Cancer-fighting startup partners with Houston cell therapy accelerator

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Early-stage cell therapy startup March Biosciences has partnered with CTMC. Photo via march.bio

When it came time to name their cell therapy startup, Houston life science innovators simply had to look to their calendar.

“I would argue that March is the best month in Houston,” Sarah Hein tells InnovationMap. “We started talking about putting this company together during COVID, so we were outside a lot. And we actually got together in March.”

That’s why the CEO and her co-founders Max Mamonkin and Malcolm Brenner decided to name their company March Biosciences.

It's a fresh, unstuffy name for a startup that has an innovative take on cancer immunotherapy. Their lead asset is an advanced cellular therapy known as MB-105, an autologous CD5 CAR T cell therapy. For patients with T-cell lymphoma and leukemia who have failed all currently available lines of therapy, the prognosis is understandably extremely poor. But in a phase one study, MB-105 has been proven to safely treat those patients. The phase two study is expected to begin in the first half of 2024.

Hein met Mamonkin at the TMC Accelerator for Cancer Therapeutics (ACT), at which the alumna of Resonant Therapeutics and Courier Therapeutics was an entrepreneur in residence.

“It's a perfect example of the opportunities here in Houston where you can go from bench to bedside, essentially, in the same institution. And Baylor has been particularly good at that because of the Center for Cell and Gene Therapy,” says Hein.

The serial entrepreneur first came to Houston as a PhD student in molecular and cellular biology at Baylor College of Medicine, but during her studies she became excited by the startup ecosystem in her new hometown. After earning her degree, she became a venture fellow at the Mercury Fund. Her experience in both science and business made her an ideal candidate to take March Biosciences to the next level.

In September, the company announced that it formed a strategic alliance with CTMC (Cell Therapy Manufacturing Center), a joint venture between MD Anderson Cancer Center and National Resilience.

“Our unique risk-sharing model allows us to collaborate with organizations like March Biosciences to accelerate the development and manufacture of innovative cell therapies, like MB-105, and bring them into the clinic with a consistent and scalable manufacturing process,” said CTMC’s CEO, Jason Bock in a press release.

The partnership “has allowed us to move really quickly,” Hein says.

That’s because what CTMC does uniquely well is take early stage companies like March Biosciences and advance them to a state that’s ready for manufacturing in a short time, around 18 months, says Hein.

According to Hein, March Biosciences’ success is a testament to Houston and its world-class medical center.

“It’s a great example of the opportunities you see here in Houston, where we have a technology that was developed by brilliant scientists here in Houston and we can pull together the resources that we need to take it to the next level,” Hein says. "Working with partners here in Houston, we have all the pieces and the community rises to the occasion to support you.”

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This week's roundup of Houston innovators includes Jason Bock of CTMC, Barbara Burger, and Mario Amaro of Ease. Photos courtesy

3 Houston innovators to know this week

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Editor's note: In this week's roundup of Houston innovators to know, I'm introducing you to three local innovators across industries — from cell therapy to energy transition — recently making headlines in Houston innovation.

Jason Bock, founder and CEO of CTMC

Jason Bock, founder and CEO of the Cell Therapy Manufacturing Center, joins the Houston Innovators Podcast to explain the complicated — yet necessary — process of scaling cell therapies. Photo courtesy

Last year, a project out of MD Anderson spun out to create a new joint venture, CTMC — Cell Therapy Manufacturing Center, with National Resilience, a company that was founded to help advance life-saving therapeutics. The JV is based in the Texas Medical Center and led by CEO Jason Bock, who says the entity's location is critical.

"Houston has a chance to play a role in all aspects of cell therapy," he says, from discovery to the clinical side. "Some really interesting cell therapies that are in development were discovered here in Houston."

Bock shares more on how the impact CTMC is making on cell therapy advancement on the podcast. Read more.

Barbara J. Burger, startup adviser and mentor 

Energy innovation expert, Barbara Burger, shares how she sees the future of energy playing out as a dance between mice — the startups — and elephants — the incumbent corporations. Photo courtesy

The way Barbara Burger sees it, the energy transition depends on a dance between startups, or the mice, and corporates, aka the elephants. In a guest column for InnovationMap, she explains what questions each side needs to address.

"There are lots of questions here and the why is often an iterative journey for both sides," she explains. "It is as much mindset, influence, strategy, champions, and risk tolerance at individual levels as it about technology and economics." Read more.

