3 Houston innovators to know this week

who's who

This week's roundup of Houston innovators includes Ryan DuChanois of Solidec and Stephanie Campbell and Diana Murakhovskaya of The Artemis Fund. Photos courtesy

Editor's note: Welcome to another Monday edition of Innovators to Know. Today I'm introducing you to three Houstonians to read up about — 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.

Ryan DuChanois, co-founder and CEO at Solidec

Ryan DuChanois pitched his company Solidec at CERAWeek, and took home a prize of $25,000. Photo via Solidec/LinkedIn

For the third year, the Greater Houston Partnership's Houston Energy Transition Institute hosted its startup pitch competition at CERAWeek by S&P Global. A dozen startups walked away with recognition — and three some with cash prizes.

Houston-based Solidec won the top prize for the TEX-E pitches. The company, which is working on a platform to produce chemicals from captured carbon, won first place and $25,000. Ryan DuChanois, co-founder and CEO, pitched at the event.

"This prize will help us scale up our technology from the lab at Rice University and ultimately fulfill our mission of capturing yesterday's emissions and generating tomorrow's fuels," the company writes in a post on LinkedIn. Read more.

Stephanie Campbell and Diana Murakhovskaya, co-founders and general partners of The Artemis Fund

Diana Murakhovskaya and Stephanie Campbell are co-founders of The Artemis Fund, a Houston-based, female founder-focused venture capital firm that just announced its $36 million fund II. Photo courtesy of Artemis

In 2019, Stephanie Campbell saw an opportunity in the market — investing in women-led startups, something that wasn't happening at the volume it should have been.

"When we looked around, we really wanted to solve the problem of why women only receive 2 percent of venture capital," Campbell says on the Houston Innovators Podcast.

As angel investors, Campbell and Diana Murakhovskaya, co-founders and general partners of The Artemis Fund, saw tons of promising women-led businesses. Read more.

Diana Murakhovskaya and Stephanie Campbell are co-founders of The Artemis Fund, a Houston-based, female founder-focused venture capital firm that just announced its $36 million fund II. Photo courtesy of Artemis

Houston VC leaders to empower female founders in fintech, commerce, and care with new $36M fund

HOUSTON INNOVATORS PODCAST EPISODE 228

In 2019, Stephanie Campbell saw an opportunity in the market — investing in women-led startups, something that wasn't happening at the volume it should have been.

"When we looked around, we really wanted to solve the problem of why women only receive 2 percent of venture capital," Campbell says on the Houston Innovators Podcast.

As angel investors, Campbell and Diana Murakhovskaya, co-founders and general partners of The Artemis Fund, saw tons of promising women-led businesses.

"We were finding these incredible female founders who we felt deserved capital to bring their innovations to the market because they're solving big markets and big problems But there was a disconnect in terms of their access and network," she continues.

The other issue, as Campbell explains, was that firms that did have a female-focused angle weren't leading these early-stage rounds. That's where Artemis comes in.

"Our goal was to be the leading firm for these overlooked, underserved markets that have the ability to deliver outsized returns," Campbell says.

Almost five years and around 20 investments later, The Artemis Fund has announced its second $36 million fund to continue to fund female-led upstarts with a tech solution within fintech, commerce, and care — the three pillars The Artemis Fund invests in.

"We really wanted to solve not just problems for women, which is a lot of what we do, but for families, small businesses, and immigrants, which is how we came around to these three verticals," Murakhovskaya says.

She goes on to explain that a significant percentage of adults are a part of the "sandwich generation" — caring not only for their own children, but for their aging parents. Innovations within caregiving can help this generation with their caregiving and maintain their role in the workforce. Additionally, over half the United States workforce is employed by small businesses, but these companies usually lack access to innovative technology.

"We're thinking about what founders are building in these industries to help these businesses thrive and leave these legacy assets to their children," Murakhovskaya says.

The Artemis Fund has announced that it's closed its second fund. Courtesy photos

Houston-based, female-focused VC closes $36M fund

fresh funding

A women-led venture capital group based in Houston has closed its second fund to continue its mission of supporting female-founded startups in fintech, commerce, and care.

