10th Houston cohort named to early-stage accelerator

ready to grow

Meet the 10th cohort for gBETA Houston. Photo via gener8tor.com

National venture capital firm gener8tor named its 10th Houston cohort this week, which includes startups focused on innovative tableware to substitute teacher operations.

gBETA Houston offers startups and founders with a non-equity seven-week program that features intensive concierge coaching and access to a network of investors and partners. The founders will pitch their ideas on Oct. 24 at 6:30 p.m. at the Esperson Building.

"Each cohort shows us how innovation evolves and thrives," Muriel Foster, gBETA Houston director, says in a statement. "The Spring 2024 gBETA Houston cohort embodies creative brilliance and unyielding ambition."

The five companies named to gBETA were chosen based on their growth potential and investor readiness. They include:

  • BrainBuffet, an AI-powered platform that has already created over 250 courses to refine its personalized learning algorithm that builds customized courses that feature curated content, YouTube videos, quizzes, and progress tracking
  • Colorfull Plates, a tableware startup that creates durable, vibrant products that aim to streamline family meals and encourage children to try new flavors. It has generated $300,000 in revenue without outside dilutive funding.
  • The Parent Teacher Collaborative, a web- and mobile-based platform that aims to improve student outcomes by building strong collaborative partnerships, growing parent-teacher organizations and better managing school events. It's worked with five Houston-area communities and has raised over $144,000 in grant and contract funding since April 2023.
  • Kinfolk, a user-friendly mobile application that creates a digital time capsule of family traditions, memories and cultural heritage. It has over 50 beta-testing customers.
  • SubSpark, a mobile and desktop app that allows school administrators and teachers to post available openings for substitute teachers. The Houston-based LLC is currently beta-testing its apps with one Houston-area private school.

The five companies joined the spring 2024 cohort and the rest of the Houston gBETA network.

gBETA is supported by Downtown Houston, the City of Houston and the Downtown Redevelopment Authority. The program has accelerated 45 Houston companies since its launch in Houston in 2019. It was launched by a $1.25 million grant to be paid out over five years.
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Pitch decks in San Francisco and New York tend to be simpler. Getty Images

When it comes to meeting with investors, a simpler pitch deck is better

On deck

There's something about California pitch decks that Houston companies can learn a thing or two from. Most of them are simpler and highlight those few key points that really show a company might be a success. Simpler, in this case, is good.

However, the investor pitch deck doesn't get you the investment, the deck gets you the meeting. And when an investor is considering a company to meet with, they don't want to comb through scientific detail before getting to know the entrepreneur. It's the entrepreneur who we want to talk to. We want to see and hear their ability to communicate the complex information.

The simple pitch deck is crucial for the entrepreneur to get that initial meeting. It forces the entrepreneur to showcase their best and most important key metrics. Then, it's the entrepreneurs live performance is the real key to attaining an investment.

In Houston — and in other more conservative towns — we tend to see pitch decks that have a lot more information density on each page. It ends up being a traditional business plan, but in landscape orientation instead of portrait orientation.

A lot of more traditional investors in cities like Houston must prefer this additional detail in the deck, right?

Perhaps, but the trend I see is that cities where more venture capital dollars are raised (seed-stage and otherwise) tend to have simpler pitch decks for that initial outreach. San Francisco's are simpler than New York's. New York's are simpler than Austin's. Austin's are simpler than Houston's. And so on.

Maybe I am wrong to recommend having the simpler pitch deck in an environment where there are fewer investors and fewer deals. However, when the simpler pitch deck can be made by cutting away parts of the longer more complex one, shouldn't entrepreneurs be able to create this pitch deck? The process is boiling down the core message, and who doesn't want to work on that?

Work on that elevator pitch and work on that short pitch deck. Of course you need to detail, but sometimes you need the simplicity.

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Mark Friday is an associate leading venture capital investments at Houston-based Cathexis Holdings LP.

