Houston health tech startup taps into IBM tech for AI integration

teaming up

A Houston startup aimed at transforming healthcare with solutions for chronic disease and its prevention has teamed up with IBM technology.

WellnessWits has embedded IBM watsonx Assistant into its app for both iOS and Android. By making generative AI part of the app, WellnessWits now boasts an AI-based chat functionality.

That cutting-edge aspect of the platform allows patients to get information on chronic disease more quickly than ever, even before meeting with their physician. But it helps with that, too, aiding in scheduling appointments more easily with doctors who specialize in a host of chronic maladies.

“I founded WellnessWits as a platform for shared medical appointments where doctors with large patient loads can see them in groups and offer collective shared medical experiences to people suffering from chronic conditions. The goal is to bridge this divide, leveraging the strength of digital communities to enhance the overall well-being and healthcare experiences of individuals everywhere,” WellnessWits Founder and CEO Dr. Kike Oduba, a physician and informatician, writes in a blog post.

Oduba founded the company in 2018. In its early years, she participated in IBM’s First AI Cohort for Underrrepresented Founders Program. She believes that by using watsonx Assistant in her technology arsenal, WellnessWits will be a means to “digitize, standardize and automate care plans for patients dealing with chronic diseases.”

Diabetes management is a cornerstone of the company, but Oduba says that WellnessWits is similarly committed to impacting health issues including cancer, chronic pain, mental health, and obesity.

“By partnering with IBM, and academic leaders in institutions like The University of Texas, we aim to extend our reach and impact,” Oduba says.

In addition to the IBM program, Oduba and WellnessWits was selected for MassChallenge's recent cohort.

MassChallenge Startup Stories: WellnessWits Founder's Journey from Struggles to SuccessIn this inspiring 6-minute testimonial, we take you through the remarkable experience of Dr. Oduba, founder and CEO of ...

After growing in Chicago and raising funding, Partum Health selected Houston to expand its femtech platform. Photo via Getty Image

Growing femtech company chooses Houston for first out-of-state expansion

moving in

A startup dedicated to comprehensive pregnancy, birth and postpartum care has expanded from its Chicago birthplace to Houston.

Last summer, Partum Health raised $3.1 million in seed funding, which makes it possible for the company to begin a nationwide expansion. That begins in Space City.

“We looked at states where there is work to do on outcomes for maternal health. Texas rose to the top and Houston, in many ways is fairly close to Chicago, our home city. The really thriving healthcare ecosystem attracted us as well,” CEO and Co-Founder Meghan Doyle tells InnovationMap.

As a mom of a seven-year-old and a nine-year-old herself, Doyle says that she experienced the gap firsthand in what’s available to women beyond what her obstetrician or midwife does.

“You had to work really hard to cobble together the care you needed. It was a matter of putting together my personal experiences of realizing it’s not just me, it’s systematic,” says Doyle. “I couldn’t get that problem out of my head.”

Neither could her co-founder and head of operations, Matt Rogers, a father of twins whose family had to navigate the NICU and life-threatening complications. They started working together on the business in earnest during the COVID shutdown and debuted Partum Health at the beginning of 2021.

Partum has begun partnering with obstetricians and midwives to help select complementary care that includes lactation support, pelvic floor physical therapy, mental health services, nutrition counseling and doula care. What’s unique about the plan is that, from aiding in behavioral health problems to addressing nutritional issues, the user’s team is distributed around the Houston area and are fully virtual. Physical therapy and other services that must be done in-person may take place either in-home or at third-party locations.

“We’re still in the process of credentialing with insurance companies,” says Doyle.

In Illinois, Partum is already working with BlueCross BlueShield, United Healthcare, Aetna and Cigna for clinical care, so Doyle says she is confident that those companies will soon follow suit in Texas.

While hiring a team in Houston that includes a client care lead, Doyle says that Partum is simultaneously providing services and getting to know the market better. They’re also building more bundled models of care to better assist users in their new landscape.

Doyle and Partum Healthcare participated in the Ignite Healthcare Network’s 2023 program, which concluded last week with a pitch competition. Ignite helps female healthcare founders to connect with mentors and other industry experts that will help them navigate the health tech ecosystem. Doyle was one of nine finalists, but did not place in the top three. But she says the program has helped prepare her for success nonetheless.

“In our world, you’re always pitching,” she admits.

The next steps for Partum include a 2024 rife with expansion. Because building relationships with insurance happens on a state-by-state basis, the company will be able to help women around Texas soon after the company is comfortably established in Houston. The Dallas-Fort Worth area will likely be first, followed by Austin and San Antonio.