The Artemis Fund announced its $36 million second fund this month. Co-founded in 2019 by General Partner Stephanie Campbell, General Partner Diana Murakhovskaya, and Venture Partner Leslie Goldman Tepper, the firm has invested in more than 20 female-led startups — with over 60 percent with Black, Latinx, or immigrant leadership.

"Many funds have come to market that focus on diverse founders. Few are also funding the technology to address key barriers faced by overlooked businesses, communities, and families in the U.S.," Artemis leadership writes in a news release.

"Artemis invests in the big personal, every day, economic problems that Silicon Valley doesn’t understand or know how to solve," the release continues. "We see massive opportunity in what many VCs will quickly write off as too small, too fragmented, and too hard to solve. If it keeps families and small business owners up at night, we are likely backing a company solving it."

Artemis Fund II includes support from limited partners Bank of America, Bank of Montreal, TIAA Nuveen’s Churchill Asset Management, Texas Capital Bank, Amazon, The Rockwell Fund, and Ballentine Partners.

“The Artemis Fund is not only breaking down barriers themselves, but they are also investing in companies looking to catalyze change," Hong Ogle, Houston president at Bank of America, says in the release. "Artemis keenly understands how to identify and support diverse entrepreneurs, which ultimately helps us toward achieving our goal to advance economic opportunity for all our communities."

The second fund has already made investments in five startups:

  • Alameda, California-based Hello Divorce, a tech-enabled guide to divorce with research, planning, therapy, and community support.
  • Gemist, based in Los Angeles, provides tech tools to jewelers.
  • West Palm Beach, Florida-based Max Retail, a platform to sell leftover inventory.
  • Payverse, headquartered in Sherman Oaks, California, is a cross border payment processor leveraging their modern processing platform.
  • New York-based Builder's Patch, a software platform that streamlines the process to finance the development and preservation of affordable multifamily housing for CRE lenders and developers.

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.

Meet five of the many Houston innovators that will be out at SXSW Pitch, Houston House, Founded in Texas, and much more this week and into next week. Photos courtesy

5 Houston innovators headed to SXSW to know this weekend

who's who

Editor's note: It's a special Friday edition of innovators to know this week — well, weekend. SXSW kicks off today and Houstonians will be headed up to Austin for the week or just the weekend. If you're looking out for the best panels and talks to go to, look no further than this guide I created — as well as the five Houston innovators I think you should know who are listed below.

Lara Cottingham, chief of staff for Greentown Labs

Photo via LinkedIn

Calling all energy transition startups, investors, and more. The Greater Houston Partnership is hosting a full day of energy transition discussions at Houston House on Monday, March 14, at the Line Hotel. Lara Cottingham of Greentown Labs will be at the activation site with a must-attend networking hour at 4 pm called Transition on Tap.

Diana Murakhovskaya, co-founder and general partner of The Artemis Fund

Photo via LinkedIn

Who runs the world? Women. And Diana Murakhovskaya knows that based off her work with her Houston-based venture capital fund, The Artemis Fund. Project W, Artemis Fund, HearstLab, and Beam have teamed up at SXSW to present the second Founded in Texas event on Sunday, March 13, at Relay Coworking. Twelve founders selected by application will pitch to investors from across the country . The audience will get a glimpse of the innovation and creativity at work in the growing Texas startup ecosystem.

Pamela Singh, co-founder and CEO of CaseCTRL

Photo courtesy of CaseCTRL

Pamela Singh is the only Houston startup founder to pitch this year at SXSW's pitch competition. Representing her digital health startup, Case CTRL, Singh takes the prestigious stage Saturday, March 12, to compete in the Enterprise & Smart Data Technology category.

Sandy Guitar, managing director of HX Venture Fund

Photo courtesy of Sandy Guitar

The HX Venture Fund is hosting a meetup that all of the Houston startup ecosystem needs to know about. Network with a number of founders from Houston's fastest-growing startups along with several great VCs around the nation to participate in a joint conversation about founding tech startups. The event will take place at 11:30 am to 12:30 pm at Hilton Austin Downtown, Room 408.

