SXSW announces even more featured speakers joining the 2023 program

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With three weeks left until game time, South by Southwest announced another long list of featured and keynote speakers. Photo via SXSW

Whether the return of South by Southwest (SXSW) in three weeks is putting butterflies in your tummy or sweat on your brow, we're in the home stretch. The newest announcement — another wave of featured speakers — does not say it's the final round, but time is running out to make adjustments before the start of the festival on March 10.

Previous announcements included keynote addresses from Patagonia CEO Ryan Gellert and team members who worked on the James Webb Space Telescope. There have also been two rounds of music showcase announcements, culminating in a list of nearly 500 performances.

The announcement on February 14 is heavy with big names including three entertainers presenting keynotes: actor, producer, and New York Times bestselling author Priyanka Chopra Jonas; Grammy Award-nominated singer-songwriter, producer, and author Margo Price; and Academy Award winner Tilda Swinton.

Two more newly announced keynote sessions come with longer descriptions: Chef José Andrés presents The Stories We Tell Can Change the World, and Bernard Sumner, Stephen Morris, and Gillian Gilbert of New Order appear in conversation with The Times rock & pop critic Will Hodgkinson.The former keynote tackles the responsibility of storytellers to address crises around the world, using Andrés' humanitarian group World Central Kitchen as a lens. The latter discusses the discography and history of the history-making band.

“Today's speaker announcement is a fantastic milestone for the 2023 event and spotlights five additional Keynotes and numerous Featured Speakers, including influential icons and up and coming innovators,” said Chief Programming Officer and Co-President Hugh Forrest. “We are extremely proud to have assembled a diverse, comprehensive conference program for SXSW, and we can’t wait to share it with our community in March.”

Organized into 25 programming tracks presented in a variety of session formats, SXSW celebrates the convergence of technology, film, television, and music. Tracks include civic engagement, climate change, design, film and TV, psychedelics, sports, travel, and more.

Just some featured speakers and sessions joining the 2023 lineup include:

  • Chair and CEO of General Motors Mary Barra with CEO, CTO, President, and co-founder of Cruise and co-founder of Twitch Kyle Vogt
  • Actress, philanthropist, entrepreneur, New York Times bestselling author, and co-founder of Hello Bello Kristen Bell, CEO of Hello Bello Erica Buxton, and actor, comedian, filmmaker, host of the podcast Armchair Expert, and co-founder of Hello Bello Dax Shepard
  • Chief Diversity Officer of TBWA\North America Aliah Berman with activist, advocate, author, and founder of the #MeToo Movement Tarana Burke
  • Founder and CEO of Joby Aviation Joe
  • Ben Bevirt with Chief Sustainability Officer at Delta Air Lines Pam Fletcher
  • Chief Digital and Commercial Officer at Unilever Conny Braams, President, Worldwide Advertising at Netflix Jeremi Gorman, founder and CEO of Media
  • Link Michael Kassan, and Senior Vice President and Chief Marketing and Communications Officer at Delta Air Lines Tim Mapes
  • Co-founder and President of OpenAI Greg Brockman with founder and CEO of Dot Dot Dot Media Laurie Segall
  • United States Secretary of Energy Jennifer M. Granholm
  • General Partner at Benchmark Bill Gurley with investor, New York Times bestselling author and host of the podcast The Tim Ferriss Show Tim Ferriss
  • The Art of Creating Influence 101 on navigating entertainment careers
  • The Blog Era: Hip-Hop's Wild Wild West on the influence of music bloggers
  • Daddy Issues in Film on fathers in film
  • Dateline 24/7: How the True Crime Powerhouse Became a Podcast Empire on a genre leader
  • Driving Personal Health Forward: The Role of Apple Watch and iPhone on digitally monitoring health at home
  • Evil Dead Rise: Flesh-Possessing Demons Come Home on the new Evil Dead film
  • An Inside Look at “Blindspotting” Season 2 with Rafael Casal and Daveed Diggs on the continuation of the series
  • Onyx Collective Presents “UnPrisoned” on a new Hulu series
  • The Kids Are (Not) Alright: Gun Violence Terrorizing Youth of America on activism and justice
  • Leguizamo Does America: Next Stop – Austin on the contributions of U.S. Latinos

For a full lineup and more information on featured sessions, visit SXSW.com.

