GOOSE Society of Texas has invested in a chemical sensor company from Austin. Pexels

A Houston-based investment group has announced funding for a startup out of Austin that has the potential to disrupt multiple industries with its chemical sensor device.

GOOSE Society of Texas, a group of investors that invest over $50 million into early stage startups, led the $2.6 million round for Lantha Inc. The startup plans to use the funds for finalizing its commercial products, strategic hires, and expand its intellectual property. The device Lantha has created can detect solid-state chemicals, which can be used in a myriad of industries from pharmaceuticals and oil and gas to water and defense.

Jeff Smisek, former United Airlines CEO and founder of investment firm Flight Partners Management LLC, was the GOOSE investor to lead the deal. According to a news release, he will join Lantha's board of directors.

"Lantha is a great example of the GOOSE Society's investment thesis — a company with proprietary and disruptive technology, low capital costs, large addressable markets, speedy product development and high margins which can benefit from the vast experience and contacts of the GOOSE Society's investors," Smisek says in the release. "We are proud to lead this financing and look forward to working closely with Lantha's management and world class scientists as they build a powerhouse in the field-based chemical analysis market."

Simon Humphrey, associate professor of chemistry at the University of Texas, invented the handheld device that is faster, cheaper, and easier to use than traditional tools. Humphrey serves as CTO for the company, and Robert Toker is the CEO and chairman of Lantha.

"We have world class scientists, who are the inventors of our technology, and a strong founding team, and we've attracted a great group of investors led by Jeff Smisek and the GOOSE Society in Houston as well as several prominent investors associated with the University of Texas at Austin," Toker says. "... Partnering with GOOSE has materially improved our chances of success."

The Lantha investment represents the first time GOOSE has funded technology coming out of UT.

"We are excited about expanding GOOSE's investment efforts to UT and look forward to future collaborations and deals," says Samantha Lewis, director at GOOSE. Several high-profile investors from the UT community invested in Lantha's Series A Preferred Stock alongside GOOSE investors.

At Houston Exponential's second annual HX Capital Summit, four Houston entrepreneurs turned investors discussed their lessons learned. Getty Images

Here's what startups can learn from Houston exits

Success stories

One way to evaluate a city's innovation ecosystem is by the number of successful exits they've had. From startups being acquired by big companies to bringing in a private equity partner, exits can put a city on the map.

Houston has quite a few exits under its belt, and some of those entrepreneurs have stayed in town to fund future success stories. At Houston Exponential's second annual HX Capital Summit, four entrepreneurs discussed their exits, providing key lessons learned for entrepreneurs.

Houston has some perks. 

One thing moderator Samantha Lewis, director at the GOOSE Society of Texas, asked each panelist was what made each entrepreneur start their companies in Houston — and furthermore, what made them stay here after their successful exit.

Panelist Ashok Gowda co-founded and served as COO at Visualase Inc., a real-time tissue monitoring system that exited to Medtronic for over $100 million. He now leads Biotex, a Houston-based medical technology investment firm and accelerator, as president and CEO.

For Gowda, Houston was obviously a key market for med tech, but it provided something even more once he reached the commercialization phase of a product.

"From a commercial standpoint, once the technology became commercial, it was an ideal location," Gowda says. "We were traveling all across the US, and it was a nice hub. We're right in the center of the country, and you can get to either coast very quickly."

The panel also agreed that the quality of life in Houston played a major role in settling down.

You might need to rethink your executive team. 

The panel full of venture capitalists of course touched on the ability to fundraise in Houston, as each panelist had been on both sides of the table. For Gowda, it's pretty simple.

"If you're struggling to raise money, you either have a bad idea or the wrong team," he says, adding that if you really believe in your idea, take a good hard look at who's at the leadership level of your team.

Talent is still a challenge in Houston.

Of course, if you do identify a problem within your team, finding the right leader for your technology might be difficult in Houston.

Keith Kreuer, who was also on the panel, is principal at RedHouse Associates, a group of angel investors that invest like a find would, but without having a fund. Between Kreuer and his team, they were involved in 10 startups before forming the investment group.

"We could find developer and sales talent here, but to get to that higher executive talent, we had to go out to other places," Kreuer says.

However, not all of the panelists agreed that talent was a major challenge they faced. Some noted that they got lucky with the talent they found.

