4 fitness-focused Houston startups changing the industry

Business exercise

From what you wear to where you go, here are some Houston fitness startups changing the game. Courtesy of Accel Lifestyle

Houston has developed into a city full of boutique fitness studios and updated parks, and now the city is seeing fitness startups popping up as well. From creating a smell-free fabric to engaging NASA technology into training, these Houston fitness startups are working out innovative ideas into the exercise industry.

Accel Lifestyle

Courtesy of Accel Lifestyle

Megan Eddings tried everything to get the stink out of her husband's workout clothes, but nothing worked completely. With her background in chemistry, she knew there was something she could do to create a fabric that didn't hold on to the bacteria that built up in normal fabrics. So, she got to work. Now, years later, she's finally perfected her product and is ready to launch by summer.

"I never thought it would take this so long to make a T-shirt," Eddings says. "But, if you do it right and in an ethical way, it just takes a little longer."

Eddings says she'll have six different styles of men's and women's shirts to start, and they will be available on the Accel website, which recently got a facelift. Read more about Accel's journey here.

Kanthaka

Courtesy of Kanthaka

Finding a quality personal training session that fits your schedule and location hasn't really been done before Houston-based Kanthaka launched in 2017. Founder Sylvia Kampshoff wanted something that allowed her to exercise with someone on her own schedule, and with people who valued customer service.

The app uses location technology similar to that of ride sharing apps to allow users to book training sessions with certified personal trainers, all of whom are heavily vetted and background checked by Kampshoff and her team.

"Many trainers at gyms or who work privately aren't certified," she says. "And that was important to me, that we have professionals who understand training and the body. And making sure our clients felt safe was a huge priority for me. We interview every trainer personally to ensure they not only meet our standards but also share our goals."

Since launch, Kanthaka has expanded to Austin and is expanding to San Antonio in April and Atlanta in May. The company has secured angel investment and has seen a month over month growth of 10 to 50 percent since the end of 2018. Read more about Kanthaka here.

Muvve

Courtesy of Muvve

What would you get if you crossed a dating app with an event planner focused on creating friendships around fitness? Houston-based Muvve. The app, which was created by Avi Ravishankar and Julian Se, came from the idea that working out, training for a marathon, or just staying active is way better with a buddy.

"Intrinsic motivation is hard to find, especially in individual sports, like running, cycling, or yoga," Ravishankar says. "Whereas, in team sports, like basketball or volleyball, you have the team to train with and motivate you."

The app, which launched in May of 2018, acts like a network for fitness lovers — just like a dating app would connect potential romantic partners. Dating apps, actually, were a big influence on Ravishankar, he says.

"I fell in love with dating apps. It was this mind-blowing idea for me of how many people you can connect with — even if it's not for dating," he says. "The amount of people I have met just through technology always blows my mind. There's so much power in it."

Ravishankar plans on growing the app's user base to 10,000 users by summer. Read more about Muvve here.

Sutaria Training & Fitness

Blake Hobson/ST&F

Sutaria Training & Fitness LLC, a Houston-based personal training company, has a new partnership with NASA that aims to provide exclusive access to astronaut training equipment to clients.

Jay Sutaria, founder and lead trainer, says that the equipment at NASA, called the force plate, shows how much power a client's body is producing in specific areas and how that power drops over time. The data produced by these machines can help trainers customize and tweak workouts for each client to take training a step further.

Sutaria and his partners at NASA recently tested the equipment with the Chinese olympic boxing team to see how it can be applied to workouts at NASA's location in Clear Lake.

"It's exclusive access to the equipment that is not available openly in Houston," says Sutaria. "NASA is a reference for us to become better trainers." Click here to read more about ST&F.

This week's storites of those of entrepreneurship and opportunity. Getty Images

5 most popular innovation stories in Houston this week

Now trending

Editor's note: This week's top trending stories are those of entrepreneurship — a cryotherapy chain and a fitness-focused app, both born here with big growth plans — and opportunities — a biotech company expanding overseas and networking events to attend. Here's what InnovationMap readers were reading this week.

Houston-based cryotherapy chain grows its national presence

Houston-based iCRYO has a few Texas franchise locations expected to open in 2019,and more coming nationwide. Courtesy of iCRYO.

