MassChallenge's 2021 Houston cohort snags cash prizes in 12th annual showcase

fresh funds

Here's what MassChallenge companies won big this year. Photo courtesy of MassChallenge

Nine startups that went through the 2021 Houston cohort for MassChallenge Texas have received cash prizes from the global accelerator.

Now in its 12th year, Boston-based MassChallenge awarded 39 equity-free cash and investment prizes to 36 early-stage companies from the 2021 virtual programs across Austin, Boston, Houston, and Rhode Island. The startups were recognized at a virtual showcase. Of the 229 companies to go through the program this year, about 70 of those were a part of the Houston cohort, which was announced in June, however none of the nine Houston cohort companies are based in Houston.

Here's which companies from the Houston program received awards:

  • AEROSENS, based in Miami, is a platform able to maximize aircraft cabin security and increase efficiency while reducing costs, using Bluetooth Low Energy sensors and the everyday smartphone or tablet. The company received a $25,000 Gold Award.
  • Analatom, based in Santa Clara, California, received the $10,000 FM Global Resilience Prize. The company has created an AI Deep Learning inspection technology automatically flag surface defects in images reducing maintenance costs improving inspection quality.
  • Astrileux Corporation, based in La Jolla, California, is accelerating manufacturing of next-gen ICs at 7 nm and smaller increasing power and performance in the era of zettabyte computing. The company scored one of the three top awards — a $100,000 Diamond Award.
  • Card Medic, based in the United Kingdom, received a $50,000 Platinum Award for its innovative digital technology designed to improve communication between healthcare staff and patients, across any barrier.
  • Exum Instruments, based in Denver, is combining high-performance tech with intuitive, seamless operations, Exum is solving materials characterization for a variety of industries. The company received a $25,000 Gold Award.
  • Grain4Grain, based in San Antonio, is using proprietary upcycling technology to turn byproducts from alcohol producers into low carb, high fiber flour alternatives at low cost. The company received a $25,000 Gold Award.
  • KNWN Technologies, based in DelRay Beach, received the Houston Angel Network Investment Prize as well as a $25,000 Gold Award. The technology provides a new level of identity validation for businesses to know and protect customer identity from enrollment through the life of the relationship.
  • Krtkl, based in San Francisco, is a new high-reliability edge-computing and artificial-intelligence solutions for robotics, sensing, and communications applications. The company received the ISSNL + CASIS Technology in Space Prize.
  • LucyDX, based in Middletown, Delaware, is preventing blindness in diabetics through early detection. The company received a $25,000 Gold Award.

Texas-based Ecliptic Capital will also give out its Investment Prize, but did not announce their winner at the showcase. The organization announced its full list of winners online and at the showcase.

"We designed our process to work with all founders especially those who may be overlooked or underestimated by traditional equity accelerators and investment models. These founders still benefit from and deserve access to accountability, expertise, and a network traditionally often made available only to venture-backed companies," says Siobhan Dullea, CEO of MassChallenge, in the press release. "The 229 startups from this year's cohort demonstrate just how much opportunity exists beyond the closed process of venture when we widen the lens. Congratulations to the winners."

MassChallenge Texas has named its 2021 cohorts — including 71 companies to accelerate in Houston. Photo courtesy of MassChallenge

MassChallenge Texas names the 71 startups that make up its latest Houston cohort

ready to grow

Five Houston-based startups have been accepted into MassChallenge's 50th startup accelerator.

Three of the local startups are part of the program's Houston cohort, and two are part of the Austin cohort. In all, 71 startups from around the world are participating in the new Houston cohort.

Aside from Houston and Austin, there are cohorts in Boston and Rhode Island. This year's MassChallenge class, announced June 28, comprises 229 startups from 20 countries.

The five Houston-based startups in MassChallenge's latest accelerator program are:

  • Church Space, an "Airbnb for churches" that enables churches to rent out space for worship, events, meetings, and ghost kitchens. It's part of the Houston cohort.
  • Every Shelter, which localizes response and relief efforts for global refugee crises. It's part of the Houston cohort.
  • Milkify, which freeze-dries breast milk, enabling mothers to carry it in a powdered form. It's part of the Houston cohort.
  • Javari, a music prediction and discovery platform. It's part of the Austin cohort.
  • Netnoids Rx Laboratories, which provides a platform called Spanio that lets individuals and companies test therapeutics. It's part of the Austin cohort.

