Houston logistics SaaS innovator is making waves with expanded maritime shipping platform

Houston Innovators Podcast episode 243

Matthew Costello, CEO and co-founder of Voyager Portal, joins the Houston Innovators Podcast. Photo courtesy of Voyager

For several years now, Matthew Costello has been navigating the maritime shipping industry looking for problems to solve for customers with his company, Voyager Portal.

Initially, that meant designing a software platform to enhance communications and organization of the many massive and intricate global shipments happening every day. Founded in 2018 by Costello and COO Bret Smart, Voyager Portal became a integral tool for the industry that helps users manage the full lifecycle of their voyages — from planning to delivery.

"The software landscape has changed tremendously in the maritime space. Back in 2018, we were one of a small handful of technology startups in this space," Costello, who serves as CEO of Voyager, says on the Houston Innovators Podcast. "Now that's changed. ... There's really a huge wave of innovation happening in maritime right now."


Riding that wave means continuing to evolve the Voyager platform with new cost-saving, inefficiency-reducing technology. One of the industry's biggest pain points is demurrage — charges associated with delays in loading and unloading cargo within maritime shipping. Costello estimates that the total paid globally in demurrage fees is around $10 billion to $20 billion a year.

"These fees can be huge," Costello says. "What technology has really enabled with this problem of demurrage is helping companies drill down to the true root cause of what something is happening."

All this progress is thanks to the enhancement — and wider range of acceptance — of data analysis and artificial intelligence.

Costello, who says Voyager has been improving its profitability every quarter for the last year, has grown the business to around 40 employees in its headquarters of Houston and three remote offices in Brazil, London, and Singapore. The company's last round of funding was a series A in 2021. Costello says the next round, if needed, would be next year.

In the meantime, Voyager is laser focused on providing optimized, cost-saving, and sustainable solutions for its customers — around half of which are headquartered or have a significant presence in Houston. For Costello, that's all about putting the control back into the hands of his customers.

"If we think back to the real problems the industry faces, a lot of them are controlled by different groups and parties. The fact that a ship cannot get in and out of a port quickly is not necessarily a function of one party's issue — it's a multitude of issues, and there's no one factor," Costello says on the show. "To really make the whole process efficient end-to-end you need to provide the customer to access and options for different means of getting cargo from A to B — and you need to have a sense of control in that process."

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Gaurav Khandelwal, CEO and founder of ChaiOne, joins the Houston Innovators Podcast to discuss his new venture, Velostics. Photo courtesy of ChaiOne

Serial entrepreneur sees logistics innovation as a 'massive opportunity' for Houston

Houston innovators podcast episode 99

For over a decade, Gaurav Khandewal has been working with clients to provide software solutions to industrial problems with his company, ChaiOne. Now, in his latest venture, he's addressing a market within logistics that can be run a whole lot smoother: The middle mile.

On this week's episode of the Houston Innovators Podcast, Khandewal explains that the middle mile in logistics is the trucks transporting between warehouses, for instance, and that includes trucks checking in and checking out at these warehouses. This process, and other aspects to the middle mile, is antiquated and manual — something his new company, Velostics, is looking to address.

"This middle mile commerce is very ancient," Khandewal says. "There is a lot of friction between ordering and paying. A lot of it is unnecessary and should be made simpler."

This middle mile represents a $700 billion market, and Velostics is ready to make an impact in that space. Last month, the company acquired Terusama, a logistics tech company with dock management and truck scheduling capabilities. The company's software solution that speeds up truck loading and unloading will be rolled into Velostics's platform.

The potential impact Velostics can make is exciting to Khandewal, who relates the technology to truck drivers being able to check in like passengers do with airlines. Smoothing out the so-called "log jam" of the middle mile can be a gamechangers for consumers and businesses alike.

"If we could accelerate the middle mile where a lot of the log jam is happening, we could get stuff in 30 minutes," Khandewal says. "We'd never have to go to a store again."

Khandewal has been a champion of Houston innovation since he started ChaiOne in 2009. Now, he's on the Houston Exponential board and thinks the city has a great opportunity to be a leader in logistics technology.

