10+ can't-miss virtual business and innovation events in Houston for July

where to be online

A Rice University course on fostering innovation at your company, investor Q&As, a summit for drone and robotics within the energy industry, and more online events not to miss this month. Getty Images

Virtual events at this point has become the new normal for Houston's innovation ecosystem. From interactive Q&As and virtual pitches to online courses and panels, here's what's in store for Houston entrepreneurs this month.

July 1 — The Ion Smart and Resilient Cities Accelerator Cohort 2 Demo Day

The Ion Smart and Resilient Cities Accelerator Cohort 2's Demo Day will be filled with sessions that speak to Cohort 2's themes of air quality, water purification, and cleantech efforts in Houston. These sessions will feature the work that is currently being done, and highlight the work that needs to be done.

Details: This event takes place Wednesday, July 1, from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Learn more.

July 8 — HXTV'S HouTech Talks ft. AvidXchange

Tyler Gill and Chris Elmore of AvidXchange join HXTV for a live Q&A that will tackle the big questions on everyone's mind, like how founders should adjust in the face of the pandemic and what fundraising will look like once the pandemic loosens its grip.

Details: This event takes place Wednesday, July 8, from 1 to 2 pm. Learn more.

July 9 — Intro to Investing & Ask Me Anything with Dumb Money and Joshua Baer

Join Capital Factory as they walk you through the ins and outs of investing in startups, stocks, and more with guest speakers from Dumb Money.


Details: This event takes place Thursday, July 9, from 2 to 3:30 pm. Learn more.

July 11 — Enventure Basecamp: Business Building Workshop

Enventure's community-driven business building basecamp series returns this June to support a local innovator construct their healthcare venture. This month, BioVentures team DiaPacer is featured.

Details: This event takes place Saturday, July 11, from 9 a.m. to noon. Learn more.

July 14 — HXTV's VC Ask Me Anything Virtual Event featuring Plug and Play

In this virtual event, Neda Amidi, Milad Malek, and Payal Patel will share information about Plug and Play's investment activities and other plans in Houston.

Details: This event takes place Tuesday, July 14, from 5 to 6 p.m. Learn more.

July 14-16 — Energy Drone & Robotics Virtual Summer Summit

Ahead of its fall summit, Energy Drone & Robotics is bringing live industry keynotes, asset owner panels, moderated discussion groups, 1:1 meetings, demos and use cases with hardware, software and service solution providers virtually.

Details: This event takes place Tuesday, July 14, to Thursday, July 16. Learn more.

July 15 — Maintaining an Ecosystem in a Time of Uncertainty

At this event, General Assembly is hosting local leaders to discuss how they are coping with the COVID-19 devastation and what they're doing to maintain community and interaction within their groups.

Details: This event takes place Wednesday, July 15, from 6 to 7:30 p.m. Learn more.

July 16 — HXTV's VC Ask Me Anything Virtual Event featuring Bowery Capital

Bowery Capital is an early-stage venture capital investor focused exclusively on founders looking to modernize business through technology. The live Q&A that will tackle the big questions on everyone's mind, like how founders should adjust in the face of the pandemic and what fundraising will look like once the pandemic loosens its grip.

Details: This event takes place Thursday, July 16, from 3 to 4 pm. Learn more.

July 16-17 — MassChallenge's Virtual Showcase

Hear from all 56 startups in the Houston cohort as well as the Boston, Austin, and Rhode Island cohorts. The showcase environment is a premier opportunity for hear directly from the founding teams and get a sneak peek at the future of business and technology. At the center of the event will be the startup demo booths where each company will actively pitch their mission and business to event guests.

Details: This event takes place Thursday, July 16, to Friday, July 17, from noon to 3 p.m. Learn more.

July 17 — Open Innovation and Problem-Solving in an Organization

Open innovation enables firms to leverage data, talent and expertise to rapidly generate new ideas, solve problems and find efficiencies. This Rice University course will help business leaders identify urgent and critical problems amenable to open innovation solutions and develop creative strategies and implementation through open innovation.

Details: This event takes place Friday, July 17, from 9 to 11 a.m. Learn more.