From enlightening talks to anniversary celebrations, here's where you need to be in January. Getty Images

Updated: 10 can't-miss innovation events for January

Where to be

Houston's innovation community is starting 2019 strong with plenty of business professional events.

If you know of innovation-focused events for February, email me at natalie@innovationmap.com with the details.

1. How to Start a Startup with Roberto Moctezuma, founder & CEO of Fractal River

Thinking 2019 is the year you finally turn your business idea into a startup? Station Houston wants to help. It's free to attend this discussion lead by Roberto Moctezuma, the founder and CEO of Houston-based Fractal River, an advisory firm. The talk will focus on identifying problems, determining market needs, learning important metrics, and more.

The event is from 6 to 7 pm on Tuesday, January 8, at Station Houston (1301 Fannin St., Suite 2440).

Learn more here.

2. January U.S. Oil & Gas Blockchain Forum Luncheon

For the first event of the year, the U.S. Oil & Gas Blockchain Forum is focusing on how blockchain can help the energy industry. Guest speakers are Andrew Bruce, CEO and founder of Houston-based Data Gumbo, and Rebecca Hofmann, blockchain strategist at Equinor.

The luncheon is from 11:30 am to 1:30 pm on Tuesday, January 15, at the Equinor Auditorium (2107 CityWest Blvd). Tickets to attend are $50.

Learn more here.

3. Salesforce Essentials Workshop: Houston

Attention small business owners: Salesforce has a workshop designed for you. Learn about the platform and how it can help your business strategy over lunch.

The workshop isn Tuesday, January 15, from noon to 2 p.m. at The Cannon (1336 Brittmoore Road) and is free to attend.

Learn more here.

4. Society of Petroleum Engineers Women-in-Energy Congress

Energy industry ladies take center stage of a full-day event focused on women in oil and gas. Susan Dio, chairman and president of BP America, will deliver the keynote address before the rest of the day's panels and presentations begin.

This event is January 18, from 8 a.m. to 3:30 p.m., at the Houston Community College West Houston Institute (2811 Hayes Road).

Learn more here.

5. Houston Startup Demo Day

Three Houston startups will present their product and business plan at The Station's monthly demo day. The companies and judges are still being determined, but the event details are finalized.

Hear the pitches on Wednesday, January 23, from 6 to 8 p.m., at Station Houston (1301 Fannin Street, Suite 2440). The event is free to attend.

Learn more here.

6. NRLC Workshop: Pitching Part 2: The Physical Pitch with Beth O'Sullivan

If you thought you were pitch perfect, think again. Beth O'Sullivan, a management senior lecturer at Rice University's Jones Graduate School of Business, is giving a free lecture on the art of pitching your company. The Liu Idea Lab for Innovation and Entrepreneurship is offering the event.

The lecture will be from 4 to 5:30 pm on Wednesday, January 23, at the Liu Idea Lab for Innovation and Entrepreneurship (6100 Main Street Cambridge Office Building, Suite 130).

Learn more here.

7. Women Entrepreneurs Pitch Party at The Cannon

Calling all angel investors — The Cannon Ventures would like to introduce you to a few female entrepreneurs this month. InnovationMap is a media partner for the event, and the goal is to generate connections between the entrepreneurs and potential investors.

The event takes place on Thursday, January 24, from 6:30 to 9 p.m. at The Cannon (1336 Brittmoore Road).

If you're an interested investor and would like to attend, email Jake Askew at jaskew@cannonventureshouston.com.

8. Oil & Gas Happy Hour Hosted by OGGN + The Cannon

Grab a beer and some bites at Oil & Gas Global Network's monthly happy hour — this time in collaboration with Houston-based The Cannon.

Join oil and gas professionals at The Cannon (1336 Brittmoore Road) on Tuesday, January 29, from 6 to 9 p.m. Tickets are $10 for this happy hour event, and proceeds go to Redeemed Ministries, a local charity to help human trafficking victims.

Learn more here.