Don Kendall, CEO of Kenmont Capital Partners, came to Houston to run a power company and family office. He turned $100,000 into $1.6 billion and now is a member of GOOSE.

"We had no problem getting the engineering talent," Kendall says. "We really found Houston to be a good environment, and it's only just continued to improve."

Playing to Houston's strengths might be key to success.

For Gray Hall, managing director at Austin-based BuildGroup, which focuses on writing big checks to a small amount of software startups, he knew how to play to his company's and Houston's strengths.

Hall previously served as CEO of AlertLogic, which had a private equity exit in 2013, and Hall stayed on until 2018 as the company continued to grow. He also co-founded Veracenter, which had a strategic exit after growing to $80 million in annual revenue.

"The common theme across both companies and why we were able to grow is real simple: Customer and people," Hall says.

Houston might be one of the country's best kept secrets when it comes to midmarket activity, Hall notes — midmarket companies being defined as those with $50 million to $1 billion in revenue.

"What Houston doesn't get enough credit for is the midmarket in Houston, which I think is tremendous," Hall says. "It's as strong as anywhere else in the country."

AlertLogic was able to tap into this midmarket to quickly grow its client base.

Something else that differentiates Houston from other cities is its culture, which is less focused on the glitz and glam and more focused on hard work.

"Engage with people that have a credible story and a credible plan to solve a problem," he says.

Houston is growing. 

One thing each of the entrepreneurs agreed on is that the city is only growing its resources and quality of startups.

"I see Houston as sort of a startup in the startup world," Kreuer says. "And, what we're trying to do is grow and catch up to the West Coast and the East Coast, but I think Texas as a whole is going to be pretty powerful, and Houston is going to be a central part of that mainly because we have the markets here, and the people in the area and the talent to do that."

As Houston's success stories become more frequent, this provides an avenue for more entrepreneurs turned investors.

"When you've done it before, you've learned the lessons, and you feel like you can do it again and again," Gowda says. "That's what we're trying to do. You see all the possibilities here."

Syzygy Plasmonics, which is creating a cleaner energy source that runs on hydrogen, closed a $5.8 million round. Photo via plasmonics.tech

Houston clean energy company closes $5.8M Series A and prepares to revolutionize the industry

Game changer

A Houston technology company is doing something that, for many decades, wasn't thought to be possible. Syzygy Plasmonics is creating a hydrogen fuel cell technology that produces a cheaper source of energy that releases fewer carbon emissions.

The hydrogen-fueled technology originated out of research done over two decades by two Rice University professors, Naomi Halas and Peter Nordlander.

"There are rules in chemical engineering, and you can't break them, but we follow them in a different way," CEO Trevor Best tells InnovationMap. "What we're doing is fundamentally different. We're using light instead of heat to drive chemical reactions."

Syzygy's technology is structured more like a battery than that of a combustion engine. Inside the technology, there are cells, lights, and mirrors making as bright as possible, which then spurs a reaction that creates energy. It has the potential to be cheaper — it's made with cheaper materials — and, of course, cleaner than traditional fueling technology with fewer carbon emissions released.

This new photocatalytic chemical reactor has the potential to shake up the industrial gas, chemical, and energy industries — something that hasn't gone unnoticed by investors. Syzygy just closed a $5.8 million Series A round led by MIT's The Engine and Houston-based The GOOSE Society of Texas. Evok Innovations, a previous investor in the company, and angel investors from the Creative Destruction Lab also contributed to the round.

The funds will allow for Syzygy to continue to develop its technology and grow its team. Best tells InnovationMap that he expects to launch a full-size pilot by the end of 2020 and is already in talks with potential clients who are interested in the technology for industrial purposes.

"We're starting to solidify relationships and get customers ready," Best says.

Earlier this year, the company also received funding from the Department of Energy and from the National Science Foundation SBIR Program. The DOE tasked Syzygy with creating a reactor that transforms ammonia into hydrogen for fueling purposes. For the SBIR Program, the company is creating a reactor that processes carbon dioxide.

The winner of the Rice Business Plan Competition walked away with over $700,000 in prizes. Courtesy of Rice University

Rice University startup competition awards record $2.9 million in prizes

Big checks

On Saturday, over 20 organizations were prepared to write checks to entrepreneurs competing in the Rice Business Plan Competition, but the largest and richest student business plan competition doled out almost double what it initially intended to award.

