Members-only coworking club Switchyards to open first Houston location

Where to Work

Switchyards opens in Houston in September. Photo courtesy of Switchyards

An innovative take on the coworking space is coming to Houston. Switchyards will open its first location in the Bayou City on Monday, September 29.

Located in the former Buffalo Exchange at 2901 S Shepherd Drive, Switchyards is well located on the border of Montrose, River Oaks, and Upper Kirby. Founded in Atlanta, the Houston location will join 30 outposts in cities such as Austin, Dallas, Denver, Kansas City, and Nashville.

Unlike WeWork, which caters to companies looking for office space for groups of employees, Switchyards pitches itself as a club for individuals who want to get a little work done away from their home offices.

“Working from home all the time is pretty lonesome,” Switchyards creative director Brandon Hinman says. “It feels good to have places to get out and mix it up. To change paces and change scenery.”

Switchyards facilitates that change of scenery with an environment that blends touches of hotel lobbies, college libraries, and coffee shops. As seen in the photos of the company’s other location, the furniture is a mix of desks, comfy chairs, and couches for individuals or small groups. It’s a far cry from the cube farms of the Office Space era.

“They tend to be historic, textured, layered,” Hinman says about the company’s locations. “A lot of really good furniture. Really thoughtful for getting a couple hours of work done.”

Each location features fast wi-fi, plenty of electrical outlets, and good quality coffee and tea. All 250 members have 24/7 access to the space. And by choosing the real estate they lease carefully, Switchyards keeps its membership price to $100 per month.

“Packaging it together like that and opening in these neighborhoods where people actually live has been pretty magical,” Hinman says. "The big opportunity, I think, is that 90 percent of our members have never had a shared space before. It is unlocking a new thing for people.”

Those who are interested in learning more can sign up at switchyards.com/houston-tx to get early access to memberships and an invite to a sneak peek party.

Memberships go on sale Thursday, September 25 at 10 am. Switchyards notes that the last 14 clubs have sold out on day one.

---

This story originally appeared on CultureMap.com.

Greentown Labs names Lawson Gow as its new Houston leader

head of hou

Greentown Labs has named Lawson Gow as its Head of Houston.

Gow is the founder of The Cannon, a coworking space with seven locations in the Houston area, with additional partner spaces. He also recently served as managing partner at Houston-based investment and advisory firm Helium Capital. Gow is the son of David Gow, founder of Energy Capital's parent company, Gow Media.

According to Greentown, Gow will "enhance the founder experience, cultivate strategic partnerships, and accelerate climatetech solutions" in his new role.

“I couldn’t be more excited to join Greentown at this critical moment for the energy transition,” Gow said in a news release. “Greentown has a fantastic track record of supporting entrepreneurs in Houston, Boston, and beyond, and I am eager to keep advancing our mission in the energy transition capital of the world.”

Gow has also held analyst, strategy and advising roles since graduating from Rice University.

“We are thrilled to welcome Lawson to our leadership team,” Georgina Campbell Flatter, CEO of Greentown Labs, added in the release. “Lawson has spent his career building community and championing entrepreneurs, and we look forward to him deepening Greentown’s support of climate and energy startups as our Head of Houston.”

Gow is the latest addition to a series of new hires at Greentown Labs following a leadership shakeup.

Flatter was named as the organization's new CEO in February, replacing Kevin Dutt, Greentown’s interim CEO, who replaced Kevin Knobloch after he announced that he would step down in July 2024 after less than a year in the role.

Greentown also named Naheed Malik its new CFO in January.

Timmeko Moore Love was named the first Houston general manager and senior vice president of Greentown Labs. According to LinkedIn, she left the role in January.

---

This article originally appeared on our sister site, EnergyCapitalHTX.com.

The Oxy Innovation Center has opened at the Ion and Industrious' coworking space launches soon. Photo courtesy of The Ion

New energy innovation and coworking spaces open at the Ion

moving in

Houston-based Occidental officially opened its new Oxy Innovation Center with a ribbon cutting at the Ion last week.

The opening reflects Oxy and the Ion's "shared commitment to advancing technology and accelerating a lower-carbon future," according to an announcement from the Ion.

Oxy, which was named a corporate partner of the Ion in 2023, now has nearly 6,500 square feet on the fourth floor of the Ion. Rice University and the Rice Real Estate Company announced the lease of the additional space last year, along with agreements with Fathom Fund and Activate.

At the time, the leases brought the Ion's occupancy up to 90 percent.