“We know there’s a huge gap in access to care that may mean evolving a little bit and reaching out across the state,” Doyle says.

Last month, the Texas Health and Human Services Commission reported that 90 percent of the state’s pregnancy-related deaths are preventable. With access to care like what Partum provides, those complications could become a thing of the past.

Sepsis has been the No. 1 killer hospitals, but this Houston startup has a tech to help mitigate the risk. Photo via Getty Images

Houston startup taps into AI to help prevent leading cause in hospital death

coming for sepsis

Anyone can die of sepsis. The number one killer in hospitals has a reputation for felling the infirm and elderly, but while the immunocompromised are at highest risk, sepsis isn’t that selective.

Take 12-year-old Rory Staunton. In 2012, the healthy boy scratched his arm diving for a ball in gym class at his school in Jackson Heights, NY. Bacteria entered his arm through the cut and he died days later of septic shock.

His story is not unique. Physician Sarma Velamuri saw this firsthand in his internal medicine practice at St. Luke’s Health Center and his residency at Baylor, both in Houston. But it really struck home when he watched helplessly as a friend’s 22-year-old daughter lost her life to sepsis. He had to tell his friend that she would not be coming home.

“There are 300,000-plus people a year who die of sepsis,” says Velamuri. “It’s important that people understand it’s not just those who are most susceptible to infections.”

This fact is not only unfortunate, but preventable. And that’s why Velamuri, who describes himself as “a recovering hospitalist,” co-founded Luminare in 2014. A full-time CEO since 2017, Velamuri, who runs the company with co-founder and CTO Marcus Rydberg, is based in the TMC Innovation Factory.

“Because of the complex workflows in hospitals, sometimes it takes 10 people to get the patient the care they need,” Velamuri explains.

And because of the pervasiveness of sepsis, it’s important to screen every patient who enters an institution before it gets to that point.

Luminare’s technology allows nurses, who are notoriously spread thin, to automatically screen patients in 10 seconds using 50 different parameters.

“We’re looking at a vast amount of data simultaneously,” says Velamuri. “We’re not generating any new data, we’re taking data that exists and shining a light on it.”

In 2020, the technology found a new application when Velamuri and his team created a version of Luminare that helped with the hospital workflow surrounding COVID PCR testing and vaccine management. Since then, it has also been used to help identify and treat monkeypox.

Though Velamuri says he doesn’t want to distract Luminare from its goal of making sepsis the number-two killer in hospitals, he is also aware that his technology can be instrumental in identifying and treating patients at risk for countless other maladies, including heart failure and stroke, and even helping with oncology workflows.

Velamuri says that his team is Luminare’s biggest strength, far more than the AI that they have designed.

“I have this saying that AI is a great servant but a terrible master. It doesn’t solve the problem,” says Velamuri.

Though the company is distributed as far afield as Stockholm, about half of its people live and work in Houston. Of the company’s placement in TMC’s Innovation Factory, Velamuri says, “They’ve been tremendous partners to us. The company would not be as successful today without their supportive partnership.” Not least of that is working with in the same space as other founders who can share their expertise as easily as a trip to the coffee machine.

And the company is growing quickly. Last year, Luminare participated in Cedars-Sinai’s accelerator program. Thanks to that partnership, the hospital is now using Luminare’s technology for sepsis screening. The team is working to partner with even more large hospital systems on solutions for one of the health industry’s biggest problems. And data that shows that Luminare can be the path to preventing death from hospitals’ most prolific killer.

Sarma Velamuri went from MD to CEO when he founded Luminare. Photo via luminare.io

Whatever the future holds, it’s a sure bet that health tech will remain a strong sector that attracts investors. Photo via Getty Images

How a shifting business model in Houston can keep health tech attractive to investors

guest column

Investment in health tech, in Houston and nationwide, took off in 2021. Despite a dip in funding in 2022, the sector is hardly losing its luster. In fact, it continues to attract investor attention as it evolves into a more mature, and equally exciting, market.

Health tech is especially vibrant in Houston. With a strong life sciences ecosystem, Houston is home to Texas Medical Center – the world’s largest medical research complex. That ecosystem is set to become even stronger with the completion of TMC’s Helix Park, a 37-acre life sciences campus, later this year. Couple this with analysis suggesting that Houston is the country’s third fastest-growing tech ecosystem and the future looks promising.