Earlier this year, Rice University announced the 42 teams that would be competing for $1.5 million in prizes, but ended up giving out a record $2.9 million. While a few organizations announced they had trouble picking a single company and named two recipients, Houston-based GOOSE Society surprised everyone with almost $1 million in unexpected prizes.

"It shows the diversity in expertise and interest of our investors, and how much the quality of the deals grown at RBPC," says Samantha Lewis, director at GOOSE.

GOOSE, which is a network of investors, originally intended to provide the grand prize — a $350,000 check to the company with the top score from the judges. The 2019 grand prize winner was Vita Inclinata Technologies, a company from the Mitchell Hamline School of Law that created a technology to advance helicopter safety. On top of that, GOOSE investors tacked on five more prizes.

  • $300,000 to Resonado, a more efficient speaker design company, from the University of Notre Dame
  • $200,000 to Rhaeos, a medical device company that has a wearable sensor for neurosurgical patients, from the Northwestern University
  • $200,000 to spotLESS Materials, a company that created a repellant coating material, from Penn State University
  • $125,000 to CataLight, a more sustainable water filtration system company, from the University of Waterloo
  • $100,000 to BrewBike, a campus bike delivery concept, from Northwestern University and the University of Chicago

GOOSE has surprised the crowd before at past RBPC awards banquets, Lewis says, but that's usually been one or two extra prizes. This is the first year the organization has committed this much — and there's potential for these companies to receive even more.

The group now begins is true due diligence process, Lewis says, and depending on what they find, they could invest more. The 2017 winner, Pennsylvania-based Forest Devices Inc., was awarded GOOSE's $300,000 grand prize, but the company eventually received a $2 million investment instead.

Two Houston-based student teams competed in the program, but neither were named even semifinalists. Curenav from University of Houston didn't receive any prize money, but Rice's LilySpec received the $25,000 Pearland Economic Development Spirit of Entrepreneurship Prize as well as the $1,000 Mercury Fund prize and the $1,000 Orrick Awards Banquet Company Showcase Prize.

The 19th annual contest named seven finalists according to the judges' top scores — all receiving over $100,000 in prizes each.

  • First place: Vita Inclinata Technologies (won a total value of nearly $700,000)
  • Second place: Resonado (won more than $300,000 )
  • Third place: spotLESS Materials (won more than $360,000)
  • Fourth place: Rhaeos (won more than $450,000)
  • Fifth place: Zilper Trenchless, which developed a way to install pipes under streets with minimum effect on the surface, from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (won more than $435,000)
  • Sixth place: BrewBike (won more than $100,000)
  • Seventh place: CataLight (won more than $140,000)
From pitch competitions to panels, here's how Houstonians will be representing at SXSW. Marie Ketring/via sxsw.org

10 can't-miss events at SXSW featuring Houston speakers

South by the Bayou

Plenty of Houstonians, SXSW badge in hand, will be headed to Austin to network, learn, and share the stage with the rest of the festivals attendees. While InnovationMap has highlighted a few of the faces to be on the lookout for this weekend, here's a roundup of 10 events that have a Houston speaker or participant.

3/8 — Featured Session: Opening Speaker, Brené Brown

SXSW is starting right out of the gate with a Houstonian. Brene Brown, a research professor at the University of Houston, will be the keynote address. Her thoughtful talk will focus on community and one's sense of belonging.

The SXSW keynote address will be at 11 am on Friday, March 8, at the Austin Convention Center. Learn more.

3/8 — Hysteria No More: Data, Doctors and Women’s Health

Gone are the days that medical professionals dismiss women's health concerns as "hysteria," but there's still room for improvement on the matter. Three ob/gyns will talk about new ways women are finding health care solutions outside the doctor's office.

Rashmi Kudesia, physician at CCRM Fertility Houston, is one of the panelists, which occurs on Friday, March 8, at the JW Marriott. Learn more.

3/8 — Equitable Growth Ecosystems for Entrepreneurs panel

The country has an equity problem — especially when it comes to startups and funding. Nationally, venture capital funds are not distributed in a way that represents the populations diversity, so how does the industry right the course?

Grace Rodriguez of Impact Hub Houston is among the panel that will discuss this at 3:30 pm on Friday, March 8, at the Hilton Austin Downtown. Learn more.

