Austin Rolling, Gabriella Rowe, and Aaron Knape are this week's Houston innovators to know. Photos courtesy

In this weekly roundup of Houston innovators, we find an entrepreneur who created the tech solution he wished he'd had as a salesman, an innovation leader with big goals for The Ion, and a startup founder who's in for a very busy March.

Here are this week's Houston innovators to know.

Austin Rolling, CEO and co-founder of Outfield

austin rolling

Photo courtesy of Outfield

As an experienced salesman, Austin Rolling knows the challenges salespeople face on a daily basis. Rolling, who worked in a number of positions in both inside and outside sales with such big name companies as Whirlpool and Beats by Dre. He tells InnovationMap about how he wished he had better tools for communication and keeping organized.

"Fast forward some years later, my co-founder and I decided to work on a solution that could help support outside sales agents and I was able to use my domain expertise as an outside sales rep to ID the realm of solutions for various customer segments," Rolling says.

Rolling runs Outfield, a Houston-based software company gives field reps an intuitive interface to manage their territory and accounts on-the-go as well as instantly communicate with the rest of their team effortlessly across all devices. Click here to read more.

Gabriella Rowe, executive director of The Ion

Courtesy of Station Houston

Now that Station Houston has merged with Capital Factory, Gabriella Rowe, who previously served Station as CEO, has completely transitioned into her role as executive director of The Ion. On last week's episode of the Houston Innovators Podcast, Rowe discussed the merger and how her goal for The Ion is to make the facility a vehicle for innovation development, but also create a diverse and inclusive environment reflective of Houston's own diversity.

"We're creating an opportunity for Houstonians," Rowe says on the episode, explaining why she's focused on bringing in a wide range of programming and education into The Ion.

In the episode, Rowe also discusses the Ion Smart Cities Accelerators, which has 10 companies from its inaugural cohort in pilot mode across Houston and has launched applications for its second cohort, as well as why she thinks Houston's innovation ecosystem is sure to succeed this time around. Click here to read more and stream the podcast.

Aaron Knape, co-founder and CEO of sEATz

Courtesy of sEATz

Like most lifelong Houstonians, Aaron Knape has a long history with the Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo. But this season, he'll be involved in a whole new way. Knape's startup, sEATz, an in-seat delivery app, will be live in certain sections of the rodeo at NRG Stadium.

"It's really great to be able to be a part of the rodeo as far as a provider to help enhance that experience in the stadium," Knape says. "It goes back to our model of we want to serve a venue and the fans in that venue — not necessarily a specific sport or concert."

SEATz had a busy football season, servicing the likes of The Texans, the University of Houston Cougars, and more, but turns out, football is not over. Through its partnership with Delaware North, the food and beverage provider for UH's TDECU Stadium, sEATz has added the XFL's Houston Roughnecks fans to its roster of users. Click here to read more.

Houston-based Outfield, a sales management app, wants to gamify the sales process for its users. Photo via outfieldapp.com

Growing Houston startup is gamifying professional sales with management tools for sellers

Always be gaming

Actor Alec Baldwin's "always be closing" monologue is not only the most popular scene in David Mamet's 1992 film, "Glengarry Glen Ross," it has become the unofficial mantra for sales professionals worldwide.

While that ABC line, the art of persuasion and strong product offerings are necessary pillars in sales, the ability to centralize data and foster accountability, productivity and drive revenue is just as vital. That's where Outfield, a web and mobile-based CRM, comes in. The app specializes in data driven revenue and efficiency solutions for companies with a burgeoning outside sales force.

"Outfield is a software solution designed specifically to support organizations to drive revenue, generate efficiencies and build operational structures via outside sales, field marketing efforts and field merchandising efforts," says Austin Rolling, CEO and co-founder of Outfield.

"For example, the merchandising that seen in a grocery store where sales reps are taking pictures of displays, dropping off marketing collateral, setting up demos and setting up tastings, those are the types of programs where individuals will likely use our software solutions in order to manage their workflow operations," Rolling adds.

How it works

Outfield's selling point revolves around helping organizations discover valuable insights about their market vertical, track and verify their sales team's activity and manage their field operations.

Simply put, it gives field reps an intuitive interface to manage their territory and accounts on-the-go as well as instantly communicate with the rest of their team effortlessly across all devices.

