Houston health tech startup revolutionizing spinal taps receives FDA clearance

tap in

Co-founded by CEO Jessica Traver, IntuiTap says it plans to roll out the device at U.S. hospitals within the next year. Photo courtesy of IntuiTap

Houston startup IntuiTap Medical has gained clearance from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration for its VerTouch medical device.

The company says VerTouch is designed to make spinal punctures more accurate and consistent. The handheld imaging tool helps health care providers perform spinal punctures at a patient’s bedside.

IntuiTap says it plans to roll out the device at U.S. hospitals within the next year. The company is mulling global partnerships to help launch VerTouch.

IntuiTap’s proprietary spinal-mapping technology enables VerTouch to generate a 2D image of lumbar spinal anatomy, helping health care providers visualize a patient’s spine and guide them toward more precise needle placement.

Each year, 12.7 million Americans undergo an epidural, spinal block, or lumbar puncture, says IntuiTap.

“Having spent more than two decades pioneering the use of ultrasound to improve emergency lumbar punctures, I know the challenge of these procedures and that difficult training and image interpretation prevent ultrasound from being a complete solution,” Dr. Michael Blaivas, co-founder past president of the Society of Ultrasound in Medical Education, says in a news release.

IntuiTap says the FDA clearance “validates the safety and effectiveness” of VerTouch. The device has undergone testing at several institutions in the U.S., including Houston’s Texas Medical Center and Chicago’s Northwestern Memorial Hospital.

Jessica Traver, co-founder and CEO of IntuiTap, says the FDA clearance “marks a crucial milestone in our team’s journey to making epidurals, spinals, and lumbar punctures more accurate and efficient.”

Investors in IntuiTap include:

  • Dr. Paul Klotman, president of the Baylor College of Medicine
  • Venture capitalist Tim Draper
  • William Hawkins III, retired CEO of medical device giant Medtronic
  • Dr. Vip Patel, Founder of the Global Robotics Institute
  • Dr. Mary Klotman, dean of the Duke University’s medical school
  • Carrie Colbert, founder of Houston-based Curate Capital, a female-focused VC firm

“Our investment in IntuiTap was just as much about our faith in the technology, our faith in Jessica as the founder, and our conviction that innovation was sorely needed in this area,” Colbert says.

“The fact that the company is receiving FDA clearance is a huge leap forward, and as a venture capital fund who focuses on female-founded companies that benefit women, it’s extremely rewarding to know this device will impact so many women’s lives.”

In 2021, IntuiTap announced it had closed a $5.5 million series A funding round led by Curate Capital and The Pink Ceiling, a woman-centered investment firm. The startup was founded in 2016.

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Dede Raad of Dress Up Buttercup created a unique pitch series — completely fueled by her social media community — that gave a spotlight to eight businesses. Photo via dressupbuttercup.com

Houston fashionista fuels fresh brands with pitch series

money moves

After growing her audience to over a million followers on Instagram, Houston fashion blogger Dede Raad felt the pressure to expand her business — but she didn't feel inspired by any particular line of business to grow into.

"In the blogging world, which I've been doing for about seven years, everyone's next step is to start a brand and to start something of their own," Raad, founder of Dress Up Buttercup, tells InnovationMap. "I just don't have anything in my heart that I was really passionate about. I know once you start something, you have to give it your all."

But what Raad realized — after a year of thinking about her next move and a chance viewing of Shark Tank — was that tons of business founders were passionate about their own brands, and there was an opportunity for Raad use her community to support them instead of coming up with something of her own.

She put the call out to her followers to find founders with growing brands. Raad launched "Build Up Buttercup," an initiative that featured small business pitches for a select group of investors, with her husband, Ted. The event, which happened last October, resulted in eight business pitches across four episodes uploaded to Dress Up Buttercup's page that garnered hundreds of thousands of views. The initiative also resulted in a handful of investments and cash prizes.

"It was a crazy four days, but it was so cool to see the brands and the passion behind it and for Ted and I to help in both a financial and advising way," Raad says.