3/9 — Austinpreneur: The Texas Startup Manifesto

Texas is among the growing innovation ecosystems in the world, but there's plenty of untapped potential. This Capital Factory panel will focus on taking Texas to the next level.

Lawson Gow, founder and CEO of The Cannon, will be a panelist at the event, which begins at 11 am on Saturday, March 9, at the Hilton Austin Downtown. Learn more.

3/9 — Startup Funding: From Apprenticeships to Professions

Venture capitalism has changed tenfold since its start. Looking back on the history of early stage funding can help predict where it's going — from Silicon Valley to every corner of the world.

Station Houston CEO Gabriella Rowe is on the panel, which will take place at 12:30 pm on Saturday, March 9, at the Hilton Austin Downtown. Learn more.

3/9 — Making the Fight Against Cancer Even More Personal

No one loves discussing cancer, but there's a large group of scientists who have to daily and they develop new technologies and innovations to help discover a cure for the deadly affliction.

James Allison, researcher at the University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center and 2018 Nobel Prize recipient, will be on the panel discussing ways to innovate within cancer research. The program starts at 5 pm on Saturday, March 9, at the JW Marriott. Learn more.

3/10 — SXSW Pitch Presented by Cyndx Awards Ceremony

Two Houston startups are competing for an award in the 11th annual SXSW Pitch Event. Fluidity Technologies will be presenting as its drone controller, FT Aviator, in the Hyper-Connected Communities category on Saturday, March 9, at 5 pm, and Zibrio SmartScale, which is in the Health and Wearable category, will present on Sunday, March 10, at 5 pm.

The pitch awards will take place at 6:30 pm on Sunday, March 10, at the Hilton Austin Downtown. Learn more.

3/11 — Tech Diversity Report Card 2019

Is diversity and inclusion basically just a myth in technology? Is it something that's attainable at this point, and what can the industry do to make that happen? A group of panelists discuss based on their experience and observations.

Heidi Hoover, head of office at Houston-based Flanders Investment & Trade, will be a member of the panel, which occurs on Monday, March 11, at 5 pm, at Capital Factory. Learn more.

3/11 — Angel Investor Meetup

Calling all acting and aspiring investors — it's time to rally. Two Texas investors are gathering the troops to discuss trends and opportunities in the state's — and the world's — investment sector.

Samantha Lewis of Houston-based GOOSE Society of Texas will be one of the hosts of the meetup, which takes place on Monday, March 11, at 5 p.m, at the Fairmont Hotel. Learn more.

3/12 — AI & IoT Panel and Emerging Company Showcase

Houston-based Baker Botts and Global Corporate Venturing are setting the stage for emerging tech companies to shine. The event includes a panel, a showcase, and an evening of networking.

James McKell, of Chevron Technology Ventures, is representing Houston on the panel, which begins at 2 pm on Tuesday, March 12, at Hotel Van Zandt. Learn more.

Honorable mentions


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Texas universities develop innovative open-source platform for cell analysis

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What do labs do when faced with large amounts of imaging data? Powerful cloud computing systems have long been the answer to that question, but a new riposte comes from SPACe.

That’s the name of a new open-source image analysis platform designed by researchers at Baylor College of Medicine, Texas A&M University and the University of Houston.

SPACe, or Swift Phenotypic Analysis of Cells, was created to be used on standard computers that even small labs can access, meaning cellular analysis using images produced through cell painting has a lower barrier to entry than ever before.

“The pharmaceutical industry has been accustomed to simplifying complex data into single metrics. This platform allows us to shift away from that approach and instead capture the full diversity of cellular responses, providing richer, more informative data that can reveal new avenues for drug development,” Michael Mancini, professor of molecular and cellular biology and director of the Gulf Coast Consortium Center for Advanced Microscopy and Image Informatics co-located at Baylor College of Medicine and TAMU Institute for Bioscience and Technology.

SPACe is not only accessible because of its less substantial computational needs. Because the platform is open-source, it’s available to anyone who needs it. And it can be used by academic and pharmaceutical researchers alike.

“The platform allows for the identification of non-toxic effects of drugs, such as alterations in cell shape or effects on specific organelles, which are often overlooked by traditional assays that focus largely on cell viability,” says Fabio Stossi, currently a senior scientist with St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital, the lead author who was at Baylor during the development of SPACe.

