Houston company is connecting rockstar developers with growing startups and big corporations

HOUSTON INNOVATORS PODCAST EPISODE 53

Marcelo Cordini, co-founder of December Labs, joins the Houston Innovators Podcast to discuss the unique service his company provides an evolving tech workforce. Photo courtesy of December Labs

For tech startups, a great business idea is step one, design and development is that next, make-or-break step. A Houston company exists to help staff development teams with talented specialists across various fields.

December Labs, which has offices in Uruguay and Houston, has seen the industry evolve since its founding in 2014. Nowadays, it's a competition for startups and corporations alike to get the best tech teams.

"Developers are kind of rockstars nowadays — it's very hard to attract them and keep them happy. We can help with that," says Marcelo Cordini, co-founder of December Labs, on this week's episode of the Houston Innovators Podcast.

Cordini and his co-founders — Martin Palatnik, Diego San Esteban, and Washington Miranda — designed their business's service to provide development teams to companies of all sizes and industries, from startups to big companies.

"We are always learning new technologies — that's our focus," Cordini says. "If you have a big company focused on real estate, your focus is on real estate — not technology. So, if you partner with a company like us, it will give you that value to have someone who knows how to hire developers and how to train them."

Similar to most companies, the pandemic posed its challenges to December Labs, but one thing that the company has going for it is the evolution of the workforce. Now, it's way less important to have your team in house, as Cordini explains.

"It's the same to have your developers in South America as having them in the U.S., right? Because we are all working from home," he says. "We were lucky and prepared [for the pandemic]."

You can listen to the full interview with Cordini below — or wherever you stream your podcasts — and subscribe for weekly episodes.

When Marcelo Cordini moved his company to Houston, he didn't know what to expect. Now, a couple years later, he's poised for growth. Courtesy of December Labs

Growing UX developer credits Houston with company success

UX expectations

In December 2014, four guys from Uruguay banded together and created December Labs, a company specializing in UX and UI design, web development and mobile development for startups. After three years of success there, co-founder Marcelo Cordini's wife had her job transferred to "a city full of companies from everywhere" — Houston.

"To be honest, I came without expectations, not knowing what to do with the tech space here," Cordini says. "But I discovered that the city's innovation scene was rising and that the whole startup environment too. We didn't know Houston had a startup environment."

Cordini, along with co-founders, Martin Palatnik, Diego San Esteban, and Washington Miranda, have created a base here in Houston at Station Houston, with headquarters stationed in San Francisco as well as Uruguay.

The company's international presence can be seen in their client base, which includes industry giants like Google, Accenture, and Nest.

"When I got here, people told us that we should just go to Austin," Cordini says. "But, to be honest, this is a big city with lots of great companies — not just corporations, but startups — that are growing and thrive and have good connections. So, maybe you don't hear much about the startup world outside the U.S., but I think the startups right now are at a different level here."

December Labs has started working with local startups around the city and has grown to have around 15 engineers and designers working for the company.

Cordini says that their experience working at Station Houston has really broadened their horizons and allowed them to make connections that they wouldn't have made otherwise.

"It's great to have connections, and that's something that I love here in Houston," Cordini says. "People are willing to help each other."

A main goal for December Labs is to help other companies succeed through their mission-driven, people-focused work. But they're focused on the future.

"We've been growing like crazy over the past year," Cordini says. "We would love to keep growing here in Houston by getting more clients and helping more startups and corporations. Our idea is to continue our expansion here in Houston and all around Texas, for sure."

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Houston hospital names leading cancer scientist as new academic head

new hire

Houston Methodist Academic Institute has named cancer clinician and scientist Dr. Jenny Chang as its new executive vice president, president, CEO, and chief academic officer.

Chang was selected following a national search and will succeed Dr. H. Dirk Sostman, who will retire in February after 20 years of leadership. Chang is the director of the Houston Methodist Dr. Mary and Ron Neal Cancer Center and the Emily Herrmann Presidential Distinguished Chair in Cancer Research. She has been with Houston Methodist for 15 years.

Over the last five years, Chang has served as the institute’s chief clinical science officer and is credited with strengthening cancer clinical trials. Her work has focused on therapy-resistant cancer stem cells and their treatment, particularly relating to breast cancer.

Her work has generated more than $35 million in funding for Houston Methodist from organizations like the National Institutes of Health and the National Cancer Institute, according to the health care system. In 2021, Dr. Mary Neal and her husband Ron Neal, whom the cancer center is now named after, donated $25 million to support her and her team’s research on advanced cancer therapy.