Additionally, New York-based Industrious plans to launch its coworking space at the Ion on May 8. The company was tapped as the new operator of the Ion’s 86,000-square-foot coworking space in Midtown in January.

Dallas-based Common Desk previously operated the space, which was expanded by 50 percent in 2023 to 86,000 square feet.

CBRE agreed to acquire Industrious in a deal valued at $400 million earlier this year. Industrious also operates another local coworking space is at 1301 McKinney St.

Industrious will host a launch party celebrating the new location Thursday, May 8. Find more information here.

Oxy Innovation Center. Photo via LinkedIn.

Don't miss these May events — from an investor activation series to a crawfish cook-off. Photo courtesy Greentown Labs.

9 can't-miss Houston business and innovation events for May

where to be

There's a lot to learn this month at events around Houston. Hear from AI and energy experts or gain insights into how to tap into funding at informative panels or sessions.

Here are the Houston business and innovation events you can't miss in May and how to register. Please note: This article might be updated to add more events.

May 1 - Ion Block Party + 3rd Annual Crawfish Cookoff

Head to this special edition Block Party, featuring a crawfish cook-off competition among the Ion’s businesses. Competing teams include Ion/Rice Alliance, Transwestern, Black at Microsoft, United Protective Services, Nexus, PersonaAI, South Main Baptist, Late August, Lymbar and LickleLab/Sports Monkey.

This event is Thursday, May 1, from 4-7 p.m. at the Ion. Register here.

May 5 - Fireside Chat and Book Launch: ‘AI Made Simple: Results Made Real.’

Learn more about how AI is reshaping business and what leadership in the AI era looks like at the launch of Kathleen Perley’s book, AI Made Simple: Results Made Real, hosted by Rice Business Executive Education. Perley is founder and CEO of DemystifAI and an instructor and advisor at Rice University. She will sit down with Marie Myers, CFO of Hewlett Packard Enterprise, for a discussion and will be signing copies of her book after the fireside chat.

This event is Monday, May 5, from 5:30-7:30 p.m. at the Ion. Register here.

May 6 - Houston’s AI-Driven Data Center Boom: Investment, Innovation, and Policy

In light of Houston’s growing influence as a data center hub, the Greater Houston Partnership will present an informative panel focused on the investment landscape, technological advancements, and policy considerations shaping the future of AI-driven data centers in Houston. Panelists include leaders from Moelis, Quanta, and the Houston Northwest Chamber of Commerce.

This event is Tuesday, May 6, from 11:30 a.m.-1 p.m. at Partnership Tower. Register or become a member here.

May 6 - Doing Business with the Federal Government - The Woodlands

The SBA Houston District Office, in collaboration with Sam Houston State University SBDC, will host an informative session to share insights on how small business owners can work with the U.S. government. Topics include how the government buys goods and services, the SBA’s role in government contracting, federal government contracting programs, the advantages of small business set-asides, marketing your business, identifying federal opportunities and more.

This event is Tuesday, May 6, from 10-11:30 a.m. at Sam Houston State University - The Woodlands Center. Register here.

May 8 - Industrious Launch Party

Attend the opening of Industrious’ new coworking space at the Ion. Anteendees can tour the new space, meet the team, enjoy a silent disco and network. Light bites will be provided by Late August, Lymbar, and Stuff’d.

This event is Thursday, May 8, from 5-8 p.m. at the Ion. Register here

May 12 - Headshot Happy Hour

Hosted by Natalie Presnediue, Headshot Happy Hour caters to entrepreneurs, business owners, creatives and professionals who want to enhance or update their online presence. Each session includes a 15- to 20-minute mini shoot and three professionally retouched images. Light refreshments will be served.

This event is Monday, May 12, at the Ion. Learn more here.

May 12-14 - Greentown Labs’ Investor Activation Series

Greentown Labs will host a three-day series for investors interested in climatetech, centered around the incubator’s invitation-only Manufacturing Sector Pitch Day. Panels throughout the event will focus on early-stage investment, emerging opportunities, and tools for investors, presented by organizations like Houston Angel Network and New Climate Ventures.

This event begins Monday, May 12, at Greentown Labs. Register here.

May 13 - Women in Venture Investing: Expanding Influence and Building Wealth

Houston Angel Network will host a luncheon focused on how women can enter and thrive in the venture capital space. Anthea Zhang, professor of strategic management at Rice University, will present the keynote address along with a panel featuring leaders from Hunton, JP Morgan Private Bank, HRSS CPAs, Weathergage Capital, and Houston Angel Network.