9. Station Houston 3.0 and Launch Party

As Station Houston officially becomes a nonprofit on January 1, and, in preparation for its move to the Midtown Innovation District, the organization is revealing Station Houston 3.0 to start 2019 with. The free event is Wednesday, January 30, from 6 to 8 pm at Station Houston (1301 Fannin St., Suite 2440).

Guests can mingle until the short program and announcement, which is followed by light bites. Station will also be showing off Houston's first VR Lab and its new space.

Learn more here.

10. Inaugural meeting of the Houston Industrial Digital Transformation & IoT Meetup

Calling all digital and tech innovation leaders in oil and gas or utilities — there's a new group for you to join. The Houston Industrial Digital Transformation and IoT Meetup formed to bring leaders of industrial innovation together for collaboration and so that they can learn from each other's digital transformations.

The inaugural meetup is from 6 to 8 pm on Wednesday, January 30, at ChaiOne HQ (9 Greenway Plaza, Suite 850). It's free to attend.

Learn more here.

Whether you're pitching your startup in a competition or for capital, here are some expert tips. Getty Images

4 secrets to being pitch perfect from a startup founder

Down pat

One of the things our team at EllieGrid is most famous for is pitching. We have pitched our smart pill box in over 20 business plan competitions, on television, radio, and to so many investors that I have lost count. I can't remember what our first pitch was like but I know it has certainly evolved overtime. You could even say that we A/B tested some of our methods.

When you first organize your thoughts, you want to consider the basics, so before I give my advice, consider these tried-and-true tips.

  • Get to the point — say what your company is in the first 10 seconds
  • Know your audience
  • Shorter usually means better
  • Keep numbers to a minimum
  • Have a clear ask

In order to save you a little time, here are some of the of the lessons I learned the hard way to help you perfect your pitch.

Don't pitch. Tell a story.
I am going to let you in on a little secret: most people don't want to hear your pitch, especially if yours is not the first they have heard that day. Put yourself in their shoes, do you really want to listen to someone ramble on about facts and figures? Chances are, no. Instead, tell a story. Use engaging voices and set the scene. Recall your creative writing classes from high school and how you should mention what it was like in terms of feel, smell, taste, etc. and don't use generic adjectives such as "too small" or "the old way was hard."

People remember how you made them feel
What is in it for your audience? Is it wealth, power, fame, praise or glory, and/or pleasure? It might sound obvious to make this point when pitching, but I suggest you write out your pitch and highlight exactly where you say what is in it for them, maybe even more than once. Making the audience feel like you are caring about their desires and engaging them in conversation will help you be more memorable.

Come full circle
My favorite technique in any pitch or speech is if the speaker can connect the closing back to something they said at the beginning of their pitch. I enjoy this because sometimes the speaker will leave a question unanswered and then reveal how their solution is the answer in a creative way. This keeps your listeners engaged and connects the pain to your solution. Watch a few TED talks and you will see what I mean.

Pitch to a kid
This is probably the best advice I can give because it is a surefire way to make sure your pitch makes sense to a wide range of listeners. This also forces you to leave out jargon and filler words that you think might make you sound fancy like "innovative" or "disruptive" but actually make you sound like everyone else.

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Regina Vatterott is the COO and co-founder of Ellie Grid, a Houston-based company reinventing medical devices. Read more about Regina here.

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Rice University launches new venture fund for university-affiliated startups

startup support

Rice University has launched its new One Giant Leap Ventures Fund I, which will invest in the university’s spinouts and alumni-founded startups.

The early-stage institutional venture fund will function with a hybrid structure that allows for participation from traditional equity investors and philanthropic investors. According to the university, the fund will invest up to $500,000 per Rice-affiliated company.

To be considered eligible for funds, companies must use intellectual property licensed by the university or be led or founded by alumni.

One Giant Leap will draw on support and mentorship from Rice’s pool of 60,000 alumni and aims to create educational opportunities within the investment phases, work with graduate and undergraduate venture students, explore the scaling and commercialization of their ideas, and help investigate all the facets of venture capital.