Raad was joined at the event with fellow investors, which included Houston-based investment firms Curate Capital and Trend Ventures, the investment arm of influencer management company Trend Management, founded by Ted Raad.

Of the eight that pitched, four companies received investments. Dress Up Buttercup invested in Houston-based jewelry company Burdlife and children's clothing brand Poppy Kids. Trend Ventures made investments in Cold Cork and Houston-based tech startup, AIM7, which closed its seed round in December.

Raad tells InnovationMap that she'd be interested in hosting another edition of "Build Up Buttercup" in the future, but for now she's focused on her two new brands. Her role within both of the companies is very hands on, she explains, and meets with the founders at least once a week. She also markets both brands to her Instagram community.

"We're not just sending you a check — we want to be involved," Raad says. "I've worked with brands for the past seven years, and I've seen what people are buying. I have such a power in my community, and I know what they like."

If you feel like it's hard to find venture capitalists in Houston, you wouldn't be wrong, according to this Houston investor. Photo via Getty Images

Houston investor outlines how rare VCs are in Houston — and how to find them

guest column

As a venture capitalist and former startup founder living in Houston, I get asked a lot about the best way to find and connect with a venture capitalist in Houston. My usual advice is to start with a list, and reach out to everyone on that list. But no one has a comprehensive list. In fact, VCs are such a quiet bunch that I’ve yet to meet someone who personally knows everyone on this proverbial list.

So, I got together with a couple of VC friends of mine, and we put together our own Houston venture capitalist list.

There are, by our count, 11 active venture capital funds headquartered in Houston of any size and type, and outside of corporate venture capital and angel investors, there are 30 total venture capitalists running funds.

Houston has always been quite thin on the VC fund front. I’ve jokingly introduced myself for a while as “one of the 13 venture capitalists in Houston.”

Let’s put this scale in some brutal perspective. With 7.2 million people in the Greater Houston Metro Area, the odds of finding a partner level active venture capitalist in Houston is about 1 in 240,000, if you take a most expanded definition of venture capitalist that might come down to 1 in 100,000. We’re the fifth largest metropolitan area in the country with a tremendous economic engine; there is a ton of capital in Houston, but it’s residing in things like institutional fixed income and equities, real estate, wealth management, corporate, private equity, family office, energy and infrastructure Basically, mostly everywhere but in venture capital funds for tech startups.

By comparison, there are almost as many Fortune 500 CEOs in Houston — 24, by our count — as venture capitalists and fewer venture capitalists than Fortune 1000 CEOs, of which there are 43. That means running into a VC in the checkout line at HEB is about as rare as running into the CEO of CenterPoint, ConocoPhillips, or Academy. In fact, as there are 115 cities in the Greater Houston area, you are three times more likely to be a mayor in Greater Houston Area than a partner at an investor at a VC firm, and more likely to be a college or university president. While we’re at it, you’re 400 times more likely to be a lawyer, 250 times more likely to be a CPA, and over 650 times more likely to be a medical doctor.

Our 30 venture capitalists in the Greater Houston Area are spread across 20 firms and all major venture sectors and stages. Venture capitalist is defined for this list as a full time managing director or partner-level investment professional actively running a venture capital fund with limited partners, currently investing in new venture capital deals from their fund from seed to growth stage, and residing in the Greater Houston Metro area.

To get to 31 we added in a couple of people running venture set asides for PE funds, and a number who work from Houston for funds with no office here. We excluded CVCs, as the decision making is more corporate than individual and rarely includes the committed fund and carried interest structure that defines venture capital, and excluded professionals at angel networks, accelerators, and seed funds that provide investment, but don’t manage conventional venture capital funds, as well as PE funds that do the occasional venture deal. We might be able to triple the number if we include venture capitalists at any professional level, and add in those professionals at PE and angel and seed funds, and corporate venture capital teams who are actively investing. But we’ll get to those other sources of funding in the next list.

