Tradeblock's three co-founders have known each other since childhood. Photo via tradeblock.us

A Houston-based company is kicking it with some fresh funding with plans to expand development of its marketplace platform.

Unique sneaker trading platform, Tradeblock, has raised $8.9 million in funding from investment partners Courtside VC, Trinity Ventures, and Concrete Rose Capital. Per the news release, the company expects additional funding of around $4.5 million to its seed round.

Tradeblock — founded in 2020 by self-proclaimed "sneakerheads" and childhood friends Mbiyimoh Ghogomu, Tony Malveaux, and Darren Smith — will use the fresh funding to expand and improve its digital marketplace for shoes.

"Tradeblock is revolutionizing the way forward for the new emergent asset class of footwear," says Tradeblock angel investor Jason Mayden, former Nike and Jordan footwear designer and president of Fear of God Athletics. "The founding team's understanding of the nuances of culture and tech gives them an unfair advantage in the industry and the team’s desire to lead with inclusion, representation, and authenticity also provides them with unique and meaningful organic engagement."

Over the past two years, Tradeblock has grown to have over a million shoes listed online. The team has also grown, and Tradeblock's workforce is over 80 percent people of color.

“Black and brown communities have always been the backbone of the sneaker industry and sneaker culture,” says Ghogomu, who also serves as CEO. “Showing those folks that they can be the owners and operators of this industry as opposed to just consumers is both a point of pride and a deeply rooted responsibility for everybody at Tradeblock.”

Authentication is a priority for the company, and the fresh funding will go toward further development of this type of technology within the platform.

"The market for fake sneakers is itself a billion-dollar market. If you're trying to acquire a shoe that's worth hundreds or even thousands of dollars, you need to be absolutely certain that what you're getting is the real thing," Ghogomu previously told InnovationMap.

Tradeblock — launched in Houston by three childhood friends — coordinates sales of sneakers for collectors across the country. Image via tradeblock.us

Houston-based 'sneakerheads' kick off new app to revolutionize the biz

STEPPING UP

Mbiyimoh Ghogomu remembers the moment he fell in love with his first pair of sneakers in the eighth grade. Growing up, he says "frugality was a virtue" in his household. "I was not rocking heat on feet for most of my childhood," he explains. On a mission for new basketball shoes, he found a brand new pair of Adidas T-Mac IIs, and his entry into sneaker culture was sealed.

Like Ghogomu, his childhood friends Tony Malveaux and Darren Smith each had their own awakening into the sartorial fascination of sneakers. The self-proclaimed sneakerheads founded Tradeblock in 2020, a new sneaker trading platform that provides collectors with a secure way to collect and trade shoes. After a successful beta, the Houston-based startup has recently launched a new mobile app available for iOS and Android users.

Malveaux, co-founder and director of authentication, started growing his sneaker collection during his job at Footlocker and currently owns nearly 40 pairs.

"My first paycheck came the same day that the Foamposites dropped in the electrolime colorway and let's just say my check wasn't too much bigger than the retail price," says Malveaux.

The former retail employee was using the ESPN Trade Machine in 2009, a website that lets you play the role of a team manager by creating different trade scenarios for players, when the idea for Tradeblock came to him. Malveaux shared his idea with best friend Smith, co-founder and COO, and the two held it in their back pocket for a decade.

"An entrepreneur to his very core, D was slanging Pokemon and Yu-Gi-Oh cards all the way back in elementary school," says Ghogomu of Smith. "After spending a few years in the dark cubicles of corporate America following his college graduation, he realized that he would never be truly happy or fulfilled unless he was building his own thing," he says.

Smith eventually escaped those dark cubicles and approached Malveaux about making Tradeblock a reality. The two started an Instagram and began a cross-country trip, visiting every sneaker event they could to research the needs of the marketplace. To cover the cost of travel, they sold off the majority of the impressive sneaker collection they'd built over the years and sometimes slept in their car to avoid extra expenses.

That year, the two also brought in their high school friend Ghogomu as a co-founder and CEO.

Tradeblock's three co-founders have known each other since childhood. Photo via tradeblock.us

Tradeblock started with the three founders playing the middleman in trades through Instagram direct messages, and it soon grew into a fully functional web platform.

Kicks as currency

Sneaker collecting is no small expense, due in part to the enormous resale market. According to GQ, the coveted 2020 Dior x Air Jordan 1 sneakers retailed at $2,000 but skyrocketed to $10,103 at resale value. Even moderately priced items like the $140 Nike SB Dunk High "Reverse Skunk," a 4/20-themed release with a limited 420 pairs available, have a resale price of $4,500.

High demand and exclusivity have created a barrier to access. Some opportunists have even purchased online bots to scour websites for sneaker releases so they can make bulk purchases and resell the rest at premium costs.