Ashley DeWalt, managing director of DivInc

Photo courtesy of DivInc

Ashley DeWalt, managing director of DivInc, is just one of the many Houston innovators featured in Houston House from the GHP. The activation starts Sunday, March 13, at the Line Hotel with a day of programming across industries and topics — from sports tech and diversity (both topics DeWalt specializes in) to health care innovation and space. Catch DeWalt's panel, Game Changers - The Rise of Sports Tech, on Sunday at 11:30 am at Houston House.

Looking into venture capital deal growth, new coworking coming to town, and more Houston innovation news. Getty Images

Houston's spike in VC deals, accelerator acquired, new coworking, and more innovation news

Short stories

Houston has seen some big headlines this month when it comes to innovation news — and you could have missed something.

From a report on venture capital funding last year and new coworking coming to town to a Houston investor selling her accelerator company, here's the latest batch of short stories in Houston innovation.

Houston sees spike in venture capital deals in 2019

Houston saw more venture capital funding in 2019 compared to 2018. Chart via crunchbase.com

Overall, 2019 was a good one for Texas venture capital deals. Austin had a record turnout of money invested in startups. Austin companies raised over $1.8 billion, which put the state capitol in the top 10 cities based on money raised, according to a report by Crunchbase.

And this Texas VC roundup on Crunchbase focused a lot of the Austin funding and didn't harp too much on the other Texas cities. But Houston's numbers are also record breaking. The Bayou City raised nearly $400 million last year — with the bulk of that being recorded in Q2 of 2019.

Houston's recorded $399.6 million in VC deals surpasses 2018's recorded funding by almost $20 million, but if you look at PitchBook and the National Venture Capital Association's data, the amount is higher. According to Pitchbook, the total funding raised in 2019 in Houston deals surprasses $600 million across 98 deals.

Houston investor-founded accelerator acquired

Houston investor ​Diana Murakhovskaya has sold her New York-based accelerator program. ​Photo courtesy of The Artemis Fund

New York-based Monarq Incubator, a venture capital-focused accelerator program for women, has been acquired by Female Founders Alliance. Monarq was co-founded by Diana Murakhovskaya, one of the three co-founders of Houston-based, female-focused The Artemis Fund.

Since its founding in 2017, Monarq accelerated 32 companies that have then gone on to raise more than $10 million in venture capital. The combined company, according to a news release, now represents the largest network of women and non-binary venture-scalable founders.

"FFA and Monarq share more than just a mission – we share founder DNA," says Leslie Feinzaig, CEO of Female Founders Alliance, in the release. "Our two communities and accelerator programs were built by women founders, for women founders. We are uniquely able to build programming that accelerates the success of women in our space, and now along with founder cred, we have scale and a national footprint. I am so excited for what we can achieve in this next stage of FFA."

The acquisition means a heightened focus on The Artemis Fund for Murakhovskaya.

"Now that I am full time focused on raising and investing with Artemis, it's great to know that our community and founders will have a home and provide us with a great source of deal flow," she says in an email to InnovationMap.

A new coworking company to enter Houston with Galleria-area office

New Galleria-area coworking is coming later this year. Photo via serendipitylabs.com

Serendipity Labs Coworking, which has over 100 coworking spaces across the United States and United Kingdom, announced its plans to enter six new markets this year. Houston is among the new locations for the coworking company.

Expected top open in the fall, the Houston coworking space will be a 28,331-square-foot space on the 20th floor of the Marathon Oil Tower at 5555 San Felipe St. in the Galleria area. According to the release, Cameron Coworking, a division of Cameron Management, will be the development partner for the Houston market.

"By partnering with asset owners of office, retail and residential buildings and then managing the Labs, we bring our operational expertise and marketing power, and we assure the upscale service standards of one of the top national flexible workplace networks will be met at every location," says John Arenas, chairman and CEO of Serendipity Labs, in a news release.

MassChallenge Texas opens applications for second cohort

Applications are open for MassChallenge Texas' second Houston cohort. Courtesy of MassChallenge

At an event on January 29 in both Houston and Austin, MassChallenge Texas opened applications for its 2020 cohorts

The 4-month accelerator program is set to begin in June and online applications close March 9. Prizes include six months of free office space and up to $250,000 in equity free investment. Click here for more information.