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This article originally ran on CultureMap.

The grant program will fund and support diverse business owners. Pexels

Houston-based digital business resource launches minority-focused, celebrity-backed grant program

in the minority

A Houston-based startup that provides digital resources for entrepreneurs has introduced a new initiative to support minority-owned businesses — and the program has attracted some celebrity support.

Hello Alice has launched Business for All, which will provide funding and mentorship to small business owners. According to a news release, half of new businesses have a minority founder and these startups have only received 2 percent of annual venture capital.

"As entrepreneurs ourselves, my co-founder Elizabeth Gore and I know how valuable it is to have a network of people and resources in your corner when trying to turn a small business dream into reality," says founder and CEO of Hello Alice, Carolyn Rodz, in the release. "All businesses start small, and through Business for All, we will provide 100,000 owners with the opportunity to receive grants and mentorship through Hello Alice."

Business For All will distribute up to $200,000 in grants sized between $10,000 and $50,000. The startups will be selected through a nomination process and will focus on founders who are women, people of color, LGBTQ+ entrepreneurs, military affiliated business owners, and entrepreneurs with disabilities, according to the release.

Support for the program has come in the way of volunteer mentorship from celebs by the likes of Kristen Bell, Jean Case, Rebecca Minkoff, Phyllis Newhouse, Gwyneth Paltrow, Lisa Price, Zaw Thet, and more.

"I believe we should give every small business owner the tools they need to succeed. Business for All provides a combined voice, grants and mentorship to ensure success for every entrepreneur no matter their background," says Kristen Bell, entrepreneur, actress, and advocate, in the release.

Those entrepreneurs selected to receive grants will be invited to the inaugural Business for All Summit in fall 2020 for networking, mentorship, and business-focused programing.

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Uber, Nuro and Lucid plan to roll out robotaxi services in Houston

autonomous autos

More autonomous vehicles are expected to hit the roads in Houston next year.

Ridesharing giant Uber announced that it plans to roll out its premium robotaxi service in the Bayou City in mid-2027. Houston will be Uber’s second planned market for the program, following the San Francisco Bay Area, where the program is expected to be rolled out later this year.

Uber, Nuro and Lucid Group will bring the robotaxi program to Houston with more markets planned for the future. Currently, Nuro is conducting autonomous on-road testing with safety operators in Houston. Testing includes simulation, closed-course testing and supervised public-road testing.

“Houston is a city Nuro knows well, and we’re excited to help bring this robotaxi service to the city through our partnership with Uber and Lucid,” Andrew Chapin, chief operating officer at Nuro, said in a news release. “Houston’s large, complex metro area is an ideal market for demonstrating how Nuro’s universal autonomy platform can generalize across different geographies and operating environments. We look forward to continued engagement with the community as we prepare to launch service in 2027.”

The fleet of 100 vehicles across California and Texas will feature Lucid Gravity EVs and future Lucid Midsize vehicles equipped with Nuro Driver technology, Nuro’s Level 4 universal autonomy platform, plus a redundant sensor suite with cameras, lidar, radar and a roof-mounted halo.

The vehicles will be owned and operated by Uber and its fleet partners and made available to riders through the Uber network, according to the company.

In addition to the fleet of autonomous vehicles, Uber also announced that it has secured a 50,000-square-foot depot facility and dedicated charging pitstop in Houston. The facility will allow Uber and its partners to control vehicle maintenance, repairs, charging, cleaning, and day-to-day operations.

“Houston marks an important next step in our partnership with Lucid and Nuro as we expand autonomous mobility to more riders throughout the world,” Sarfraz Maredia, global head of autonomous mobility & delivery at Uber, added in the release. “Together, we’re combining best-in-class vehicle and autonomy technology with Uber’s scale, fleet operations expertise, and infrastructure capabilities to build a service that can grow across dozens of markets in the years ahead.”

Waymo launched its autonomous vehicle program in Houston in February.

The company later suspended its driverless car services in Houston, other major Texas cities, and Atlanta, after one of its vehicles was stranded by flooding during heavy rains. However, according to the Houston Chronicle, the fleet has resumed activity in Houston and is fully active.