“Rice alumni bring an extraordinary depth of experience as entrepreneurs, investors and industry leaders, and One Giant Leap creates new ways to put that expertise to work for the next generation of Rice innovators,” Stephen Bayer, vice president for development and alumni relations, said in a news release. “It strengthens the connection between our alumni and the university while giving them meaningful opportunities to mentor, advise and support Rice-affiliated companies as they grow.”

The fund held its first close in August and made its first investment into Rice brain health spinout Motif Neurotech. Led by Rice faculty member Jacob Robinson, Motif is working to commercialize a minimally invasive neurostimulator that targets treatment-resistant depression. In May, the FDA approved the company to move forward with its first clinical trial.

“Research produces breakthrough technologies and our academic environment forms outstanding entrepreneurs,” said Adrian Trömel, the fund’s managing director, a Rice alumnus and a startup founder who also serves as Rice’s interim chief innovation officer.

One Giant Leap joins the already long list of Rice-led programs that foster innovation, including the Liu Idea Labs for Innovation and Entrepreneurship’s Innovation Fellows and Summer Venture Studio, the Rice Alliance’s Business Plan Competition, the Ion District, Woodside Rice Decarbonization Accelerator, Rice Nexus, the Biotech Launchpad and RBL Ventures and its upcoming 200,000 square-foot research lab the Arc.

“With One Giant Leap, I am excited that we are creating a unique structure that brings together traditional investment and philanthropic participation to invest in and help catalyze our startups, engage the deep expertise within the Rice ecosystem and transform those strengths into real-world impact,” Trömel added in the release.

New statewide plan aims to eliminate cervical cancer in Texas by 2032

fighting cancer

MD Anderson, on behalf of a coalition of health systems, has announced a new plan to eliminate cervical cancer in Texas.

The five-year Texas Lone Star Cervical Cancer Elimination Plan was launched during the Cancer Prevention and Research Institute of Texas (CPRIT) 2026 Innovations Conference in Galveston this month.

The plan focuses on three major pillars with goals to be achieved by 2032:

  • HPV vaccination: Increase the percentage of Texas boys and girls up to date on human papillomavirus (HPV) vaccination by age 15 from 50.5 percent to 80 percent
  • Cervical cancer screening: Raise the share of Texas women up to date on cervical cancer screening from 64 percent to 80 percent
  • Timely follow-up, diagnosis and treatment: Ensure 80 percent of women receive diagnostic follow-up and treatment when needed through community outreach, patient navigation, provider training and survivorship support

Overall, the coalition wants to see fewer than four new cases of cervical cancer annually per 100,000 Texas women by 2032, according to a news release from MD Anderson. Currently, Texas has an incidence rate of 9.5 women per 100,000 diagnosed with cervical cancer, compared with 7.5 women per 100,000 nationally.

“Texas has the tools to prevent nearly every case of cervical cancer, but tools can save lives only when people can utilize them,” Dr. Ernest Hawk, vice president and division head of Cancer Prevention and Population Sciences at MD Anderson, said in the release. “The Lone Star Cervical Cancer Elimination Plan gives us a shared roadmap to vaccinate more of our children, screen more of our women and make sure every abnormal result leads to care. With innovations like HPV self-collection and the commitment of partners across the state, elimination is within reach.”

About 40 other hospitals, health care organizations and companies join MD Anderson in the coalition that launched the Lonestar Plan. Those based in Houston include Houston Methodist, Rice University, UTHealth Houston, Texas Children's Hospital, Houston Health Department and others.