Mario Amaro, CEO and founder of Ease

Mario Amaro, founder of Ease, was selected for one of Amazon's accelerator programs. Photo courtesy of Amazon

Amazon's AWS Impact Accelerator Latino Founders Cohort named the 20 startups joining its accelerator that will connect Latinx founders to its network of mentors, provide programming, and even dole out funding.

Houston-based Ease, founded by Mario Amaro in 2018, the health care fintech platform allows for medical professionals to start, grow, and manage their private practices with bookkeeping tools and other software infrastructure. So far, the company has worked with more than 300 practices. Read more.

Jason Bock, founder and CEO of the Cell Therapy Manufacturing Center, joins the Houston Innovators Podcast to explain the complicated — yet necessary — process of scaling cell therapies. Photo courtesy

Houston innovator aims to scale cancer-curing cell therapies

HOUSTON INNOVATORS PODCAST EPISODE 185

It's almost unreal what can be done with therapeutics today, especially in the specialty of cell therapy.

"It feels like science fiction," says Jason Bock, founder and CEO of the Cell Therapy Manufacturing Center, or CTMC, a joint venture between National Resilience and MD Anderson Cancer Center.

Cell therapy is essentially personalized medicine, he explains. The process includes taking out a patient’s own immune cells, identifying specifically the T-cells, and engineer them to have them target cancer before expanding them and reintroducing them to the patient.

“The supply chain begins with the patient,” Bock explains on the Houston Innovators Podcast. “If the patient is going to be an integral part of the supply chain, one way to simplify your supply chain is to locate your manufacturing very close to where your patients are.”

That's where CTMC, located in the heart of the Texas Medical Center, comes in. Bock moved to Houston from the East Coast four years to stand up the program at MD Anderson. The founding thesis was to work with faculty members who have interesting ideas for biologics or cell therapies, help them industrialize them, and then bring them into the MD Anderson clinic to evaluate in patients.

Last year, the entity spun out into a joint venture structure with National Resilience, a company that was founded amid the pandemic to build resilience in the nation for complex biologics manufacturing — like vaccines, for instance — in order to expedite the process of getting these treatments to patients.

With access to patients established, how do you address scalability of this treatment in a field that's so customized?

While it might sound like a challenge to scale personalized medicine — it's a worthwhile challenge. Bock says that even though cell therapy is in its early stages still — the first treatment was approved by the FDA just five years ago — early studies have shown patients, who essentially have no other treatment options, can see life-saving results in as little as one treatment.

"We see in a large group of patients — 30 to 50 percent of patients — are cured with one dose," he says on the show.

CTMC has a 60,000-square-foot space two blocks away from MD Anderson. This critical lab space with 14 clean rooms was made available after its previous biotech tenant moved out. The setup can support up to 140 people, and the organization has grown to 80 people over the past few years.

Bock says CTMC is an engine for cell therapy research — one that can take a therapeutic from research to the clinic in about one to two years. Every year, he says CTMC can roll three to five therapeutics into the clinic phase.

And, Houston's an ideal place to do that.

"Houston has a chance to play a role in all aspects of cell therapy," he says, from discovery to the clinical side. "Some really interesting cell therapies that are in development were discovered here in Houston."

Bock shares more on how the impact CTMC is making on cell therapy advancement on the podcast. Listen to the interview below — or wherever you stream your podcasts — and subscribe for weekly episodes.


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Houston innovator's new platform empowers wealth building for underserved communities

houston innovators podcast episode 269

For Phillip Yates, this year will be the year of launch. The attorney-turned-entrepreneur has been working on his fintech platform, Equiliberty, for years now, but come the first half of 2025, it's go time.

"We're going to release our technology in Q2 of this year, and we're looking to commercialize it by the end of this year," Yates says on the Houston Innovators Podcast.



The platform connects users with resources to build wealth. Yates, along with his co-founders, Rachel Howard and Cody Bailey, created the company with the mindset that people with lower financial means can take control of their own financial success — in a way that doesn't take away from anyone else.

"Really, (this year is) about how can we move into other markets that have seen what we can do if you celebrate culture, celebrate community, celebrate our differences — and more importantly give opportunities to be wealth builders. You can do this without taking from anyone else."

For years, Equiliberty has worked on convening the community in Houston. Yates, who's also the chairman of social impact innovation organization Impact Hub Houston, spearheaded Black Entrepreneurs Week and Latin Entrepreneurs Week — with more in the works.

"We are a fintech platform, and by convening the ecosystem, we are able to use data to tell the story to those financial institutions that want to get in front of their customers," he says. "All of these are bridges for those who may be unseen and overlooked to have a way into the economy ... and to have access to capital and resources they need to build wealth."