Houston entrepreneur named to 2020 class of Presidential Leadership Scholars

Houston startup founder, Reda Hicks, has been named a Presidential Leadership Scholar. Photo via presidentialleadershipscholars.org

For this sixth year, the Presidential Leadership Scholars announced its class of veterans, educators, physicians, public servants, and corporate professionals to participate in the program. Reda Hicks, founder of GotSpot was named as one of the 60 scholars. The program began this week in Washington D.C..

"I cannot wait to work with, and learn from, these exceptional leaders," Hicks shares on LinkedIn. "And through the program, I will be working on RescueSpot, a community resiliency application of GotSpot Inc."

Another Houstonian was selected too — Ganesh Betanabhatla, who is the managing partner and chief investment officer at Ramas Capital Management.

Ion Smart Cities Accelerator opens applications for second cohort

Aatonomy, a member of the first cohort, walked away with a cash prize at Demo Day. F. Carter Smith/Station Houston

The second cohort for the Ion Smart Cities Accelerator Program has opened applications online. The first cohort, focused on resilience and mobility, is currently in pilot mode. Cohort II will be focused on water purification/quality, air quality, and clean technology.

The applications will close on Monday, February 17, and startups that are selected will be notified the week of March 2.

The program, which was announced in June, is backed by Microsoft and Intel and named its first cohort last fall. The demo day for the first cohort took place last month. The accelerator has its own space and prototyping lab in downtown Houston, which opened in September.

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CPRIT grants $22M to bring top cancer researchers to Houston

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Several prominent cancer researchers are coming to the Houston area thanks to $22 million in grants recently awarded by the Cancer Prevention and Research Institute of Texas (CPRIT).

The biggest CPRIT recruitment grant — $6 million — went to genetics researcher Jean Gautier. Gautier, a professor of genetics and development at Columbia University’s Institute for Cancer Genetics, is joining the University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center to continue his research.

The website for Gautier’s lab at Columbia provides this explanation of his research:

“The main objective of our research is to better understand the molecular mechanisms responsible for the maintenance of genome stability. These controls are lost in cancer, which is characterized by genomic instability.”

Aside from his work as a professor, Gautier is co-leader of the Herbert Irving Comprehensive Cancer Center’s Cancer Genomics and Epigenomics Program at Columbia.

Other recipients of CPRIT recruitment grants include:

  • $2 million to recruit Xun Sun from the Scripps Research Institute to the University of Texas Medical Branch at Galveston.
  • $2 million to recruit Mingqi Han from the University of California, Los Angeles to MD Anderson.
  • $2 million to recruit Matthew Jones from Stanford University to MD Anderson.
  • $2 million to recruit Linna An from the University of Washington to Rice University.
  • $2 million to recruit Alissa Greenwald from the Weizmann Institute of Science to MD Anderson.
  • $2 million to recruit Niladri Sinha from Johns Hopkins University to the Baylor College of Medicine.
  • $2 million for Luigi Perelli to stay at MD Anderson so he can be put on a tenure track and set up a research lab.
  • $2 million for Benjamin Schrank to stay at MD Anderson so he can be put on a tenure track and set up a research lab.

Over $20.2 million in academic research grants were awarded to researchers at:

  • Baylor College of Medicine
  • Houston Methodist Research Institute
  • Rice University
  • Texas Southern University
  • University of Houston
  • University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston
  • University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center
  • University of Texas Medical Branch at Galveston

In addition, nearly $4.45 million in cancer prevention grants were awarded to one researcher at the University of Texas Medical Branch at Galveston and another at Texas Southern University.

Also, five Houston businesses benefited from CPRIT grants for product development research:

  • Allterum Therapeutics, $2,999,996
  • CTMC, $1,342,178
  • Instapath, $900,000
  • Prana Surgical, $900,000
  • InformAI, $465,188

“Texas is a national leader in the fight against cancer,” said Kristen Pauling Doyle, CPRIT’s CEO. “We can measure the return on investment from CPRIT grants … not only in the economic benefits flowing from increased financial activity and jobs in the state, but more importantly in the cancers avoided, detected early, and treated successfully. Thanks to the Legislature’s vision, this commitment is saving lives.”