"At the core of these early stage businesses is the entrepreneurial spirit of their founders. Entrepreneurial spirit is the unique blend of optimism, passion, and drive that gets founders and their businesses through the daunting early days," Jon Nordby, managing director of MassChallenge Texas, says in a news release.

Church Space, Every Shelter, and Milkify are among the 71 startups in the new Houston cohort. MassChallenge released the names of 69 of those companies. The two others are in stealth mode. Below are the names of the 69 publicly identified startups.

Energy / clean tech

  • Ener.com
  • SeebeckCell Technologies

General

  • Algdeha
  • Analatom
  • Astrileux
  • DeepCharge
  • Freshspire
  • Grain4Grain
  • Intelligent NanoFiber
  • Lepidext
  • Lodgeur
  • Milkify
  • NanoFlowX
  • Nature Knows
  • NjordFrey
  • ProFish Ghana
  • Solo
  • Stagetime

Health care / life sciences

  • AMF Medical
  • Arcascope
  • CardMedic
  • CaringWire
  • Exposphere Fitness
  • Galileo Innovations
  • Insu Health Design
  • Kismet Technologies
  • LucyDx
  • Newton Tech
  • Nightingale Caring Solutions
  • Nurlabs
  • Refined Imaging
  • Ronawk
  • SafetySit
  • SONOflammation
  • Tender Light Scientific
  • Uniphage
  • WestFace Medical

Social impact

  • Carta Digital
  • Every Shelter
  • Nile Agro Value Chain

Tech

  • Aerosens
  • Areanna AI
  • Church Space
  • CodeLn
  • Cybrik
  • Debtle
  • Edusko Africa
  • Exum Instruments
  • Fanorama Social Media
  • Glo3D.com
  • HintEd
  • Invento Robotics
  • KNWN Technologies
  • Krtki
  • Magos
  • Makeena
  • Manus Robotics
  • ModoScript
  • Notewardy
  • Nuw
  • Otomo
  • Owiwi
  • Patturn
  • Privoce
  • Third Ray
  • Tru-Spot Technologies
  • Yada.ai
  • Xena Intelligence
  • Xiggit

To be selected for the MassChallenge program, startups went through a two-round process that included more than 1,000 judges. During the program, participants will receive tools and advice to grow their businesses.

At the end of this year's program, startups will compete for equity-free cash prizes and grants adding up to $100,000. The prizes and grants will be awarded in October.

Attention Houston female founders — there are two new accelerator programs to have on your radars. Photo via Getty Images

Houston organizations announce two new female founder-focused programs

who runs the world?

A couple of Houston startup development organizations have recently announced programing and opportunities for female founders looking to advance their businesses.

Impact Hub Houston has announced that it has partnered up with Frost Bank to sponsor eight female founders to participate in Impact Hub's new Accelerate Membership Program. Applications are now open online and once the inaugural cohort is selected, they will receive the program for three months at no cost.

"At Impact Hub we believe the time to act is now. It's why we are excited to launch our new Accelerate Membership," says Maria Trindade, global network development director at Impact Hub Global, in a news release. "Its unique approach combines all the benefits of an enterprise support program with the flexibility that entrepreneurs need; plus its tailored nature makes this intervention highly accessible for entrepreneurs from diverse backgrounds who may not be able to dedicate full-time to their business idea."

Impact Hub Houston has also teamed up with MassChallenge for their own initiative supporting female founders in the Houston-Galveston region in partnership with Houston-based Workforce Solutions. The three organizations are collaborating to launch launch a bootcamp to support female founders in the greater Houston region.

"There is unprecedented growth in startup creation as a result of the pandemic and founders from all corners of the world are connecting in this virtual environment to build and scale amazing ideas," says Jon Nordby, managing director of MassChallenge Texas, in a news release. "With these new collaborations, we are also witnessing a massive gap in access to startup development resources. Our partnership with Workforce Solutions and Impact Hub Houston will help female founders build on their existing knowledge to become life-long innovators."

Applications for the bootcamp opened April 1 and will close at 5 pm on April 7 and are available online in both English and Spanish. The industry agnostic program will leverage MassChallenge's acceleration model and Impact Hub Houston's inclusive incubation expertise to accelerate female founders by connecting them with the resources they need to launch and scale high-impact businesses, according to the release.