This event is Tuesday, May 13, from 11 a.m.-1:30 p.m. at the Junior Leauge of Houston. Get tickers here.

May 21-22 - Brain Capital: The New Competitive Advantage in a Shifting Economy

Tap into the potential of brain capital at this next-level summit. This dynamic two-day roundtable will assist visionary business leaders in unlocking the power of neuroscience, technology, and human capital to drive innovation and long-term prosperity.

This event begins Wednesday, May 21 at TMC3. Register here.

May 28-30 - CHARGE North America

This intimate, immersive experience is tailored to forward-thinking energy professionals. The conference includes hands-on interactive workshops led by top strategists; real-world case studies; and insights from leading speakers on resilient branding, consumer expectations, and climate action. Attendees will engage in panel discussions on sustainability and energy diversification and enjoy exclusive networking opportunities with global executives and innovators.

This event begins Wednesday, May 28, at the Ion. Register here.

Colossal is reportedly Texas' first decacorn. Photo courtesy Colossal Biosciences

Texas' first decacorn and more top innovation news for January 2025

What's Trending

Editor's note: It's time to look back at the top innovation headlines from January 15-30. Here are the most-read InnovationMap stories for the second half of January 2025, from the birth of Texas' first decacorn to an exciting collaboration between researchers at top Texas universities.

1. Biosciences startup becomes Texas' first decacorn after latest funding

Texas bioscience company Colossal is reportedly the state's first decacorn. Courtesy photo

A Dallas-based biosciences startup whose backers include millionaire investors from Austin and Dallas has reached decacorn status — a valuation of at least $10 billion — after hauling in a series C funding round of $200 million, the company announced this month. Colossal Biosciences is reportedly the first Texas startup to rise to the decacorn level. Continue reading.

2. Houston investor on why 2025 will be the year of exits

Samantha Lewis of Mercury joins the Houston Innovators Podcast. Photo courtesy of Mercury

Samantha Lewis will be the first to admit that the past few years have been tough on startups and venture capital investors alike. However, as she explains on the Houston Innovators Podcast, the new year is expected to look very different. Continue reading.

3. Houston private equity firm beats target on first investment fund

The Sallyport Partners Fund focuses on investments in founder- and family-owned businesses, corporate carve-outs and startups in various industries. Photo via Getty Images

Houston-based private equity firm Sallyport has raised $160 million for its first investment fund, exceeding the target amount by $10 million. The Sallyport Partners Fund focuses primarily on investments in founder- and family-owned businesses, corporate carve-outs and startups in various industries. Continue reading.

4. Texas universities develop innovative open-source platform for cell analysis

Baylor College of Medicine, Texas A&M and University of Houston researchers have designed SPACe, a new open-source image analysis platform. Photo via Getty Images

What do labs do when faced with large amounts of imaging data? Powerful cloud computing systems have long been the answer to that question, but a new riposte comes from SPACe. That’s the name of a new open-source image analysis platform designed by researchers at Baylor College of Medicine, Texas A&M University and the University of Houston. Continue reading.

5. The Ion names new coworking partner for Houston innovation hub

Coworking company Industrious replaces WeWork-owned Common Desk at The Ion. Photo via thecommondesk.com

Rice University subsidiary Rice Real Estate Co. has tapped coworking company Industrious as the new operator of the Ion’s 86,000-square-foot coworking space in Midtown. Industrious replaces WeWork-owned Common Desk in that role. Continue reading.

The Ion expanded its coworking space — and more top stories from the week. Photo via iondistrict.com

Ion grows coworking footprint, Cart.com returns HQ to Houston, and more top stories

trending news

Editor's note: Another week has come and gone, and it's time to round up the top headlines from the past few days. Trending Houston tech and startup articles on InnovationMap included the Ion growing its coworking space, Cart.com moving its headquarters back to Houston, and more.

Houston-founded unicorn logistics company returns HQ to the Bayou City

It's a homecoming for this Texas unicorn. Photo via cart.com

While originally founded in Houston in 2020, Cart.com has called Austin home for the past two years. Now, the scaling software company is coming home.

Cart.com, a tech company providing commerce and logistical solutions for businesses, announced today that its corporate headquarters has returned to Houston amid its rapid growth.

