TMC med-tech company closes $2.5M series A, plans expansion

fresh funding

Insight Surgery, a personalized orthopedic surgery technology company with its U.S. business operations based in Houston, has closed a series A. Photo courtesy Insight Surgery.

Insight Surgery, a United Kingdom-based startup that specializes in surgical technology, has raised $2.5 million in a series A round led by New York City-based life sciences investor Nodenza Venture Partners. The company launched its U.S. business in 2023 with the opening of a cleanroom manufacturing facility at Houston’s Texas Medical Center.

The startup says the investment comes on the heels of the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) granting clearance to the company’s surgical guides for orthopedic surgery. Insight says the fresh capital will support its U.S. expansion, including one new manufacturing facility at an East Coast hospital and another at a West Coast hospital.

Insight says the investment “will provide surgeons with rapid access to sophisticated tools that improve patient outcomes, reduce risk, and expedite recovery.”

Insight’s proprietary digital platform, EmbedMed, digitizes the surgical planning process and allows the rapid design and manufacturing of patient-specific guides for orthopedic surgery.

“Our mission is to make advanced surgical planning tools accessible and scalable across the U.S. healthcare system,” Insight CEO Henry Pinchbeck said in a news release. “This investment allows us to accelerate our plan to enable every orthopedic surgeon in the U.S. to have easy access to personalized surgical devices within surgically meaningful timelines.”

Ross Morton, managing Partner at Nodenza, says Insight’s “disruptive” technology may enable the company to become “the leader in the personalized surgery market.”

The startup recently entered a strategic partnership with Ricoh USA, a provider of information management and digital services for businesses. It also has forged partnerships with the Hospital for Special Surgery in New York City, University of Chicago Medicine, University of Florida Health and UAB Medicine in Birmingham, Alabama.

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Nexalin Technology is launching a Phase II clinical trial of its neurostimulation device for adult patients suffering from anxiety and insomnia. File image.

Houston healthtech leader launches clinical trial for innovative anxiety-treating device

making waves

Houston-based Nexalin Technology’s proprietary neurostimulation device will move forward with a new clinical trial evaluating its treatment of anxiety disorders and chronic insomnia in Brazil.

The first of Nexalin’s Gen-2 15-milliamp neurostimulation devices have been shipped to São Paulo, Brazil, and the study will be conducted at the Instituto de Psiquiatria university hospital (IPq-HCFMUSP). The shipments aim to support the launch of a Phase II clinical trial in adult patients suffering from anxiety and insomnia, according to a news release.

“Brazil is an important emerging market for mental health innovation, and this collaboration marks our first IRB-approved study in the region,” Mike White, CEO of Nexalin, said in the release.

The study will be led by Dr. Andre Russowsky Brunoni, who specializes in neuromodulation and interventional psychiatry. He currently serves as director of the interventional psychiatry division at IPq-HCFMUSP and this summer will join UT Southwestern in Dallas and its Peter O’Donnell Jr. Brain Institute as a professor of psychiatry.

The Phase II study plans to enroll 30 adults in São Paulo and assess the efficacy of Nexalin’s non-invasive deep intracranial frequency stimulation (DIFS™) of the brain in reducing anxiety symptoms and improving sleep quality, according to the company. Using the Hamilton Anxiety Rating Scale (HAM-A), the trial’s goal is a reduction in anxiety symptoms, and assessments of sleep onset latency, total sleep time, overall sleep quality, depressive symptoms and clinical impression of improvement. The company plans to share results in a peer-reviewed scientific journal.

“Anxiety and insomnia are very common conditions that often occur together and cause significant distress,” Brunoni added in the news release. “In this study, we are testing a new, non-invasive brain stimulation technology that has shown promising results in recent research. Our goal is to offer a safe, painless, and accessible alternative to improve people’s well being and sleep quality.”

The Nexalin Gen-2 15-milliamp neurostimulation device has been approved in China, Brazil, and Oman.

The company also enrolled the first patients in its clinical trial at the University of California, San Diego, in collaboration with the VA San Diego Healthcare System for its Nexalin HALO, which looks to treat mild traumatic brain injury and post-traumatic stress disorder in military personnel and the civilian population. It also recently raised $5 million through a public stock offering. Read more here.

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Houston maritime startup raises $43M to electrify vessels, opens new HQ

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A Houston-based maritime technology company that is working to reduce emissions in the cargo and shipping industry has raised VC funding and opened a new Houston headquarters.

Fleetzero announced that it closed a $43 million Series A financing round this month led by Obvious Ventures with participation from Maersk Growth, Breakthrough Energy Ventures, 8090 Industries, Y Combinator, Shorewind, Benson Capital and others. The funding will go toward expanding manufacturing of its Leviathan hybrid and electric marine propulsion system, according to a news release.

The technology is optimized for high-energy and zero-emission operation of large vessels. It uses EV technology but is built for maritime environments and can be used on new or existing ships with hybrid or all-electric functions, according to Fleetzero's website. The propulsion system was retrofitted and tested on Fleetzero’s test ship, the Pacific Joule, and has been deployed globally on commercial vessels.