"As a female founder myself, I'm incredibly excited about this opportunity to support and uplift more women entrepreneurs and women-led businesses in our region," says Grace Rodriguez, CEO and executive director of Impact Hub Houston, in the release. "By now, it's no secret that women, and especially women of color, are under-invested in; and this is our chance to change that by helping more women strengthen their businesses and prepare to seek funding."

Houston Exponential has announced the 38 finalists for the inaugural Listies Awards. Photo via Getty Images

Exclusive: HX names finalists for inaugural Houston innovation awards

the listies go to...

Ever wonder what Houston startups and innovators are the best of the best? Here's your chance to figure it out. The inaugural Listies awards program has named its finalists.

The Listies, brought to you by Houston Exponential in partnership with InnovationMap, will name the winning companies and people across 12 awards on November 20 at 3 pm at a virtual event as a part of Impact Hub's annual The Houston Innovation Summit (THIS). Click here to register for the free event.

Nominations were open until Friday, November 6, and then a group of judges made up of members of the Houston innovation ecosystem reviewed the submissions to settle on the finalists. Below, in alphabetical order, the 38 finalists are listed for each category.

DEI champion

  • Heath Butler
  • Maria Maso
  • Grace Rodriguez

Individual contributor

  • Michael Matthews
  • Slawek Omylski
  • Brad True

Mentor of the year

  • Keith Kreuer
  • Wade Pinder
  • Landi Spearman

Outstanding leadership

  • Stephanie Campbell
  • Grace Rodriguez
  • Roberta Schwartz

Corporate innovation

  • Chevron Technology Ventures
  • Houston Methodist
  • Shell Ventures

Investor of the year

  • CSL Capital Management
  • Golden Section VC (GSTVC)
  • Integr8d Capital

SDO superstar

  • MassChallenge Houston
  • Rice Alliance
  • TMCx

Welcome to Houston

  • Greentown Labs
  • TestCard
  • Win-Win

Civic engagement

  • Annapurna
  • Luminare
  • McMac Cx

COVID pivot/phoenix

  • Luminare
  • re:3D
  • sEATz

People choice

  • INK
  • Liongard
  • Luminare
  • re:3D
  • Topl

Soonicorn

  • GoExpedi
  • Liongard
  • Medical Informatics Corp.
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Rice student startup lands $1.85M to launch medical drone network

critical cargo

Students at Rice University have developed a medical cargo drone transport system to help deliver sensitive medical supplies and improve mobile healthcare efforts.

Haast Autonomous is the brainchild of graduating seniors Ege Halac, Jason Chen and Santiago Brent, who got their venture idea off the ground with help from the Liu Idea Lab for Innovation and Entrepreneurship (Lilie) Summer Venture Studio. The founders have developed the prototype at Rice’s Oshman Engineering Design Kitchen (OEDK) with fellow Rice researchers Felix Hasson, Ethan Javedan, Kenna Sanders and Caden Schmidt.

The startup has raised $1.85 million in pre-seed funding, according to Rice. The founders plan to focus on Haast full-time following graduation. They said they aim to launch pilot trials in 2027 and head to market later that year.

“We need better alternatives for a fast, safe and on-demand system of transport for life-critical cargo,” Halac said in a news release from Rice.

The Haast team has developed a custom aircraft with software that manages dispatch, routes, and chain of custody to assist in how materials move between sites in centralized medical systems. Generally, the transportation of medical supplies and materials between facilities and points of care relies on ground shipping or expensive air transport.

Haast Autonomous’ aircraft can take off and land vertically, and is designed around a mission profile of 50 to 62 miles. It can carry a payload of at least 5 pounds, with future versions intended to scale up in size. It also includes a built-in payload bay that regulates temperature, pressure, vibration and tilt to protect sensitive contents such as patient samples, antivenom or poisoning kits and radioligands or other therapies, according to Rice.

At first, the company envisioned the mission to be centered around transplants, but saw the product being best suited for a variety of operations.

“What we realized is that the platform we are building is suited for medicine, but it really underlies a much larger problem of mission-critical transport across industries,” Brent added in the news release. “We are building the fastest, most secure logistics chain for the world’s most sensitive cargo.”

Haast Autonomous was recognized at the 2026 Oshman Engineering Design Showcase and Competition, where it won Best Aerospace or Transportation Technology. It also performed well in the 2026 Napier Rice Launch Challenge.

In the future, Haast Autonomous plans to deploy a fleet of aircraft. The software will be designed to assist hospitals in requesting flights and tracking deliveries in real time.

“The drone is only part of the solution,” Chen also added in the release. “What matters is moving something from point A to point B in a way that fits into how hospitals already operate.”

