3 Houston innovators to know this week

Who's who

This week's innovators to know represents a homecoming, an accelerator launch, and a call for tech education. Courtesy photos

This week's innovators to know span across industries — from sports tech to education, but they are all fighting for something here in Houston. Here's what they are focused on bringing to the Houston innovation ecosystem.

Mike T. Brown, founder of Win-Win

Courtesy of Win-Win

Mike T. Brown decided to move his Silicon Valley sports tech platform that gamifies charitable donations to his hometown of Houston. Win-Win, which launched in 2016 and since raised $1.2 million in funding, is ready to scale and launch full-scale during the 2019 NFL season.

"I couldn't be more excited about returning to Houston to become a part of the city's tech revolution," says Brown in the release. "After visiting The Cannon, I immediately felt the energy and have witnessed their commitment to pushing Houston's tech startup movement. I can't wait to get fully plugged into the city's ecosystem, to start hiring local talent and raising money from local investors." Read more about Brown and Win-Win here.

Yvette Casares Willis, director of strategic partnerships for MassChallenge Texas

Courtesy of MassChallenge Texas

Yvette Casares Willis has been working to put Houston on the map for MassChallenge Texas, and her work is finally coming to fruition. The organization opened applications for its inaugural cohort last week. As excited as she is to work with the cohort, Willis is looking forward to what it means for the program to arrive in Houston and help to connect the dots across the city's innovation ecosystem.

"I'm excited about what Houston has to offer," says Willis, who is the director of partnerships for the organization. "We have everything we could possibly provide in this ecosystem to be amazing, as long as we all work together. If we can all collaborate and if we all have the same mission, we can really make a difference in Houston." Read more about Willis and MassChallenge Texas here.

TeKedra Pierre, internship coordinator at The Village School

Courtesy of The Village School

Tekedra Pierre's job is to help students be aware of real-life needs in the workforce through internship programs. And what's extremely clear to Pierre is the need for more professionals in tech — specifically the cybersecurity space. She wrote a piece for InnovationMap on the subject.

"Employers struggle to keep employees up to speed on the latest technologies and skill sets needed to succeed and thrive in the rapidly changing and evolving business landscape," she writes. "To remain competitive, Houston businesses must attract qualified workers to fill these positions that range from cybersecurity to industrial technology, engineering and medicine. And the earlier we can reach them, the better." Read Pierre's piece here.

Win-Win, a gamified donation platform, is moving to Houston this summer. Photo via Facebook

Silicon Valley-founded sports tech startup relocates to Houston

Homecoming

It's a homecoming of sorts for Mike T. Brown, a professional athlete turned entrepreneur, who is moving his Silicon Valley-founded startup to his hometown of Houston. Win-Win is a tech-enabled platform where fans can donate to their favorite athletes' causes through a gamified donation platform.

The company launched in 2016 and since raised $1.2 million in funding. Win-Win is ready to scale, according to a press release, and launch full-scale during the 2019 NFL season. Currently, the company is accepting investors on a crowdfunding site.

Brown will move his team into The Cannon this summer and enter The Cannon's Venture Studio.

"I couldn't be more excited about returning to Houston to become a part of the city's tech revolution," says Brown in the release. "After visiting The Cannon, I immediately felt the energy and have witnessed their commitment to pushing Houston's tech startup movement. I can't wait to get fully plugged into the city's ecosystem, to start hiring local talent and raising money from local investors."

Brown spent four years in the NFL, and was at one point a linebacker for the Indianapolis Colts. He hung up his helmet in 2013, taught himself to code, and moved to Silicon Valley. He worked as a mid-market growth lead for a $32 million venture-backed startup called Kiip. Growing up in Houston, Brown attended Alief Taylor High School before playing football at Duke University, getting a degree in public policy.

Win-Win is moving to the city at a time when sports startups are thriving, says Lawson Gow, founder and CEO of The Cannon. Gow is the son of InnovationMap's parent company's CEO. The Cannon is also home to sports tech startup sEATz.

"Houston has long needed better entrepreneurial resources to stop our startups from leaving for greener pastures, and we are excited to be part of the local entrepreneurial growth over the last couple of years, helping to provide a landing spot for a young, growing company like Win-Win," says Gow in the release. "On top of that, Houston is extremely well-positioned to be the home for sports-tech startups, and Mike moving back can be a great catalyst towards continuing to establish our city as a sports-tech hub."

Win-Win is joining fellow sports tech startup sEATz at The Cannon.Courtesy of The Cannon

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Houston edtech company closes oversubscribed $3M seed round

fresh funding

Houston-based edtech company TrueLeap Inc. closed an oversubscribed seed round last month.

The $3.3 million round was led by Joe Swinbank Family Limited Partnership, a venture capital firm based in Houston. Gamper Ventures, another Houston firm, also participated with additional strategic partners.

TrueLeap reports that the funding will support the large-scale rollout of its "edge AI, integrated learning systems and last-mile broadband across underserved communities."

