Houston health tech startup launches COVID-19 vaccine management tool

inoculation innovation

Image via luminaremed.com

Houston-based health care software startup Luminare Inc. is arming soldiers in the coronavirus vaccination campaign with technology to help smooth the inoculation process.

Luminare, which launched with the mission of combating sepsis, switched gears after the onset of the coronavirus pandemic to help combat the virus' spread. One of the ways it's doing that is with Innoculate (a mash-up of "innovate" and "inoculate"). The new platform enables organizations like public health departments, fire departments, school systems, and businesses to manage high-volume vaccination initiatives.

Among other benefits, Innoculate automates vaccination sign-ups and scheduling, tracks the number of vaccine batches available, flags previous allergic reactions among vaccine recipients, and helps achieve compliance with federal, state and local health care requirements.

"Usually when you hear news of a new batch of vaccines headed your way, there is dread at the management and distribution overhead. Not anymore," Dr. Sarma Velamuri, CEO of Luminare, says in a release. "Innoculate will help streamline the vaccination process in the fight against COVID-19 and allow for hundreds of thousands of people to get vaccines easily."

One of the first customers of Innoculate is the Corpus Christi-Nueces County Public Health District. Innoculate helped the district vaccinate 9,000 people during the first week of its vaccination effort. Peter Collins, chief information officer of the City of Corpus Christi, says Innoculate allows more vaccinations to be done without adding administrative burdens.

Corpus Christi-Nueces County Public Health District was the first government outfit to use Innoculate. The district also uses Luminare's Quickscreen COVID-19 screening and testing tool.

Dallas County Health and Human Services also is adopting Innoculate. On January 27, Dallas County approved a 12-month contract with Luminare worth up to $601,500.

Other new customers that are lined up for Innoculate include the Abilene-Taylor County Public Health District, Wichita Falls-Wichita County Public Health District, and Brenham-based Blinn College District. Innoculate deals are being finalized with 13 other city and county governments.

Luminare says it wants to "help as many cities and counties in the U.S. that we can." The company asks organizations seeking help with coronavirus vaccination campaigns to email mike.gilbert@luminaremed.com or info@luminaremed.com.

Luminare was founded in 2014 with the goal of preventing sepsis, a life-threatening reaction to a host of infections that triggers about one-third of U.S. hospital deaths. Its sepsis-targeted software is called Sagitta.

After the coronavirus began spreading, Luminare tweaked its sepsis-detection platform, called Quickscreen, to produce a free online self-assessment for people who suspect they've been infected with the virus. The startup was honored for this work as COVID Phoenix in Houston Exponential's inaugural awards program, The Listies. Now, it has added Innoculate to its pandemic-fighting arsenal.

Luminare, based at Texas Medical Center's innovation campus, is a 2018 graduate of the TMCx accelerator. According to Crunchbase, the company has collected more than $1.6 million in funding.

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Houston e-commerce giant Cart.com raises $180M, surpasses $1B in funding

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Editor's note: This article has been updated to clarify information about Cart.com's investors.

Houston-based commerce and logistics platform Cart.com has raised $180 million in growth capital from private equity firm Springcoast Partners, pushing the startup past the $1 billion funding mark since its founding in 2020.

Cart.com says it will use the capital to scale its logistics network, expand AI capabilities and develop workflow automation tools.

“This investment will strengthen our balance sheet and provide us with the flexibility to accelerate our strategic priorities,” Omair Tariq, CEO of Cart.com, said in a news release. “We’ve built a platform that combines commerce software with a scaled logistics network, and we’re just getting started.”

In conjunction with the funding, Springcoast executive-in-residence Russell Klein has been appointed to Cart.com’s board of directors. Before joining Springcoast, he was chief commercial officer at Austin-based Commerce.com (Nasdaq: CMRC). Klein co-led Commerce.com’s IPO, led the company’s mergers-and-acquisitions strategy and played a key role in several funding rounds.

“The team at Cart.com has demonstrated excellence in their ability to scale efficiently while continuing to innovate,” Klein said. “I’m excited to join the board and support the company as it expands its AI-driven capabilities, deepens enterprise relationships, and further strengthens its position as a category-defining commerce and fulfillment platform.”

Before this funding round, Cart.com had raised $872 million in venture capital and reached a valuation of about $1.6 billion, according to CB Insights. With the new funding, the startup has collected over $1 billion in just six years.

This is the income required to be a middle class earner in Houston in 2026

Cashing In

A new study tracking the upper and lower thresholds for middle class households across the nation's largest cities has revealed Houstonians need to make at least a grand more than last year to maintain their middle class status this year.

According to SmartAsset's just-released annual report, "What It Takes to Be Middle Class in America – 2026 Study," Houston households need to make anywhere from $42,907 to $128,722 to qualify as middle class earners this year.

Compared to 2025, Houstonians need to make $1,153 more per year to meet the minimum threshold for a middle class status, whereas the upper bound has stretched $3,448 higher. The median income for a Houston household in 2024 was $64,361, the study added.

SmartAsset's experts used 2024 Census Bureau median household income data for the 100 biggest U.S. cities and all 50 states and determined middle class income ranges by using a variation of Pew Research's definition of a middle class household, stating the salary range is "two-thirds to double the median U.S. salary."

In the report's ranking of the U.S. cities with the highest household incomes needed to maintain a middle class status, Houston ranked No. 80.

In the report's state-by-state comparison, Texas has the 24th highest middle class income range. Overall, Texas households need to make between $53,147 and $159,442 to be labeled "middle class" in 2026. For additional context, the median income for a Texas household in 2024 came out to $79,721.