Houston is currently home to 339 health tech startups, according to Tracxn, ranging from companies that make apps to track cognitive health to those offering solutions for chronic disease management, and initiatives are in place to help grow the depth and breadth of that bench. For example, Texas Medical Center Innovation helps health-tech startups launch and build relationships with the state’s medical community. And, Houston Methodist has announced plans to build a digital health technology hub at The Ion, the tech-focused office and collaboration space that serves as the anchor to Houston’s innovation district.

Deloitte recently released a new Health Tech Investment Trends Report, based on data analysis of venture-capital deals in health tech, as well as interviews with investors and startup executives. The findings indicate several key shifts affecting health-tech companies and startup scenes, both here in Houston and nationwide. Namely, changes are occurring in three discrete areas: in investors’ area of focus, in the type of health challenges startups are addressing, and in the creation of a new business model for health-tech companies.

Investors seek stability. Nationwide, funding for health-tech startups dipped to $27.5 billion in 2022 from $39.3 billion in 2021, a decline of 30 percent. To be sure, a 30 percent drop in anything can cause concern, but here, it’s an indication that investors are putting more money into older, more established companies – late-stage companies received 75 percent of investments in 2022 – rather than growth companies. In Houston, startup funding overall in the first quarter of 2023 totaled $106 million across five deals, with health-tech startups nabbing 20 percent of the pie, and with an average of $21.2 million per deal.

Startups refocus. Health-tech entrepreneurs are moving away from telehealth and general mental health and moving towards specific mental-health areas, for instance those directed toward certain populations such as the elderly or women. Health equity is front and center, with both diverse founders and solutions for diverse communities attracting attention. Companies offering back-office efficiencies to healthcare providers are also garnering investor interest.

Business models shift. The news here: Toward platforms and away from pipelines. Many traditional businesses use the pipeline model. They create products and deliver them to end users, handling manufacturing, marketing, and distribution along the way. A platform model works a bit differently. It creates the product, then establishes a network of users and partners who exchange information and resources and work together to deliver products and services to the end user.

Investors seem to like platforms, as eight of the top 10 later-stage companies funded in 2022 utilize this platform model, according to Deloitte’s analysis of Pitchbook’s Health Tech Funding Database. The platform ecosystem also may be the way our healthcare system can transform from one that reacts to one that focuses on prevention and wellbeing.

In the near future, a few factors might further shape this health-tech evolution. Macroeconomics, for instance, could put more emphasis on unit economics at startups. Startups that previously sold their services to employers may increasingly look at healthcare systems as potential customers. Whatever the future holds, it’s a sure bet that health tech will remain a strong sector that attracts investors.

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Kelly Redding is audit and assurance partner at Deloitte & Touche LLP. She's based in the company's Houston office.

Peter Micca is audit and assurance partner and national health tech leader for Deloitte & Touche LLP. He's based in New York.

The Texas Medical Center Innovation Factory has named the 16 companies making up the inaugural cohort in the Innovate UK Global Incubator Programme. Photo via tmc.edu

TMC names inaugural cohort for unique accelerator with UK

coming to HOU

Sixteen digital health and medical device startups founded in the United Kingdom have been selected for a customized accelerator at the Texas Medical Center's Innovation Factory.

The 16 companies will participate in the program from June to November. The cohort is expected to arrive in Houston on June 5 and have access to TMCi's facilities, network of mentors and potential clients, funding, potential customers, and curated programing — all while being a unique entry point into the US. The new offering joins three other globally recognized curriculums: Biodesign, Accelerator for Cancer Therapeutics, and Health Tech.

“TMCi nurtures long-term growth, development, and competitiveness to increase startups chances of success and global expansion," says Emily Reiser, associate director of TMC Innovation. "By bringing their novel technologies and exposing them to a curated selection of TMC’s expert network, startups receive support and evaluation to build, scale, and expand in the US market."

Two of the cohort's specialties include cardiovascular and oncology — two of TMC's strongest areas of expertise — with solutions ranging from surgical devices to AI-enabled risk stratification and hospital efficiency.

Innovate UK is the country's national innovation agency dedicated to supporting business-led innovation in all sectors.

“The United Kingdom is fully committed to improving global healthcare through scientific collaboration," says His Majesty’s Consul General in Texas Richard Hyde in the release. "Through the expansion of the TMC UK BioBridge and in partnership with Innovate UK, this programme will help to expose the brightest and best British companies to the world’s largest medical city. Our companies will collaborate and grow as they work to develop cutting edge technology. The partnership between the UK Government and TMC demonstrates that international collaboration can drive both economic growth and improvement to quality of life.”