Yates shares on the show how he's evolved his legal career as a corporate and bankruptcy lawyer to entrepreneurship. Last fall, Yates won the award for Ecosystem Builder at the Houston Innovation Awards, an achievement he says validates his career to date.

"You can be a good doer in the world and have a heart that wants to solve a problem, but if you don't have the true experience or the resources to be able to invest in someone, I'm not saying you will be a disservice, but it might be counterintuitive," he says. "Through my experience as a lawyer, it's allowed me to be a greater service."

Houston tech company tapped by NASA for near space initiative

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Houston-based space exploration, infrastructure, and services company Intuitive Machines has nailed down a NASA deal to expand the agency’s communications network for spacecraft.

Additionally, NASA recently completed the first round of “human in the loop” testing for Intuitive Machines’ Moon RACER lunar terrain vehicle at the agency’s Johnson Space Center. RACER (Reusable Autonomous Crewed Exploration Rover) is one of three commercially developed unpressurized lunar terrain vehicles being considered for NASA’s Artemis lunar initiative.

Intuitive Machines is among four companies awarded contracts for NASA’s Near Space Network, enabling transmission of data from space to the earth. The network supports NASA missions such as the International Space Station and Hubble Space Telescope. It also will play a role in NASA’s Artemis initiative, which aims to send astronauts to the moon.

Under the initial Near Space Network contracts, project timelines run from February 2205 to September 2029. A five-year option would extend the contracts through September 2034. Collectively, the contracts are worth $4.82 billion.

Intuitive Machines received two contracts for services that will ease communications demand on NASA’s Deep Space Network and “meet the mission requirements for unique, highly elliptical orbits,” says NASA.

“We are privileged to help NASA deliver essential data and transmission services that support missions navigating the critical pathways between [the earth and the moon], and beyond,” Intuitive Machines CEO Steve Altemus says in a news release.

In September, NASA awarded Intuitive Machines a contract for development of a constellation of lunar data satellites.

Meanwhile, conclusion of “human in the loop” testing puts Intuitive Machines one step closer to its Moon RACER vehicle being chosen for the Artemis lunar initiative. Vehicles from two other companies are in the running. The winning vehicle is scheduled to be announced in 2025.

“Human in the loop” testing enables NASA astronauts to provide feedback on the lunar vehicles’ functionality, safety, and design.

The Moon RACER, featuring a rechargeable electric battery and a robotic arm, is designed to accommodate two astronauts and 882 pounds of cargo. Furthermore, it is supposed to pull a trailer loaded with 1,764 pounds of cargo.

14 Houston startups start 2025 with fresh funding

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Houston startups wrapped up the last few months of 2024 with big funding news — from several seeds and series As to series C rounds and extensions.

Here are 14 Houston startups that secured funding in the the last four months of last year, according to reporting by InnovationMap.

Citroniq Chemicals secures $12M series A (September)

Houston-based Citroniq Chemicals has secured its series A funding. Photo via Getty Images

A fresh $12 million round of funding will enable Houston-based Citroniq Chemicals to propel planning, design, and construction of its first decarbonization plant.

An unidentified multinational energy technology company led the series A round, with participation from Houston-based Lummus Technology Ventures and cooperation from the State of Nebraska. The Citroniq plant, which will produce green polypropylene, will be located in Nebraska.

“Lummus’ latest investment in Citroniq builds on this progress and strengthens our partnership, working together to lower carbon emissions in the plastics industry,” Leon de Bruyn, president and CEO of Lummus Technology, says in a news release. Read more.

MetOx raises $25M series B extension (September)

A Houston company has raised funding. Photo via Getty Images

A Houston company has closed its series B extension at $25 million.

MetOx International, which develops and manufactures high-temperature superconducting (HTS) wire, announced it closed a $25 million series B extension. Centaurus Capital, an energy-focused family office, and New System Ventures, a climate and energy transition-focused venture firm, led the round with participation from other investors.

"MetOx has developed a robust and highly scalable operation, and we are thrilled to partner with the Company as it enters this pivotal growth stage," says John Arnold, founder of Centaurus, in a news release. "The market for HTS is expanding at an unprecedented pace, with demand for HTS far outweighing supply. MetOx is poised to be the leading U.S. HTS producer, closing the supply gap and bringing dramatic capacity to high power innovations and applications. Their progress and potential are unmatched in the field, and we are proud to support their growth." Read more.