In her new role, Chang will work to expand clinical and translational research and education across Houston Methodist in digital health, robotics and bioengineered therapeutics.

“Dr. Chang’s dedication to Houston Methodist is unparalleled,” Dr. Marc L. Boom, Houston Methodist president and CEO, said in a news release. “She is committed to our mission and to helping our patients, and her clinical expertise, research innovation and health care leadership make her the ideal choice for leading our academic mission into an exciting new chapter.”

Chang is a member of the American Association of Cancer Research (AACR) Stand Up to Cancer Scientific Advisory Council. She earned her medical degree from Cambridge University in England and completed fellowship training in medical oncology at the Royal Marsden Hospital/Institute for Cancer Research. She earned her research doctorate from the University of London.

She is also a professor at Weill Cornell Medical School, which is affiliated with the Houston Methodist Academic Institute.

Texas A&M awarded $1.3M federal grant to develop clean energy tech from electronic waste

seeing green

Texas A&M University in College Station has received a nearly $1.3 million federal grant for development of clean energy technology.

The university will use the $1,280,553 grant from the U.S. Department of Energy to develop a cost-effective, sustainable method for extracting rare earth elements from electronic waste.

Rare earth elements (REEs) are a set of 17 metallic elements.

“REEs are essential components of more than 200 products, especially high-tech consumer products, such as cellular telephones, computer hard drives, electric and hybrid vehicles, and flat-screen monitors and televisions,” according to the Eos news website.

REEs also are found in defense equipment and technology such as electronic displays, guidance systems, lasers, and radar and sonar systems, says Eos.

The grant awarded to Texas A&M was among $17 million in DOE grants given to 14 projects that seek to accelerate innovation in the critical materials sector. The federal Energy Act of 2020 defines a critical material — such as aluminum, cobalt, copper, lithium, magnesium, nickel, and platinum — as a substance that faces a high risk of supply chain disruption and “serves an essential function” in the energy sector.

“DOE is helping reduce the nation’s dependence on foreign supply chains through innovative solutions that will tap domestic sources of the critical materials needed for next-generation technologies,” says U.S. Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm. “These investments — part of our industrial strategy — will keep America’s growing manufacturing industry competitive while delivering economic benefits to communities nationwide.”

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This article originally appeared on EnergyCapital.

Biosciences startup becomes Texas' first decacorn after latest funding

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

Colossal, which specializes in genetic engineering technology designed to bring back or protect various species, received the $200 million from TWG Global, an investment conglomerate led by billionaire investors Mark Walter and Thomas Tull. Walter is part owner of Major League Baseball’s Los Angeles Dodgers, and Tull is part owner of the NFL’s Pittsburgh Steelers.

Among the projects Colossal is tackling is the resurrection of three extinct animals — the dodo bird, Tasmanian tiger and woolly mammoth — through the use of DNA and genomics.

The latest round of funding values Colossal at $10.2 billion. Since launching in 2021, the startup has raised $435 million in venture capital.

In addition to Walter and Tull, Colossal’s investors include prominent video game developer Richard Garriott of Austin and private equity veteran Victor Vescov of Dallas. The two millionaires are known for their exploits as undersea explorers and tourist astronauts.

Aside from Colossal’s ties to Dallas and Austin, the startup has a Houston connection.

The company teamed up with Baylor College of Medicine researcher Paul Ling to develop a vaccine for elephant endotheliotropic herpesvirus (EEHV), the deadliest disease among young elephants. In partnership with the Houston Zoo, Ling’s lab at the Baylor College of Medicine has set up a research program that focuses on diagnosing and treating EEHV, and on coming up with a vaccine to protect elephants against the disease. Ling and the BCMe are members of the North American EEHV Advisory Group.

Colossal operates research labs Dallas, Boston and Melbourne, Australia.

“Colossal is the leading company working at the intersection of AI, computational biology, and genetic engineering for both de-extinction and species preservation,” Walter, CEO of TWG Globa, said in a news release. “Colossal has assembled a world-class team that has already driven, in a short period of time, significant technology innovations and impact in advancing conservation, which is a core value of TWG Global.”

Well-known genetics researcher George Church, co-founder of Colossal, calls the startup “a revolutionary genetics company making science fiction into science fact.”

“We are creating the technology to build de-extinction science and scale conservation biology,” he added, “particularly for endangered and at-risk species.”

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