The 16 companies making up the inaugural cohort are as follows, according to TMC.

AINOSTICS aims to revolutionize the treatment and prevention of neurological conditions, such as dementia, by developing innovative AI-enabled solutions that draw novel insights from routinely acquired non-invasive medical scans to deliver accurate diagnosis and outcome prediction, and in turn facilitate personalized care and timely access to disease-modifying treatments for patients.
Alvie is a blended human plus AI-enabled digital solution providing personalised pre and rehabilitation coaching and supportive care for cancer and surgery. Alvie's technology combines data profiling, risk-stratification and tailored prescriptions of health and well-being with curated educational content, targeted behaviour change coaching and expert support through chat messaging and virtual consultations.
C the Signs™ is a validated AI cancer prediction platform, which can identify patients at risk of cancer at the earliest and most curable stage of the disease. Used by healthcare professionals, C the Signs can identify which tumor type a patient is at risk of and recommend the most appropriate next step in less than 30 seconds. The platform has detected over 10,000 patients with cancer, with over 50 different types of cancer diagnosed, and with a sensitivity of >98% for cancer.
At PEP Health, We believe all patients deserve the best care possible. Our cutting-edge machine-learning technology enables healthcare organisations, regulators, and insurers the real-time, actionable insights they need to have a direct and dramatic impact on patient experiences.
PreciousMD improves the lives of lung-cancer and other lung-related illnesses patients worldwide by enabling imaging-based diagnostics needed for personalized treatment pathways.
Ufonia is an autonomous telemedicine company, we use large language models and voice AI to increase the capacity of clinical professionals.
My mhealth offers digital therapeutics for a range of long-term conditions- COPD, Asthma, Diabetes and Heart Disease. Our product has been successfully deployed in the UK and India, with >100,000 users registered to date. Our solutions empower patients to self-manage their conditions, resulting in dramatic improvements in outcomes, as evidenced through multiple clinical trials and real-world evaluations.
At Surgery Hero, we offer a clinically backed solution that ensures whole-human support before and after surgery. We help health systems, employers and health plans cut costs without sacrificing quality of care.
Panakeia's software platform enables extremely rapid multi-omics profiling in minutes directly from routinely used tissue images without needing wet lab assays.
QV Bioelectronics are striving to deliver longer, better quality lives for brain tumour patients. Using their first-of-its-kind implantable electric field therapy device, GRACE, QV will provide effective, focal & continuous treatment without impacting patient quality of life.
52 North is a med-tech company focused on improving health outcomes and health equity by reinventing care pathways. The NeutroCheck® solution is a finger-prick blood test and digital platform built to significantly improve safety and quality of life for cancer patients, by helping to identify at-home those patients who are at risk of the most fatal side-effect of chemotherapy: neutropenic sepsis.
Somnus is fulfilling an unmet need in global healthcare by developing real-time, point of care blood propofol monitoring. Its products will improve the care of sedated and anaesthetised patients, save money for hospitals, and facilitate a major reduction in greenhouse gas emissions.
ScubaTx is a breakthrough organ transplant preservation company established to solve the global unmet need for cost-efficient and longer-duration organ preservation technology. ScubaTx has developed a simple, small and affordable device which uses Persufflation to extend the preservation of organs.
IBEX is on a mission to help people live active, healthy and productive lives by increasing their access to early diagnosis of osteoporosis. The IBEX BH software as medical device delvers routine, automated assessment of fracture risk from routine radiology for earlier detection and more equitable treatment of osteoporosis.
NuVision produces products derived from donated human amniotic membrane that are used in ophthalmology to help patients with chronic, traumatic and post-surgical wounds of the eye to be treated earlier and recover more fully and more quickly. The company’s products are also used in the management of dry eye disease, a debilitating conditions that affects around 17m people in the USA.
Calon Cardio-Technology is on a mission to improve quality of life for patients with Left Ventricular Assist devices (LVAD) and reduce the common post operative complications associated with these implantable heart pumps. We plan to do this by introducing a completely wireless heart pump system and augment patient follow-up with built-in remote monitoring capabilities.

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Houston sports tech startup aims to optimize unsold resale ticket market with new platform

game on

Online platforms have long simplified the process of buying, selling, and trading event tickets. But what happens when your tickets don’t sell or when you’re stuck with costly season tickets you can’t use? You might end up giving them away or leaving them unused, leading to a financial loss either way.

