4 Houston health startups to look out for

Health tech

It might come as no surprise that Houston, home to the largest medical center in the world, has many impressive health startups. Photo by Dwight C. Andrews/Greater Houston Convention and Visitors Bureau

Houston's growing life sciences industry has been a topic of discussion of late — and it's pretty obvious why.

In March, Houston was named the No. 2 top city for an emerging life sciences market, according to CBRE data. Houston was also named the No. 2 city for STEM jobs, per a report from American Enterprise Institute's Housing Center, which cited the city's growing life science industry as a factor. Even Amazon, which recently opened a Tech Hub in Houston, credited the city's life sciences as a reason for Houston's selection.

In fact, according to a report from the Greater Houston Partnership, Houston has over a fifth of the nation's clinical trials last year. With health care innovation abound in town, here are four startups to keep an eye on.

Integrated Bionics

Stephane Smith wants his company, Integrated Bionics, and its sports tech sensor to be a big win for Houston. Courtesy of Integrated Bionics

It may have taken a couple attempts, but Stephane Smith has created a booming sports wearable business that ships products across the United States and the world. Integrate Bionics produces the Titan Sensor — a wearable device that syncs GPS with video and provides athletic metrics at an attainable price. Most of the company's customers are soccer teams primarily in the collegiate space — with some professional and even youth teams. Smith says the company has a firm footing within soccer because that's where this technology really started.

With fresh funds from Houston-based Work America Capital, Integrated Bionics is on a path to scale and grow its product's capabilities.

"We're going to continue relentless innovation — doing things that no one is expecting and helping coaches with things not even on the radar," Smith tells InnovationMap. "We'll going to be rolling out new capabilities and features that have traditionally been relegated to high-end systems or that haven't even existed before."

InformAI

InformAI can use its data technology to help doctors with preventative care and diagnoses. Courtesy of InformAI

Health care is one of the industries where data management might get a "needs improvement" on its report card. Hospitals everywhere have tons of data, and they aren't using it to their full potential. Houston-based InformAI is looking to change this within the Texas Medical Center.

Jim Havelka, founder and CEO, started the company in 2017, and created a new technology that allows hospitals and medical establishments better access to its own data – which translates into more effective diagnoses and preventative care. Havelka saw a need within the medical industry for this type of service.

"There were several things missing," says Havelka. "One was access to very large data sets, because it wasn't really until the last five or 10 years that digitalization of data, especially in the healthcare vertical became more widespread and available in a format that's usable. The second convergence was the technology, the ability to process very large data sets."

Read more about InformAI here.

Mental Health Match

Ryan Schwartz realized online dating was easier than finding a therapist. He created a tool to change that. Courtesy of Mental Health Match

If only finding a therapist was as easy as finding a date in a world where dating apps are a dime a dozen. Ryan Schwartz realized as he sat in a coffee shop with a friend making a connection online, it should be that easy.

"In two minutes she could have a profile matching her with a partner potentially for the rest of her life and I was sitting there for hours and hours trying to find a therapist," he recalls. "I thought it should be easier to find a therapist than a life partner. That's what sent me on my journey."

That journey reached a watershed last month when Schwartz launched Mental Health Match, a website designed to pair patients with their ideal therapist. The idea gained traction as Schwartz described it to people he met and found that many said they had experienced similar difficulties in finding the right practitioner for their needs.

Lazarus 3D

Lazarus 3D is using 3D printing to help advance surgeons' skills. Photo via laz3d.com

It's 2019 and surgeons are still using the same training tools they have used for decades: produce.

Two Baylor College of Medicine-educated doctors thought that sewing up grapes and slicing bananas was a bit antiquated. Drs. Jacques Zaneveld and Smriti Agrawal Zaneveld founded Lazarus3D to build a better training model — and layer by layer, they created models of abs and ribs and even hearts with a 3D printer.

"We adapted pre-existing 3D printing technology in a novel proprietary way that allows us to, overnight, build soft, silicone or hydrogel models of human anatomy," says Jacques, who serves as CEO. "They can be treated just like real tissue."

