TMC names latest cohort of health tech innovators for 2024 program

ready to grow

Here are the eight companies currently being accelerated by Texas Medical Center Innovation. Photo courtesy of TMC

The Texas Medical Center Innovation has named its new cohort of health tech companies it's currently accelerating.

This first batch of companies for 2024 was selected from last fall's TMC Bootcamp. Eight of the 10 startups from the bootcamp have moved on to the Accelerator for HealthTech.

"Hailing from diverse corners of the globe—from the tech corridors of Texas and California to Ireland and Australia—these companies converge with a shared mission—to move healthcare forward," Devin Dunn, head of the Accelerator for Health Tech, writes in a TMC blog post. "Through personalized mentorship and guidance, these eight companies are able to navigate complex challenges and refine their strategies, while leveraging the expertise of Texas Medical Center ecosystem to validate their innovations and drive real-world impact."

The selected companies include:

  • AcorAI, from Stockholm, Sweden, which is developing a first-of-its-kind, hand-held, scalable medical device for non-invasive intracardiac pressure monitoring to improve heart failure management for more than 64 million patients worldwide.
  • AirSeal, based in St. Louis, Missouri, which has developed a novel serum-based biomarker technology – circulating fatty acid synthase (cFAS) – that can diagnose cardiovascular and peripheral artery disease with high accuracy in both women and men.
  • Foxo, headquartered in Brisbane, Australia, serves as an interoperable tool designed to enhance clinical collaboration across the healthcare ecosystem. It enables secure, two-way communication with features such as video, voice, screen share, file sharing, and real-time messaging.
  • San Francisco-based Knowtex, an artificial intelligence-powered software writes medical documentation for you and assigns correct codes to ensure proper reimbursement.
  • NeuroBell, from Cork, Ireland, which is working on a novel medical device providing portable EEG monitoring with real-time and automated neonatal seizure alerts at the bedside.
  • Perth, Australia-based OncoRes Medical that's developing an intraoperative imaging technology to provide surgeons with real-time assessment of tissue microstructure.
  • From right here in Houston, Steradian Technologies, which has created RUMI, the first noninvasive, fully portable infectious disease diagnostic that costs the price of a latte. It uses novel photon-based detection to collect and diagnose infectious diseases in breath within 30 seconds.
  • TYBR, also based in Houston, created a flowable extracellular matrix hydrogel, crafted to safeguard healing tendons and ligaments from scarring and adhesions. The company originated from the TMCi’s Biodesign fellowship and now has entered into the Accelerator for HealthTech to sharpen its regulatory strategy, particularly in anticipation of FDA conversations.

Applications for the next Accelerator for HealthTech will open in May of this year.

Meet the latest global health tech startups to get an invite to Houston from TMC Innovation. Photo via tmc.edu

TMC names latest cohort of health tech startups for upcoming bootcamp

headed to Houston

The Texas Medical Center's innovation arm has again invited a set of health tech startups to mix and mingle with potential partners, investors, and customers in hopes to score a place in the HealthTech Accelerator.

For the 17th time, the TMC Innovation Factory is hosting its HealthTech Accelerator — starting first with announcing its bootcamp cohort, a process that includes bringing all 10 companies to Houston for valuable networking. A selection of the bootcamp will be invited into the full accelerator that will run into next spring.

The 10 selected companies with solutions from heart failure to chronic respiratory disease and more, according to TMC, include:

  • Acorai, from Stockholm, Sweden, which is developing a first-of-its-kind, hand-held, scalable medical device for non-invasive intracardiac pressure monitoring to improve heart failure management for more than 64 million patients worldwide.
  • Singapore-based Aevice Health, a connected care platform powered by the world’s smallest smart wearable stethoscope to support chronic respiratory disease patients through their continuum of care.
  • AirSeal, based in St. Louis, Missouri, which has developed a novel serum-based biomarker technology – circulating fatty acid synthase (cFAS) – that can diagnose cardiovascular and peripheral artery disease with high accuracy in both women and men.
  • Candlelit Care, a Charlotte, North Carolina-based point-of-care digital platform focused on the prevention of perinatal mental and anxiety disorders (PMADs) among Black women and birthing parents.
  • San Francisco-based Knowtex, an artificial intelligence-powered software writes medical documentation for you and assigns correct codes to ensure proper reimbursement.
  • NeuroBell, from Cork, Ireland, which is working on a novel medical device providing portable EEG monitoring with real-time and automated neonatal seizure alerts at the bedside.
  • Perth, Australia-based OncoRes Medical that's developing an intraoperative imaging technology to provide surgeons with real-time assessment of tissue microstructure.
  • From right here in Houston, Steradian Technologies, which has created RUMI, the first noninvasive, fully portable infectious disease diagnostic that costs the price of a latte. It uses novel photon-based detection to collect and diagnose infectious diseases in breath within 30 seconds.
  • Foxo, headquartered in Brisbane, Australia, serves as an interoperable tool designed to enhance clinical collaboration across the healthcare ecosystem. It enables secure, two-way communication with features such as video, voice, screen share, file sharing, and real-time messaging.
  • Thrive Health’s, from Vancouver, Canada, is a platform is a low-code framework for designing and delivering patient engagement solutions. Create tools that enable partners to close healthcare gaps quickly, strengthen care relationships, and improve patient experience and outcomes.

TMC Innovation's last bootcamp cohort was announced in May. The organization also recently named 16 digital health and medical device startups from the United Kingdom to a new accelerator formed in partnership with Innovate UK.

Earlier this fall, TMC formed a strategic partnership, or BioBridge, with the Netherlands.

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New UH survey reveals concerns over AI data center growth in Houston

data findings

A new report out of the University of Houston shows that area residents remain wary of the long-term effects of operating data centers.

