Houston health tech startup closes $10M series B led by Austin investors

money moves

BrainCheck has raised its latest round of funding. Photo by Natalie Harms/InnovationMap

A Houston-based tech company that's tackling cognitive health diagnoses with its innovative platform has closed its latest round of funding.

BrainCheck, the cognitive health care platform for physicians, announced the closing of its $10 million series B funding led by Austin-based investors, Next Coast Ventures and S3 Ventures. The funding will be used to expand research and development, including developing a digital therapeutic and enhancing go-to-market capabilities.

BrainCheck's digital platform allows physicians to better assess cognitive function in their patients — whether they are elderly dementia patients or suffering from other cognitive ailments. One in nine adults aged 45 and older report subjective cognitive decline, according to a news release, and one in 14 COVID-19 survivors have neurocognitive disorder.

"We are at the forefront of improving access to cognitive assessment and care," says Yael Katz, co-founder and CEO of BrainCheck, in the release. "With early diagnosis comes treatment and intervention. These funds will allow us to accelerate the adoption of our platform and work with clinicians to help more patients live better and safer lives, decrease caregiver frustration, and save health systems trillions of dollars. I believe that BrainCheck can help cognitive care evolve the way cancer care has since the 1970s, when chemotherapy was one-size-fits-all."

Katz co-founded the company with neuroscientist David Eagleman in January of 2015. Now, doctors at over 400 neurology, primary care and geriatrics practices — such as Cleveland Clinic, MD Anderson, and Johns Hopkins — are already using BrainCheck's 10-to-15-minute test, which is covered by Medicare and by most private insurers, to conduct cognitive testing. The FDA Class II Software as a Medical Device (SaMD), which means that physicians can facilitate in-person or even an remote assessment of their patients' cognitive function.

"BrainCheck is a breakthrough platform that has the potential to transform how we diagnose and treat cognitive impairment," says Michael Smerklo, co-founder and managing director of Next Coast Ventures, in the release. "The combination of technical sophistication and ease of use makes BrainCheck a perfect tool for doctors and health systems everywhere. I'm so impressed by what Dr. Katz and her team have achieved to date and am excited to support the team as they continue to innovate and scale."

Other investors included Nueterra Capital, Tensility Ventures, and True Wealth Ventures, as well as UPMC Enterprises and SelectQuote, which joined on as strategic investors.

"BrainCheck shows promise as a cognitive assessment tool that would allow patients to independently complete the test while allowing physicians to spend more time reviewing the results and planning care with patients," says Dr. Adele Towers, director of risk adjustment at UPMC Enterprises and a geriatric medicine specialist at UPMC, in the release.

BrainCheck closed its $8 million series A round in October of 2019, and the company moved into its new office in Upper Kirby following the raise in early 2020. The startup also has an office in Austin.

Backed by an Austin venture group, Navegate has opened a Houston outpost. Courtesy of Navegate

Digital supply chain tech company expands to Houston

New to Hou

A growing software company backed by Austin-based Next Coast Ventures has set its eyes on a new office in Houston.

Navegate, a digital supply chain technology and services for the middle market with headquarters in Minneapolis and offices in Chicago, Los Angeles, and Shanghai, announced its new offices in Houston and Kansas City as well as a the beta version of a new software platform. The company now has 100 employees across its six offices.

"At Navegate we have a concierge-level commitment to fulfilling our clients' needs," says Nathan Dey, CEO of Navegate, in a news release. "By establishing Kansas City and Houston offices, we're expanding our footprint to have physical locations in two critical freight hubs. These locations will provide further leverage for both existing and future Navegate clients in their efforts to build best-in-class supply chains."

James Blodgett will lead the Houston office as the key accounts manager. He has more than 35 years of experience in project cargo, according to the release, and notes how important Houston is as a market considering its connection to the port.

"As a hub for cargo and oversized shipments, I'm excited to leverage our new location to strengthen customer relationships as well as grow Navegate's base for project cargo," says Blodgett in the release.

The company has financial support in Texas already. Next Coast Ventures originally got involved with the company last October when Chicago-based Saltspring Capital led Navegate's financing round. Dey, who was previously managing partner at Saltspring Capital, became CEO and chairman of Navegate as part of the recapitalization.

"Nathan has only been CEO at Navegate for less than a year and he has already done an incredible job of reinvigorating the company's mission to be the industry leader in logistics, strategically growing their global presence and incorporating customer feedback into their platform," says Michael Smerklo, co-founder and managing director of Next Coast Ventures. "Navegate's newly-designed software and commitment to having their experts on the ground in these transportation hubs show their unwavering dedication to their customers — the exact type of hands-on, innovative approach to customer service and product iteration that we strive to invest in."

The company announced that Operations Manager Adam Daugherty will lead the new Kansas City location, and that it will be rolling out a new platform, called Navegate Emerald™. The new user interface is complete with intelligent new shipment tracking and management tools that work with supply chain collaboration. Navegate Emerald has four new applications that allows customization for customers to build their own solutions depending on their needs.