This is the challenge that Houstonian Jerin Varkey is willing to address with Offer Approved, a new platform that empowers sellers and buyers, guaranteeing that no seat goes unused.

The idea took root around two years ago when Varkey, a passionate sports fan and season ticket holder, faced a new challenge. After becoming a parent, he found himself unable to attend every game. Frustrated with traditional resale platforms, he quickly realized that high fees and limited time made it difficult to sell all his tickets, causing him to lose money each time.

"I knew there was someone out there willing to pay $50," he recalls.

A transparent market for resale tickets

Offer Approved is a transparent and trusted platform for both sellers and buyers. Screenshots courtesy of Offer Approved

With this idea in mind, he started intensive research through 2023, identifying the multiple inefficiencies in the ticket market, including seeing the same seat in different marketplaces simultaneously.

“You’ll go through the checkout process and discover that those seats are no longer available; what happens is somebody bought it a few seconds before you on a different site, and the new system is taking it down," Varkey tells InnovationMap.

Scams, falsification, and security flaws were also among the problems. Offer Approved aims to fix these gaps by offering a transparent and trusted platform for both sellers and buyers, specifically to season ticket holders who leave several seats empty at stadiums each night.

“Sellers now have better visibility into the market, and we assist them in managing their listings," Varkey explains. "If a ticket is listed at $100, the seller can set a hidden minimum price of $80 or $70. Any offer that meets or exceeds that amount is automatically accepted, saving them the hassle of manually adjusting prices each time.”

A business model focused on sustainable growth

Varkey initially partnered with angel investors to bring the developer and a technical team. He prefers to avoid paid advertising, opting instead for a more sustainable business approach, including a small fee for sellers and a service charge for managing season tickets.

The project is currently self-funded, and Varkey is focused on ensuring long-term sustainability.

"I'm perfectly fine with taking things slowly. My priority is to make sure the model is sound first," he says.

Offer Approved is currently seeking season ticket holders and partnerships to build supply. He has also been in conversations with Toyota Center, NRG Stadium, and Minute Maid Park and their sports teams.

From corporate worker to visionary founder

Jerin Varkey founded Offer Approved to target unsold resale tickets to sporting events. Photo courtesy of Offer Approved

Varkey’s entrepreneurial journey started in the corporate world at Shell where he worked for ten years within capital project management and business improvement.

“It was a great experience, and I learned a lot, but I constantly felt the urge to say, 'This could be improved if we made some changes.' That kind of flexibility just wasn't possible in large corporate environments,” he recalls.

Varkey says he always tried to build innovative projects on the side until he finally left the company in 2018 and started working for venture-backed startups, where he found a space to bring his ideas to life.

For the past five years, Varkey has worked for startups like Gympass and Entera as a head of strategy and analytics. Now, as the founder of Offer Approved, he continues to work on new projects while driving his ticketing platform forward in Houston.

Varkey’s vision goes beyond just sports tickets and local markets — he aims to expand into areas like restaurant reservations, hotel stays, and other time-sensitive services, even offering deals to clients when traveling or exploring new cities.

“I believe in the power of negotiation, and I envision a future where people can make offers on anything with an expiration date,” he says.

Houston software provider makes strategic acquisition to expand platform

growing biz

An advanced geosteering, geoscience, and drilling software solutions company based in Houston has announced the acquisition of of a software platform.

ROGII plans to acquire TerraSLS's TLog Mudlog Editor software, which is used to generate vertical, and horizontal striplogs for use by geologists. The acquisition “will significantly enhance ROGII's product offerings by providing operators and clients with unprecedented real-time connectivity to mudlogging data,” according to ROGII. Mudlogging is a process that involves examining the cuttings of rock brought to the surface by the drilling.

“Our acquisition of TLog marks another step forward in our mission to deliver the most advanced, real-time data solutions to the oil and gas industry,” CEO of ROGII Igor B. Uvarov says in a news release. “The integration of TLog’s capabilities into our Solo Cloud platform will revolutionize the way operators and mudlogging service companies interact, making mudlogging a truly real-time process and driving greater efficiency and collaboration.”

One way it works is that ROGII will integrate TLog into its Solo Cloud platform, which will advance mudlogging data. This gathers it all into a real-time data exchange between mudlogging service companies and its operators.

The integration will allow operators to monitor mudlogging activities in real-time, which means a possible faster and more informed decision-making processes. The user will get immediate access to data, which can help enhance collaboration and improve efficiency. In addition, the mudlogging data will be safely stored on Solo Cloud for future analysis and data integration, which assists with maintaining integrity of the data.