Read more about Lazarus 3D here.

From new gigs to growing companies, these three leaders in Houston innovation have exciting things up their sleeves. Courtesy photos

3 Houston innovators to know this week

Who's who

The movers and shakers of Houston's innovation ecosystem have been, well, moving and shaking. From fresh partnerships to new gigs, here are three Houston innovators you need to know this week.

Harvin Moore, president at Houston Exponential

Harvin Moore, who has a 20-year career in tech and innovation, has been named as president of Houston Exponential. Courtesy of HX

There's a new leader at the helm of the city's startup and innovation nonprofit — and he has some familiarity with the innovation ecosystem. Harvin Moore was announced to be the new president of Houston Exponential. Moore, a Houston native, has a 20-year career in tech and startups in Houston. He is a principal at an early-stage investment firm, Frontera Technology Ventures, and before that served as COO for Space Services Holdings Inc. Read more about the appointment here.

Stephane Smith, co-founder and CEO of Integrated Bionics

Stephane Smith wants his company, Integrated Bionics, and its sports tech sensor to be a big win for Houston. Courtesy of Integrated Bionics

It took Stephane Smith and his brother, Yves, a few tries to get a revolutionary sports device that the market actually wanted. Now that they have, their Houston-based company, Integrated Bionics, has its Titan Sensor device being used worldwide — from Zimbabwe and Israel to Brazil and Mexico. Smith spoke with InnovationMap about figuring out the Titan's technology, Houston's challenging venture capital environment, and why he hopes to be one of the city's big wins. Read the full interview here.

Chris DuPont, co-founder and CEO of Galen Data

Houston-based Galen Data is growing its clientbase and just formed two new partnerships with medical device companies. Photo via galendata.com

Educated as an engineer, Chris DuPont has stepped outside his professional comfort zone to generate funding for his Houston-based startup, Galen Data Inc. and has raised two rounds of angel funding that have enabled Galen Data to develop and market its cloud-based platform for connecting medical devices to the internet, including pacemakers and glucose monitors. Now, Galen Data has two new big clients that are taking the company's technology to a new level. Read more about the partnerships here.

From movers and shakers headed to Austin for MassChallenge to a Q&A with a sports tech founder, here are this week's trending stories. Shobeir Ansari/Getty Images

5 most popular innovation stories in Houston this week

What's trending

Houston companies have been up to some huge accomplishments, from winning money at Texas A&M University to launching a local software-focused venture capital fund. Here's what big news trended this week in Houston innovation.

Need more than just trending news on Fridays? Subscribe to our daily newsletter that sends fresh stories straight to your inboxes every morning.

These are the Houston companies headed to MassChallenge Texas in Austin

A handful of Houston startups will be bouncing back and forth to Austin for the second annual MassChallenge Texas accelerator. Getty Images

It's the second cohort for Boston-based MassChallenge Texas in Austin, and this year's 74 selected finalists are well represented by Houston. Here are seven of the Houston-related companies that will be trekking back and forth to Austin from June until October.

3 Houston innovators to know this week

From health care to politics, here's who you need to know in Houston innovation this week. Courtesy photos

There's no summer slowdown in sight, as Houston's innovation world keeps turning. Texas Children's Hospital is amping up their attention to innovation — and so is the mayor. Meanwhile, a local software company just made a big hire. Read about what innovators you need to keep an eye on.

Houston companies take home big prizes from a Texas A&M startup competition

Spark Biomedical took home first place at the Texas A&M New Ventures Competition. Courtesy of Texas A&M

Earlier this month, 16 startups competed in the 2019 Texas A&M New Ventures Competition for more than $350,000 in cash and in-kind services — the largest pool of prizes in the contest's history.

Houston had a huge presence at TNVC this year. Several Houston startups competed in the technology- and science-focused pitch competition, and the top three prizes were claimed by Houstonians. Of the 13 health and life science companies that were named semifinalists, seven were related to the TMC Innovation Institute. Check out the Houston companies that walked away from the TNVC with cash and/or prizes.the Houston companies that walked away from the TNVC with cash and/or prizes.