The recent survey from the University of Houston’s latest SPACE City Panel, conducted by the Center for Public Policy at the Hobby School of Public Affairs, shows that while 85 percent of Houston-area residents use AI, nearly 63 percent oppose the construction of AI data centers within 1 mile of their homes.

Respondents’ concerns centered around data centers’ high energy demand and the area’s power grid reliability. According to the survey, 32 percent of residents who oppose local data center projects would be more likely to support the centers if they relied on renewable energy over fossil fuels.

“Respondents understand that AI can bring economic and educational benefits, but they are also concerned about the physical infrastructure needed to fuel AI, especially data centers,” Soran Mohtadi, post-doctoral fellow at the Hobby School and a researcher on the report, said in a news release. “This physical infrastructure demands more electricity and water, leading to environmental impacts.”

Experts estimate that 6.5 gigawatts of data center capacity will be added to the Texas grid by 2030. And Houston’s data center capacity is predicted to more than double by 2028.

The Electric Reliability Council of Texas also projects electricity demand could reach 218 gigawatts by 2031, which would be more than double the record peak set in August 2023. Data centers are expected to account for 86 gigawatts of that new demand.

Survey respondents also said they are concerned about the state's future water supply, given the large amounts of water that data centers need to stay cool.

In terms of who’s responsible for that issue, 57.6 percent of respondents said they put the onus on Texas lawmakers, while 31.5 percent say tech companies should be responsible.

Additionally, more than 75 percent of respondents believed that data center developers and technology companies—not residents—should bear the cost of infrastructure upgrades to support data centers.

“Every decision legislators make has implications on residents’ everyday lives and local infrastructure now and in the future,” Maria P. Perez Arguelles, lead researcher on the report and research assistant professor at the Hobby School, added in the news release. “This issue is going to become more important in years to come, so this is just the beginning.”

Read the full report here.

Houston-born Cemvita makes breakthrough in sustainable fuel production

clean fuels

Houston-based biotech company Cemvita announced that it recently reached a critical milestone in the development of its FermOil product, which can be used to create Sustainable Aviation Fuel (SAF) and other renewable fuels at industrial scale.

The company shared in a news release that it completed a 75,000-liter industrial fermentation run at Belgium's Bio Base Europe Pilot Plant.

The campaign achieved target technical metrics for the production of FermOil, Cemvita’s renewable natural oil (RNO). FermOil is produced from industrial crude glycerin, an industrial byproduct, as opposed to traditional sugar-based feedstocks used in many bio-oil fermentation processes. It's designed to be a drop-in feedstock for creating SAFs.

Cemvita had previously advanced its FermOil production process through multiple scale-up stages before successfully reaching the 75,000-liter demonstration campaign, according to the company.

“This is not just a fermentation milestone,” Moji Karimi, CEO at Cemvita, said in the release. “It is a blueprint for how existing industrial infrastructure can evolve into circular bioeconomy infrastructure. Every biodiesel plant generating crude glycerin is a potential platform for renewable natural oil production.”

The milestone also supports the deployment of Cemvita’s industrial biomanufacturing platform, FermWorks, which integrates with existing energy and industrial infrastructure to turn waste carbon streams into SAFs and other materials. According to the release, Cemvita plans to move forward with commercial deployment discussions with partners in Brazil, Europe and in the UK. Cemvita already has a partnership with the Brazilian sustainable research institution REMA.

“We are proud to support innovative companies like Cemvita in scaling breakthrough industrial biotechnology solutions,” Hendrik Waegeman, head of business operations at Bio Base Europe Pilot Plant, added in the release. “Successfully operating at the 75,000-liter scale using a feedstock such as crude glycerin highlights both the maturity of the technology and the quality of the scale-up execution achieved by the Cemvita team.”

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

Eli Lilly scoops up Houston biotech startup in $300 million deal

big pharma deal

Pharmaceutical giant Eli Lilly has acquired Houston biotech startup CrossBridge Bio, which develops antibody-drug conjugates for cancer, in a deal worth up to $300 million. The deal was celebrated by TMC Venture Fund and the University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston last week.

CrossBridge, founded in 2023, is developing ADCs based on research by Kyoji Tsuchikama and Zhiqiang An, both of UT Health Houston. Tsuchikama is an associate professor of medicinal chemistry and a globally recognized ADC pioneer, and An is a professor of molecular science and vice president of drug discovery.

Antibody-drug conjugates (ADCs) are a potent combination of targeted therapy and chemotherapy that kills cancer cells while saving healthy tissue.

Clinical trials for CrossBridge’s primary ADC candidate, CBB-120, are expected to start this year, pending approval from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA).

“I’m proud of how well our team has executed and advanced our platform in such a short time since the company’s founding,” Michael Torres, co-founder and CEO of CrossBridge, said in a news release. “By becoming a part of Lilly, a leader in patient-focused therapeutic development, we are well-positioned to further accelerate the clinical potential of this approach.”

Under the Lilly deal, CrossBridge shareholders were expected to receive an upfront payment along with a follow-up payment based on the achievement of certain milestones.

In 2024, CrossBridge closed a $10 million seed round. Among the investors in CrossBridge are the Texas Medical Center Venture Fund, CE-Ventures, Alexandria Venture Investments, Portal Innovations, Linden Lake Labs, and the Cancer Prevention and Research Institute of Texas (CPRIT). It was formed in TMC Innovation’s Accelerator for Cancer Therapeutics program."Built within the TMC ecosystem, CrossBridge Bio grew with the support, funding, and resources that helped shape its trajectory. TMC led the company's early financing and watched it evolve from its earliest days to its acquisition by Eli Lilly," William McKeon, president and CEO of the Texas Medical Center, shared in a LinkedIn post. "[This is a] strong reminder that breakthrough science and the right early backing can change what’s possible."
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