The CPRIT also announced its Texans Conquer Cancer Awards and its CPRIT Champion awards during the Innovations Conference this week. Several are based in Houston, including:

  • Zhiqiang An, co-founder of CrossBridge Bio, Director of the Texas Therapeutics Institute, and Vice President of Drug Discovery at the University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston
  • Dr. Abbey Berenson, Director of the UTMB Center for Interdisciplinary Research in Women's Health Care
  • Dr. Michael Taylor, Chair of Pediatric Neuro-Oncology at Texas Children's Cancer and Hematology Center and Director of Texas Children's Pediatric Brain Tumor Research Program

To date, the CPRIT has awarded more than $4.2 billion in grants to fight cancer in the state. Over the summer, it awarded four $2 million grants to institutions in Houston and Bryan for the creation or expansion of “core” cancer research facilities.

Texas Medical Center Innovation recently announced that its $2 million grant would renew its Accelerator for Cancer Therapeutics for five years. Read more from TMCi about the renewal here.

Announcing the 2026 Houston Innovation Awards finalists

Inspirational Innovators

InnovationMap is proud to reveal the finalists for the 2026 Houston Innovation Awards.

The sixth annual Houston Innovation Awards program returns in an all-digital format this fall to honor the best of Houston's innovation ecosystem, including startups, entrepreneurs, mentors, and more.

Finalists were determined by our esteemed panel of judges, comprised of past award winners and InnovationMap editorial leadership.

The panel reviewed applications across 10 prestigious categories to determine our finalists. They will select the winner for each category, except for Startup of the Year, which will be chosen by the public via online voting launching later this month.

We will announce the honoree of our annual Trailblazer Award in the coming weeks, then stay tuned as we unveil all of this year's winners on InnovationMap.com in mid-November.

Get to know our finalists in more detail through editorial spotlights leading up to the winner announcement. Without further ado, here are the 2026 Houston Innovation Awards finalists:

Minority-founded Business

Honoring an innovative startup founded or co-founded by BIPOC or LGBTQ+ representation:

  • AI Made Fun
  • Deep Anchor Solutions
  • HEXAspec
  • Prana Surgical
  • Torres Orbital Mining Inc.

Female-founded Business

Honoring an innovative startup founded or co-founded by a woman:

  • Adair
  • ARIX Technologies
  • Bairitone Health
  • FlowCellutions
  • ParaDocs Health

Energy Transition Business

Honoring an innovative startup providing a solution within renewables, climatetech, clean energy, alternative materials, circular economy and beyond:

  • Capwell Services
  • FlowCellutions
  • Hertha Metals
  • Mars Materials
  • Solidec

Health Tech Business

Honoring an innovative startup within the health and medical technology sectors:

  • Bairitone Health
  • InformAI Inc.
  • Prana Surgical
  • Skybound MedTech

Deep Tech Business

Honoring an innovative startup providing technology solutions based on substantial scientific or engineering challenges, including those in the AI, robotics and space sectors:

  • Casimir
  • Focis AI
  • Machine Saver Inc.
  • Square Robot
  • Venus Aerospace

Startup of the Year (People's Choice)

Honoring a startup celebrating a recent milestone or success. The winner will be selected by the community via an online voting experience:

  • Fluxworks
  • IronLattice
  • Lumino
  • Progress Report
  • Rosarium Health
  • Thread
  • TokenRoster

Scaleup of the Year

Honoring an innovative later-stage startup that's recently reached a significant milestone in company growth:

  • Erock
  • Hertha Metals
  • Venus Aerospace

Incubator/Accelerator of the Year

Honoring a local incubator or accelerator that is championing and fueling the growth of Houston startups:

  • Activate
  • Impact Hub Houston
  • MarMo Innovation

Mentor of the Year

Honoring an individual who dedicates their time and expertise to guide and support budding entrepreneurs:

  • Al Danto, Rice University
  • Eric Rubenstein, New Climate Ventures
  • Jeremy Pitts, Activate
  • Joe Alapat, Liongard
  • Kyle Judah, Rice University's Liu Idea Lab for Innovation & Entrepreneurship
  • Rachel Bickham, Bickham Services Unlimited LLC

Trailblazer Recipient

  • To be announced
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