This Houston sports tech entrepreneur wants more big wins for Houston

Stephane Smith wants his company, Integrated Bionics, and its sports tech sensor to be a big win for Houston. Courtesy of Integrated Bionics

The Titan, which launched in 2017, syncs GPS with video and provides athletic metrics at an attainable price. Most of the company's customers are soccer teams primarily in the collegiate space — with some professional and even youth teams. Smith says the company has a firm footing within soccer because that's where this technology really started. Read more about the Titan Sensor and its creator.

Houston startup consulting firm launches $20 million venture capital fund for early stage software companies

The new, Houston-based GSTVC fund will dole out $20 million to scalable SaaS companies. Photo by rawpixel.com from Pexels

A new venture capital fund has launched in Houston to serve seed-stage, software-as-a-service companies. The $20 million fund plans to make its first investment by the end of the third quarter of this year.

The fund is launching under Golden Section Technology, a Houston-based software consulting firm focused on demystifying technology and providing training and counseling for entrepreneurs. Managing director, Dougal Cameron, says he and a small group of investors made investments in some of the companies that GST has worked with over the years. Learn more about this new fund.

Stephane Smith wants his company, Integrated Bionics, and its sports tech sensor to be a big win for Houston. Courtesy of Integrated Bionics

This Houston sports tech entrepreneur wants more big wins for Houston

Featured Innovator

"People were doing GPS and sensing with soccer before we arrived. Soccer had this orientation from the get go," Smith tells InnovationMap. "There's a lot higher of awareness in soccer — but we think that awareness is going to grow across all sports as people realize how this data can be used without breaking the bank."

Smith spoke with InnovationMap about figuring out the Titan's technology, Houston's challenging venture capital environment, and why he hopes to be one of the city's big wins.

InnovationMap: Why did you want to start a company?

Stephane Smith: My background is in engineering. I worked at Intel for five years. I worked at silicon server processors — very deep into that, down to drawing wires of ultra miniature fabrication for electronics. It was an awesome experience. My group at Intel was actually an analogue group that was purchased by Intel. Analogue groups tend to be high risk in general. The company has to have a lot of trust in those people. My boss told me I had to go do something. At the time, I was married but didn't have any kids or own a home, so he was nudging me a little bit on a personal development side to go do my thing. This was in California, so everyone had startup fever. So, I quit my great job, and decided to do a startup.

IM: What brought you to Houston?

SS: We figured the cost of living was good, and it's where we grew up. We thought it'd be a good fit. My brother, Yves, and my co-founder, was doing a research project at the University of Texas at San Antonio.

IM: What was you and your brother’s first product?

SS: I'm a solutions guy and he had problems to solve. His problem at the time was sleep apnea monitoring and making sure patients are using the device. We made this really tiny device that could fit inside the retainer and it could communicate whether or not the person was wearing the mask. That was product No. 1. But then we found out no one wanted to buy it in the real world. It was kind of a reality check.

We pivoted. Inside the sensor, is something that could detect motion. We took the appliance and stuck it on a headband. I had one of my wife's friends do a header on a soccer ball. We had this nice video of someone heading a ball and the impact or reaction of the head movement. That was a couple years ago, and everyone was concerned about concussions. That was called Heads Up. We had some success and sales at the college level, but it still wasn't there yet.

IM: What was the issue with Heads Up?

SS: Concussions were kind of a taboo topic. The device was indicating something bad that happened. Something they did like on the report was how many steps they took. They were just looking at the performance metric. So, it was back to the drawing board. At the same time, we were trying to raise money in Houston, and it was a massive struggle. Houston's a hard place to raise money in general and especially in sports. We decided to just raise money from the customers. We wanted to make sure that people actually wanted the product. We doubled the price of the device and added a GPS sensor. We sold it to three teams before we even had it built yet. That became the Titan Sensor.

