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

growing biz

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

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

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

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

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

Double-digit growth

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

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

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

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

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

Senior roles

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

Steady growth

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

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

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

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

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

Seeking selectively

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

InformAI, developing the commercialization of an AI-enabled organ transplant informatics platform, is hiring one or two team members.
Voyager Portal, a logistics SaaS startup in the maritime shipping industry, is adding two to three employees in sales and product development roles, one of which will be in Houston.
Speakerbox Media, a B2B podcasting agency, is hiring two contract workers.
Passport Journeys, an online therapy app tailored for the mother-daughter dynamic, reported that it is hiring an unlimited number of contract therapists.

Future roles

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

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

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

From Your Site Articles

This week's roundup of Houston innovators includes Lori-Lee Elliott of Dauntless XR, Sandip Bordoloi of TrueLeap, and Stephanie Nolan of Square Robot. Photos courtesy

3 Houston innovators to know this week

who's who

Editor's note: Every Monday, I'm introducing you to three Houston innovators to know — three individuals behind recent innovation and startup news stories in Houston as reported by InnovationMap. Learn more about them and their recent news below by clicking on each article.

Lori-Lee Elliott, CEO and co-founder of Dauntless XR

Lori-Lee Elliott of Dauntless XR joins the Houston Innovators Podcast to share about her tech company's evolution. Photo via LinkedIn

As Lori-Lee Elliott was building out her company — an augmented reality software company to enhance industrial workflow — she was approached by a representative in the Air Force interested in her technology. That conversation would end up leading to a major rebrand and pivot, as well as multiple federal contracts and grants for the Houston startup.

Dauntless XR — originally founded as Future Sight AR in 2018 — has two software platforms that bring customers flexible mixed reality solutions. The Air Force uses the Aura platform to create 3D replays of missions, while NASA plans to utilize the technology for analyzing space weather data.

"Something that we realized when we built out this platform is that it doesn't have to be for just one thing," Elliott says on the Houston Innovators Podcast. "We can make it ingest all kind of data sources. It does require us as the developers and the architects to go in and learn about each application. And that's great because I get bored easily and it's an endless source of fascination." Continue reading.

Sandip Bordoloi, CEO and co-founder of TrueLeap

TrueLeap Inc., global digital education startup addressing the digital divide in education, has raised $610,000. Photo via LinkedIn

An edtech startup has just secured funding to further its mission of increasing accessibility to education.

TrueLeap Inc., global digital education startup addressing the digital divide in education, has raised $610,000, which is over its target of $500,000. The round was led by United Kingdom-based Maya Investments Limited.

"This oversubscribed funding round, led by Maya Investments Limited, is a testament to the urgent need for innovative educational technologies in emerging markets. Our commitment to providing affordable and integrated solutions is stronger than ever," says Sandip Bordoloi, CEO and Co-Founder of TrueLeap, in a news release. Continue reading.

Stephanie Nolan, director of sales at Square Robot

It's a different world for startups on the other side of the pandemic — especially for business development. One Houston innovator shares her lessons learned. Photo courtesy of Square Robot

The post-pandemic world of business development has evolved, as Stephanie Nolan, director of sales at Square Robot, has observed. In a guest column for InnovationMap, she shares her experience and lessons learned.

"When I joined the Houston team at Square Robot, a startup that was trying to disrupt an industry, I had to learn how to navigate a post-pandemic sales world — where hybrid work, reliance on emails, and video based web calls are now the norm — coupled with the challenges of working for a relatively new company," she writes.

She shares how she prioritizes in-person meetings and taps into important networking organizations. Continue reading.

Lori-Lee Elliott of Dauntless XR joins the Houston Innovators Podcast to share about her tech company's evolution. Photo via LinkedIn

Houston innovator tackles rebrand, federal grant programs to take XR startup into its new era

HOUSTON INNOVATORS PODCAST EPISODE 221

After entering into these new industries — as well as a 2022 strategic acquisition — Elliott says her team started thinking hard about a rebrand, specifically to set the business up for success as it expands into new fields and opportunities.

