Know before you go: 2024 H-Town Roundup

Plan your week

Here's what you need to know about HTR this year. Photo courtesy

Next week, Houston Exponential's annual week of innovation and networking is taking place. Here are five things you need to know before you go.

1. New year, new name.

Houston Tech Rodeo, which originated in 2020, has been rebranded to H-Town Roundup, but the week of innovation and entrepreneurship still has the same goal of providing programming and events that connect and educate Houstonians.

On a recent episode of the Houston Innovators Podcast, Natara Branch, CEO of Houston Exponential, says the change is meant to make for a more inclusive experience for entrepreneurs of small businesses, something she's seen a need for since she took on her role last year.

"This year, we've had the better part of a year to think about what can be different and how can we serve the founder," she says.

Branch explains that some members of the Houston community confused the event for being associated with the Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo or for being only for true tech people. Branch says the wanted to open the door a little wider to entrepreneurs who are innovative without necessarily working in technology.

"That's not what we wanted — to exclude anyone," she says. "H-Town Roundup is going to allow us to be more inclusive."

2. It's completely free to attend.

Dozens of events are taking place around town, and all are free to Houston entrepreneurs, investors, and more. Simply register for anything you're able to attend.

For reference, a full, detailed agenda is available online too.

3. There are two featured events.

Need to make some priorities? This year, there are two featured events for HTR.

  • Tech and Tequila Talk powered by Blue People at 5 to 7:30 pm, on Tuesday, February 27, at the UH Tech Bridge Innovation Center.
  • CodeLaunch Houston at 4 to 9 pm, on Wednesday, February 28, at Bayou Music Center.

4. Introducing: The Founder Lounge.

For attendees with the founder pass, The Founder's Lounge at Esperson Building in downtown is open Monday through Thursday from 10 am to 3 pm next week.

The full agenda of talks planned at the lounge is online.

5. Find the activity zones.

HTR again is rotating venues. Here's where and when you can expect to find HTR activities.

  • Sunday (1 to 5 pm) - Esperson Building
  • Monday (8 am to 12:30 pm) - TMC Innovation
  • Monday (1:30 to 5 pm) - The Cannon Downtown
  • Tuesday (1 to 7:30 pm) - UH Tech Bridge
  • Wednesday (10 am to 1 pm) - Esperson Building
  • Wednesday (4 to 9 pm) - Bayou Music Center
  • Thursday ( 8 am to noon) - HCC Central Campus
  • Thursday (1 to 7 pm) - Greentown Labs
  • Friday (9 am to 3:30 pm) - the Ion
  • Saturday (10 am to 2 pm) - Esperson Building

Spaces, an Amsterdam-based coworking space company that entered the Houston market with a lease in Kirby Grove announced in 2017, has two more Spaces locations planned for end of 2019. Courtesy of Midway

International workspace company announces 2 more Houston coworking spots

Space(s) city

An Amsterdam-based coworking company is doubling down on Houston with the announcement of over 120,000 square feet to deliver before the end of the year.

Spaces, which first entered the Houston market with the 2017 announcement of its Kirby Grove lease, will be opening new locations in CITYCENTRE and GreenStreet, according to a news release. All three properties are owned and operated by Midway Properties.

"Spaces is redefining the way work is done, providing a contemporary, social and creative environment with a real focus on community," says Michael Berretta, vice president of Network Development, for IWG, which owns Spaces, in the release. "Houston is a vibrant city with a global business hub and an entrepreneurial attitude. Spaces gives Houston's talent pool an inspiring place to work and meet with other people who believe in the power of collaboration to drive a business forward."

Spaces has over 3,300 flexible workspace locations across the world. There are three locations open in Texas — the other two being in the Dallas area. In addition to the two expected Midway properties, a third location in Two Post Oak Central is expected to deliver in 2019, the Houston Business Journal reports.

The GreenStreet location in downtown Houston will have 63,000 square feet of workspace in repurposed retail space. Among the features promised are open space, smaller team rooms, private offices, phone booths, and a 3,000-square foot rooftop patio.

The news of the workspace follows closely behind an international accelerator program, MassChallenge, announced its Houston program in GreenStreet.