IM: But you did eventually find funding, right?

SS: We sort of stumbled upon Work America Capital. We weren't looking for it. Someone in my past life told me to check out this profile of Shane Hildreth. And I was like, hey it's a sports guy. I didn't think there was any of them in Houston. So, I contacted them. I feel like they got us — not just sports, but us — and had the same values of us. It was more than the money. We found a partner in them.

IM: Do you see venture in Houston changing?

SS: I don't know. I doubt it, at the moment. I think that what's missing is big wins. The analogy I like to use is I don't think that any city can build the Texas Medical Center. It's something built over generations. Silicon Valley has the same thing. You can just say, "Oh in five years, we'll make a task force and shabam, we're the next Silicon Valley." Every city's dream is that — that's why you hear Silicon Hill, Silicon Rock, Silicon Pond — you name it. But there's only one Silicon Valley and that's not going to change. There needs to be more wins and more leadership. We need more fish swimming in that direction to create momentum. Hopefully we become a win and can help build that momentum. Houston has all the ingredients.

IM: What’s next for Titan and other products?

SS: We're going to continue relentless innovation — doing things that no one is expecting and helping coaches with things not even on the radar. We'll going to be rolling out new capabilities and features that have traditionally been relegated to high-end systems or that haven't even existed before.

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Portions of this interview have been edited.

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6 Houston entrepreneurs land on coveted Inc. Female Founders 500 list

the future is female

Six Houston female entrepreneurs and innovators were named to the 2026 Female Founders 500 list.

The annual list compiled by Inc. Magazine recognizes female founders based in the U.S. who have built businesses that have moved their industries forward. The group collectively generated approximately $12.3 billion in 2025 revenue and $12.2 billion in funding to date, according to Inc. Five Houstonians were named to the list last year.

"Each year, we are increasingly amazed by the extraordinary leaders on our Inc. Female Founders 500 list," Bonny Ghosh, editorial director at Inc., said in a news release. "The honorees on this year's list include innovators in AI, beauty and wellness trendsetters winning devoted fans, and nonprofit leaders making a real impact in their communities. Together, they're showing all of us what trailblazing female leadership looks like."

The Houston founders are:

Sassie Duggleby, CEO and co-founder of Houston space tech and engine company Venus Aerospace. Duggleby also serves on the Texas Space Commission board of directors.
Stephanie Murphy, CEO and executive chairman of Aegis Aerospace, which provides space services, spaceflight product development, and engineering services. Murphy also serves as chair of the Texas Aerospace Research and Space Economy Consortium Executive Committee.
Laureen Meroueh, CEO and founder of Hertha Metals, which has developed a cost-effective and energy-efficient process that converts low-grade iron ore of any format directly into molten steel or high-purity iron in a single step.
LaToshia Norwood, managing partner of L'Renee & Associates (LRA), a full-service project management consulting firm.
Lauren Rottet, president and founding principal of Rottet Studio, an international architecture and design firm focused on corporate, lifestyle and hospitality projects
Nina Magon, founder and CEO of Nina Magon Studio / Nina Magon Consumer Products, a residential and commercial interior design company. She also co-founded KA Residences earlier this year.

"Grateful to be recognized again on the Inc. Female Founders 500," Duggleby said in a LinkedIn post. "The best part of building Venus Aerospace has been working with an incredible team pushing the boundaries of flight—and helping bring more women into aerospace along the way.

Meroueh, whose company emerged from stealth last year, voiced a similar push for bringing more women into the fold.

"We've seen a 7x jump in female-led IPOs over the last decade, from just two in 2014 (less than 1% of all IPOs) to 14 in 2024 (nearly 9% of all IPOs). Progress is happening," Meroueh shared in a LinkedIn post. "Yet, less than 1% of venture funding in hard tech goes to female-founded companies. But as my friend Ana Kraft says, the right man for the job may be a woman."