The 11 venture capital funds headquartered in Houston are: Mercury, Energy Transition Ventures (my fund), Montrose Lane (formerly called Cottonwood), Texas Medical Center Venture Fund, Artemis, New Climate Ventures, Fitz Gate Ventures, Curate Capital, Knightsgate Ventures, Amplo Ventures,and First Bight Ventures.

Another half a dozen firms have a partner level venture capital investor here, but are headquartered elsewhere: Energy Innovation Capital, Decarbonization Partners, 1984 Ventures, Altitude Ventures, Ascension Ventures, Moneta Ventures, and MKB & Co. Two others, CSL Ventures and SCF Partners, are local private equity funds with a venture capital partner in Houston and a dedicated allocation from a PE fund.

Culling these for partner or managing director level currently in Houston, in alphabetical order by first name, LinkedIn profile and all.

We may have missed a couple of VCs hiding in plain sight, as venture capital is a pretty dynamic business.

VCs are just rare. And yes, perhaps more rare in Houston than in California. Something less than 1 in 100 VCs in the country live in Houston. Across the US there are somewhere around 1,000 to 2,000 active venture capital firms, and maybe another 1,000 to 2,000 active US based CVCs — so, plus or minus maybe at most 4,000 to 5,000 currently active partner level venture capitalists in the country excluding CVC professionals (active VCs and VC funds are really hard to count).

Perhaps in the most stunning statistic, the 7,386 elected state legislators in the US today outnumber the total number of American venture capitalists. Luckily for startup founders, the venture capitalists are more likely to return your phone call.

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Neal Dikeman is a venture capitalist and seven-time startup co-founder investing out of Energy Transition Ventures. He’s currently hosting the Venture Capital for First Time Founders Series at the Ion, where ETV is headquartered.

Samantha Ettus of Park Place Payments joins the Houston Innovators Podcast to discuss how she founded a company that lets individuals find financial independence while providing better customer service in the payments processing industry. Photo courtesy of Park Place Payments

Houston VC-backed tech founder on reinventing a sales team and supporting financial independence

Houston innovators podcast episode 112

Four years ago, Samantha Ettus found herself as a keynote speaker in a room with thousands of ambitious and talented women. It was a conference for multi-level marketing sales associates and, as Ettus found out later, most of them — despite their talent and passion — were losing money on whatever product they were selling.

"I realized there was a problem. There obviously was a need — all of these people want to be doing something outside of their families that gives them fulfillment and meaning and has goals associated with it — but they also want to be earning money," Ettus says on the Houston Innovators Podcast. "And the first part was being fulfilled — but the second part wasn't."

Ettus created an alternative to check both of those boxes. Park Place Payments is a fintech startup founded in 2018 in California. Houston was one of the initial six test market for the business model, and the company now has over 1,000 account executives across all 50 states. Sales team members are trained for free on how to sell Park Place's payment processor service to local businesses.

Ettus says the payment processor industry is competitive and most small business owners are very disappointed with the customer service they receive. The average business changes payment processors every three years, Ettus says, and Park Place wants to change that.

"Payments is an industry where something always goes wrong," Ettus says. "As a small business owner, if you can't reach someone — that's really important for the livelihood of your business. ... We really think of ourselves as an outsourced payment partner for small businesses."

This past year has been one for growth for Park Place, Ettus says, and earlier this year, she closed on the company's seed round, which was supported by Curate Capital, founded by Houstonian Carrie Colbert. Now the company is focused on its tech team, including hiring a CTO. Early next year, Ettus hopes to close a Series A round, again with support — financially and otherwise — from Colbert.

"I feel so lucky because a lot of people pointed us to traditional Silicon Valley VCs in the beginning, and I had a lot of conversations. I didn't feel some of those firms had the patience to grow with us," Ettus says.

The company has been tied to Houston from its early days, from testing the business in town to a Houston-based early hire, Nancy Decker Lent, who is a founding member of the team and head of product for Park Place.