The CITYCENTRE workspace will take up almost 61,000 square feet of CITYCENTRE One and touts similar features and flexible space. Both locations also boast of existing shopping, dining, and entertainment perks in the centers.

"Spaces fits perfectly in GreenStreet, a mixed-use district that is being redeveloped as the new model of urban lifestyle,"sys Chris Seckinger, vice president and investment manager for Midway, in the release. "And CITYCENTRE gives Spaces an ideal platform to serve businesses, whether they are collaborating globally or locally, in the midst of West Houston's concentration of energy, technology and engineering firms."

Earlier this month, a report found that over the past two and a half years, Houston's coworking space has only grown marginally. With the announcement of Spaces' expansion — as well as The Cannon and The Ion projects — expected to deliver over the next two years, Houston stands to make up for lost times, so to speak.

Station Houston's stakeholders voted in favor of the organization transitioning to a nonprofit. Station Houston/Facebook

Station Houston announces its transition into becoming a nonprofit

Cha-cha-changes

Houston's startup scene just got a little more accessible. Station Houston's stakeholders voted to transition the organization to nonprofit status from the C-corp status it currently holds.

The status change is effective January 1, 2019, for the acceleration hub, which is based in downtown Houston. The news was announced to its members in an email sent on December 13.

"Following in the footsteps of successful hubs such as 1871 in Chicago or Mass Challenge in Boston, we see that non-profit status allows these organizations to stay true to their missions while providing best-in-class services to members," reads the email. "We are excited to announce that this week, all Station stakeholders voted in favor of the conversion to non-profit status."

Station's CEO, Gabriella Rowe, tells InnovationMap that the announcement is part of a larger change for the organization, which will announce its plans for Station 3.0 in January.

"This opens up so many more funding and programing opportunities for us, so that we can charge our entrepreneurs and startups as little as possible and give them all the depth of services and support," Rowe says. "That's really what it comes down to."

Station Houston is among the partners — along with the Rice Alliance for Technology and Entrepreneurship — for the Houston innovation district that plans to open in the rehabilitated Sears building in Midtown. The space plans to open in 2020 and hasn't yet broken ground. Rowe discussed Station 3.0 and the district in an interview with InnovationMap in November.

"We're going to be doing a huge launch of Station 3.0 in January," she said in the interview. "It will really allow us to tell the world not just what we're going to be for the next three months, but what we're going to be over the next three years."

Station Houston recently hosted the Texas Digital Summit with Rice University and the Rice Alliance. The all-day summit consisted of panel discussions, keynote speakers, and a startup pitch of 39 companies. At the conclusion of the day, Rowe and Brad Burke from Rice announced 10 of the most promising startups from the summit. You can read about those companies here.

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Houston geothermal unicorn Fervo officially files for IPO

going public

Fervo Energy has officially filed for IPO.

The Houston-based geothermal unicorn filed a registration statement on Form S-1 with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission on April 17 to list its Class A common stock on the Nasdaq exchange. Fervo intends to be listed under the ticker symbol "FRVO."

The number and price of the shares have not yet been determined, according to a news release from Fervo. J.P. Morgan, BofA Securities, RBC Capital Markets and Barclays are leading the offering.

The highly anticipated filing comes as Fervo readies its flagship Cape Station geothermal project to deliver its first power later this year

"Today, miles-long lines for gasoline have been replaced by lines for electricity. Tech companies compete for megawatts to claim AI market share. Manufacturers jockey for power to strengthen American industry. Utilities demand clean, firm electricity to stabilize the grid," Fervo CEO Tim Latimer shared in the filing. "Fervo is prepared to serve all of these customers. Not with complex, idiosyncratic projects but with a simplified, standardized product capable of delivering around-the-clock, carbon-free power using proven oil and gas technology."

Fervo has been preparing to file for IPO for months. Axios Pro first reported that the company "quietly" filed for an IPO in January and estimated it would be valued between $2 billion and $3 billion.