“The last mile is where most digital transformation efforts break down,” Sandip Bordoloi, CEO and president of TrueLeap, said in a news release. “TrueLeap was built to operate where bandwidth is limited, power is unreliable, and institutions need real systems—not pilots. This round allows us to scale infrastructure that actually works on the ground.”

True Leap works to address the digital divide in education through its AI-powered education, workforce systems and digital services that are designed for underserved and low-connectivity communities.

The company has created infrastructure in Africa, India and rural America. Just this week, it announced an agreement with the City of Kinshasa in the Democratic Republic of Congo to deploy a digital twin platform for its public education system that will allow provincial leaders to manage enrollment, staffing, infrastructure and performance with live data.

“What sets TrueLeap apart is their infrastructure mindset,” Joe Swinbank, General Partner at Joe Swinbank Family Limited Partnership, added in the news release. “They are building the physical and digital rails that allow entire ecosystems to function. The convergence of edge compute, connectivity, and services makes this a compelling global infrastructure opportunity.”

TrueLeap was founded by Bordoloi and Sunny Zhang and developed out of Born Global Ventures, a Houston venture studio focused on advancing immigrant-founded technology. It closed an oversubscribed pre-seed in 2024.

Texas space co. takes giant step toward lunar excavator deployment

Out of this world

Lunar exploration and development are currently hampered by the fact that the moon is largely devoid of necessary infrastructure, like spaceports. Such amenities need to be constructed remotely by autonomous vehicles, and making effective devices that can survive the harsh lunar surface long enough to complete construction projects is daunting.

Enter San Antonio-based Astroport Space Technologies. Founded in San Antonio in 2020, the company has become a major part of building plans beyond Earth, via its prototype excavator, and in early February, it completed an important field test of its new lunar excavator.

The new excavator is designed to function with California-based Astrolab's Flexible Logistics and Exploration (FLEX) rover, a highly modular vehicle that will perform a variety of functions on the surface of the moon.

In a recent demo, the Astroport prototype excavator successfully integrated with FLEX and proceeded to dig in a simulated lunar surface. The excavator collected an average of 207 lbs (94kg) of regolith (lunar surface dust) in just 3.5 minutes. It will need that speed to move the estimated 3,723 tons (3,378 tonnes) of regolith needed for a lunar spaceport.

After the successful test, both Astroport and Astrolab expressed confidence that the excavator was ready for deployment. "Leading with this successful excavator demo proves that our technology is no longer theoretical—it is operational," said Sam Ximenes, CEO of Astroport.

"This is the first of many implements in development that will turn Astrolab's FLEX rover into the 'Swiss Army Knife' of lunar construction. To meet the infrastructure needs of the emerging lunar economy, we must build the 'Port' before the 'Ship' arrives. By leveraging the FLEX platform, we are providing the Space Force, NASA, and commercial partners with a 'Shovel-Ready' construction capability to secure the lunar high ground."

"We are excited to provide the mobility backbone for Astroport's groundbreaking construction technology," said Jaret Matthews, CEO of Astrolab, in a release. "Astrolab is dedicated to establishing a viable lunar ecosystem. By combining our FLEX rover's versatility with Astroport's civil engineering expertise, we are delivering the essential capabilities required for a sustainable lunar economy."

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This article originally appeared on CultureMap.com.

Houston biotech co. raises $11M to advance ALS drug development

drug money

Houston-based clinical-stage biotechnology company Coya Therapeutics (NASDAQ: COYA) has raised $11.1 million in a private investment round.

India-based pharmaceuticals company Dr. Reddy’s Laboratories Inc. led the round with a $10 million investment, according to a news release. New York-based investment firm Greenlight Capital, Coya’s largest institutional shareholder, contributed $1.1 million.

The funding was raised through a definitive securities purchase agreement for the purchase and sale of more than 2.5 million shares of Coya's common stock in a private placement at $4.40 per share.

Coya reports that it plans to use the proceeds to scale up manufacturing of low-dose interleukin-2 (IL-2), which is a component of its COYA 302 and will support the commercial readiness of the drug. COYA 302 enhances anti-inflammatory T cell function and suppresses harmful immune activity for treatment of Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (ALS), Frontotemporal Dementia (FTD), Parkinson’s disease and Alzheimer’s disease.

The company received FDA acceptance for its investigational new drug application for COYA 302 for treating ALS and FTD this summer. Its ALSTARS Phase 2 clinical trial for ALS treatment launched this fall in the U.S. and Canada and has begun enrolling and dosing patients. Coya CEO Arun Swaminathan said in a letter to investors that the company also plans to advance its clinical programs for the drug for FTD therapy in 2026.

Coya was founded in 2021. The company merged with Nicoya Health Inc. in 2020 and raised $10 million in its series A the same year. It closed its IPO in January 2023 for more than $15 million. Its therapeutics uses innovative work from Houston Methodist's Dr. Stanley H. Appel.

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