Fleetzero is also developing unmanned cargo vessel technology.

"Fleetzero is making robotic ships a reality today. The team is moving us from dirty, dangerous, and expensive to clean, safe, and cost-effective. It's like watching the future today," Andrew Beebe, managing director at Obvious Ventures, said in the news release. "We backed the team because they are mariners and engineers, know the industry deeply, and are scaling with real ships and customers, not just renderings."

Fleetzero also announced that it has opened a new manufacturing and research and development facility, which will serve as the company's new headquarters. The facility features a marine robotics and autonomy lab, a marine propulsion R&D center and a production line with a capacity of 300 megawatt-hours per year. The company reports that it plans to increase production to three gigawatt-hours per year over the next five years.

"Houston has the people who know how to build and operate big hardware–ships, rigs, refineries and power systems," Mike Carter, co-founder and COO of Fleetzero, added in the release. "We're pairing that industrial DNA with modern batteries, autonomy, and software to bring back shipbuilding to the U.S."

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This article originally appeared on EnergyCapitalHTX.com.

New cancer-fighting nanodrug tops Houston innovation news to know

Trending News

Editor's note: The new year brings big Houston innovation news, from pending retirements to new hires and a cancer-fighting nanodrug. Below are the five most-read InnovationMap stories published January 16-30, 2026:

1. Houston team uses CPRIT funding to develop nanodrug for cancer immunotherapy

Wei Gao (center), a UH assistant professor of pharmacology, and her team have developed Nano-273, which helps the immune system fight pancreatic and lung cancers. Photo courtesy UH.

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. Continue reading.

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

Houston entrepreneurship and innovation leader Brad Burke is set to retire on June 30. Photo by Jeff Fitlow/Rice University

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. Continue reading.

3. 5+ must-know application deadlines for Houston innovators

The University of Michigan's Intero Biosystems earned a top-place finish and the largest total investment from the 2025 Rice Business Plan Competition. Photo courtesy Rice University.

As 2026 ramps up, the Houston innovation scene is looking for the latest groups of innovative startups that'll make an impact. A number of accelerators and competitions have opened applications. See which might be a good fit for you or your venture, and take careful note of the deadlines. Continue reading.

4. Houston startups closed $1.75 billion in 2025 VC funding, says report

Local startups collected $1.75 billion in venture capital in 2025. Photo via Pexels.

Going against national trends, Houston-area startups raised 7 percent less venture capital last year than they did in 2024, according to the PitchBook-NVCA Venture Monitor report. The report shows local startups collected $1.75 billion in venture capital in 2025, down from $1.89 billion the previous year. Continue reading.

5. Baylor College of Medicine names Minnesota med school dean as new president, CEO ​

Baylor College of Medicine has named Dr. Jakub Tolar as its new president, CEO and executive dean. Photo courtesy of Mendel Lectures.

Dr. Jakub Tolar, dean of the University of Minnesota Medical School, is taking over as president, CEO and executive dean of Houston’s Baylor College of Medicine on July 1. Tolar—who’s also vice president for clinical affairs at the University of Minnesota and a university professor—will succeed Dr. Paul Klotman as head of BCM. Klotman is retiring June 30 after leading Texas’ top-ranked medical school since 2010. Continue reading.

Innovative Houston-area hardtech startup closes $5M seed round

fresh funding

Conroe-based hardtech startup FluxWorks has closed a $5 million seed round.

The funding was led by Austin-based Scout Ventures, which invests in early-stage startups working to solve national security challenges.

Michigan Capital Network also contributed to the round from its MCN Venture Fund V. The fund is one of 18 selected by the Department of Defense and Small Business Administration to participate in the Small Business Investment Company Critical Technologies Initiative, which will invest $4 billion into over 1,700 portfolio companies.

FluxWorks reports that it will use the funding to drive the commercialization of its flagship Celestial Gear technology.

"At Scout, we invest in 'frontier tech' that is essential to national interest. FluxWorks is doing exactly that by solving critical hardware bottlenecks with its flagship Celestial Gear technology ... This is about more than just gears; it’s about strengthening our industrial infrastructure," Scout Ventures shared in a LinkedIn post.

Fluxworks specializes in making contactless magnetic gears for use in extreme conditions, which can enhance in-space manufacturing. Its contactless design leads to less wear, debris and maintenance. Its technology is particularly suited for space applications because it does not require lubricants, which can be difficult to control at harsh temperatures and in microgravity.

The company received a grant from the Texas Space Commission last year and was one of two startups to receive the Technology in Space Prize, funded by Boeing and the Center for the Advancement of Science in Space (CASIS), in 2024. It also landed $1.2 million through the National Science Foundation's SBIR Phase II grant this fall.

Fluxworks was founded in College Station by CEO Bryton Praslicka in 2021. Praslicka moved the company to Conroe 2024.

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