high-quality photovoltaic films, according to a statement from Rice. Photovoltaic films convert sunlight into electricity.

The new process makes solar cells that are about 10 times more durable than traditional methods.

“Right now, we think that this is state of the art in terms of stability,” Mohite said in a statement. “Perovskite solar cells have the potential to revolutionize energy production, but achieving long-duration stability has been a significant challenge.” Read more.

Lani Doyle, chief people officer at Cart.com

Fast-growing Cart.com has named its new chief people officer. Photo courtesy of Cart.com

Houston-based e-commerce software and services company Cart.com has hired a former Shopify executive as its chief people officer.

Before joining Cart.com, Lani Doyle was chief HR officer at Strategic Solutions Group, a provider of health care software. Previously, she was vice president of HR and people operations at 6 River Systems, a provider of software and robotics for warehouses. Prior to that, Doyle was head of talent development and operations at Shopify, an e-commerce platform for businesses that posted revenue of $7.1 billion in 2023.

“Cart.com is one of the fastest-growing companies in commerce today, and I’m excited to partner with our teams to help drive growth and scalability,” Doyle says in a news release. “I am eager to contribute to shaping our culture and developing programming that supports and elevates high-performing teams, ensuring we achieve our ambitious goals.” Read more.

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Houston doctor aims to revolutionize hearing aid industry with tiny implant

small but mighty

“What is the future of hearing aids?” That’s the question that led to a potential revolution.

“The current hearing aid market and technology is old, and there are little incremental improvements, but really no significant, radical new ideas, and I like to challenge the status quo,” says Dr. Ron Moses, an ENT specialist and surgeon at Houston Methodist.

Moses is the creator of NanoEar, which he calls “the world’s smallest hearing aid.” NanoEar is an implantable device that combines the invisibility of a micro-sized tympanostomy tube with more power—and a superior hearing experience—than the best behind-the-ear hearing aid.

“You put the NanoEar inside of the eardrum in an in-office procedure that takes literally five minutes,” Moses says.

As Moses explains, because of how the human cochlea is formed, its nerves break down over time. It’s simply an inevitability that if we live long enough, we will need hearing aids.

“The question is, ‘Are we going to all be satisfied with what exists?’” he asks.

Moses says that currently, only about 20 percent of patients who need hearing aids have them. That’s because of the combination of the stigma, the expense, and the hassle and discomfort associated with the hearing aids currently available on the market. That leaves 80 percent untapped among a population of 466 million people with hearing impairment, and more to come as our population ages. In a nearly $7 billion global market, that additional 80 percent could mean big money.

Moses initially patented a version of the invention in 2000, but says that it took finding the right team to incorporate as NanoEar. That took place in 2016, when he joined forces with cofounders Michael Moore and Willem Vermaat, now the company’s president and CFO, respectively. Moore is a mechanical engineer, while Vermaat is a “financial guru;” both are repeat entrepreneurs in the biotech space.

Today, NanoEar has nine active patents. The company’s technical advisors include “the genius behind developing the brains in this device,” Chris Salthouse; NASA battery engineer Will West; Dutch physicist and audiologist Joris Dirckx; and Daniel Spitz, a third-generation master watchmaker and the original guitarist for the famed metal band Anthrax.

The NanoEar concept has done proof-of-concept testing on both cadavers at the University of Antwerp and on chinchillas, which are excellent models for human hearing, at Tulane University. As part of the TMC Innovation Institute program in 2017, the NanoEar team met with FDA advisors, who told them that they might be eligible for an expedited pathway to approval.

Thus far, NanoEar has raised about $900,000 to get its nine patents and perform its proof-of-concept experiments. The next step is to build the prototype, but completing it will take $2.75 million of seed funding.

Despite the potential for making global change, Moses has said it’s been challenging to raise funds for his innovation.

“We're hoping to find that group of people or person who may want to hear their children or grandchildren better. They may want to join with others and bring a team of investors to offset that risk, to move this forward, because we already have a world-class team ready to go,” he says.

To that end, NanoEar has partnered with Austin-based Capital Factory to help with their raise. “I have reached out to their entire network and am getting a lot of interest, a lot of interest,” says Moses. “But in the end, of course, we need the money.”

It will likely, quite literally, be a sound investment in the future of how we all hear the next generation.

Forbes and Fortune spotlight Houston innovators and more news to know

Trending news

Editor's note: It's time to look back at the top trending innovation news in April. Forbes and Fortune magazines put the spotlight on Houston, plus a Houston startup makes its rodeo debut and a state-of-the-art facility opens in the Energy Corridor. Here are the five most-read InnovationMap stories for the first half of April 2025.

1. Google teams up with Rice University to launch AI-focused accelerator

The new Rice Nexus is partnering with Google Public Sector and Non Sibi Ventures to support high-potential AI-focused startups. Image via Rice University.

Google Public Sector is teaming up with Rice University to drive early-stage artificial intelligence innovation and commercialization via the new Rice AI Venture Accelerator, or RAVA.