Outfield makes it easier for sales teams to keep track of projects and clients. Photo via outfieldapp.com

"Prior to starting Outfield, I worked in a number of sales positions, both outside and inside sales positions," says Rolling, who worked in sales with such big name companies as Whirlpool and Beats by Dre. "When I was in outside sales, I was always underwhelmed with the amount of support and solutions we were provided while we were out in the field. I always knew there was an opportunity there because the tools that we had were lacking in terms of capabilities.

"Fast forward some years later, my co-founder and I decided to work on a solution that could help support outside sales agents and I was able to use my domain expertise as an outside sales rep to ID the realm of solutions for various customer segments."

Rolling founded Outfield with co-founder Adam Steele in 2015 and operates out of The Cannon, an entrepreneurial co-working space specifically designed to house Houston-based startups and small businesses.

Management tools for sellers

The company began as a solution for a nutraceutical and supplement company called Cellucor.

Cellucor needed an efficient way to manage its legion of outside sales reps, which were servicing stores like Vitamin Shoppe and GNC where they worked with the in-store representatives to promote their brand products.

The company also wanted to track the whereabouts of its sales reps, monitor their touch points in the field and centralize the teams' reports and call forms.

"Sales reps are able to manage their relationships and interactions with their customers through the tool," says Rolling. "We can also integrate with our customers' inside sales tool if they have one. We can send our data over to other systems. It depends on whether or not the system that we are looking to integrate with actually has an open API that we can transmit data from our system to theirs.

"In terms of sales numbers and touch points that you have with customers, there's a report that outside sales reps need to fill out while out in the field. They can record all of the information then sync that data into the cloud, so the sales manager or sales director can see all of that data from the web-based version of Outfield."

Rolling's intimate understanding of the needs of outside sales reps and knowledge of the industry vertical has been immeasurable in growing Outfield's client base, which has expanded to over 200 customers in 75 countries.

Gamifying sales

Over the next five years, the burgeoning startup plans to build on its momentum as a disruptor in the space by incubating and releasing a new suite of products that will ultimately have a number of synergies with Outfield.

The most pressing product is League Play, a built-in game for salespeople within the Outfield CRM platform that allows sales reps the opportunity to compete and collaborate with one another similar to popular video games such as MLB The Show 20 or NBA 2K20.

"League Play essentially allows reps to build reputations of being star performers based on their utilization and activity of their Outfield account," says Rolling. "They're able to leverage that data and this will be good for comparison purposes for upper management. Therefore, if a sales manager or sales director wants to know who their star player is, they can go into League Play see how their sales reps are performing. We designed it to be very reminiscent of sports."

The tool has leaderboards and signature player cards, which is similar to Topps baseball cards. The player cards features the sales reps' profile, including all of the statistics of their individual performance and offer attributes.

"Like Madden, you can go in and see how their ratings are," says Rolling. "This is something that's going to be groundbreaking. This is something that has not been done before. The idea is to be sales as a sport to take advantage of sales reps' competitive nature. It should boost their overall productivity, which managers should be able to reap the benefits of, while reps will be able to build their own brand and personal reputation. It's a great way to boost performance overall."

All sales reps that utilize Outfield will be automatically entered into League Play. While the platform allows sales reps the chance to feel like they're athletes, it also helps them build reputations for themselves as top tier sales professionals and give them more of a vested interest in utilizing the application.

Moving forward, Outfield wants to further permeate the market in its widespread use of advanced analytics with the help of artificial intelligence and machine learning.

"We want to be able to think about KPI's and metrics that can tell the story of outside sales in a very specific way," says Rolling. "We think that we can infuse and generate an appetite for people who want to think more intelligently about their go-to-market activities because one thing we're learning and know for sure is that our customers aren't getting less competitive, they're getting more competitive."

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CultureMap Emails are Awesome

6 female-founded startups shaping the Houston innovation ecosystem

meet the finalists

Female-founded businesses reached a new milestone last year. According to payroll company Gusto, female founders launched 49 percent of new businesses in 2024, reaching near parity with male-founded businesses for the first time.

And though they still face challenges, with access to VC funding at the top of the list, those women-led companies are driving major impact in the startup and innovation ecosystem.

The fifth-annual Houston Innovation Awards will honor six women-led startups that are shaping Houston innovation in our Female-founded Businesses category.

The finalists for the 2025 award, selected by our esteemed panel of judges, range from a company developing natural carbon-free fuel to another launching at-home sleep apnea technology.