“I couldn’t be happier to bring Cart.com back home to Houston as we continue to revolutionize how merchants sell and fulfill products to meet customers anywhere they are,” Cart.com Founder and CEO Omair Tariq says in a news release. “The idea for Cart.com was born in Houston and we’ve always maintained a strong local presence with the majority of our executive team and board based here. As our customer mix increasingly moves upmarket and our own needs evolve, I’m confident Houston has what we need as we look towards the next stage of Cart.com’s growth story.” Read more.

Growing femtech company chooses Houston for first out-of-state expansion

After growing in Chicago and raising funding, Partum Health selected Houston to expand its femtech platform. Photo via Getty Image

A startup dedicated to comprehensive pregnancy, birth and postpartum care has expanded from its Chicago birthplace to Houston.

Last summer, Partum Health raised $3.1 million in seed funding, which makes it possible for the company to begin a nationwide expansion. That begins in Space City.

“We looked at states where there is work to do on outcomes for maternal health. Texas rose to the top and Houston, in many ways is fairly close to Chicago, our home city. The really thriving healthcare ecosystem attracted us as well,” CEO and Co-Founder Meghan Doyle tells InnovationMap. Read more.

Coworking concept delivers 28,000-square-foot expansion in the Ion

The Ion now officially has more coworking space. Photo via thecommondesk.com

The coworking space in the Ion has increased by 50 percent thanks to a recent expansion project.

Dallas-based Common Desk has officially delivered on its project to expand the coworking space in the Ion that it originally opened on the second floor two years ago. Now, coworkers have access to a total of 86,400 square feet of space, including newly opened space on the fourth floor. The company has agreed to a 10-year commitment to the Ion with the expansion.

“This expansion of Common Desk at The Ion was designed specifically to complement the existing amenities and serve remote and hybrid work styles," Austin Gauley, head of design at Common Desk says in the news release. "There's a variety of video conferencing room types—from multiple individual private rooms, to a large group presentation-style room—all equipped with state-of-the-art technology that is also user-friendly. Read more.

Houston founders named winners for 2023 Entrepreneur of the Year awards

Gaurab Chakrabarti and Sean Hunt were originally named regional winners in this year's competition this summer along with nine other Houston entrepreneurs. Photos via solugen.com

Houston’s Gaurab Chakrabarti and Sean Hunt, the founders of the transformative chemical manufacturing company Solugen, have been named EY’s US National Award winners for Entrepreneur of the Year.

Solugen, also recently named a finalist in the 2023 Houston Innovation Awards, is an environmentally friendly approach that relies on smaller chemical refineries that helps in reducing costs and transportation-related emissions. Some of their noted accomplishments includes innovations like the proprietary reactor, dubbed the Bioforge, which is a carbon-negative molecule factory and manufacturing process produces zero wastewater or emissions compared with traditional petrochemical refineries.The Bioforge uses a chemienzymatic process in converting plant-sourced substances into essential materials that can be used instead of fossil fuels. Read more.

4 Houston life science startups secure over $40M in CPRIT funding

Four Houston startups have received over $40 million in funding from a Texas organization. Photo via Getty Images

Four Houston bioscience startups have collected nearly $43 million in grants from the Cancer Prevention and Research Institute of Texas (CPRIT).

The four startups, the amount and purpose of each grant, and some background information about each company are rounded up here.

Ad Placement 300x100

Ad Placement 300x600

CultureMap Emails are Awesome

Property Showcase

Rice University researchers unveil new model that could sharpen MRI scans

MRI innovation

Researchers at Rice University, in collaboration with Oak Ridge National Laboratory, have developed a new model that could lead to sharper imaging and safer diagnostics using magnetic resonance imaging, or MRI.

In a study recently published in The Journal of Chemical Physics, the team of researchers showed how they used the Fokker-Planck equation to better understand how water molecules respond to contrast agents in a process known as “relaxation.” Previous models only approximated how water molecules relaxed around contrasting agents. However, through this new model, known as the NMR eigenmodes framework, the research team has uncovered the “full physical equations” to explain the process.

“The concept is similar to how a musical chord consists of many notes,” Thiago Pinheiro, the study’s first author, a Rice doctoral graduate in chemical and biomolecular engineering and postdoctoral researcher in the chemical sciences division at Oak Ridge National Laboratory, said in a news release. “Previous models only captured one or two notes, while ours picks up the full harmony.”

According to Rice, the findings could lead to the development and application of new contrast agents for clearer MRIs in medicine and materials science. Beyond MRIs, the NMR relaxation method could also be applied to other areas like battery design and subsurface fluid flow.