The platform is a better means than ever of analyzing thousands of individual cells through automated imaging platforms, thereby better capturing the variability of biological processes. Through that, SPACe allows scientists an enhanced understanding of the interactions between drugs and cells, and does it on standard computers, translating to scientists performing large-scale drug screenings with greater ease.

"This tool could be a game-changer in how we understand cellular biology and discover new drugs. By capturing the full complexity of cellular responses, we are opening new doors for drug discovery that go beyond toxicity,” says Stossi.

And the fact that it’s open-source allows scientists to access SPACe for free right now. Researchers interested in using the platform can access it through Github at github.com/dlabate/SPACe. This early version could already make waves in research, but the team also plans to continually improve their product with the help of collaborations with other institutions.

The Ion names new coworking partner for Houston innovation hub

Where to Work

Rice University subsidiary Rice Real Estate Co. has tapped coworking company Industrious as the new operator of the Ion’s 86,000-square-foot coworking space in Midtown. Industrious replaces WeWork-owned Common Desk in that role.

The Ion, owned by Rice Real Estate and located at 4201 Main St., is a 266,000-square-foot office building and innovation hub in the 16-acre Ion District.

Features of the coworking space include private suites and offices, dedicated desks, phone booths and conference rooms. In 2022, Common Desk said it was expanding the space by 28,000 square feet, bringing it to the current size.

“(Industrious’) unparalleled expertise in delivering quality, hospitality-driven workspaces complements our vision of creating a world-class ecosystem where entrepreneurs, corporations, and academia converge to drive innovation forward,” Ken Jett, president of Rice Real Estate, said in a statement.

Natalie Levine, senior manager of real estate at Industrious, says her company will work with Rice Real Estate “to continue to position the Ion as an invaluable contributor to the growth of Houston’s innovation community.”

Dallas-based commercial real estate services company CBRE said Jan. 14 that it had agreed to acquire Industrious in a deal valued at $400 million.

The Ion is Industrious’ second location in Houston. The company’s other local coworking space is at 1301 McKinney St.

Office tenants at the Ion include Occidental Petroleum, Fathom Fund, Activate, Carbon Clean, Microsoft and Chevron Technology Ventures.

Texas ranks among the 5 best states to start a business in 2025

Best for Biz

As one of the largest states in the U.S., it's no surprise Texas is big on business and entrepreneurship. Now the state is earning new praise among WalletHub's 2025 list of "Best & Worst States to Start a Business."

The Lone Star State claimed the No. 4 spot in the report's rankings, proving that Texas is in a much better business shape than it was last year when it earned No. 8 in WalletHub's annual report.

The study compared all 50 states across 25 metrics to determine the best places to start, grow, and find success with a new business. Factors that were considered include the number of startups per capita, job growth rates, financing accessibility measures, labor costs and corporate tax rates.

The three states to outperform Texas in the 2025 report are Florida (No. 1), Georgia (No. 2), and Utah (No. 3). Idaho rounded out the top five.

Across the study's three main categories, Texas performed the best in the "business environment" category, earning No. 1 nationally. This section compares the states based on five-year business survival rates, average business revenues growth and more.

Texas ranked No. 12 in the nationwide comparison of "access to resources" – which covers working age population growth, venture investment amounts per capita and other means – and earned a fair No. 34 in the report's "business costs" ranking.

But Texas can still do better with its business friendliness to reclaim a top-three overall ranking, which the state last earned in 2023.

WalletHub analyst Chip Lupo said in the report that it is imperative for potential new business owners to establish their enterprise in a place that can maximize their ability to succeed.

"Around half of all new businesses don’t survive five years, so the idea of becoming a business owner can be daunting, especially with the current high cost of living," Lupo said. "The best states have low corporate tax rates, strong economies, an abundance of reliable workers, easy access to financing and affordable real estate. On top of that, you’ll need to make sure you start in a place with an engaged customer base, if you’re operating locally."

Houston has also proven to be at the top of the destination list for entrepreneurs who are looking for their next venture.

The top 10 best states to start a new business in 2025 are:

  • No. 1 – Florida
  • No. 2 – Georgia
  • No. 3 – Utah
  • No. 4 – Texas
  • No. 5 – Idaho
  • No. 6 – Oklahoma
  • No. 7 – Nevada
  • No. 8 – Colorado
  • No. 9 – Arizona
  • No. 10 – Kentucky
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This story originally appeared on our sister site, CultureMap.