"I think that there are some trends in Houston that I'm seeing as a founder, and one of them is logistics," Khandewal says.

Velostics is one of seven Houston startups tied to logistics — and Khandewal mentions others like Voyager, GoExpedi, and Cart.com that are providing solutions in the space.

"If you look at Chicago — it's had some crazy amount of logistics unicorns that have popped up over the past few years, and they aren't slowing down," Khandewal says on the show. "Houston, I would argue, is better positioned, because we have this massive port. I think logistics is a massive opportunity for Houston."

He shares more on his passion for Houston, as well as what's next for Velostics on the episode. Listen to the full interview below — or wherever you stream your podcasts — and subscribe for weekly episodes.

A program at UH has just gotten a rare and prestigious accreditation. Photo by Tom Fisk from Pexels

University of Houston logistics and transportation program receives global accreditation

leveled up

A program at the University of Houston has received a rare global accreditation that will allow for more opportunities for the students in both the graduate and undergraduate programs.

The Chartered Institute of Logistics and Transport has accredited UH's Supply Chain & Logistics Technology bachelor's and master's degree plans. Now, students can apply for membership upon graduation and use the CILT credential after their name, according to a press release from UH, and this is the first academic program in the United States to have this distinction.

"In launching our globally-recognized credential program, we are addressing gaps in skill sets and focusing on filling those gaps with our students, helping them become more marketable," says Margaret Kidd, program director of Supply Chain & Logistics Technology, in the release.

Port Houston has granted $50,000 to the program, and these funds are being used to take the curriculum digital and allow for an online platform for certificate courses.

"The College of Technology prides itself in providing degree programs that support the workforce – a workforce that both needs to expand in numbers to boost the economy, but also to provide a more relevant education for industry and commerce," says Anthony P. Ambler, dean of the UH College of Technology, in the release. "We are grateful to the Port Houston and its support of our technology program which explicitly exposes students to how business operates so that they are able to be productive quickly."

The news was announced at a press conference at UH. Harris County Commissioner for Precinct 2 Adrian Garcia and Port Houston Commissioner Wendy Montoya Cloonan joined UH representatives at the event.

"The pandemic has wrecked several sectors of the economy, directly impacting thousands, and so many are searching for new skills that translate to this new normal. This UH program, funded by Port grants, is yet another way we and our partners are addressing that," says Commissioner Garcia. "Hardworking people need locally elected officials, educational institutions, and industry to help us get past these difficult times, which is why I am extremely excited about the launch of this program."

The first group of participants for the program will come from dual-credit high schools with a logistics focus and community colleges offering logistics and international business degrees.

"Our program plays an integral part in preparing the next generation of workers. We thank Port Houston for funding our project which provides meaningful influence for area students," says Kidd.

Houston-based The Now Network's last-mile logistics platform is growing its development team. Getty Images

Houston-based energy logistics software prepares to hire, raise funds as it scales up

now hiring

Many startups turn to offshore outsourcing to fuel their growth. The Now Network, a Houston-based energy tech startup, is doing just the opposite — relying on stateside in-sourcing.

The SaaS company is in the midst of building out its in-house development team, including full stack developers and UX/UI designers. This year, The Now Network plans to add another four to six developers, on top of the six who already are on board. Stacey McCroskey, the company's director of product since September 2019, leads the team.

Previously, the development team consisted of more than a dozen contract workers in Ukraine and India, says Mush Khan, president of The Now Network. Khan assumed the president's role in May 2019.

"We believe that having our own in-house team drives a sense of ownership over the product. We have to eat our own cooking, because what we build, we have to support," Khan says.

Compared with the outsourcing model, the in-house team enables the company to more quickly release higher-quality products and more quickly respond to customers' needs, he says.

"Over the years, The Now Network has seen immense growth, consistently advancing its technology framework to drive faster payments, increased driver retention, an expanded 3PL network, and increased business revenue," Sam Simon, the company's founder, chairman, and CEO, says in a release. "The addition of an in-house development team will only amplify this growth, promoting more opportunities for cross-collaboration and customer feedback, to expand upon and refine existing features."