Overall, CPRIT approved 61 grants totaling more than $93 million in this recent round of funding.

The Houston app that makes your commute smoother, greener + more rewarding

Return to Office

As Houstonians transition back to the office, navigating the city’s complex traffic landscape can feel overwhelming. Fortunately, Houston ConnectSmart, a free app designed specifically for the greater Houston area, is here to make that return easier on your schedule, your wallet, and even the planet.

Unlike national navigation apps, ConnectSmart is built with local commuters in mind. It offers features tailored to Houston’s unique traffic patterns, such as real-time alerts about road closures, construction zones, and flooding. The app also integrates live traffic camera feeds and notifies users about adverse weather conditions, helping them adjust their routes efficiently and avoid delays.

ConnectSmart goes beyond basic navigation. It’s the only local app that keeps commuters fully informed with proactive, real-time trip alerts. These alerts tell users exactly when to leave, flag incidents on their routes, and provide alternative paths to ensure the smoothest possible drive. Additionally, through the Tow and Go program, users stranded on eligible freeways can access no-cost towing to a safe location.

For those looking to save money, time, and the planet, ConnectSmart also shines as a carpooling tool.

With its Carpool feature, users can coordinate rides with colleagues or friends, making use of HOV lanes and cutting down on the number of single-occupancy vehicles on the road. Whether you're a driver or a rider, the app allows you to customize your commute by setting pick-up points, schedules, and drop-off locations. If plans change, Trip Protection ensures you won’t be stranded, offering compensation for a backup ride home in the event of a last-minute cancellation.

Carpooling with ConnectSmart doesn’t just ease stress — it also lightens your environmental footprint and reduces the wear and tear on your vehicle. The app even provides real-time parking information for garages, lots, and street spaces, making the end of your commute as hassle-free as the journey itself.

For employers, ConnectSmart offers an Employer Commute Suite that enables organizations to set up private carpool groups for staff. This feature fosters a more connected, sustainable workplace culture and helps businesses support employees in managing their daily commutes.

Whether you're driving solo or looking to share a ride, Houston ConnectSmart brings a smarter, more sustainable way to get around the Bayou City. Download the app for free from the App Store or Google Play, and start your commute with confidence, convenience, and community in mind.

For more information about setting up an Employer Commute Suite, contact ConnectSmart today and take the first step toward transforming how your organization gets to work.

California company to launch Walmart drone delivery in Houston

taking off

California-based Wing will soon touch down in Houston.

The drone delivery company has partnered with Walmart Supercenters in Houston, Atlanta, Charlotte, Orlando and Tampa. According to a news release, Wing’s drone delivery services will be available at 100 Walmart stores across the selected markets by this time next year.

Wing also plans to expand to additional Walmart stores in Dallas-Fort Worth, where Wing and Walmart already serve customers from 18 Walmart Supercenters. Wing reports that it has completed thousands of deliveries from DFW-area Walmarts with an average fulfillment time of under 19 minutes. Wing and Walmart launched their first location in the Dallas area in the fall of 2023.

"The popularity of drone delivery in DFW is a testament not just to its convenience, but to the way this technology quickly becomes a part of everyday life,” Wing CEO Adam Woodworth said in the news release. “Walmart has been a strong partner that shares our commitment to innovation and is equally eager to bring this new type of service to many more households.”

Customers in Houston and the other markets in the latest expansion can visit wing.com/walmart to be notified when drone delivery becomes available in their area.

The service works similarly to any other online shopping platform, and users can select the exact location for the drone to drop off their package. Items are packaged in a specialized box that a Wing drone retrieves from Walmart. The drones cruise up to 65 mph and drop off the package outside a shopper's home.

“This is real drone delivery at scale,” Woodworth said in the release. “People all around the Dallas-Fort Worth Metroplex have made drone delivery part of their normal shopping habits over the past year. Now we’re excited to share this ultra-fast delivery experience with millions more people across many more U.S. cities.”

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