"Besides the fact that nobody had taken on trading, which was already a known behavior in the sneaker community, we saw the exorbitant prices that sneakers were starting to sell at in the resell market," says Ghogomu. "We realized that a ton of true blue sneakerheads, people who were in the game for the love of kicks more than anything, were basically getting priced out of every shoe they wanted," he explains.

By providing a platform for sneaker collectors to trade shoes in their collection, the founders "could provide another outlet for them to acquire the shoes they wanted without having to spend next month's rent check," says Ghogomu.

The app allows you to explore other user collections, follow collectors to keep track of their newly added shoes, and create your own closet featuring your collection. "I think the biggest social aspect of our app today is the fact that sneakerheads can actually curate a unique profile and persona for themselves on Tradeblock, and then they can explore other sneakerheads' collections," says Ghogomu.

When wanting to pursue a trade, Tradeblock allows you to manage your offers from an inbox, review trade status, and review your trade history. Users can also negotiate monetary payment if a trade isn't quite equal with shoes alone.

Once a trade takes place, authentication is a priority.

"The market for fake sneakers is itself a billion-dollar market. If you're trying to acquire a shoe that's worth hundreds or even thousands of dollars, you need to be absolutely certain that what you're getting is the real thing," says Ghogomu.

To ensure customers are getting authentic sneakers, Tradeblock has a "two-factor authentication" where every shoe goes through a physical and digital inspection.

More than a throwback

Sneaker collecting dates back to the late 1970s, coinciding with the surge in popularity of the National Basketball League and the hip hop movement of New York City.

The first-ever Air Jordans were created in 1984 and worn exclusively by former NBA star Michael Jordan, and released to the public in 1985. Just last year, Jordan's original pair sold for a record $560,000 in a Sotheby's auction, according to Reuters.

Music heavily influenced a profusion of sneakerheads. Run-DMC released the popular song "My Adidas" in 1986, which stayed on top of the Billboard music charts for 16 weeks. The trend carried into the aughts, with the rapper Nelly debuting his 2000 hit "Air Force Ones."

The shoe style has even succeeded in permeating internet culture, with a slew of memes and influencers arriving to meet the moment.

"Damn Daniel," a viral video from 2016, has solidified its place in the ever-evolving online vault of cultural moments. The video which shows then-high schooler Daniel Lara's shoe collection led him to become one of TIME's "30 Most Influential People on the Internet" that year.

Sneakerheads have since found a community using online communication platforms like Instagram, Discord, and Facebook.

"We also noticed that sneakerheads were spending a ton of time on social media platforms showing off their kicks, exploring other people's collections, and just generally looking to connect with people who shared their passion for shoes," explains Ghogomu. "We thought that if we could capture that social energy in a platform that also facilitated trading, we could create something truly revolutionary for the culture," he says.

The most popular sneaker reviewers on YouTube have grown communities of hundreds of thousands of followers, earning a living off their connoisseurship. "Shoe-tubers are an integral part of the sneaker culture today. In many ways, they're like the sherpas of the sneaker world," says Ghogomu.

The growing social authority of sneakerheads has also helped fuel Tradeblock's launch. The company has seen success in driving awareness by creating an online community and building relationships with influential YouTubers.

Existing online sellers from eBay to Poshmark have provided a way for users to sell and buy items, but the process is transactional. Understanding the passionate community of collectors, Ghogomu says they wanted to "build not just a product, but a company and brand that genuinely put the people first and harkened back to the days when being a sneakerhead was just as much about the community as it was about the kicks in your closet."

Growing a community

Tradeblock currently has more than 23,000 collectors in its database, a number that is steadily increasing by the day. "What has really blown me away is just how supportive people have been from [the] jump," says Ghogomu.

The app currently has thousands of shoes in its database, including rare releases like the Nike Dunk Lobster collection and the Art Basel Jordan 1.

"We've even got a few pairs of the original Jordan 1s in the Chicago colorway from 1985… but you'll have to come correct if you want to trade for those," jokes Ghogomu.

Through the roadblocks that come with building a startup, Tradeblock users have been loyal.

"I genuinely couldn't count the number of times we've heard people say things like, 'I want to see y'all win,' but we never get tired of it," he continues.

"When you're trying to build something unlike anything else that exists in the world, it's easy to let doubt creep in. Any entrepreneur who says they've never asked themselves the question, 'Is this really possible or are we insane?' is lying to you," says Ghogomu. "I think that as people of color, those internal barriers are even higher because we have so few examples to look to in terms of seeing people who look like us building massively successful businesses," he continues.

As the company grows, the co-founders hope to strengthen the bonds of the sneaker community — a common factor that has strengthened their own friendship.

"When most people think about sneaker culture, they think about the shoes. When we think about sneaker culture, we think about the people," says Ghogomu.