Members of the in-house development team are working on expansion of The Now Network's last-mile logistics platform for wholesalers, third-party logistics (3PL) carriers, drivers, and users of fuel. Khan says the platform offers "complete visibility and accuracy" throughout the fuel delivery process.

Competition for tech talent in Houston industries like energy and manufacturing is ramping up as the region evolves as "a fast-paced, innovative environment," he says.

"We believe companies like ours offer an opportunity to build a product from the ground up," Khan says, "and in an environment that allows them to express themselves creatively."

In June 2019, staffing firm Robert Half Technology put Houston in fourth place for the anticipated volume of IT hiring in U.S. cities during the second half of the year.

"The technology market in Houston remains strong as more companies are investing in systems upgrades, focusing on security, and taking on digital projects," Robert Vaughn, Robert Half Technology's regional vice president in Houston, said in a release. "The candidate market remains tight, and companies that prolong the interview process or don't make competitive offers tend to have the hardest time staffing open roles."

Today, The Now Network employs 15 people, all but one of whom works in Houston. The company expects to grow its workforce to around 30 by the end of 2020, Khan says. To accommodate the larger headcount, The Now Network is moving this month from WeWork at the Galleria to a 6,000-square-foot office in the Upper Kirby neighborhood.

To help finance its growth, The Now Network will soon launch its first-ever fundraising effort. Khan says the company will seek more than $5 million in investment capital.

Founded in 2015, The Now Network strives to simplify the last mile of the "energy ecosystem," which Khan describes as "slow, opaque, and expensive." Its SaaS platform automates delivery functions in the energy supply chain, doing away with manual labor and tedious paperwork, he says.

Since early 2018, the startup has handled more than 180,000 customer transactions involving over 1.8 billion gallons of fuel.

The Now Network is a portfolio company of Simon Group Holdings, a private equity firm based in Birmingham, Michigan. One of its key areas of focus is the energy sector.

In 2017, The Now Network (previously known as FuelNow Network) entered a strategic partnership with Houston-based Motiva Enterprises LLC, a fuel refiner, distributor, and retailer owned by Saudi Refining Inc. Khan says his company is collaborating with Motiva to roll out The Now Network platform to U.S. fuel wholesalers.

"As of now, Motiva doesn't have a stake in our company," he says.

Motiva owns East Texas' 3,600-acre Port Arthur Refinery, the largest oil refinery in North America, with a daily capacity of more than 600,000 barrels. State-controlled Saudi Aramco — which went public last year in an IPO valued at $2 trillion — owns Saudi Refining.

Validere, a Canada-based energy logistics company, is expanding in Houston. Courtesy of Validere

Canadian startup fresh off $7 million seed funding raise picks Houston for U.S. expansion

Energy Tech

Houston's established reputation as the energy capital of the world combined with burgeoning tech scene has made the city attractive for a growing oil and gas company with roots in Canada.

Validere is an oil and gas company focused on using real-time data and both artificial and human intelligence insights to improve its clients' quality, trading, and logistics. The company's technology enhances the ability of oil and gas traders to make informed decisions, which currently are made based off unreliable product quality data. Annually, $2 trillion of product moves around the oil and gas industry, and Validere uses the Internet of Things to improve the current standard of decision making.

"It's like if you'd go to the grocery store to buy milk not knowing if it's 1 percent, 2 percent, or cream," co-founder Nouman Ahmad says about how companies are currently making oil and gas trading decisions.

In October, Validere concluded its seed funding round with $7 million. Among Validere supporters are several Silicon Valley power players, such as Sallyport Investments, Y Combinator, Real Ventures, Moment Ventures, and ZhenFund. The funds, in part, will help the company expand into the United States market.

"The goal in 2019 is to be at the same stage — in terms of customer success — in the U.S. market as we were at the end of 2018 in the Canadian market," Ahmad says.

The company has seen great success in Canada, and some of its existing clients have business in the Houston area already, Ahmad says.

With the increased focus on Houston comes a growing office. Currently, Ahmad leads the efforts in town with one other staffer, however, operations won't be a skeleton crew for too much longer. Ahmad says he is "aggressively hiring" in the Bayou City, which will be a key office for them as they grow across the country.