July 29 — Transition into Tech (For Oil and Gas Professionals)

What happens when you've realized it's time for a change? For many, it can be as simple as a new look, a new restaurant, or a trip out of town. But what about when it's your career and livelihood that needs to be revamped? This can happen for any number of reasons, but the challenges and questions remain the same - what's next and how do I get there?

Details: This event takes place Wednesday, July 29, from 6 to 7:30 p.m. Learn more.

Two Houston venture capitalists weigh in on the state of startup investing in an economic climate recovering from the COVID-19 crisis. Getty Images

Houston-based venture firm closes recent fund and reflects on COVID-19's effect on investing

must be the money

It's no secret that — in light of coronavirus-caused closures, market disruption, and historic unemployment — venture capitalist might be a little more hesitant to join in on a startup's investment round. Yet one Houston VC group has managed amidst the crisis — and even succeeded in closing its most recent fund.

Fitz Gate Ventures, which operates out of Houston but with the support of Princeton University, announced the closing of its Fund II on May 5. Focusing on seed and pre-seed rounds, co-founders and managing directors Mark Poag and Jim Cohen will be looking for startups across industries — usually with some revenue and customer base — to write around $500,000 checks to.

At a virtual panel event hosted by Houston Exponential, the investors say they have appreciated focusing on smaller deals in times like these — it's allowed them to work closely with their portfolio of 15 startups, two of which (Cheers and Spruce) have roots in Houston.

"We are definitely more hands-on with our founders," Cohen says on the panel, noting that it feels like they are having board meetings daily — virtually, of course.

Most of these meetings, Poag explains, are focusing on making sure the portfolio startups have enough runway with their cash reserves to make it at least through the end of the year without any new sales. Of course, that's meant cutting salaries and employees and finding other options to operate in a lean way.

Fitz Gate also has stayed in touch virtually with its Friends of Fitz group — a unique network of Princeton-related professionals (such as faculty, fellow VCs, domain experts, etc.) that give the investors and their portfolio companies a strategic advantage.

While the video conferences are useful to stay in touch with existing portfolio companies, Poag says he — as well as other VCs — might be wary of making new investments in this capacity.

"We haven't invested in any new companies since the COVID situation, but it will be interesting to see if we and other venture capital firms get comfortable with making investments without an in-person meeting," says Poag on the panel.

Generally, Cohen says he has observed a different investment environment since the beginning of March, and there's no clear indication when things will change.

"I think in the short-term, investing will be slower. Basically, people are still trying to figure out what's going on," Cohen says, noting how, in March, the tides seemed to change every 24 hours. "Now, things have started to slow down, but the ground is still shifting beneath our feet. I think most venture investors are proceeding cautiously."

Something else to keep an eye on, as the Fitz Gate founders have experienced, is that startups are making changes to their products in order to provide a more relevant offer to customers. One of the fund's portfolio companies is Houston-founded Spruce, which recently started offering disinfecting deals along with its concierge services to apartment dwellers.

"None of our companies have pivoted to change anything they are doing fundamentally to take advantage of the situation," says Cohen, citing some supply chain software startups and a charity-based startup that have also seen business success during the COVID-19 crisis.

However, approaching VCs for the first time is now a different story, amidst the crisis. While the Fitz Gate founders explain that they open and respond to every email inquiry from startups, that's not the case for most VCs who prefer a warm introduction — but maybe not even that considering the current economic climate.

"If you're approaching a venture investor today, you might get a bit of a weird look," Cohen says of startups looking to fundraise.

On the virtual panel, the duo shared some insight on their passion for venture funding, as well as some general advice for startups. One key takeaway from the investors was a reminder that most VCs are funding between 1 and 2 percent of deals that come across their table.

"Don't get discouraged," Cohen says. "Any venture fund you talk to, they're not geniuses. They are operating on very limited information about whatever it is you pitched them in a really short fashion."

While it is disheartening to hear a "no" from an investor, it doesn't mean the startup's idea or product isn't valid.

In wrapping up the call, Cohen remarks on the environment for Houston innovation. While he admits the ecosystem lacks access to funding, he observes that this will change in a matter of time.