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Houston robotics co. unveils new robot that can handle extreme temperatures

Hot New Robot

Houston- and Boston-based Square Robot Inc.'s newest tank inspection robot is commercially available and certified to operate at extreme temperatures.

The new robot, known as the SR-3HT, can operate from 14°F to 131°F, representing a broader temperature range than previous models in the company's portfolio. According to the company, its previous temperature range reached 32°F to 104°F.

The new robot has received the NEC/CEC Class I Division 2 (C1D2) certification from FM Approvals, allowing it to operate safely in hazardous locations and to perform on-stream inspections of aboveground storage tanks containing products stored at elevated temperatures.

“Our engineering team developed the SR-3HT in response to significant client demand in both the U.S. and international markets. We frequently encounter higher temperatures due to both elevated process temperatures and high ambient temperatures, especially in the hotter regions of the world, such as the Middle East," David Lamont, CEO of Square Robot, said in a news release. "The SR-3HT employs both active and passive cooling technology, greatly expanding our operating envelope. A great job done (again) by our engineers delivering world-leading technology in record time.”

The company's SR-3 submersible robot and Side Launcher received certifications earlier this year. They became commercially available in 2023, after completing initial milestone testing in partnership with ExxonMobil, according to Square Robot.

The company closed a $13 million series B round in December, which it said it would put toward international expansion in Europe and the Middle East.

Square Robot launched its Houston office in 2019. Its autonomous, submersible robots are used for storage tank inspections and eliminate the need for humans to enter dangerous and toxic environments.

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This article originally appeared on EnergyCapitalHTX.com.

Houston's Ion District to expand with new research and tech space, The Arc

coming soon

Houston's Ion District is set to expand with the addition of a nearly 200,000-square-foot research and technology facility, The Arc at the Ion District.

Rice Real Estate Company and Lincoln Property Company are expected to break ground on the state-of-the-art facility in Q2 2026 with a completion target set for Q1 2028, according to a news release.

Rice University, the new facility's lead tenant, will occupy almost 30,000 square feet of office and lab space in The Arc, which will share a plaza with the Ion and is intended to "extend the district’s success as a hub for innovative ideas and collaboration." Rice research at The Arc will focus on energy, artificial intelligence, data science, robotics and computational engineering, according to the release.

“The Arc will offer Rice the opportunity to deepen its commitment to fostering world-changing innovation by bringing our leading minds and breakthrough discoveries into direct engagement with Houston’s thriving entrepreneurial ecosystem,” Rice President Reginald DesRoches said in the release. “Working side by side with industry experts and actual end users at the Ion District uniquely positions our faculty and students to form partnerships and collaborations that might not be possible elsewhere.”

Developers of the project are targeting LEED Gold certification by incorporating smart building automation and energy-saving features into The Arc's design. Tenants will have the opportunity to lease flexible floor plans ranging from 28,000 to 31,000 square feet with 15-foot-high ceilings. The property will also feature a gym, an amenity lounge, conference and meeting spaces, outdoor plazas, underground parking and on-site retail and dining.

Preleasing has begun for organizations interested in joining Rice in the building.

“The Arc at the Ion District will be more than a building—it will be a catalyst for the partnerships, innovations and discoveries that will define Houston’s future in science and technology,” Ken Jett, president of Rice Real Estate Company, added in the release. “By expanding our urban innovation ecosystem, The Arc will attract leading organizations and talent to Houston, further strengthening our city’s position as a hub for scientific and entrepreneurial progress.”

Intel Corp. and Rice University sign research access agreement

innovation access

Rice University’s Office of Technology Transfer has signed a subscription agreement with California-based Intel Corp., giving the global company access to Rice’s research portfolio and the opportunity to license select patented innovations.

“By partnering with Intel, we are creating opportunities for our research to make a tangible impact in the technology sector,” Patricia Stepp, assistant vice president for technology transfer, said in a news release.

Intel will pay Rice an annual subscription fee to secure the option to evaluate specified Rice-patented technologies, according to the agreement. If Intel chooses to exercise its option rights, it can obtain a license for each selected technology at a fee.

Rice has been a hub for innovation and technology with initiatives like the Rice Biotech Launch Pad, an accelerator focused on expediting the translation of the university’s health and medical technology; RBL LLC, a biotech venture studio in the Texas Medical Center’s Helix Park dedicated to commercializing lifesaving medical technologies from the Launch Pad; and Rice Nexus, an AI-focused "innovation factory" at the Ion.

The university has also inked partnerships with other tech giants in recent months. Rice's OpenStax, a provider of affordable instructional technologies and one of the world’s largest publishers of open educational resources, partnered with Microsoft this summer. Google Public Sector has also teamed up with Rice to launch the Rice AI Venture Accelerator, or RAVA.

“This agreement exemplifies Rice University’s dedication to fostering innovation and accelerating the commercialization of groundbreaking research,” Stepp added in the news release.