"As we think about the long-term future of the business, Houston is one of the most important markets for us going forward," Ahmad says.

Houston has been a welcoming community to the Canadian transplant, who says he spends most of his time here now. Both the startup and tech scenes in Houston have been valuable resources to the company — as has the energy industry's potential clients.

"Houston market is very receptive and ready for innovative companies that are solving problems for them," Ahmad says.

The company was founded in 2015 at Harvard by entrepreneurs who saw the potential for better transparency in the oil and gas industry. Validere's other co-founder and CTO, Ian Burgess, first had the idea for the technology after an accident happened in Canada; a train carrying crude oil derailed and blew up a small town killing 45 people.

"The industry largely bases important operational decisions on poor quality data," Burgess says in a release. "Our platform not only informs product quality reliably and in real time, but it also uses AI to help oil and gas companies optimize product movement."

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Rice Alliance and the Ion leader Brad Burke to retire this summer

lasting legacy

Brad Burke—a Rice University associate vice president who leads the Ion District’s Rice Alliance for Technology and Entrepreneurship and is a prominent figure in Houston’s startup community—is retiring this summer after a 25-year career at the university.

Burke will remain at the Rice Alliance as an adviser until his retirement on June 30.

“Brad’s impact on Rice extends far beyond any single program or initiative. He grew the Rice Alliance from a promising campus initiative into one of the most respected university-based entrepreneurship platforms,” Rice President Reginald DesRoches said in a news release.

During Burke’s tenure, the Rice Business School went from unranked in entrepreneurship to The Princeton Review’s No. 1 graduate entrepreneurship program for the past seven years and a top 20 entrepreneurship program in U.S. News & World Report’s rankings for the past 14 years.

“Brad didn’t just build programs — he built an ecosystem, a culture, and a reputation for Rice that now resonates around the world,” said Peter Rodriguez, dean of the business school. “Through his vision and steady leadership, Rice became a place where founders are taken seriously, ideas are rigorously supported, and entrepreneurship is embedded in the fabric of the university.”

One of Burke’s notable achievements at Rice is the creation of the Rice Business Plan Competition. During his tenure, the competition has grown from nine student teams competing for $10,000 into the world’s largest intercollegiate competition for student-led startups. Today, the annual competition welcomes 42 student-led startups that vie for more than $1 million in prizes.

Away from Rice, Burke has played a key role in cultivating entrepreneurship in the energy sector: He helped establish the Energy Tech Venture Forum along with Houston Energy and Climate Startup Week.

Furthermore, Burke co-founded the Texas University Network for Innovation and Entrepreneurship in 2008 to bolster the entrepreneurship programs at every university in Texas. In 2016, the Rice Alliance assumed leadership of the Global Consortium of Entrepreneurship Centers.

In 2023, Burke received the Trailblazer Award at the 2023 Houston Innovation Awards and was recognized by the Deshpande Foundation for his contributions to innovation and entrepreneurship in higher education.

“Working with an amazing team to build the entrepreneurial ecosystem at Rice, in Houston, and beyond has been the privilege of my career,” Burke said in the release. “It has been extremely gratifying to hear entrepreneurs say our efforts changed their lives, while bringing new innovations to market. The organization is well-positioned to help drive exponential growth across startups, investors, and the entrepreneurial ecosystem.”

Starting April 15, John “JR” Reale Jr. will serve as interim associate vice president at Rice and executive director of the Rice Alliance. He is managing director of the alliance and co-founder of Station Houston, beginning April 15. Reale is co-founder of the Station Houston startup hub and a startup investor and was also recently named director for startups and investor engagement for the Ion.

“The Rice Alliance has always been about helping founders gain advantages to realize their visions,” Reale said. “Under Brad’s leadership, the Rice Alliance has become a globally recognized platform that is grounded in trust and drives transformational founder outcomes. My commitment is to honor what Brad has built and led while continuing to serve our team and community, deepen relationships and deliver impact.”

Burke joined the Houston Innovators Podcast back in 2022. Listen to the full interview here.