Ettus shares more on her passion for supporting financial independence for women and how she plans to grow her company on the podcast. Listen to the full interview below — or wherever you stream your podcasts — and subscribe for weekly episodes.

Curate Capital has announced its latest portfolio company. Photo courtesy of Curate Capital

Local investor leads $5M funding round of sustainability-focused tech company founded by Houston native

to the market

A Houston investor has led the latest funding round for a New York-based tech company focused on democratizing access to the global supply chain through its turn key solution for ethical manufacturing.

Curate Capital, a fund focused on early-stage, female-founded companies, led TO THE MARKET's $5 million series A round, the firms announced this week. TO THE MARKET has created a technology platform that provides makers from around the world with the opportunity of fair pay, safe work, and economic empowerment. After several years of growth, the company now represents a syndicated supply chain of over 200 makers in more than 50 countries.

"We are honored to join forces with TO THE MARKET to amplify further their work powering the ethical supply chain," says Carrie Colbert, Curate Capital founding and general partner, in a news release. "At Curate Capital, we are industry-agnostic, but rather look across industry boundaries to identify the very best companies being built by women for the benefit of other women. Making an investment in the ESG space has been a high priority for us, and no one is better suited to build a successful company in this realm than Jane Mosbacher Morris. She is uniquely suited and qualified to transform retail manufacturing."

Several other investors supported the round, including Working Capital Fund, Spouting Rock, Forward Ventures, Belle Fund, Knightsgate Ventures, and a number of angel investors.

Mosbacher Morris, who originally started her career in the state department in counterterrorism, founded the company in 2016. She's a Houston native and still has family locally.

"I am thrilled that Curate Capital is leading the round because of their deep expertise in scaling women-focused businesses," says Mosbacher Morris in the release. "Women are the majority of garment workers, the majority of buyers at retail organizations, and the majority of consumers. But typically they are not the factory owners, the company CEOs, or the investors on the cap table. It's great to be a part of changing that dynamic."

The company will use the funds to support its growth. Last year, Mosbacher Morris was named one of 2020's Heroes Of The Pandemic for TO THE MARKET's swift pivot to manufacturing PPE for healthcare workers, according to the release.

Curate Capital was founded in 2020 by Colbert and Mark Latham. The firm, and its initial $10 million fund, is focused on funding early-stage, female-founded companies. The company also recently announced an investment in Houston startup Ampersand's pre-seed round.

Colbert recently joined the Houston Innovators Podcast to discuss her fund. Listen to the episode below.


Ampersand and Curate Capital are working together to move the needle on the future of work. Photo courtesy of Curate Capital

Houston startup raises $1.75M round with support from local female-focused investor

future of work

A Houston-based startup focused on upskilling young professionals has closed its latest round of funding with support from a local investor.

Ampersand Professionals Inc. raised $1.75 million in pre-seed funding led by Curate Capital, a Houston-based, female-focused venture capital fund. Carrie Colbert, Curate's founding and general partner, will join Ampersand's advisory board.

Ampersand — founded in 2020 by Allie Danziger with Co-Founders Kathrin Applebaum and Scott Greenberg — has developed a platform for businesses to easily implement internship programs. The program also upskills and educates young professionals, providing them career development and job skills training.

"Ampersand's mission to democratize access to career-building opportunities for young professionals, ties in nicely with Curate's mission to empower women, says Colbert in a news release. "The company's platform will have a direct positive impact on young women (and others) as they begin their professional careers."

Both the female founders are personally driven by motivating and inspiring women and driving future of work solutions. The fresh funding will go toward expanding the Ampersand platform and network.

"The shift to remote work during the pandemic not only completely changed the way we all work, but also made it even more difficult for so many recent, and soon-to-be graduates, to make the connections needed to land their first internship and then gain the meaningful training to excel in those roles," says Danziger in the release. "This infusion of capital allows Ampersand to expand our e-learning platform, matching algorithm capabilities, ensure our training matches the needs of our business partners, and expand our university partnerships around the country."