RAVA will use Google Cloud technology and work with venture capital firm Non Sibi Ventures to connect high-potential AI-focused startups with public and private sector organizations. The incubator will be led by Rice Nexus, which launched earlier this year in the Ion District as an AI-focused "innovation factory.” Continue reading.

2. State-of-the-art innovation hub opens in Houston Energy Corridor

Schneider Electric's new Energy Innovation Center can simulate various real-world scenarios in refineries, combined-cycle power plants, ethylene plants and other facilities. Getty Images

French multinational company Schneider Electric has opened a new 10,500-square-foot, state-of-the-art Energy Innovation Center in Houston. The new facility is located in Houston’s Energy Corridor and is designed to “foster increased collaboration and technological advancements across the entire value chain,” according to a release. The new Houston location joins Schneider's existing innovation hubs in Paris, Singapore and Bangalore.

The venue will serve as a training center for process control engineers, production superintendents, manufacturing managers, technical leads and plant operations personnel. It can simulate various real-world scenarios in refineries, combined-cycle power plants, ethylene plants, recovery boilers and chemical reactors. Continue reading.

3. 18 Houstonians land on Forbes world's billionaires list for 2025

Tilman Fertitta is the richest Houstonian, according to Forbes. Courtesy photo

The world’s richest people are wealthier now than they've ever been, and more billionaires have made it onto the 2025 World's Billionaires List than ever before, according to Forbes. This year, 18 Houston-based billionaires are among the richest people in the world, with hospitality honcho Tilman Fertitta leading as the richest Houstonian.

Fertitta, 67, ranked No. 220 overall with an estimated net worth of $11.3 billion, which steadily increased from his 2024 net worth of $9.4 billion. Continue reading.

4. 8 Houston companies earn spots among Fortune's most innovative for 2025

Health care companies dominated Fortune's America’s Most Innovative Companies report for 2025, with Houston’s top-rated company on the list falling into that sector. Photo via Getty Images

Eight Houston companies have been named to Fortune’s third annual list of America’s Most Innovative Companies, joining another 16 from the state of Texas. The group of 300 companies nationwide was rated based on production innovation, process innovation, and innovation culture, according to Fortune. In partnership with Statista, the magazine considered IP portfolios, employee, expert and customer opinions; and many other factors.

While many of the top-rated companies fell into the tech sector, Fortune reports that health care companies made up the largest portion of the 2025 list. Sixty-three honorees fell into the health care category, including Houston’s top-rated company, Houston Methodist. Continue reading.

5. Houston startup unveils its innovative leather alternative at the rodeo

Rheom Materials presented its bio-based alternative, Shorai, a 93 percent bio-based leather, at the rodeo and plans to scale it up this year. Photos courtesy Rheom Materials

Last month’s Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo stirred up another rootin’ tootin’ time for Houstonians and beyond. But before the annual event galloped into the sunset, there were quite a few memorable innovations on display, with one notably coming from Rheom Materials.

The Houston-based pioneer of next-generation materials presented its scalable, bio-based alternative known as Shorai, a 93 percent bio-based leather, through two custom, western-inspired outfits that showed off cowboy flair through a sustainable lens. Continue reading.

Houston VC funding surged in Q1 2025 to highest level in years, report says

by the numbers

First-quarter funding for Houston-area startups just hit its highest level since 2022, according to the latest PitchBook-NVCA Venture Monitor. But fundraising in subsequent quarters might not be as robust thanks to ongoing economic turmoil, the report warns.

In the first quarter of 2025, Houston-area startups raised $544.2 million in venture capital from investors, PitchBook-NVCA data shows. That compares with $263.5 million in Q1 2024 and $344.5 million in Q1 2023. For the first quarter of 2022, local startups nabbed $745.5 million in venture capital.

The Houston-area total for first-quarter VC funding this year fell well short of the sum for the Austin area (more than $3.3 billion) and Dallas-Fort Worth ($696.8 million), according to PitchBook-NVCA data.

While first-quarter 2025 funding for Houston-area startups got a boost, the number of VC deals declined versus the first quarters of 2024, 2023 and 2022. The PitchBook-NVCA Monitor reported 37 local VC deals in this year’s first quarter, compared with 45 during the same period in 2024, 53 in 2023, and 57 in 2022.

The PitchBook-NVCA report indicates fundraising figures for the Houston area, the Austin area, Dallas-Fort Worth and other markets might shrink in upcoming quarters.

“Should the latest iteration of tariffs stand, we expect significant pressure on fundraising and dealmaking in the near term as investors sit on the sidelines and wait for signs of market stabilization,” the report says.

Due to new trade tariffs and policy shifts, the chances of an upcoming rebound in the VC market have likely faded, says Nizar Tarhuni, executive vice president of research and market intelligence at PitchBook.

“These impacts amplify economic uncertainty and could further disrupt the private markets by complicating investment decisions, supply chains, exit windows, and portfolio strategies,” Tarhuni says. “While this may eventually lead to new domestic investment and create opportunities, the overall environment is facing volatility, hesitation, and structural change.”

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