"We wanted something that was a name that was a little bit more future proof," Elliott says on the show. "We wanted something that was more representative of this new thing that we had evolved into, and then also something that was going to stand the test of time going forward. We actually really enjoyed the rebrand process."

While Elliott had to learn how to navigate a rebrand, she also juggled the grant and contract process with federal entities — something else that was new to her. Dauntless XR has secured both SBIR and STTR grants and contracts with two different federal agencies, so Elliott has learned a lot.

"The lesson learned I would say is if you're interested in pursuing (grants), go and get all of your government registrations and certifications before you start," Elliott says. "They have fairly quick close deadlines, so when an opportunity opens to when it closes is usually a month. And that is not enough time to register your company at all of the different places it needs to be registered."

She shares more about what she's learned through the past few years or so, as well as what's next for Dauntless XR on the podcast.

A Houston company's technology will help space operators predict coronal mass ejections. Photo via nasa.gov

Houston extended reality company pivots, secures NASA contract

space tech

Following a rebrand, a Houston tech startup has secured a NASA contract for space weather technology.

Dauntless XR received a contract from NASA to advance its spatial computing platform, Aura. The technology uses satellite sensor data and mixed reality to help space operators with weather forecasting, including solar activity.

The company, which was founded by Lori-Lee Elliott as Future Sight AR in 2018 to focus on industrial construction, made a pivot to the space and defense industries and rebranded last year.

"We are in an incredibly interesting stage of space exploration, between record-breaking numbers of satellite launches, missions to the moon and Mars, and even returning asteroid samples to Earth," says Elliott, who serves as CEO, in the release. "With space weather, we are presented with an opportunity to make incredibly complex data easily accessible and provide a platform for innovation — and collaboration — for the space economy and space exploration."

The company is tasked with an extended reality space weather application. Per the release, the app will first be available on the Apple Vision Pro and the Meta Quest devices.

"Our first release will include a special edition of our Aura application with a 3D immersive experience visualizing coronal mass ejections, or CMEs, coming off the sun," the company explains in a blog post. "When a CME hits Earth, it produces auroras, but can also cause power outages, knock out radio signals & GPS, and interfere with rocket launches. As the space economy grows and more people use space data, we hope that our apps make that data easy to access and understand."

The company has also received $1.5 million in United States Air Force contracts. This included two SBIR II contracts that "focused on mixed reality assisted workflows, training and mission planning," according to Dauntless XR. Elliott is based in Houston and the company has offices in Texas, Georgia, Florida, and Hawaii.

Lori-Lee Elliott founded Dauntless XR. Photo via LinkedIn

Ad Placement 300x100

Ad Placement 300x600

CultureMap Emails are Awesome

Property Showcase

Building a biotech workforce: How this Houston program is shaping the next generation

future focused

Houston is currently in need of biomanufacturing professionals to keep up with the ever-growing industry. That's what Saniya Mansuri, health care consultant for BioPath @ TMC, says.

“Houston has lost out on a big biopharmaceutical company. And when there was a feasibility study that was done, it was identified that one of the reasons that Houston wasn't chosen was the lack of a workforce and a lack of workforce development programs,” she explains.

Mansuri and the TMC Innovation team are doing just that with the introduction of the new program. She moved from Toronto in 2023. When she applied for a role at TMC Innovation, she was handpicked to help shepherd the BioPath program, thanks to her background that included starting a nonprofit for underserved youth in Canada.

The goal of the BioPath program is to attract young people considering going into the trades to learn the skills to become biomanufacturing professionals. According to BioPath’s website, 42 percent of TMC institutions anticipate a great need for biotechnicians in the near future, but there’s a lack of places for workers to train that aren’t part of a four-year degree. BioPath not only helps to recruit youths to careers that only require two years of training, but educates them for success in their newly chosen jobs.

“For the role of biomanufacturing technician, you can do a certificate program, get certified and enter into an entry level career that pays upwards of $50,000 — a stable career where there is a lot of development and job mobility involved,” says Mansuri.

This school year saw the debut of a pilot program that began with marketing and awareness to begin to get kids excited. Working with the organization Bridge Year, BioPath has created a booth for career fairs at which there’s a simulation of the skills involved in column chromatography that potential technicians would be learning. The booth is currently touring HISD high schools.