"As we celebrate our 50th year in business, Navegate Emerald has ushered in a renaissance of our technology and our business as a whole," says Dey in the release. "We're thrilled to be able to help add value to our more than 600 clients' processes and transform how they do business through the utilization of these digitally-enabled supply chain tools. The breakthrough business benefits they provide will allow for reduced supply chain costs, better working capital management, improved understanding of capital at risk and more seamless communication with all supply chain constituents.

Three non-Houston investors discussed the strengths and weaknesses of Houston's innovation ecosystem. Getty Images

3 observations about Houston's innovation ecosystem from out-of-town venture capitalists

Zooming out

You'll go cross-eyed looking at the same puzzle for too long, and sometimes it's better to take a step back and introduce some fresh perspectives and ideas from someone not so connected to the matter at hand.

At the second annual HX Capital Summit hosted by Houston Exponential at Rice University, HX gathered three out-of-town venture capital experts to discuss Houston's innovation ecosystem with Sandy Wallis, managing director at the HX Venture Fund. The fund-of-funds focuses on connecting non-local investors to Houston in order to bring new venture opportunities to town. On the panel, the experts discussed their observations about the Bayou City, which can be summed up as follows.

Community engagement and corporate interest are good signs for Houston 

Right off the bat, the panelists agreed that its much more encouraging visiting Houston nowadays than it was in the recent past. Clint Korver, managing director at San Francisco-based Ulu Ventures, has only recently played witness to the city, thanks to his firm's work with HX and the fund of funds.

"I'm just getting to know the Houston community," Korver says. "I'm really intrigued by how much community support there is."

Korver says that, not unlike Houston startups, Bay Area companies find it a challenge getting a foot in the door at major corporations. However, he's observed that Houston-based corporates want a seat at the table of Houston innovation.

"All the corporate attention that's being integrated here is super intriguing," Korver says. "That's our startups' hardest problems."

The other panelists, who are much closer to Houston, echoed Kover's interest in the role corporations play. Venu Shamapant, founding partner at Austin-based LiveOak Venture Partners, and Thomas Ball, founder and managing director at Austin-based Next Coast Ventures, have witnessed Houston evolve into what it is today over the past decade or so.

"We've both been coming to Houston over the past 20 years and been investing in startups, and it's been a dramatically different scene even in just the past five years," Shamapant says.

Houston's ecosystem is going to take time

While the panelists remarked on the evolution the city has and the support that large corporations seem to be willing to provide, Houston has other assets that's setting it up for success. The panelists mention a solid pool for talent, impressive educational institutions, and more.

"When I look at Houston, I think it has every ingredient for success, which is why I want to spend time here," Ball says.

Sure, as Ball says, Houston has the ingredients, but what it now needs is the time to cook.

"To me, it's more of just time that it's going to take. We can't bake this Houston cake by turning the thermostat up to 900 degrees in an hour. It's going to take three hours at 300," Ball says, adding that he doesn't know very much about baking. "It will take time. This won't be an overnight success. We're here for the long haul."

Houston has some challenges yet to overcome 

Wrapping up the panel, an audience member asked about the changes Houston still needs to make to really get to the point it needs to be at.

For Korver, the answer was pretty simple. Houston needs a big exit.

"There's this incredible amount of momentum that comes along with a successful company that takes a hold of everyone — the rising tide floats all boats thing," Korver says.

For Ball, particularly comparing Houston to other major innovation-focused cities, the issue is that Houston is so spread out.

"To me the one thing I struggle with in Houston is what I would call a density problem," Ball says. "I think you need density here and you need to concentrate your resources in certain places in this city."

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Austin company to bring AI-powered school to The Woodlands

AI education

Austin-based Alpha School, which operates AI-powered private schools, is opening its first Houston-area location in The Woodlands.

The 8,000-square-foot school, scheduled to be ready for the 2026-27 academic year, initially will serve students in kindergarten through eighth grade. Alpha says the school will offer “open workshop spaces and innovative classrooms that support personalized instruction, core academics, leadership development, and real-world life skills.”

Alpha sets aside two hours each school day for the AI-driven, self-paced study of core subjects like math, reading and science. The rest of each school day consists of life-skills workshops focusing on topics such as leadership and financial literacy.

Alpha’s school in The Woodlands has begun accepting applications for the 2026-27 school year. Annual tuition costs $40,000.

“The Woodlands is one of the most dynamic, forward-thinking communities in Texas, and Alpha is proud to bring

an innovative educational model that complements its strong academic foundation,” says Rachel Goodlad, head

of expansion for Alpha.

Founded in 2014, Alpha School combines adaptive technology-driven instruction with immersive life-skills workshops. Its model emphasizes mastery-based learning in core subjects alongside development of communication, critical thinking, financial literacy and leadership skills. It operates more than 15 schools across the country.

Elsewhere in Texas, Alpha operates schools in Austin, Brownsville, Fort Worth and Plano. Alpha also operates 12 Texas Sports Academy campuses in Texas, including locations in Houston, Pearland and Richmond, along with a NextGen Academy esports school in Austin, a school for gifted students in Georgetown, and lower-cost Nova Academy campuses in Austin and Bastrop.