"Often, the expectations that come with the term 'middle class' include reaching home ownership, raising kids, the comfort of modest emergency funds and retirement savings, and the occasional splurge or vacation," the report said. "And as the median household income varies widely across the U.S. depending on the local job market, housing market, infrastructure and other factors, so does swing the bounds on what constitutes a middle class income in America."

What it takes to be middle class elsewhere around Texas

Two Dallas-Fort Worth suburbs – Frisco and Plano – have some of the highest middle class income ranges in the country for 2026, SmartAsset found.

Frisco households need to make between $96,963 and $290,888 to qualify as middle class this year, which is the third-highest middle class income range nationwide.

Plano's middle class income range is the eighth highest nationally, with households needing to make between $77,267 and $231,802 for the designation.

Salary range needed to be a middle class earner in other Texas cities:

  • No. 28 – Austin: between $60,287 and $180,860
  • No. 40 – Irving: between $56,566 and $169,698
  • No. 44 – Fort Worth: between $55,002 and $165,006
  • No. 57 – Garland: between $50,531 and $151,594
  • No. 60 – Arlington: between $49,592 and $148,77
  • No. 61 – Dallas: between $49,549 and $148,646
  • No. 73 – Corpus Christi: between $44,645 and $133,934
  • No. 77 – San Antonio: between $44,117 and $132,352
  • No. 83 – Lubbock: between $41,573 and $124,720
  • No. 84 – Laredo: between $41,013 and $123,038
  • No. 89 – El Paso: between $39,955 and $119,864
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This article originally appeared on CultureMap.com.

Houston leads Texas with 7 new National Academy of Inventors senior members

top honor

The University of Houston is now home to seven new senior members of the National Academy of Inventors.

The distinction honors active faculty, scientists and administrators from NAI member institutions that have demonstrated innovation and produced technologies that have “brought, or aspire to bring, real impact on the welfare of society,” according to the NAI. The members have also succeeded in patents, licensing and commercialization, and educating and mentoring.

According to UH, its seven new members represent the largest group from any single Texas institution this year, bringing the university's total senior member count to 46.

UH faculty also represented three of Houston's four new senior members in 2025. Six Houstonians were also named to the NIA's class of fellows late last year.

“This recognition affirms what we see every day at the University of Houston—bold, collaborative innovation focused on improving lives," Ramanan Krishnamoorti, vice president of energy at UH, said in a news release. "Having seven faculty members named Senior Members reflects our momentum and a culture where discovery moves beyond the lab into solutions that strengthen communities and drive economic growth.”

UH’s new senior members include:

  • Haleh Ardebili, endowed professor of mechanical and aerospace engineering and assistant vice president for Entrepreneurship and Startup Ecosystem. Ardebili develops flexible lithium batteries and holds four patents
  • Vemuri Balakotaiah, distinguished university chair and professor of chemical and biomolecular engineering. Balakotaiah holds is patents, with five pending, and develops mathematical models for the clean energy research.
  • Jakoah Brgoch, professor of chemistry. Brgoch develops next-generation inorganic materials and holds four patents.
  • Jose L. Contreras-Vidal, distinguished professor in electrical and computer engineering and director of UH’s NSF neurotechnology research center. Conreras-Vidal develops brain-machine interface technologies. He holds five patents, with two technologies advancing through clinical trials.
  • Preethi Gunaratne, professor in the department of biology and biochemistry and director of the UH Sequencing Core in UH’s College of Natural Sciences and Mathematics. Gunaratne holds five patents in biology and energy technologies and has made significant large-scale genome discoveries.
  • Jae-Hyun Ryou, professor of mechanical and aerospace engineering. Ryou holds 13 patents and has develops innovative semiconductor materials and devices for flexible electronics.
  • Yingcai Zheng, professor in applied geophysics and director of the UH Rock Physics Lab. Zheng's work focuses on energy production, geothermal development and carbon management strategies. He holds two patents.

Other Texas institutions also had strong showings this year. Additional new Texas senior members from NAI institutions include:

Texas A&M University

  • Guillermo Aguilar
  • Stavros Kalafatis
  • Narendra Kumar
  • Heng Pan
  • Xingyong Song
  • Yubin Zhou

Texas State University

  • Bahram Asiabanpour
  • Martin Burtscher
  • Nihal Dharmasiri
  • Alexander Kornienko
  • Ted Lehr
  • Christopher Rhodes

The University of Texas at Arlington

  • Brian H. Dennis
  • Nicholas Gans
  • Frederick M. MacDonnell
  • Charles Philip Shelor
  • Liping Tang

The University of Texas at San Antonio

  • Robert De Lorenzo
  • Marc Feldman
  • Daohong Zhou

The University of Texas at El Paso

  • XiuJun Li
  • Yirong Lin
  • David Roberson

Texas Tech University Health Sciences Center

  • Thomas John Abbruscato
  • Annette Louise Sobel
  • Sanjay K. Srivastava

Texas Tech University

  • Gerardo Games
  • Dy Dinh Le

Baylor University

  • David Jack

The University of Texas Rio Grande Valley

  • Upal Roy

This year's class is the largest since the NAI launched its senior member recognition program in 2018. The new senior members come from 82 NAI institutions ad hoe more than over 2,000 U.S. patents. Accoring to the NAI, it has 945 senior members who hold more than 11,000 U.S. patents today.

“This year’s senior member class is a truly impressive cohort. These innovators come from a variety of fields and disciplines, translating their technologies into tangible impact,” Paul R. Sanberg, president of NAI, added in a news release. “I commend them on their incredible pursuits and I’m honored to welcome them to the Academy.”

The Senior Member Induction Ceremony will honor the 2026 class at NAI’s Annual Conference June 1-4 in Los Angeles.

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