Utility Global's $53M series C investment (September)

Utility Global’s technology enables reduction of greenhouse gas emissions along with generation of low-carbon fuels and chemicals. Photo courtesy of Utility Global

Houston-based Utility Global, a maker of decarbonization-focused gas production technology, has raised $53 million in an ongoing series C round.

Among the participants in the round are Canada’s Ontario Power Generation Pension Plan, the XCarb Innovation Fund operated by Luxembourg-based steel company ArcelorMittal, Houston-based investment firm Ara Partners, and Saudi Aramco’s investment arm. Read more.

Bot Auto's $20M pre-series A (October)

The Investment is expected to help expand Bot Auto's tech development in autonomous trucking that will focus on safety and operation efficiency. Photo courtesy of Bot Auto

A Houston-based autonomous vehicle technology company has raised early funding.

Bot Auto has announced the completion of its pre-series A funding round which was oversubscribed and raised $20 million. The round was led by investments from Brightway Future Capital, Cherubic Ventures, EnvisionX Capital, First Star Ventures, Linear Capital, M31 Capital, Taihill Venture, Uphonest Capital, and Welight Capital.

“As true believers in autonomous trucking, we're thankful for our investors' shared vision,” Xiaodi Hou, founder and CEO of Bot Auto, says in a news release. “Our strong commitment, combined with recent AI advancements and a sharpened focus on operational efficiency, has created a clear path to commercialization.” Read more.

Mstack raises $40M series A (October)

Shreyans Chopra, founder of Mstack, is celebrating the close of his company's $40 million series A. Photo courtesy of Mstack

Houston-based Mstack, whose platform helps manufacturers source specialty chemicals, has raised $40 million in a series A funding round.

Lightspeed Venture Partners and Alpha Wave Incubation led the round, which includes a debt facility from HSBC Innovation Banking and money from several angel investors.

In a news release, Mstack says the infusion of cash will enable it to “double down on its mission to disrupt a historically flawed supply chain for specialty chemicals.” Read more.

DocJuris raises $8M series A (October)

DocJuris has raised a $8 million series A. Photo via Getty Images

Houston-based DocJuris, a leader in AI contract review, announced the successful closure of its series A funding round by raising $8 million in new capital. This brings the total capital raised to date to $11.2 million.

"DocJuris AI has become an industry-leading platform that empowers enterprise legal, procurement, and sales teams to close deals faster while reducing risk," DocJuris CEO and Founder Henal Patel says in a news release. "With this funding, we will continue scaffolding our platform around generative AI, expand our customer success team, and grow our user base." Read more.

Paladin lands $5.2M in seed funding (October)

Paladin’s AI-enhanced autonomous drones help public safety agencies, such as police and fire departments, respond to 911 calls. Photo via paladindrones.io

Houston-based Paladin, whose remotely controlled drones help first responders react quickly to emergencies, has collected $5.2 million in seed funding.

Gradient, a seed fund that backs AI-oriented startups, led the round. Also participating were Toyota Ventures, the early-stage VC arm of Japanese automaker Toyota; venture capital firm Khosla Ventures; and VC fund 1517.

“We believe Paladin will drive meaningful change in public safety and redefine how communities are served,” Gradient said in an announcement about the seed round. Read more.

March Biosciences' oversubscribed $28.4M series A (October)

March Biosciences' oversubscribed raise brought in $28.4 million of financing with Mission BioCapital and 4BIO Capital leading the pack of investors. Photo via Getty Images

An emerging biotech company in Houston has closed its series A with outsized success.

March Biosciences' oversubscribed raise brought in $28.4 million of financing with Mission BioCapital and 4BIO Capital leading the pack of investors. The company has now raised more than $51 million in total.

Last year, March Biosciences announced its strategic alliance with CTMC (Cell Therapy Manufacturing Center), a joint venture between MD Anderson Cancer Center and National Resilience. CEO Sarah Hein met her co-founder, Max Mamonkin, at the TMC Accelerator for Cancer Therapeutics. Along with fellow co-founder Malcolm Brenner, March Biosciences launched from the Center for Cell and Gene Therapy (Baylor College of Medicine, Houston Methodist Hospital and Texas Children’s Hospital). Its goal is to fight cancers that have been unresponsive to existing immunotherapies using its lead asset, MB-105. Read more.