“In the present paper, we developed a comprehensive theory to interpret those previous molecular dynamics simulations and experimental findings,” Dilipkumar Asthagiri, a senior computational biomedical scientist in the National Center for Computational Sciences at Oak Ridge National Laboratory, said in the release. ”The theory, however, is general and can be used to understand NMR relaxation in liquids broadly.”

The team has also made its code available as open source to encourage its adoption and further development by the broader scientific community.

“By better modeling the physics of nuclear magnetic resonance relaxation in liquids, we gain a tool that doesn’t just predict but also explains the phenomenon,” Walter Chapman, a professor of chemical and biomolecular engineering at Rice, added in the release. “That is crucial when lives and technologies depend on accurate scientific understanding.”

The study was backed by The Ken Kennedy Institute, Rice Creative Ventures Fund, Robert A. Welch Foundation and Oak Ridge Leadership Computing Facility at Oak Ridge National Laboratory.

Houston-area lab grows with focus on mobile diagnostics and predictive medicine

mobile medicine

When it comes to healthcare, access can be a matter of life and death. And for patients in skilled nursing facilities, assisted living or even their own homes, the ability to get timely diagnostic testing is not just a convenience, it’s a necessity.

That’s the problem Principle Health Systems (PHS) set out to solve.

Founded in 2016 in Clear Lake, Texas, PHS began as a conventional laboratory but quickly pivoted to mobile diagnostics, offering everything from core blood work and genetic testing to advanced imaging like ultrasounds, echocardiograms, and X-rays.

“We were approached by a group in a local skilled nursing facility to provide services, and we determined pretty quickly there was a massive need in this area,” says James Dieter, founder, chairman and CEO of PHS. “Turnaround time is imperative. These facilities have an incredibly sick population, and of course, they lack mobility to get the care that they need.”

What makes PHS unique is not only what they do, but where they do it. While they operate one of the largest labs serving skilled nursing facilities in the state, their mobile teams go wherever patients are, whether that’s a nursing home, a private residence or even a correctional facility.

Diagnostics, Dieter says, are at the heart of medical decision-making.

“Seventy to 80 percent of all medical decisions are made from diagnostic results in lab and imaging,” he says. “The diagnostic drives the doctor’s or the provider’s next move. When we recognized a massive slowdown in lab results, we had to innovate to do it faster.”

Innovation at PHS isn’t just about speed; it’s about accessibility and precision.

Chris Light, COO, explains: “For stat testing, we use bedside point-of-care instruments. Our phlebotomists take those into the facilities, test at the bedside, and get results within minutes, rather than waiting days for results to come back from a core lab.”

Scaling a mobile operation across multiple states isn’t simple, but PHS has expanded into nine states, including Texas, Oklahoma, Kansas, Missouri and Arizona. Their model relies on licensed mobile phlebotomists, X-ray technologists and sonographers, all trained to provide high-level care outside traditional hospital settings.

The financial impact for patients is significant. Instead of ambulance rides and ER visits costing thousands, PHS services often cost just a fraction, sometimes only tens or hundreds of dollars.

“Traditionally, without mobile diagnostics, the patient would be loaded into a transportation vehicle, typically an ambulance, and taken to a hospital,” Dieter says. “Our approach is a fraction of the cost but brings care directly to the patients.”

The company has also embraced predictive and personalized medicine, offering genetic tests that guide medication decisions and laboratory tests that predict cognitive decline from conditions like Alzheimer's and Parkinson’s.

“We actively look for complementary services to improve patient outcomes,” Dieter says. “Precision medicine and predictive testing have been a great value-add for our providers.”

Looking to the future, PHS sees mobile healthcare as part of a larger trend toward home-based care.

“There’s an aging population that still lives at home with caretakers,” Dieter explains. “We go into the home every day, whether it’s an apartment, a standalone home, or assisted living. The goal is to meet patients where they are and reduce the need for hospitalization.”

Light highlighted another layer of innovation: predictive guidance.

“We host a lot of data, and labs and imaging drive most treatment decisions,” Light says. “We’re exploring how to deploy diagnostics immediately based on results, eliminating hours of delay and keeping patients healthier longer.”

Ultimately, innovation at PHS isn’t just about technology; it’s about equity.

“There’s an 11-year life expectancy gap between major metro areas and rural Texas,” Dieter says. “Our innovation has been leveling the field, so everyone has access to high-quality diagnostics and care, regardless of where they live.”

View All Listings

INNOVATIONMAP EMAILS ARE AWESOME