Tempest Droneworx won the Best Speed Pitch award at SXSW Pitch earlier this year. Photo via LinkedIn.

It’s not easy to be a standout at South by Southwest, especially during SXSW Interactive, which is the subsection of the festival that focuses on new media, technology and entrepreneurship.

But it’s even more difficult to win at SXSW Pitch, the competition for startups and entrepreneurs that showcases innovative new technology to a panel of industry experts, high-profile media professionals, venture capital investor, and angel investors.

Tempest Droneworx, a Houston-based company that provides real-time intelligence collected through drones, robots and sensors, did just that last month, taking home the Best Speed Pitch award. It was also named a finalist and alternate in the full SXSW Pitch competition. The company is known for it flagship product, Harbinger, a software solution that agnostically gathers data at virtually any scale and presents that data in easy-to-understand visualizations using a video game engine.

Tempest CEO and founder Ty Audronis says his company won based on its merits and the impact it’s making and will make on the world. Audronis founded the company after his hometown of Paradise, California, was destroyed by a wildfire in 2018.

“(SXSW) was a huge moment for our team,” says Audronis, whose background is in science visualization, data visualization and visual effects for the movie industry. “This is about what everyone at Tempest Droneworx has created, and our mission to make sure that issues—like the one that befell Paradise, California, my hometown, and the inspiration for our Harbinger software—don’t become the full-blown (disasters)."

Audronis shares that the company is working to release an agriculture beta this summer and is raising a Tactical Funding Increase (TACFI) round through the AFWERX, the Department of the Air Force’s innovation arm.

Tempest’s Harbinger is impressing investors and clients alike, but what is it exactly and what does it do?

The best way to explain the solution is in how it’s redefining the agriculture space. Tempest has deployed the product at Grand Farm in North Dakota, an agtech operation that seeks to promote sustainable, climate-resilient farming using applied technology.

“We decided to go down the road of agriculture,” Audronis says. “We're currently installed at the Grand Farm in North Dakota, which is a farm that is very closely tied to Microsoft. They do third-party verification of new soils and fertilizers, and we are helping them with visualizing the data that they're getting from their sensors.”

Additionally, Audronis and his co-founder and wife, Dana Abramovitz, spearhead a pilot program at Doubting Thomas Farms, an organic farm in Minnesota, where the company has installed 22 in-ground sensors that can measure volatile organic emissions.

To further optimize their solutions approach, Tempest Droneworx will also train artificial intelligence to look for overspray from neighboring non-organic farms. This will help maintain organic certification and reduce insurance claims for lost crops.

“This will save Doubting Thomas Farms and other organic farms a boatload of cash,” Audronis says.

During an exclusive tour with InnovationMap, Audronis pulled up a live feed of sensors buried around the Minnesota farm up on the conference room display. The feed did, in fact, look like a video game, with the sensors giving real-time data about the farm’s temperature, moisture level, humidity, CO2 and nitrogen.

Harbinger will collect, extract and extrapolate all of the data and later provide a digital almanac for farmers to track the history of their crops.

As the office tour continued, Audronis pointed out the company’s expanding partnership with the U.S. Military.

As a retired U.S. Navy veteran with over two decades of experience designing, building and piloting drones, Audronis understands that Harbinger has multiple military applications that will ultimately save lives—a core tenet of his company’s mission.

The company has launched a robotic dog known as UBU, developed by Tempest partner Ghost Robotics, that enables faster, more accurate ground surveys for explosive devices. This task previously required multiple airmen and hours to complete, Audronis says.

With agriculture and military initiatives in progress and making an impact, Audronis hopes to one day bring his original vision for Tempest Droneworx and Harbinger full circle by getting the call to combat California’s next catastrophic wildfire.

“We're proving our technology in military and in agriculture right now,” Audronis says. “Eventually, I would like to still save some lives with wildfire. That's really the purpose of the company … Whether it's agriculture, smart cities, the bottom line is saving lives through real-time situational awareness."

Who let the robotic dogs out? AT&T — and a Houston expert explains why in a guest column. Photo via Getty Images

Why this company adopted robotic dog technology

guest column

What has 4 legs, can recognize your face, and precisely obey commands on cue? If you guessed a dog, you’re half right.