BioPath is also partnering with the national nonprofit, Learning Undefeated, to create a mobile STEM lab that will park at schools starting in January.

“Instead of students going to a biology class, you would swap it out for a class on this mobile STEM lab, and we have a biomanufacturing activity and curriculum that the students would learn,” explains Mansuri.

But that’s only the beginning. BioPath is looking at securing internships for the students, as well as sponsoring interested students in attending a biomanufacturing summer camp run by Texas A&M. Once educated, Mansuri and her team will help their charges with certification, mentorship and finding jobs post-certification.

Mansuri says she’s already received emails from interested students who have taken part in the “Career Test Drive” booth, but expects more after a soft launch in February in which 200 high school students will come to the TMC to learn more. The future for biomanufacturing in Houston is looking more promising already.

Coming soon: Houston Astros unveil new ballpark naming partner for 2025

welcome to the ice box

The Houston Astros are about to have the coolest ballpark in Major League Baseball. The team announced on Monday, November 18 that its has reached a naming rights agreement HVAC manufacturer Daikin Comfort Technologies North America, Inc.

Beginning on January 1, 2025, the stadium will be known as Daikin Park (die-kin). Scheduled to run through the 2039 season, the new name replaces Minute Maid Park, which has been the stadium’s name since 2002. It opened in 1999 as Enron Field.

Astros fans online are already calling the new stadium “The Ice Box,” replacing its informal “The Juice Box” moniker. That name feels likely to stick.

Japan-based Daikin Industries is a leading manufacturer of HVAC systems. It sells air conditioning units and other products under brand names such as Daikin, Goodman, Amana® and Quietflex. Critically, it operates Daikin Texas Technology Park in nearby Waller, which is the largest HVAC manufacturing facility in North America. The company employs approximately 10,000 people in Greater Houston, according to a release.

“We are excited to be partnering with Daikin for our ballpark’s naming rights,” Astros owner Jim said. “Daikin is an international company that proudly calls the Greater Houston area its North American home. The Houston Astros and Daikin share the same values, a commitment to excellence and a desire to give back to our local community. As we celebrate the 25th anniversary of this ballpark in 2025, I am proud to have Daikin alongside us to create even more special memories for our fans now and in the future.”

The Astros will use the revenue for new stadium amenities and other upgrades. It will also continue the team’s various community initiatives. Terms of the deal were not disclosed. the Houston Chronicle notes that naming rights deals may be worth anywhere from $3.5 million per year (T-Mobile park in Seattle) to $11 million per year for the Texas Rangers’ Globe Life Field.

The team’s first game in Daikin Park will take place on Monday, March 24, which it plays an exhibition against its Triple-A affiliate, the Sugar Land Space Cowboys. It will open the regular season on Thursday, March 27 against the New York Mets.

“Daikin fit all of the criteria we set out to find in a naming rights partner,” Astros senior vice president Matt Brand added. “Their name and reputation fit our iconic downtown Houston home, and their values mesh perfectly with those of the Astros. We are grateful to partner with the entire Daikin team and to help them succeed in their business goals. Daikin Park will be a special place for our fans for many years to come.”

------

This article originally ran on CultureMap.

Photos: Houston Innovation Awards celebrates city's startup, tech leaders at annual event

event recap

The 2024 Houston Innovation Awards season has come to a close with last week's event.

With a crowd of around 500 attendees, the Houston Innovation Awards, which took place on November 14, celebrated over 40 finalists and a dozen winners across categories. Click here to see who won an award.

Learn more about this year's honorees in InnovationMap's the editorial series:

Special thanks to this year's sponsors: The Houston Innovation Awards is sponsored by Texas Medical Center, Milam & Greene Whiskey, Weber Ranch Vodka, EIGHT Beer, Karbach Brewing Company, Topo Chico, Houston Community College, Microsoft, Halliburton Labs, Mercury, Pillsbury Winthrop Shaw Pittman LLP, Rice Innovation & Ion District, Growth Pods, and Hunton Andrews Kurth.