A Houston entrepreneur has taken his cryotherapy and wellness brand and franchised it from its origin in League City to upstate New York. But, that's only the beginning. The brand, iCRYO, currently has four locations in the Houston area and one in New York, and has four more coming to the Dallas-Fort Worth area, Austin, and another upstate New York location. But that's only the start, says co-founder and COO, Kyle Jones. To read the full story, click here.

Houston biotech company plans expansion into Saudi Arabian market

Saudi Arabian representatives met at Houston-based Celltex Therapeutics Corp.'s office earlier this month to finalize a memorandum of understanding. Courtesy of Celltex

A Houston company that uses stem cell technology to treat patients suffering from degenerative diseases is taking its patented technology to another continent. Celltex Therapeutics Corp. has entered a memorandum of understanding with Saudi Arabia's Research Products Development Company. As a part of the partnership solidified by the MOU, Celltex will open an office in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, later this year. The new office will aid the commercialization of Celltex's technology and expand the company's presence to Saudi Arabia. To read the full story, click here.

Houston entrepreneurs aim to connect fitness fiends around the city through a mobile app and curated events

Through the Houston-based Muvve app, fitness fans can meet each other on the app or at curated events around town. Courtesy of Muvve

When Avi Ravishankar decided to train for a marathon in high school, he wanted to find a training buddy. He got lucky, and one found him: his classmate, Julian Se, took on the task. Usually, finding fitness friends and training buddies isn't that easy — especially in a huge, spread out city of Houston. Ravishankar and Se turned their friendship into a business partnership to solve this problem. Houston-based Muvve is a mobile app that's mission is to connect fellow fitness enthusiasts across the city. The two came up with the idea as a way to merge their passions. To read the full story, click here.

10 can't-miss Houston business and innovation events for March

From startup competitions to thought-provoking panels, here's where you need to be in March. Getty Images

Rodeo has kicked off and spring break is around the corner, which can only mean one thing: March in Houston. The month is chock full of business, entrepreneurial, and innovation-focused events, but we've plucked out 10 to highlight this month. To read the full story, click here.

4 health-focused Houston innovators to know this week

From cryotherapy and NASA-inspired fitness to startup funding and biotech, this week's innovators to know are raising the bar on health tech and innovation. Courtesy photos

This week's innovators to know are focused on health and wellness, from a Houston-based cryotherapy franchise to the person behind funding medical device and digital health startups. We couldn't narrow these folks down to the usual three, so here are the four Houston innovators to know as we start the last week in February. To read the full story, click here.

Through the Houston-based Muvve app, fitness fans can meet each other on the app or at curated events around town. Courtesy of Muvve

Houston entrepreneurs aim to connect fitness fiends around the city through a mobile app and curated events

On the Muvve

When Avi Ravishankar decided to train for a marathon in high school, he wanted to find a training buddy. He got lucky, and one found him: his classmate, Julian Se, took on the task.

"Julian decided he was going to train with me — he's a strong personality," Ravishankar says. "We started training, and to this day, we just became best friends from there."

Usually, finding fitness friends and training buddies isn't that easy — especially in a huge, spread out city of Houston. Ravishankar and Se turned their friendship into a business partnership to solve this problem. Houston-based Muvve is a mobile app that's mission is to connect fellow fitness enthusiasts across the city. The two came up with the idea as a way to merge their passions.

"The only idea we had was we wanted to have a startup with running," Ravishankar, co-founder of Muvve, says. "We loved running and tech, so we just wanted to find a way to bridge the gap there."

Ravishankar, a Rice University alumnus, says he took his idea to Owl Spark, an early stage accelerator on campus, and they just started asking people about their pain points when it came to working out.

"The big two things that we found were accountability and motivation," he says. "Out of 100 people, I would say all 100 people said that."

Ravishankar, who worked for six years in engineering at Oxy, says that these pain points are actually pretty inherent to individual sports.

"Intrinsic motivation is hard to find, especially in individual sports, like running, cycling, or yoga," he says. "Whereas, in team sports, like basketball or volleyball, you have the team to train with and motivate you."