I’m referring to robotic dogs, a modern marvel of innovative engineering. AT&T recently expanded our solution offers to include network-connected robotic dogs for public safety, defense, federal and state agencies, local police and fire departments, and commercial customers. We do this in collaboration with a leading provider of robotic dogs, Ghost Robotics.

Robotic dogs are just one way we are proving the innovation and transformational possibilities of 5G and IoT. Network-connected robotic dogs can deliver a broad range of IoT use cases, including many that have previously required putting personnel in dangerous situations. Here’s a quick look at some of the fantastic capabilities network-connected robotic dogs deliver.

  • Our robotic dogs can support public safety agencies and organizations on FirstNet – the nation’s only network built with and for America’s first responders. FirstNet delivers always-on prioritized network connectivity for these “first responder” robotic dogs, helping them stay connected during disaster response and recovery, facilities surveillance, and security operations. They can support search and rescue, venture into areas that could imperil human lives, and support the ability to reestablish local communications services following major infrastructure damage.
  • We can integrate Geocast into the robotic dogs to provide Beyond-Visual-Line-of-Sight (BVLOS) operational command and control so that operators of the dogs can be located virtually anywhere in the world and remotely operate them. Geocast is an AT&T innovation covered by 37 patents.
  • The robotic dogs can be equipped with sensors that allow them to operate autonomously without human intervention. They can be outfitted with drones that can launch and return to their backs while in motion, allowing the drones and dogs to perform missions as an integrated team.
  • Rugged terrain? Water? Not a problem. These robotic dogs can move across natural terrain, including sand, rocks, hills, rubble, and human-built environments, like stairs. They can operate fully submerged in water and, like living dogs, can swim.
  • An early use case adopted by the military involves equipping our robotic dogs with wireless network-connected cameras and deploying them to patrol military bases. Robotic dogs we provided to the Air Force at Tyndall Air Force Base in the Florida panhandle are doing just that. Our robotic dogs patrol the flight line and base perimeter at Tyndall, feeding video data in real-time to base personnel who can safely track activity 24/7/365 and support the safety of base operations. They can perform the same task for commercial users, indoors or outdoors. For example, they can patrol the perimeters of large warehouses or outdoor fence lines.
  • They can also support hazmat efforts, inspect mines and high-voltage equipment, and detect explosive devices including improvised explosive devices (IEDs): all while keeping people out of harm’s way.
  • Another interesting use case involves equipping robotic dogs with Long Range Acoustic Devices (LRADs). LRADs are sound cannons that produce noise at high decibels and varying frequencies. We have discussed with the Navy the possibility of outfitting our robotic dogs with sound cannons to warn off wild boars and feral dog packs that have impeded operating crews working on telecommunications infrastructure located in remote areas of one of its bases.

Commercial applications for network-connected robotic dogs are proliferating. Utility companies, for example, are using robotic dogs equipped with video cameras to perform routine equipment inspections in substations. Human inspection requires operators to shut down the facilities during inspections; the robotic dogs eliminate the need to take this precaution. Allied Market Research projects a $13.4 billion global market for the particular use case of robotic dogs performing such inspections.

Our robotic dogs can also be equipped with technology that extends network connectivity into difficult-to-reach areas or mechanical arms that can grip and carry materials such as tools. Their use cases include Pick and Pack capabilities for warehouse operations to improve order fulfillment efficiency.

And this is just the beginning. We’ve said from the outset that the 5G journey of innovation and solution development would evolve to deliver new ways to conquer many challenges.

Now, we’ve let the dogs out.

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Lance Spencer is a client executive vice president of defense at AT&T Public Sector.

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New energy innovation and coworking spaces open at the Ion

moving in

Houston-based Occidental officially opened its new Oxy Innovation Center with a ribbon cutting at the Ion last week.

The opening reflects Oxy and the Ion's "shared commitment to advancing technology and accelerating a lower-carbon future," according to an announcement from the Ion.

Oxy, which was named a corporate partner of the Ion in 2023, now has nearly 6,500 square feet on the fourth floor of the Ion. Rice University and the Rice Real Estate Company announced the lease of the additional space last year, along with agreements with Fathom Fund and Activate.

At the time, the leases brought the Ion's occupancy up to 90 percent.

Additionally, New York-based Industrious plans to launch its coworking space at the Ion on May 8. The company was tapped as the new operator of the Ion’s 86,000-square-foot coworking space in Midtown in January.