CrossBridge Bio closes $10M seed round (November)

CrossBridge Bio, formed during the TMC Innovation’s Accelerator for Cancer Therapeutics program, closed a $10 million seed round led by TMC Venture Fund and CE-Ventures. Photo via Getty Images

A Houston biotech company based off research out of UTHealth Houston has raised seed funding to continue developing its cancer-fighting therapeutic.

CrossBridge Bio, formed during the TMC Innovation’s Accelerator for Cancer Therapeutics program, closed a $10 million seed round led by TMC Venture Fund and Crescent Enterprises' VC arm, CE-Ventures. The round also included participation from Portal Innovations, Alexandria Venture Investments, Linden Lake Labs, and several pre-seed investors.

“We are thrilled to have the support of such experienced investors who share our vision of bringing transformative cancer therapies to patients in need,” Michael Torres, CEO of CrossBridge Bio, says in a news release. Torres served as an entrepreneur in residence of ACT. Read more.

Helix Earth closes $5.6M in seed funding (November)

Helix Earth's technology is estimated to save up to half of the net energy used in commercial air conditioning, reducing both emissions and costs for operators. Photo via Getty Images

A Houston startup with clean tech originating out of NASA has secured millions in funding.

Helix Earth Technologies closed an oversubscribed $5.6 million seed funding led by Houston-based research and investment firm Veriten. Anthropocene Ventures, Semilla Capital, and others including individual investors also participated in the round.

“This investment will empower the Helix Earth team to accelerate the development and deployment of our first groundbreaking hardware technology designed to disrupt a significant portion of the commercial air conditioning market, an industry that is ready for innovation,” Rawand Rasheed, Helix Earth co-founder and CEO, says in a news release. Read more.

Fervo Energy's $255M in additional funding (December)

The deal brings Fervo's total funding secured this year to around $600 million. Photo courtesy of Fervo

A Houston company that's responding to rising energy demand by harnessing geothermal energy through its technology has again secured millions in funding. The deal brings Fervo's total funding secured this year to around $600 million.

Fervo Energy announced that it has raised $255 million in new funding and capital availability. The $135 million corporate equity round was led by Capricorn’s Technology Impact Fund II with participating investors including Breakthrough Energy Ventures, CalSTRS, Congruent Ventures, CPP Investments, DCVC, Devon Energy, Galvanize Climate Solutions, Liberty Mutual Investments, Mercuria, and Sabanci Climate Ventures.

Additionally, Fervo secured a $120 million letter of credit and term loan facility from Mercuria, an independent energy and commodity group that previously invested in the company.

The funding will go toward supporting Fervo's ongoing and future geothermal projects. Read more.

Square Robot closes series B after year of growth (December)

The advanced submersible robotics company will put the funds toward international expansion. Photo courtesy of Square Robot

Houston- and Boston-based Square Robot Inc. closed a series B round of funding last month.

The advanced submersible robotics company raised $13 million, according to Tracxn.com, and says it will put the funds toward international expansion.

"This Series B round, our largest to date, enables us to accelerate our growth plans and meet the surging global demand for our services,” David Lamont, CEO, said in a statement. Read more.

Indapta Therapeutics secures $22.5M (December)

Houston- and Seattle-based Indapta Therapeutics has fresh funding to grow its cancer-fighting cell therapy. Photo via Getty Images

A promising cell therapy company has raised its latest funding round — to the tune of $22.5 million.

Indapta Therapeutics, which has a dual headquarters in Houston and Seattle, is a clinical stage biotechnology and next-generation cell therapy company focused on the treatment of cancer and autoimmune diseases. The company announced it has closed a $22.5 million round of new financing to accelerate the clinical development of its differentiated allogeneic Natural Killer cell therapy.

"This funding will enable us to generate significant additional data in our ongoing trial of IDP-023 in cancer as well as initial data from our first trial in autoimmune disease," Mark Frohlich, Indapta’s CEO, says in a news release. Read more.

SmartAC.com's latest round (December)

Houston-based Mercury backed SmartAC.com in a follow-on round. Photo via of SmartAC.com

Houston-based SmartAC.com, which provides a customer loyalty management platform for contractors, has raised a follow-on round from Mercury Fund and other investors. The dollar amount of the round wasn’t disclosed.

An October filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) indicates SmartAC.com planned to raise $8.2 million in venture capital. Of that sum, about $4 million had already been raised, the company reported, and nearly $4.2 million remained to be raised.

SmartAC.com's platform enables contractors in the HVAC and plumbing industries monitor, manage, and optimize their maintenance memberships through advanced sensors, AI-driven diagnostics, and proactive alerts. Read more.

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