Since September 2020, the Ampersand team has developed its training and career development platform with over 100 hours of job skills training content, according to the release, and has placed over 200 driven professionals in remote internships. (InnovationMap has been a business partner in Ampersand's program.)

Curate Capital was founded in 2020 by Carrie Colbert and Mark Latham. The firm, and its initial $10 million fund, is focused on funding early-stage, female-founded companies.

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Digital Health Institute's new exec director aims to lead innovation and commercialization efforts

new hire

Though our existences have become deeply entangled with technology, our health has been slower to catch up. The creation late last year of the Digital Health Institute was a major step into the future for both Rice University and Houston Methodist, for whom the institute is a joint venture.

The latest news for the Digital Health Institute is the appointment of Pothik Chatterjee to the role of executive director.

“The Digital Health Institute’s collaborative model is uniquely powerful,” Chatterjee told Rice University’s office of media relations. “By bringing together clinicians, engineers and entrepreneurs, we’re building an ecosystem designed to transform how care is delivered and experienced.”

Chatterjee’s role is to help grow the collaboration between the institutions, but the Digital Health Institute already boasts more than 20 active projects, each of which pairs Rice faculty and Methodist clinicians.

“Research is great, but what we really want at the Digital Health Institute is to translate those research findings into products and services that can be used at the patient's bedside,” Chatterjee explained to InnovationMap.

Once the research is in place, it’s up to Chatterjee to find commercial opportunities within the research portfolio. Those include everything from hospital-grade medical imaging wearables to the creation of digital twins for patients to help better treat them.

“As we move from vision to execution, Pothik’s expertise will be essential in helping us strengthen the institutional alignment needed to deliver at scale,” Dr. Khurram Nasir, Methodist’s William A. Zoghbi Centennial Chair in Cardiovascular Medicine and division chief of cardiovascular prevention and wellness, told Rice. “From my vantage point of a health system, the real value lies not just in innovation, but in implementation.”

Nasir’s co-founder is Ashutosh Sabharwal, Rice’s Ernest Dell Butcher Professor of Engineering and professor of electrical and computer engineering.

“The Digital Health Institute is a key step toward advancing health and health care for the benefit of humanity,” Sabharwal said. “We’re thrilled to welcome Pothik to our growing team. His background in health care innovation, research administration and venture investing will be instrumental in translating cutting-edge research into impactful digital health solutions. From leading innovation strategy and forging strong partnerships to driving fundraising and grant development, his leadership will help shape the institute’s long-term success.”

Though Chatterjee has previously worked around the country, including in Boston and Baltimore, he says he believes Houston is uniquely positioned to thrive in the digital health space.

“Houston is the best place to do it, because we have Rice and Houston Methodist,” he told InnovationMap. “[People] want to help keep that innovation in Houston, not just send it off to Silicon Valley or New York or Boston. There seems to be a lot of appetite from the philanthropic community to have homegrown Houston digital health innovation.”

Reliant’s smart new bundle puts energy savings + insights into one app

Two companies known for innovation in energy and home automation, Reliant and Vivint, have teamed up to launch the Smarter Home Bundle: a powerful new offering that simplifies home energy management and enhances everyday living for Texans.

With smart technology, seamless app integration, and added energy savings, this bundle marks a major leap forward in how homeowners manage their comfort, security, and electricity usage.

What’s included in the Smarter Home Bundle?
Qualifying current and new Reliant electricity customers can take advantage of this premium bundle, which includes:

  • A free Vivint Doorbell Camera Pro with Smart Deter™ technology that detects deliveries and deters theft
  • A free Vivint Smart Thermostat, designed to integrate with HVAC systems for efficient temperature control
  • White-glove professional installation from Vivint Smart Home Pros
  • Access to an exclusive Vivint app experience, combining smart device controls and personalized energy insights powered by Reliant

All this is included at no additional cost with enrollment in the Smarter Home Bundle.