Read more about these innovative startups and the visionary female founders behind them below. Then join us at the Houston Innovation Awards on Nov. 13 at Greentown Labs, when the winner will be unveiled at our live awards ceremony.

Tickets are now on sale for this exclusive event celebrating all things Houston innovation.

Anning Corporation

Clean energy company Anning Corporation is working to develop geologic hydrogen, a natural carbon-free fuel, using its proprietary stimulation approaches and advanced exploration modeling. The company said that geologic hydrogen has the potential to be the lowest-cost source of reliable baseload electricity in the U.S.

The company was founded by CEO Sophie Broun in 2024 and is a member of Greentown Labs. Last month, it also announced that it was chosen to participate in Breakthrough Energy’s prestigious Fellows Program. Anning raised a pre-seed round this year and is currently raising a $6 million seed round.

Bairitone Health

Bairitone Health is bringing anatomy imaging for sleep apnea to the home environment. The company's platform maps users' anatomy during natural sleep using a facial patch to determine the root cause of airway obstruction. It then offers effective therapies for each patient. The system is currently in the research and development phase and is being used in clinical trials and studies.

The company was founded in 2022 in the Texas Medical Center's Biodesign program by CEO Meagan Pitcher, CTO Onur Kilic and chief medical officer Britt Cross. It was a member of Activate Houston's inaugural cohort and has participated in numerous accelerators and incubators. It raised a pre-seed round last year of $435,000.

Brain Haven

Founded at the University of Houston, Brain Haven is developing neuroscience-based, clinically validated protocols that use sensory stimulation through smell and sound to offer a natural and non-invasive way to activate the brain and preserve neuroplasticity. The company aims to deliver an accessible and affordable way for the aging population to preserve memory, delay cognitive decline and improve quality of life.

The company was co-founded by Gail Aflalo, a graduate student in the University of Houston College of Optometry, and Jokūbas Žiburkus, an associate professor in the department of biology and biochemistry at UH. It was selected to participate in the 2024 Innov8 Cohort, where it won the cohort's Startup Pitch Day, and was included in Class 13 of UH RED Labs. Brain Haven was awarded $70,000 in seed funding from UH in June 2025 to support a year-long research initiative in adults aged 50 and above.

FlowCare

Sugar Land-based FlowCare is developing a period health platform that integrates smart dispensers, education and healthcare into one system to make free, high-quality organic period products more accessible.

The company was founded by CEO Tanu Jain, a registered nurse and product management executive, in 2024. It participated in the TiE Women Program and the Houston Community College Business Plan Competition, placing in the top five in both pitch competitions.

March Biosciences

Houston cell therapy company March Biosciences aims to treat unaddressed challenging cancers, with its MB-105, a CD5-targeted CAR-T cell therapy for patients with relapsed or refractory CD5-positive T-cell lymphoma, currently in Phase 2 clinical trials.

The company was founded in 2021 by CEO Sarah Hein, Max Mamonkin and Malcolm Brenner and was born out of the TMC Accelerator for Cancer Therapeutics. The company completed a $29.6 million series A last year and also raised a $4.2 million seed round.

TrialClinIQ

Houston-based TrialClinIQ is an AI-powered clinical trial recruitment platform that helps identify, qualify and enroll eligible patients in appropriate trials faster and more accurately.

The company was founded in 2025 by CEO Jontel Pierce and Janette Obi.

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The Houston Innovation Awards program is sponsored by Houston Community College, Houston Powder Coaters, FLIGHT by Yuengling, and more to be announced soon. For sponsorship opportunities, please contact sales@innovationmap.com.

Former NASA astronaut, official joins Venus Aerospace board

astronaut appointment

Retired Air Force colonel and former NASA astronaut Pamela Melroy, who previously served as deputy administrator of NASA, recently joined the board of directors at Houston-based Venus Aerospace.

Venus Aerospace, a startup founded in 2020, develops rocket engine technology, including rotating rocket detonation engines for hypersonic flights. These engines promise higher power, greater fuel efficiency and lower emissions than conventional rocket engines or jet engines, according to the Interesting Engineering website. The global rocket propulsion market is expected to grow from $9.5 billion in 2025 to $29.9 billion by 2034, according to a forecast by ResearchAndMarkets.com.

“Advanced rocket propulsion has been of interest to me for over a decade, and Venus Aerospace’s recent achievements in demonstrating the stability of rotating detonation rocket engines represent a significant development,” says Melroy, who left NASA earlier this year and is now a self-employed consultant living in Arlington, Virginia.