Through his experience as an instructor at Black Swan Yoga, Ravishankar also realized boutique fitness studios needed a place to market their events to a wider audience. This gave Ravishankar an idea of a way to bridge the gap between different fitness studios around town via the app.

"For us the goal is to have all of these events and activities to go and meet like-minded people," he says.

Muvve's goal is to have these managed market events that are curated to ensure quality, rather than the hit or miss aspect of existing platforms.

"For me the curation aspect makes for a better experience," Ravishankar says.

Now, Muvve is focused on growing its user base from 4,500 to 10,000 users by summer. Simultaneously, the company is hoping to launch its first seed round of funding, and then using its funds and its network to launch into Austin by summer.

Ravishankar says finding potential investors has been the most challenging aspect.

"There's no money in Houston for a fitness tech startup," he says. "That space isn't really respected. For me, it's kind of a trickling effect. If there's no money in it, there's no one really to help you because they don't have a vested interest."

While funding has been daunting, Ravishankar says he's had some success in hiring out his team of developers, despite the uphill battle of hiring tech talent in Houston.

"There's hidden talent, but it's not obvious talent," Ravishankar says. "I think that people get discouraged by hiring in Houston because of that."

Muvve is harnessing the power of social media and digital networks to bridge the gap between fitness lovers across the city. Courtesy of Muvve

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Houston scores $120M in new cancer research and prevention grants

cancer funding

The Cancer Prevention and Research Institute of Texas has granted more than $120 million to Houston organizations and companies as part of 73 new awards issued statewide.

The funds are part of nearly $154 million approved by the CPRIT's governing board earlier this month, bringing the organization's total investment in cancer prevention and research to more than $4 billion since its inception.

“Today marks an important milestone for CPRIT and for every Texan affected by cancer,” CEO Kristen Doyle said in a news release. “Texas has invested $4 billion in the fight against one of the world’s greatest public health challenges. Over 16 years, that support has helped Texas lead the search for breakthrough treatments, develop new cancer-fighting drugs and devices, and—most importantly—save tens of thousands of lives through early cancer detection and prevention. Every Texan should know this effort matters, and we’re not finished yet. Together, we will conquer cancer.”

A portion of the funding will go toward recruiting leading cancer researchers to Houston. CPRIT granted $5 million to bring John Quackenbush to Baylor College of Medicine. Quackenbush comes from the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health and is an expert in computational and systems biology. His research focuses on complex genomic data to understand cancer and develop targeted therapies.

The University of Texas M.D. Anderson Cancer Center also received $3 million to recruit Irfan Asangani, an associate professor at the University of Pennsylvania Perelman School of Medicine. His research focuses on how chromatin structure and epigenetic regulation drive the development and progression of cancer, especially prostate cancer.

Other funds will go towards research on a rare, aggressive kidney cancer that impacts children and young adults; screening programs for breast and cervical cancer; and diagnostic technology.

In total, cancer grants were given to:

The University of Texas M.D. Anderson Cancer Center: $29.02 million
Baylor College of Medicine: $15.04 million
The University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston: $9.37 million
Texas A&M University System Health Science Center: $1.2 million
University of Houston: $900,000

Additional Houston-based companies landed grants, including:

Crossbridge Bio Inc.: $15.01 million
OncoMAGNETx Inc.: $13.97 million
Immunogenesis Inc.: $10.85 million
Diakonos Oncology Corporation: $7.16 million
Iterion Therapeutics Inc.: $7.13 million
NovaScan Inc.: $3.7 million
EMPIRI Inc.: $2.59 million
Air Surgical Inc.: $2.58 million
Light and Salt Association: $2.45 million

See the full list of awards here.

U.S. News names 5 Houston suburbs as the best places to retire in 2026

Retirement Report

Houston-area suburbs should be on the lookout for an influx of retirees in 2026. A new study by U.S. News and World Report has declared The Woodlands and Spring as the fourth and fifth best cities to retire in America, with three other local cities making the top 25.

The annual report, called "250 Best Places to Retire in the U.S. in 2026" initially compared 850 U.S. cities, and narrowed the list down to a final 250 cities (up from 150 previously). Each locale was analyzed across six indexes: quality of life for individuals reaching retirement age, value (housing affordability and cost of living), health care quality, tax-friendliness for retirees, senior population and migration rates, and the strength of each city's job market.