Fervo also closed $421 million in non-recourse debt financing for the first phase of Cape Station last month and raised a $462 million Series E in December. The company also announced the addition of four heavyweights to its board of directors last week, including Meg Whitman, former CEO of eBay, Hewlett-Packard, and Spring-based HPE.

Fervo reported a net loss of $70.5 million for the 2025 fiscal year in the S-1 filing and a loss of $41.1 million in 2024.

Tracxn.com estimates that Fervo has raised $1.12 billion over 12 funding rounds. The company was founded in 2017 by Latimer and CTO Jack Norbeck.

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This article originally appeared on our sister site, EnergyCapitalHTX.com.

New UT Austin med center, anchored by MD Anderson, gets $1 billion gift

Future of Health

A donation announced Tuesday, April 21, breaks a major record at the University of Texas at Austin. Michael and Susan Dell are now UT Austin's first supporters to give $1 billion. In response, the university will create the UT Dell Campus for Advanced Research and the UT Dell Medical Center to "advance human health," per a press release.

The release also records "significant support" for undergraduate scholarships, student housing, and the Texas Advanced Computing Center for supercomputing research.

Both the new research campus and the UT Dell Medical Center will integrate advanced computing into their research and practices. At the medical center, the university hopes that will lead to "earlier detection, more precise and personalized care, and better health outcomes." The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center will also be integrated into the new medical center.

That comes with a numeric goal measured in 10s: raise $10 billion and rank among the top 10 medical centers in the U.S., both in the next decade.

In the shorter term, the university will break ground on the medical center with architecture firm Skidmore, Owings & Merrill (SOM) "later this year."

“UT Austin, where Dell Technologies was founded from a dorm room, has always been a place where bold ideas become real-world impact,” said Michael and Susan Dell in a joint statement.

They continued, “What makes this moment so meaningful is the opportunity to build something that brings every part of the journey together — from how students learn, to how discoveries are made, to how care reaches families. By bringing together medicine, science and computing in one campus designed for the AI era, UT can create more opportunity, deliver better outcomes, and build a stronger future for communities across Texas and beyond.”

This is the second major gift this year for the planned multibillion-dollar medical center. In January, Tench Coxe, a former venture capitalist who’s a major shareholder in chipmaking giant Nvidia, and Simone Coxe, co-founder and former CEO of the Blanc & Otus PR firm, contributed $100 million$100 million.

Baylor scientist lands $2M grant to explore links between viruses and Alzheimer’s

Alzheimer’s research

A Baylor College of Medicine scientist will begin exploring the possible link between Alzheimer’s disease and viral infections thanks to a $2 million grant awarded in March.

Dr. Ryan S. Dhindsa is an assistant professor of pathology & immunology at Baylor and a principal investigator at Texas Children’s Duncan Neurological Research Institute (Duncan NRI). He hypothesizes that Alzheimer’s may have some link to previous viral infections contracted by the patient. To study this intriguing possibility, the American Brain Foundation has gifted him the Cure One, Cure Many award in neuroinflammation.

“It is an honor to receive this support from the Cure One, Cure Many Award. Viral infections are emerging as a major, underappreciated driver of Alzheimer's disease, and this award will allow our team to conduct the most comprehensive screen of viral exposures and host genetics in Alzheimer's to date, spanning over a million individuals,” Dhindsa said in a news release. “Our goal is to identify which viruses matter most, why some people are more vulnerable than others, and ultimately move the field closer to new therapeutic strategies for patients.”

Roughly 150 million people worldwide will suffer from Alzheimer’s by 2050, making it the most common cause of dementia in the world. Despite this, scientists are still at a loss as to what exactly causes it.

Dhindsa’s research is part of a new range of theories that certain viral infections may trigger Alzheimer’s. His team will take a two-fold approach. First, they will analyze the medical records of more than a million individuals looking for patterns. Second, they will analyze viral DNA in stem cell-derived brain cells to see how the infections could contribute to neurological decay. The scale of the genomic data gathering is unprecedented and may highlight a link that traditional studies have missed.

Also joining the project are Dr. Caleb Lareau of Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center and Dr. Artem Babaian of the University of Toronto. Should a link be found, it would open the door to using anti-virals to prevent or treat Alzheimer’s.

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