Melroy, a member of the United States Astronaut Hall of Fame, has built an illustrious career in the aerospace sector. Aside from being a NASA official, she was:

  • One of only two female astronauts to command a space shuttle mission
  • Deputy program manager of Orion space exploration initiatives at aerospace and defense contractor Lockheed Martin
  • Senior technical adviser and director of field operations for the Federal Aviation Administration’s Office of Commercial Space Transportation, where she came up with the first safety guidelines for commercial human spaceflight
  • Deputy director of the Tactical Technology Office at the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA).
  • An adviser for the establishment of the Australian Space Agency

Venus Aerospace said in a news release that as a leader at three federal agencies, “Melroy shaped America’s strategy in space, accelerated commercial space partnerships, and deepened space exploration.”

Sassie Duggleby, co-founder and CEO of Venus Aerospace, called Melroy “a preeminent leader in the world of aerospace.”

In May, Venus Aerospace completed the inaugural test flight of its rotating detonation rocket engine. The startup, whose headquarters is at the Houston Spaceport, says it’s the only company in the world that has manufactured a flight-proven, high-thrust rotating detonation rocket engine.

On the horizon for Venus Aerospace is production of Stargazer M4, a high-speed aircraft capable of two-hour global travel.

Venus Aerospace’s investors include Airbus Ventures, America’s Frontier Fund, Trousdale Ventures, and Prime Movers Lab. The startup also gets support from the Air Force Research Laboratory (AFWERX), the Air Force, NASA and DARPA.

Jordan Blashek, co-founder and managing partner of America’s Frontier Fund, which backs startups creating breakthrough technologies, said his firm’s investment in Venus Aerospace “underscores our focus on supporting American companies that are revolutionizing industries of the future.”

“With recent hypersonic advancements from China and Russia, safeguarding American innovation and securing our industrial base has never been more urgent,” Blashek added. “Venus Aerospace is poised to redefine hypersonic flight and ensure America’s continued leadership in aerospace innovation.”

Since its founding, Venus Aerospace has raised $78.3 million in investments, according to PitchBook data.

Texas-based energy startup raises $1 billion on heels of Houston expansion

Powering Up

Austin-based startup Base Power, which offers battery-supported energy in the Houston area and other regions, has raised $1 billion in series C funding—making it one of the largest venture capital deals this year in the U.S.

VC firm Addition led the $1 billion round. All of Base Power’s existing major investors also participated, including Trust Ventures, Valor Equity Partners, Thrive Capital, Lightspeed Venture Partners, Andreessen Horowitz (a16z), Altimeter, StepStone Group, 137 Ventures, Terrain, Waybury Capital, and entrepreneur Elad Gil. New investors include Ribbit Capital, Google-backed CapitalG, Spark Capital, Bond, Lowercarbon Capital, Avenir Growth Capital, Glade Brook Capital Partners, Positive Sum and 1789 Capital Management.

Coupled with the new $1 billion round, Base Power has hauled in more than $1.27 billion in funding since it was founded in 2023.

Base Power supplies power to homeowners and the electric grid through a distributed storage network.

“The chance to reinvent our power system comes once in a generation,” Zach Dell, co-founder and CEO of Base Power, said in a news release. “The challenge ahead requires the best engineers and operators to solve it, and we’re scaling the team to make our abundant energy future a reality.”

Zach Dell is the son of Austin billionaire and Houston native Michael Dell, chairman and CEO of Round Rock-based Dell Technologies.

In less than two years, Base Power has developed more than 100 megawatt-hours of battery-enabled storage capacity. One megawatt-hour represents one hour of energy use at a rate of one million watts.

Base Power recently expanded its service to the city of Houston. It already was delivering energy to several other communities in the Houston area. To serve the Houston region, the startup has opened an office in Katy.

The startup also serves the Dallas-Fort Worth and Austin markets. At some point, Base Power plans to launch a nationwide expansion.

To meet current and future demand, Base Power is building its first energy storage and power electronics factory at the former downtown Austin site of the Austin American-Statesman’s printing presses.

“We’re building domestic manufacturing capacity for fixing the grid,” Justin Lopas, co-founder and chief operating officer of Base Power, added in the release. “The only way to add capacity to the grid is [by] physically deploying hardware, and we need to make that here in the U.S. ... This factory in Austin is our first, and we’re already planning for our second.”

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This article originally appeared on EnergyCapitalHTX.com.