"It's amazing how many startups in Houston — and the support infrastructure," Cohen says, noting startup development organizations like The Ion, The Cannon, and more. "So much going on in this ecosystem, so I think, in that sense, it's an incredibly vibrant place to be as a founder."

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5 minority-founded Houston startups shine as Innovation Awards finalists

Meet the Finalists

Houston is one of the most diverse cities in the nation, and that trend carries over into its innovation and startup ecosystem.

As part of the 2025 Houston Innovation Awards, our Minority-founded Businesses category will honor an innovative Houston startup founded or co-founded by BIPOC or LGBTQ+ representation.

Five minority-founded businesses have been named finalists for the 2025 award. The finalists, selected by our esteemed panel of judges, range from a wearable health tech device company to a clean chemical manufacturing business to a startup with a lunar mission.

Read more about these innovative businesses, their initiatives, and their inspirational founders below. Then join us at the Houston Innovation Awards on Nov. 13 at Greentown Labs, when the winner will be unveiled at our live awards ceremony.

Tickets are on now for this exclusive event celebrating all things Houston Innovation.

Capwell Services

Houston-based methane capture company Capwell Services works to eliminate vented oil and gas emissions economically for operators. According to the company, methane emissions are vented from most oil and gas facilities due to safety protocols, and operators are not able to capture the gas cost-effectively, leading operators to emit more than 14 million metric tons of methane per year in the US and Canada, equivalent to more than 400 million metric tons of CO2e per year. Founded in 2022, Capwell specializes in low and intermittent flow vents for methane capture.

The company began as a University of Pennsylvania senior design project led by current CEO Andrew Lane. It has since participated in programs with Greentown Labs and Rice Clean Energy Accelerator. The company moved to Houston in 2023 and raised a pre-seed round. It has also received federal funding from the DOE. Capwell is currently piloting its commercial unit with oil and gas operators.

Deep Anchor Solutions

Offshore energy consulting and design company Deep Anchor Solutions aims to help expedite the adoption of floating offshore energy infrastructure with its deeply embedded ring anchor (DERA) technology. According to the company, its patented DERA system can be installed quietly without heavy-lift vessels, reducing anchor-related costs by up to 75 percent and lifecycle CO2 emissions by up to 80 percent.

The company was founded in 2023 by current CEO Junho Lee and CTO Charles Aubeny. Lee earned his Ph.D. in geotechnical engineering from Texas A&M University, where Aubeny is a professor of civil and environmental engineering. The company has not raised VC funding, but has participated in numerous accelerators and incubators, including Greentown Labs, MassChallenge, EnergyTechNexus LiftOff and others. Lee is an Activate 2025 fellow.

Mars Materials

Clean chemical manufacturing business Mars Materials is working to convert captured carbon into resources, such as carbon fiber and wastewater treatment chemicals. The company develops and produces its drop-in chemical products in Houston and uses an in-licensed process for the National Renewable Energy Lab to produce acrylonitrile, which is used to produce plastics, synthetic fibers and rubbers. The company reports that it plans to open its first commercial plant in the next 18 months.

Founded in 2019 by CEO Aaron Fitzgerald, CTO Kristian Gubsch and lead engineer Trey Sheridan, the company has raised just under $1 million in capital and is backed by Bill Gates’ Breakthrough Energy, Shell, Black & Veatch and other organizations.

Torres Orbital Mining (TOM)

Space tech company Torres Orbital Mining aims to pioneer the sustainable extraction and processing of lunar regolith and designs and builds robotic systems for excavating, classifying, and delivering lunar material. The company aims to accelerate a permanent and ethical human presence on the Moon.

The company was founded this year by Luis Torres, a current MBA candidate at Rice Business.

Wellysis USA Inc.

Wellysis USA Inc. works to detect heart rhythm disorders with its continuous ECG/EKG monitor with AI reporting. Its S-Patch cardiac monitor is designed for extended testing periods of up to 14 days on a single battery charge. The device weighs only 9 grams, is waterproof and designed to be comfortable to wear, and is considered to have a high detection rate for arrhythmias. It is ideally suited for patient-centric clinical trials to help physicians make diagnoses faster, cheaper and more conveniently.