Houston scientist wins prestigious Pew Scholar award for brain cancer research

standout scholar

Christina Tringides, an assistant professor of materials science and nanoengineering at Rice University, is one of 21 scientists to win a prestigious Pew Biomedical Scholar award.

She is the first faculty member from Rice to win the distinction, which provides $300,000 over four years for advances in biomedicine, according to the university. The awards are granted to researchers who are in the first few years at the assistant professor level.

In Tringides’ case, the funding will support her innovative new method of modeling glioblastoma, a common and extremely aggressive form of brain cancer. Thanks to producing its own blood supply, glioblastoma spreads quickly, weaving tendrils of blighted tissue throughout the brain. Because of this, surgery is difficult and conventional therapies ineffective.

Understanding the way glioblastoma spreads is crucial to the search for a cure. Tringides is using hydrogels that mimic the brain’s extracellular matrix. Using cultures and a microscopic labyrinth, her team can see how the cancer spreads, bonds with neurons and changes cell wall activity. Essentially, Tringides has devised an intelligence test for tumors in hopes of learning how to outsmart them.

“As cancer crawls through the maze, we can look at how it is interacting with the neurons more and more, and measure how electrical activity is changing as a result,” she said in a news release from Rice.

Examining how cancer cells grow can reveal which conditional changes slow them down. Finding ways to alter the structure of brain matter in a way that makes it inhospitable to the cancer could lead to therapies that would impede growth or even reverse it. Using her custom-made ersatz brain maze makes it easier to observe changes than it would be in a patient’s brain.

“Imaging synapses is time-intensive ⎯ it can involve large data files that are hard to visualize, but if we know that the only place where we might have a synapse is this tiny 1-by-4-by-10 micron channel, it makes it much faster and reliable to image them,” Tringides said.

Born in Ames, Iowa, Tringides received her doctorate in biophysics from Harvard before joining Rice in 2024 through a Cancer Prevention and Research Institute of Texas (CPRIT) recruitment award.

Her research was also one of the first four projects to receive research awards through the Rice Brain Institute and TMC Neuro Collaboration Seed Grant Program.

Texas residents earn 11th highest income in U.S., says 2026 study

Money Matters

A new WalletHub study comparing income disparities across America has ranked Texas residents No. 11 on the list of states with the highest earning residents in the nation.

The report, "States Where People Have the Highest Income (2026)," analyzed U.S. Census Bureau income data in all 50 states and the District of Columbia. The report evaluated the average annual income of the top five percent, the median annual household income, and the average annual income of the bottom 20 percent of residents in every state, all adjusted for the cost of living.

The report's data revealed the top five percent of Texans, the highest earners, make $520,378 on average yearly after adjusting for the cost of living. That's the seventh-highest income among the top five percent of earners nationwide.

Meanwhile, the median annual income of a Texas household is just under $76,000. The bottom 20 percent of Texas residents make $17,651 a year, the report found.

For additional context, the latest data from the Federal Reserve shows an American household's median yearly income is about $83,700. WalletHub analyst Chip Lupo also found that the highest earning 10 percent of individuals in the U.S. earn over 12 times more than those in the lowest-earning 10 percent, based on the latest Census data.

"By measuring the income of various percentiles against a state's median income, we can better identify where income disparities are more prevalent, which could help us better understand why residents of certain states struggle more to make ends meet," said Lupo.

Virginia is the state where residents earn the highest income in the U.S., WalletHub said. Based on the report's findings, the top five percent of Virginians make $545,097 on average per year after adjusting for the cost of living. The median annual income of a Virginia household comes out to $95,339, and the bottom 20 percent of residents make $19,671 annually on average.

Conversely, West Virginia is the state where people have the lowest income in the U.S. A West Virginia household makes a median annual income of $56,610, the third-lowest nationally, and the bottom 20 percent of residents make $13,260 on average per year, which is the fifth-lowest in the nation. The top five percent of West Virginians make $372,218 on average per year.

The top 10 states where residents have the highest income are:

  • No. 1 – Virginia
  • No. 2 – New York
  • No. 3 – New Jersey
  • No. 4 – Washington
  • No. 5 – Connecticut
  • No. 6 – Utah
  • No. 7 – Colorado
  • No. 8 – Minnesota
  • No. 9 – Illinois
  • No. 10 – Massachusetts

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This article originally appeared on CultureMap.com.

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