Houston fintech company closes $7M funding round

fintech funding

Houston-based fintech company Receipts Depositary Corporation has closed a $7 million oversubscribed funding round and plans to scale.

The round was led by Austin-based LiveOak Ventures, with participation from Hivemind Capital, Onigiri Capital, OTC Markets Group, GTS, and Redbeard Ventures, according to a release from RDC.

RDC's platform issues depositary receipts (DRs) to qualified investors on digital and alternative assets, making it easier for investors to buy and trade hard-to-access and less traditional assets. Currently, the company offers DRs for cryptocurrencies including Bitcoin, Ethereum, Solana and XRP.

RDC says the new funding will allow it to launch new DR products across a wider range of asset categories, potentially including commodities. Additionally, it plans to grow its relationships with "banks, broker-dealers, market makers, custodians and exchange partners" and add to its product, operations, technology, and commercial functions teams. The company is actively hiring, according to a press release.

“Depositary Receipts are trusted, regulated capital markets products which RDC is bringing to an entirely new universe of assets, from commodities to digital assets, that have historically been out of reach of traditional securities markets," Krishna Srinivasan, founding partner at LiveOak Ventures, said the release. “The team's depth of experience in the DR business on a global scale, combined with the broad institutional validation from co-investors, anchor customers, and strategic partners across asset classes, makes RDC uniquely positioned to define this category. We're proud to lead this round and support the company as it scales.”

RDC was founded in 2022 by three Citibank alumni: CEO Ankit Mehta, CEO Bryant Kim and COO Ishaan Narain. It began offering its first DRs for Bitcoin in 2024.

“This funding round is a strong validation of what we’re building at RDC and the growing demand for modernized Depositary Receipt infrastructure,” Mehta added in the release. “With the support of LiveOak Ventures and our investor partners, we are accelerating development across our DR platform expanding our market reach, and building the team needed to support the next generation of DR product

Houston space co. adds local colleges to university alliance

space schools

Houston’s Axiom Space has added 26 new members to its University Alliance—including two from Houston—to support the next generation of space exploration.

Engineers, researchers and students from the partnering universities will be dedicated to advancing microgravity research, technology development and commercial innovation in low-Earth orbit.

Rice University and the University of Houston are among the new colleges to join the alliance, which launched with 15 members last year. The University of Texas at Austin and the University of Texas at El Paso have also joined, in addition to international institutions in Europe, Asia and Australia, and others from around the U.S. See full list here.

“Through the University Alliance, Axiom Space is uniting the international research community driven to enable human progress,” Lucie Low, Axiom Space chief science officer, said in a news release. “Together, alliance members are taking the initiative to ensure microgravity research benefits everyone on Earth and our shared goals fulfill a scientific purpose to advance civilization.”

Axiom is building the world’s first commercial space station, known as Axiom Station. The University Alliance “will support and advance space science during the transition from government-led to commercially owned and operated space stations,” the company said in a release. Partnering universities will contribute to the research community by participating in international collaborative scientific initiatives, identifying future research, and bolstering strategic positions in the commercial orbit research field.

Recently, the Rice Space Institute was also selected to lead the U.S. Space Force Strategic Institute 4 in addition to other space-centric partnerships.

“We’re excited to bring our expertise to this global alliance and to benefit from the deep expertise of our partners,” David Alexander, professor of physics and astronomy and director of the Rice Space Institute, said in a news release. “Space is truly a collaborative and global endeavor. Alliances like these are key to progress.”

UH and NASA’s Johnson Space Center expanded their collaboration in 2022. In 2024, UH launched its NASA MIRO Inflatable Deployable Environments and Adaptive Space Systems Center (IDEAS2) via a five-year, $5 million grant.

“As a major public research university located in Space City, the University of Houston has a unique opportunity and responsibility to help lead the future of space innovation, and our participation in Axiom Space’s University Alliance represents a major step forward in that mission,” Karolos Grigoriadis, the Hugh Roy and Lillie Cranz Cullen Endowed Professor and chair of mechanical and aerospace engineering at UH, added in a separate release.

Meanwhile, Axiom recently tacked on an additional $175 million to a previously announced capital raise, bringing the oversubscribed round to a total of more than $525 million. It also has announced plans to launch Swiss and Japanese subsidiaries.

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