“We look forward to investing in further development of TLog, increasing user-friendliness, expanding adoption worldwide, and making it the industry standard, being used by all mudlogging service companies,” Uvarov adds.

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This article originally ran on EnergyCapital.

3 Houston innovators to know this week

who's who

Editor's note: Every week, I introduce you to a handful of Houston innovators to know recently making headlines with news of innovative technology, investment activity, and more. This week's batch includes a biotech leader, a Nobel laureate, and EV innovator.

Chris George, United States co-lead at Octopus Electric Vehicles

Chris George, United States co-lead at Octopus Electric Vehicles, joins the Houston Innovators Podcast. Photo courtesy of Octopus

Switching from a gas-powered car to an electric one can be a big change, but a Houston-based company has made things a lot easier for its customers.

Octopus Electric Vehicles US, a spinout of United Kingdom-based retail energy provider Octopus Energy, matches its users with their perfect EV lease and sets them up with smart electricity technology for at-home charging.

"We do a couple of really unique things that are not only first of its kind but really innovative," Octopus EV's US Co-Lead Chris George says on the Houston Innovators Podcast, pointing out specifically Octopus Energy's Intelligent Octopus, a smart feature for customers that automates energy usage to lower cost.

"We launched an Intelligent Octopus for EVs service. Instead of operating in a very narrow window — overnight — it operates dynamically," he continues. Read more.

James P. Allison, director of the James P. Allison Institute

MD Anderson's lab led by Nobel laureate James Allison has secured a $5 million donation. Photo courtesy of MD Anderson Cancer Center

The James P. Allison Institute at The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center scored a $5 million gift at its second annual symposium.

On behalf of Mayor John Whitmire, Oct. 10, 2024 was named “James P. Allison Institute Day,” and it was also the day that the TMC3 Collaborative Building in the Texas Medical Center’s Helix Park greeted 900 attendees for the scientific symposium, entitled “Immunotherapy in Space and Time: The Tumor Microenvironment.”

“Spatial biology is a rapidly expanding field that offers tremendous new insights into immunobiology that were not possible just a few short years ago. Understanding how immune cells interact with their neighbors and with tumor cells in space and time will enable us to bring forward new strategies to improve immunotherapy outcomes,” says James P. Allison. “We are proud to host this annual symposium to advance the field, and we are extremely grateful for the support of the Wintermann Foundation to make new breakthroughs possible.” Read more.

Paul Wotton, managing partner of RBL LLC

Established to rapidly build companies based on Rice University's portfolio of over 100 patents, RBL LLC is Rice University's new biotech venture creation studio based in Texas Medical Center Helix Park. RBL comes on the heels of establishing the Rice Biotech Launch Pad, a biotech innovation accelerator that opened last year.

Paul Wotton, executive director of the Rice Biotech Launch Pad, co-founded RBL with his colleagues Omid Veiseh, Rice professor of bioengineering and faculty director of the Rice Biotech Launch Pad; Jacob Robinson, Rice professor of electrical and computer engineering; and Dr. Rima Chakrabarti, a physician scientist and venture capital investor with KdT Ventures.

“This is a pivotal moment for Houston and beyond,” Wotton, who serves as RBL’s managing partner, says in a news release from Rice. “Houston has rapidly emerged as a global life sciences powerhouse, blending cutting-edge research with early clinical applications at Rice and the city’s world-renowned hospital systems." Continue reading.

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Top stories: Houston's most-read health tech news of 2023

year in review

Seattle biotech co. to move to Houston thanks to $13.3M grant from Texas organization

Houston hospital opens next phase in $245M expansion

Houston med device startup raises $18M, prepares to hire

TMC names inaugural cohort for unique accelerator with UK

Houston health tech startup acquired by medical device company

Houston health tech startup taps into IBM tech for AI integration

teaming up

Growing femtech company chooses Houston for first out-of-state expansion

moving in

Houston startup taps into AI to help prevent leading cause in hospital death

coming for sepsis

How a shifting business model in Houston can keep health tech attractive to investors

guest column

TMC names inaugural cohort for unique accelerator with UK

coming to HOU

CultureMap Emails are Awesome

Houston sports tech startup aims to optimize unsold resale ticket market with new platform

game on

Houston software provider makes strategic acquisition to expand platform

growing biz

3 Houston innovators to know this week

who's who

Chris George, United States co-lead at Octopus Electric Vehicles

James P. Allison, director of the James P. Allison Institute

Paul Wotton, managing partner of RBL LLC