Alpha has fans and critics. While supporters tout students’ high achievement rates, detractors complain about the high tuition and the AI-influenced depersonalization of education.

“Students and our country need to be in relationship with other human beings,” Randi Weingarten, president of the American Federation of Teachers, a teachers union, tells The New York Times. “When you have a school that is strictly AI, it is violating that core precept of the human endeavor and of education.”

Alpha co-founder MacKenzie Price, a podcaster and social media influencer, doesn’t share Weingarten’s views.

“Parents and teachers: We need to embrace this change,” Price wrote after President Trump signed an executive order promoting AI in schools.

The Times notes that Alpha doesn’t employ AI as a tutor or a supplement. Rather, the newspaper says, AI is “the school’s primary educational driver to move students through academic content.”

Houston space tech co. lands $175M and more innovation news to know

Trending News

Editor's note: The top Houston innovation news for the month includes major fundraising rounds for two Houston scaleups and local inductees into the National Academy of Inventors. Here are the five most-read InnovationMap headlines from March 1-15, 2026:

1. Intuitive Machines secures $175M equity investment to fuel growth

Intuitive Machines has landed a $175 million investment as it looks secure satellite deals and develop space-based data centers. Photo courtesy Intuitive Machines.

Houston-based space infrastructure and services company Intuitive Machines has secured a $175 million equity investment from unidentified institutional investors. The investors received shares of Class A stock in exchange for their funding. Publicly held Intuitive Machines (Nasdaq: LUNR) says it plans to use the capital to help build revenue and invest in technology, including communications and data-processing networks. Continue reading.

2. Houston e-commerce giant Cart.com raises $180M, surpasses $1B in funding

Cart.com has raised $180 million to scale its logistics network, expand AI capabilities and develop workflow automation tools. Photo courtesy of Cart.com

Houston-based commerce and logistics platform Cart.com has raised $180 million in growth capital from private equity firm Springcoast Partners, pushing the startup past the $1 billion funding mark since its founding in 2020. Cart.com says it will use the capital to scale its logistics network, expand AI capabilities and develop workflow automation tools. Continue reading.

3. Houston leads Texas with 7 new National Academy of Inventors senior members

The University of Houston has more faculty named to this year’s senior member class of the National Academy of Inventors than any other Texas institution. Photos courtesy UH.

The University of Houston is now home to seven new senior members of the National Academy of Inventors. According to UH, its seven new members represent the largest group from any single Texas institution this year, bringing the university's total senior member count to 46. Continue reading.

4. Booming Houston suburb launches innovation grant to attract startups

The City of Sugar Land is putting money on the table to support startups that relocate jobs to southwest Houston. Photo via Getty Images.

Think you’ve got a burgeoning startup? Consider moving it to southwest Houston. The City of Sugar Land announced the Sugar Land Starts Innovation Fund to support companies that move jobs to the area. Continue reading.

5. 6+ can't-miss Houston business and innovation events in March

From CERAWeek to H-Town Roundup, here's what not to miss this month and how to register. Photo courtesy of CERAWeek

March brings the return of some of Houston’s signature innovation events, plus insightful talks and celebrations in honor of Women's History Month. Here’s what not to miss and how to register. Continue reading.

Houston researcher secures $1.7M to develop drug for aggressive form of breast cancer

cancer research

A University of Houston researcher has joined a $3.2 million effort to develop a new drug designed to attack a cancer-driving protein commonly found in triple-negative breast cancer.

Triple-negative breast cancer (TNBC) is one of the most difficult-to-treat forms of cancer and accounts for 10 percent to 15 percent of all breast cancer cases. The disease gets its name because tumors associated with it test negative for estrogen receptors, progesterone receptors and excess HER2 protein, making it difficult to target. Due to this, TNBC is often treated with general chemotherapy, which can come with negative side effects and drug resistance, according to UH.

UH College of Pharmacy research associate professor Wei Wang is developing a drug that can target the disease more specifically. The drug will target MDM2, a protein often overproduced in TNBC that also contributes to faster tumor growth.

Wang is working on a team led by Wei Li, director of the University of Tennessee Health Science Center College of Pharmacy’s Drug Discovery Center. She has received $1.7 million to support the research.

Wang and UH professor of pharmacology and toxicology Ruiwen Zhang have discovered a compound that can break down MDM2. In early laboratory models, the compound has shown the ability to shrink tumors.

Wang and Zhang will focus on understanding how the treatment works and monitoring its effectiveness in models that closely mirror human disease.

“We will study how the drug targets MDM2 and evaluate the most promising drug candidates to determine effective dosing, understand how the drug behaves in the body, compare it with existing treatments and assess early safety,” Wang said in a news release.

Li’s team at the University of Tennessee will be working on the chemistry and drug design end of the project.

“This work could lead to an entirely new class of therapies for triple-negative breast cancer,” Li added in the release. “We’re hopeful that by directly removing the MDM2 protein from cancer cells, we can help more patients respond to treatment regardless of their tumor type.”

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