Midland, Michigan was crowned the No. 1 best place to retire in 2026. The remaining cities that round out the top five are Weirton, West Virginia (No. 2) and Homosassa Springs, Florida (No. 3).

According to U.S. News, about 15 percent of The Woodlands' population is over the age of 65. The median household income in this suburb is $139,696, far above the national average median household income of $79,466.

Though The Woodlands has a higher cost of living than many other places in the country, the report maintains that the city "offers a higher value of living compared to similarly sized cities."

"If you want to buy a house in The Woodlands, the median home value is $474,279," the city's profile on U.S. News says. "And if you're a renter, you can expect the median rent here to be $1,449." For comparison, the report says the national average home value is $370,489.

Spring ranked as the fifth best place to retire in 2026, boasting a population of more than 68,000 residents, 11 percent of whom are seniors. This suburb is located less than 10 miles south of The Woodlands, while still being far enough away from Houston (about 25 miles) for seniors to escape big city life for the comfort of a smaller community.

"Retirees are prioritizing quality of life over affordability for the first time since the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic," said U.S. News contributing editor Tim Smart in a press release.

The median home value in Spring is lower than the national average, at $251,247, making it one of the more affordable places to buy a home in the Houston area. Renters can expect to pay a median $1,326 in monthly rent, the report added.

Elsewhere in Houston, Pearland ranked as the 17th best place to retire for 2026, followed by Conroe (No. 20) and League City (No. 25).

Other Texas cities that ranked among the top 50 best places to retire nationwide include Victoria (No. 12), San Angelo (No. 28), and Flower Mound (No. 37).

The top 10 best U.S. cities to retire in 2026 are:

No. 1 – Midland, Michigan
No. 2 – Weirton, West Virginia
No. 3 – Homosassa Springs, Florida
No. 4 – The Woodlands, Texas
No. 5 – Spring, Texas
No. 6 – Rancho Rio, New Mexico
No. 7 – Spring Hill, Florida
No. 8 – Altoona, Pennsylvania
No. 9 – Palm Coast, Florida
No. 10 – Lynchburg, Virginia

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This article originally appeared on CultureMap.com.

Micro-nuclear reactor to launch at Texas A&M innovation campus in 2026

nuclear pilot

The Texas A&M University System and Last Energy plan to launch a micro-nuclear reactor pilot project next summer at the Texas A&M-RELLIS technology and innovation campus in Bryan.

Washington, D.C.-based Last Energy will build a 5-megawatt reactor that’s a scaled-down version of its 20-megawatt reactor. The micro-reactor initially will aim to demonstrate safety and stability, and test the ability to generate electricity for the grid.

The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) fast-tracked the project under its New Reactor Pilot Program. The project will mark Last Energy’s first installation of a nuclear reactor in the U.S.

Private funds are paying for the project, which Robert Albritton, chairman of the Texas A&M system’s board of regents, said is “an example of what’s possible when we try to meet the needs of the state and tap into the latest technologies.”

Glenn Hegar, chancellor of the Texas A&M system, said the 5-megawatt reactor is the kind of project the system had in mind when it built the 2,400-acre Texas A&M-RELLIS campus.

The project is “bold, it’s forward-looking, and it brings together private innovation and public research to solve today’s energy challenges,” Hegar said.

As it gears up to build the reactor, Last Energy has secured a land lease at Texas A&M-RELLIS, obtained uranium fuel, and signed an agreement with DOE. Founder and CEO Bret Kugelmass said the project will usher in “the next atomic era.”

In February, John Sharp, chancellor of Texas A&M’s flagship campus, said the university had offered land at Texas A&M-RELLIS to four companies to build small modular nuclear reactors. Power generated by reactors at Texas A&M-RELLIS may someday be supplied to the Electric Reliability Council of Texas (ERCOT) grid.

Also in February, Last Energy announced plans to develop 30 micro-nuclear reactors at a 200-acre site about halfway between Lubbock and Fort Worth.

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This article originally appeared on our sister site, EnergyCapitalHTX.com.

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