 Reliant Smarter Home Bundle Let the pros handle installation.Photo courtesy of Reliant

A unified, smarter home

Reliant and Vivint, both NRG companies, are offering the Smarter Home Bundle as an all-in-one solution for customers looking to streamline home management. By combining smart home security features with advanced energy tools, users gain greater control, comfort, and peace of mind. With one app, customers can monitor their home, manage devices, and track energy use — anytime, anywhere.

According to recent NRG Consumer research, nearly 70% of people want a single platform to manage their smart homes. The Vivint app, which averages 16 daily interactions, delivers exactly that.

Designed for savings and simplicity
Energy efficiency isn’t just a buzzword — it’s a key feature of the Smarter Home Bundle. As more households adopt smart devices (45% in 2024, up from 10% a decade ago), this bundle gives users tools that help cut energy use and potentially lower bills. In fact, 72% of surveyed users cite savings as the top benefit of smart home technology after safety.

The Vivint Smart Thermostat plays a major role here. It not only learns users' habits but also integrates with Reliant’s Degrees of Difference program, adjusting temperatures slightly during peak electricity demand. These small changes can have a big impact on grid stability — especially in hot Texas summers — without sacrificing comfort. Customers remain in control at all times and can override temperature changes in the app or manually if needed.

 Reliant Smarter Home Bundle Manage everything with one app.Graphic courtesy of Reliant

Powering the future with virtual power plants
The Smarter Home Bundle also contributes to Reliant’s growing residential virtual power plant (VPP) network. VPPs are a forward-thinking approach to grid management that leverage small-scale energy resources — like smart thermostats, home batteries, and electric vehicles — to balance electricity demand across thousands of homes.

With Texas experiencing record-high energy loads (85 gigwatts in 2023), this kind of coordination is critical to ensuring a stable and reliable power grid, especially during extreme weather events.

“By bringing together innovative leaders like Reliant and Vivint, we are providing smarter, more efficient energy solutions for Texans,” says Mark Parsons, senior vice president, NRG Consumer. “The Reliant Smarter Home Bundle combines our electricity plans with advanced technology, empowering Texans to take control of their energy usage and simplify home management. We are excited to roll out additional features in the coming months at no cost, all designed to help our customers manage their home’s comfort, security, and energy usage, all in one place.”

Learn more and enroll here.

Houston startups win NASA funding for space tech projects

fresh funding

Three Houston startups were granted awards from NASA this month to develop new technologies for the space agency.

The companies are among nearly 300 recipients that received a total agency investment of $44.85 million through the Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) and Small Business Technology Transfer (STTR) Phase I grant programs, according to NASA.

Each selected company will receive $150,000 and, based on their progress, will be eligible to submit proposals for up to $850,000 in Phase II funding to develop prototypes.

The SBIR program lasts for six months and contracts small businesses. The Houston NASA 2025 SBIR awardees include:

Solidec Inc.

  • Principal investigator: Yang Xia
  • Proposal: Highly reliable and energy-efficient electrosynthesis of high-purity hydrogen peroxide from air and water in a nanobubble facilitated porous solid electrolyte reactor

Rarefied Studios LLC

  • Principal investigator: Kyle Higdon
  • Proposal: Plume impingement module for autonomous proximity operations

The STTR program contracts small businesses in partnership with a research institution and lasts for 13 months. The Houston NASA 2025 STTR awardees include:

Affekta LLC

  • Principal investigator: Hedinn Steingrimsson
  • Proposal: Verifiable success in handling unknown unknowns in space habitat simulations and a cyber-physical system

Solidec and Affekta have ties to Rice University.

Solidec extracts molecules from water and air, then transforms them into pure chemicals and fuels that are free of carbon emissions. It was co-founded by Rice professor Haotian Wang and and was an Innovation Fellow at Rice’s Liu Idea Lab for Innovation and Entrepreneurship. It was previouslt selected for Chevron Technology Ventures’ catalyst program, a Rice One Small Step grant, a U.S. Department of Energy grant, and the first cohort of the Activate Houston program.

Affekta, an AI course, AI assistance and e-learning platform, was a part of Rice's OwlSpark in 2023.

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