Houston team uses CPRIT funding to develop nanodrug for cancer immunotherapy

cancer research

With a relative five-year survival rate of 50 percent, pancreatic cancer is a diagnosis nobody wants. At 60 percent, the prognosis for lung cancer isn’t much rosier. That’s because both cancers contain regulatory B cells (Bregs), which block the body’s natural immunity, making it harder to fight the enemies within.

Newly popular immunotherapies in a category known as STING agonists may stimulate natural cancer defenses. However, they can also increase Bregs while simultaneously causing significant side effects. But Wei Gao, assistant professor of pharmacology at the University of Houston College of Pharmacy, may have a solution to that conundrum.

Gao and her team have developed Nano-273, a dual-function drug, packaged in an albumin-based particle, that boosts the immune system to help it better fight pancreatic and lung cancers. Gao’s lab recently received a $900,000 grant from the Cancer Prevention and Research Institute of Texas (CPRIT) to aid in fueling her research into the nanodrug.

“Nano-273 both activates STING and blocks PI3Kγ—a pathway that drives Breg expansion, while albumin nanoparticles help deliver the drug directly to immune cells, reducing unwanted side effects,” Gao said in a press release. “This approach reduces harmful Bregs while boosting immune cells that attack cancer, leading to stronger and more targeted anti-tumor responses.”

In studies using models of both pancreatic and lung cancers, Nano-273 has shown great promise with low toxicity. Its best results thus far have involved using the drug in combination with immunotherapy or chemotherapy.

With the CPRIT funds, Gao and her team will be able to charge closer to clinical use with a series of important steps. Those include continuing to test Nano-273 alongside other drugs, including immune checkpoint inhibitors. Safety studies will follow, but with future patients in mind, Gao will also work toward improving her drug’s production, making sure that it’s safe and high-quality every time, so that it is eventually ready for trials.

Gao added: “If successful, this project could lead to a new type of immunotherapy that offers lasting tumor control and improved survival for patients with pancreatic and lung cancers, two diseases that urgently need better treatments."

Houston booms as No. 2 U.S. metro for new home construction

Construction Boom

Driven by population growth, more residential rooftops are popping up across Houston and the rest of Texas than anywhere else in America.

Using data from the U.S. Census Bureau and Zillow, Construction Coverage found 65,747 new residential units were authorized in greater Houston in 2024. That figure landed Houston in second place among major metro areas for the total number of housing permits, including those for single-family homes, apartments, and condos.

Just ahead of Houston was the Dallas-Fort Worth Metroplex, which took first place with 71,788 residential permits approved in 2024. In third place was the country’s largest metro, New York City (57,929 permits).Elsewhere in Texas, the Austin metro ranked sixth (32,294 permits), and the San Antonio metro ranked 20th (14,857 permits).

Construction Coverage also sorted major metro areas based on the number of new housing units authorized per 1,000 existing homes in 2024. Raleigh, North Carolina, held the No. 1 spot (28.8 permits per 1,000 existing homes), followed by Austin at No. 2 (28.6), DFW at No. 3 (22.2), Houston at No. 4 (21.6), and San Antonio at No. 13 (13.6).

A Newsweek analysis of Census Bureau data shows building permits for 225,756 new residential units were approved in 2024 in Texas — a trend fueled largely by activity in DFW, Houston, Austin, and San Antonio. That put Texas atop the list of states building the most residential units for the year.

Through the first eight months of last year, 145,901 permits for new residential units were approved in Texas, according to Census Bureau data. That’s nearly 80,000 permits shy of the 2024 total.

Among the states, Construction Coverage ranks Texas sixth for the number of residential building permits approved in 2024 per 1,000 existing homes (17.9).

Extra housing is being built in Texas to meet demand spurred by population growth. From April 2020 to July 2024, the state’s population increased 7.3 percent, the Census Bureau says.

While builders are busy constructing new housing in Texas, they’re not necessarily profiting a lot from homebuilding activity.

“Market conditions remain challenging, with two-thirds of builders reporting they are offering incentives to move buyers off the fence,” North Carolina homebuilder Buddy Hughes, chairman of the National Association of Home Builders, said in a December news release. “Meanwhile, builders are contending with rising material and labor prices, as tariffs are having serious repercussions on construction costs.”

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