It was established in Houston in 2023 and participated in the JLABS SFF Program the same year. It closed a $12 million series B last year. It was founded by CEO Young Juhn, CTO Rick Kim, CFO JungSoo Kim and chief strategy officer JoongWoo Kim.

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The Houston Innovation Awards program is sponsored by Houston Community College, Houston Powder Coaters, FLIGHT by Yuengling, and more to be announced soon. For sponsorship opportunities, please contact sales@innovationmap.com.

The Ion taps John Reale for startup and investor role

new hire

The Ion has named John "JR" Reale as its director for startups and investor engagement.

In his new role, Reale, a longtime leader in Houston’s startup ecosystem, will work to strengthen the innovation district's founder and investor network.

"Here’s what I’ve come to believe: the Ion is not just a building, not just a real estate play, and not just another innovation district. COVID, remote work, and shifting market dynamics changed the rules. Key ingredients like co-working, events, and community, while impactful, are no longer enough on their own," Reale shared on a LinkedIn post announcing the move. "What’s needed are advantages ... We need to intentionally design a system that repeatedly delivers advantages so founders can pull forward their visions."

Reale previously served as executive in residence and venture partner at TMC Venture Fund and co-founded Station Houston. He also serves as managing director of Integr8d Capital. He's an investor and serves on the board of directors for a number of venture-backed companies, including Cart.com, Lionguard and others.

The Ion will host "Today Is Day One – A conversation with John (JR) Reale" to welcome Reale to the role on Tuesday, Oct. 21. Reale will be joined at the event by Heath Butler, partner at Mercury, to discuss their thoughts on shaping Houston's founders ecosystem, as well as the Ion’s Founder Advantage Platform.

"On top of this connected architecture, we will build product. That product will be the Founder Advantage Platform to remove friction, compress time, and compound outcomes," Reale continued on LinkedIn. "This is the system that will drive repeatable experiences, and naturally, make these journeys so much more fun."

Houston's IAH soars in new ranking of U.S. airports with best dining

Flying High

Here's news that'll make a flight delay at Houston's George Bush Intercontinental Airport a bit more palatable: IAH arrives at No. 12 in a new ranking of the country’s best airports for food and beverage options.

The 2025 study by commercial furniture manufacturer Restaurant Furniture relied on Google reviews of food and beverage establishments at the busiest U.S. airports to come up with its list. The study included only those restaurants and bars with at least 20 Google reviews.

IAH earned an average Google review rating of 3.29 out of 5 stars for its food-and-beverage establishments.

The study analyzed 61 restaurants and bars at George Bush Intercontinental Airport. The Houston airport’s highest rated establishment was Pappadeaux Seafood Kitchen. That Pappadeux location garnered an average Google review rating of 4.48 out of 5. George Bush International also is home to the study’s highest-rated Chick-fil-A and Whataburger restaurants.

Several years ago, IAH made a major effort to upgrade its dining options by partnering with local chefs such as Chris Shepherd, Ryan Pera (Coltivare), and Greg Gatlin (Gatlin's BBQ) on concepts for Terminal C North. More recently, a change in the city's airport concessions contract brought local favorites such as The Annie Cafe and Common Bond to the George Bush.

“Airports aren’t usually renowned for their choices of bars and restaurants, and this is often because people just want to get through the airport and onto their final destinations as quickly as possible,” Nick Warren, head of e-commerce at Restaurant Furniture, says in a release. “However, a good airport bar or restaurant can provide a great rest stop after a long flight, and these positive experiences can go a long way towards travelers choosing which airport they will fly from in the future.”

Dallas Fort Worth International Airport soared to No. 1 in the rankings. Restaurants and bars at DFW earned an average of 3.56 out of 5 stars on Google — the highest number among 31 airports.

Just like in Houston, among 74 locations at DFW, the study found Pappadeaux Seafood Kitchen in Terminal A scored the highest average Google review rating — 4.59. DFW also boasts the top-rated IHOP, McDonald’s, Panera Bread, and Panda Express among the 31 airports that were analyzed.

Rounding out the top five airports with best food are Miami International Airport (No. 2), San Francisco International Airport (No. 3), Denver International Airport (No. 4), and Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport (No. 5).

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A version of this story originally appeared on CultureMap.com.

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