Dallas-based Common Desk previously operated the space, which was expanded by 50 percent in 2023 to 86,000 square feet.

CBRE agreed to acquire Industrious in a deal valued at $400 million earlier this year. Industrious also operates another local coworking space is at 1301 McKinney St.

Industrious will host a launch party celebrating the new location Thursday, May 8. Find more information here.


Oxy Innovation Center. Photo via LinkedIn.

Houston improves ranking among best U.S. cities to start a business

Business News

Houston's reputation for being an entrepreneurial and business powerhouse was confirmed in WalletHub's new list of the "Best Large Cities to Start a Business" in 2025. The Energy Capital of the World moved up four spots this year and ranked No. 34 nationwide.

The annual report ranked 100 U.S. cities based on 19 metrics across three main categories: business environment, access to resources, and costs. Factors considered in the report include five-year business survival rates, job growth comparisons from 2019 and 2023, office space affordability, and more.

The sunny Florida city of Orlando (No. 1) topped the list as the best large city for starting a business this year.

Houston's business climate has improved slightly since 2024, when the city previously ranked No. 38.

Houston performed the best in the national business environment category, ranking No. 33 out of all 100 cities in the report. It fell behind in the categories for "business costs" and "access to resources" ranking No. 50 and No. 65, respectively.

"Starting a business can be very scary, considering one in every five startups doesn’t make it past the first year," said WalletHub analyst Chip Lupo. "That’s why it’s especially important to live in a city that provides an environment where new businesses can thrive, with enough capital, workers and customers to keep it going long-term."

Elsewhere in Texas
Austin was the only Texas city to rank among the top 10 best big cities to start a business in 2025, climbing up into the No. 3 spot.

"Businesses that are currently in Austin are thriving, as the city has a very high growth rate in the number of small businesses," the report said. "It also has the best employment growth in the country, which makes it more likely that new businesses will be able to find employees."

Dallas-Fort Worth had the greatest concentration of cities on the list, contributing six out of 13 total Texas cities, and all of them among the top 50: Fort Worth (No. 11), Arlington (No. 15), Dallas (No. 16), Irving (No. 22), Garland (No. 29), and Plano (No. 43).

Other large Texas cities that were named among the best places to start a business in 2025 include Lubbock (No. 33), Laredo (No. 44), San Antonio (No. 64), El Paso (No. 67), and Corpus Christi (No. 70).

The top 10 best large cities to start a business in 2025 are:

  • No. 1 – Orlando, Florida
  • No. 2 – Tampa, Florida
  • No. 3 – Austin, Texas
  • No. 4 – Jacksonville, Florida
  • No. 5 – Miami, Florida
  • No. 6 – St. Petersburg, Florida
  • No. 7 – Boise, Idaho
  • No. 8 – Atlanta, Georgia
  • No. 9 – Raleigh, North Carolina
  • No. 10 – Hialeah, Florida
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A version of this story originally appeared on our sister site, CultureMap.com.

Houston space tech leader lands up to $10 million for Earth re-entry vehicle and lab

space funding

Houston-based space technology, infrastructure, and services company Intuitive Machines has been awarded a state grant of up to $10 million to help develop an Earth re-entry vehicle and in-space biomanufacturing lab.

The Texas Space Commission approved the grant, which is coming from the state’s Space Exploration and Research Fund.

Intuitive Machines says the money will support its “critical risk-reduction platform” for returning lunar samples to Earth. The funding will go toward an early 12-month phase of the project.

“Returning samples from space is one of the most complex challenges in exploration,” says Tim Crain, chief growth officer at Intuitive Machines.

In 2022, Intuitive Machines began preliminary design work on an Earth re-entry vehicle for missions returning from low Earth orbit, the moon, or Mars. In tandem with development of the re-entry vehicle, the company has teamed up with Houston-based biotech company Rhodium Scientific on in-space biomanufacturing. This biomanufacturing will involve certain materials, processes and pharmaceuticals that can be handled more efficiently in space or that exhibit unique non-Earth properties.

Gámez Holzhaus, founder and CEO of Rhodium Scientific, says his company’s federally backed work “has enabled us to establish all hardware and protocols necessary for a pipeline to develop and scale biomanufacturing in space.”

Intuitive Machines and Rhodium Scientific say the state grant should pave the way for future grants and large-scale projects to bring the re-entry system closer to flight readiness.