Twenty-nine Texas female founders made this list, including Amber Venz Box, founder of the Dallas-based LTK shopping platform, and Cheryl Sew Hoy, CEO and founder of Austin-based Tiny Health, a fast-growing at-home microbiome health platform. See the full list of winners here.

NASA clears Artemis moon rocket for April launch with 4 astronauts

3, 2, 1...

NASA has cleared its moon rocket on for an April launch with four astronauts after completing the latest round of repairs.

The 322-foot (98-meter) rocket will roll out of the hangar and back to the pad at Florida's Kennedy Space Center, leading to a launch attempt as early as April 1. It will mark humanity's first trip to the moon in more than 50 years.

The Artemis II crew should have blasted off on a lunar flyaround earlier this year, but fuel leaks and other problems with the Space Launch System rocket interfered.

Although NASA managed to plug the hydrogen fuel leaks at the pad in February, a helium-flow issue forced the space agency to return the rocket to the Vehicle Assembly Building for repairs, bumping the mission to April.

The space agency has only six days at the beginning of April to launch before standing down until April 30 into early May.

"It's a test flight and it is not without risk, but our team and our hardware are ready,” NASA's Lori Glaze told reporters at the end of the two-day flight readiness review.

Glaze and other NASA officials declined to provide the risk probabilities for the upcoming mission.

History has shown that a new rocket has essentially a 50% chance of success, said John Honeycutt, chair of the mission management team.

There's so much gap since the only other SLS flight — more than three years ago without anyone on board — that it's difficult to understand any risk assessment numbers, Honeycutt said.

“It's not the first flight," Glaze said. "But we're also not in a regular cadence. So we definitely have significantly more risk than a flight system that's flying all the time.”

Late last month NASA's new administrator, Jared Isaacman, announced a major overhaul of the Artemis program to speed things up and, by doing so, reduce risk.

Dissatisfied with the slow pace and lengthy gaps between lunar missions, he added an extra practice flight in orbit around Earth for next year. That is now the new Artemis III, with the moon landing by two astronauts shifted to Artemis IV. Isaacman is targeting one and maybe even two lunar landings in 2028.

NASA's Office of Inspector General warned in an audit that the space agency needs to come up with a rescue plan for its lunar crews. Landing near the moon's south pole will be riskier than it was for the Apollo astronauts closer to the equator given the rough polar terrain, according to the report.

The report cited the lunar landers as the top contributor for potential loss of crew during the first few Artemis moon landings. It listed the space agency’s loss-of-crew threshold at 1-in-40 for lunar operations and 1-in-30 for Artemis missions overall.

Contracted by NASA to provide the moon landers for astronauts, Elon Musk's SpaceX and Jeff Bezos' Blue Origin have accelerated work in order to meet the new 2028 target date. The inspector general's office said many technical challenges remain including refueling their landers in orbit around Earth before flying to the moon.

NASA sent 24 astronauts to the moon during Apollo, 12 of whom landed on it. All but one of the moonshots — Apollo 13 — achieved their prime objectives. The program ended with Apollo 17 in 1972.

Kinder leads 19 Houstonians on Forbes' World's Billionaires List 2026

World's Richest 2026

According to Forbes, there has “never been a better time to be a billionaire” than in 2026, and the publication's newest World’s Billionaires List has revealed the 19 Houston billionaires that have risen among the wealthiest worldwide.

Kinder Morgan chairman Richard Kinder surpassed hospitality honcho Tilman Fertitta as the richest billionaire in Houston, ranking No. 232 on the global list with an estimated net worth of $13 billion. His net worth has grown by $2.4 billion since last year.

Fertitta, 68, may not be the richest Houstonian anymore, but his wealth is still on the rise. He ranked 268th on the list with an estimated net worth of $11.7 billion, up from $11.3 billion last year.

Out of the 390 billionaire newbies that made their debut onto the list this year, one of them calls Houston home: restaurateur and commodities trader Ignacio Torras. Torras, 61, is the founder and CEO of global commodities trading company Tricon Energy, and he owns Michelin-starred local restaurant BCN Taste & Tradition and its sister eatery MAD. But that's not all he spends his time doing, according to Forbes.

"In 2024 Torras launched a soccer tournament for neurodivergent players called the Genuine Cup," his profile said. "Last year 800 players and 30 teams from around the world played at Rice University stadium."

Torras debuted as No. 2600 on the list with an estimated net worth of $1.5 billion.

Houston-born multi-hyphenate superstar Beyoncé Knowles-Carter also staked a claim among the world's richest people in 2026. She ranked No. 3332 on the list with a net worth of $1 billion, thanks to her "years of music sales, touring and collecting art with her already-billionaire husband Jay-Z (estimated net worth: $2.8 billion)," Forbes said.

"The majority of pop star Beyonce’s net worth comes from her roughly three decades as a solo performer and a member of the girl-group Destiny's Child," her profile said. "She holds the record for the most Grammy wins ever, with 35, and won her first Album of the Year trophy in 2025. She and her billionaire husband Jay-Z purchased a $200 million Malibu mansion in 2023, in what was the most expensive home sale in California history."

Beyoncé also ranks No. 21 in the publication's separate list of The World's Celebrity Billionaires.

Here's how the rest of Houston's billionaires fared on this year's list:

Toyota mega-dealer Dan Friedkin: No. 279; $11.4 billion, up from $7.7 billion
Pipeline heir Randa Duncan Williams: tied for No. 323 with an estimated net worth of $10.2 billion, up from $9.3 billion in 2025. Fellow pipeline heirs Dannine Avara and Milane Frantz tied for No. 332 globally. Each has an estimated net worth of $10.1 billion, up from $9.2 billion. Scott Duncan ranks No. 353 with a $9.8 billion estimated net worth, up from $9 billion in 2025.
Oil tycoon Jeffery Hildebrand: No. 341; $10 billion, up from $7.7 billion
Houston Texans owner Janice McNair and family: No. 528; $7.3 billion, up from $6.2 billion
Energy exploration chief exec George Bishop of The Woodlands: No. 908; $4.7 billion, down from $5 billion
Westlake Corporation co-owners Albert Chao, James Chao and their families: tied for No. 1074; $4 billion, flat from 2025
Hedge fund honcho John Arnold: No. 1504; $2.8 billion, down from $2.9 billion
Perry Homes executive chair Kathy Britton: No. 1611; $2.6 billion, flat from 2025
Houston Astros owner Jim Crane: No. 1676; $2.5 billion, up from $2.4 billion
Former Houston Rockets owner Leslie Alexander: No. 1834; $2.3 billion, up from $1.9 billion
Mercedes-Benz mega-dealer Joe Agresti: No. 3185; $1.1 billion, flat from 2025
Frontier Airlines chairman William Franke: No. 3332; $1 billion, down from $1.2 billion

Elsewhere in Texas

Austin billionaire Elon Musk was declared the world's richest person for the second consecutive year, and Forbes said his “grip on the top spot is as strong as it’s ever been.”

“Musk became the first person to hit $500 billion in wealth, in October,” Forbes said. “Then $600 billion and $700 billion, within four days in December. Then $800 billion, in February.”

The Tesla, SpaceX, and xAI founder’s current net worth has skyrocketed to $839 billion — a shocking $497 billion more than his 2025 net worth.

In Dallas-Fort Worth, Walmart heiress Alice Walton has maintained her elite status as the world’s richest woman for the third year in a row. Walton is the 14th richest person on the planet with a current net worth of $134 billion, an eye-catching $33 billion higher than her 2025 net worth. She is the first American woman worth $100 billion, and one of only 20 “centi-billionaires” worldwide claiming 12-figure fortunes, also known as the "$100 Billion Club."

Koch Inc. stakeholder Elaine Marshall and her family are the richest Dallas residents, ranking No. 71 globally with an estimated net worth of $30.9 billion. Her net worth has grown by $2.6 billion since last year.

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This article originally appeared on CultureMap.com.

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