Q&A: How the Houston tech community can support LGBTQIA+ innovators

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Tammi Wallace of the Greater Houston LGBT Chamber of Commerce is a panelist on The Ion's Pride in Tech event. Photo via LinkedIn

It's Pride Month, and the Houston tech community is celebrating its LGBTQIA+ community — as well as addressing some challenges faced within the business arena.

The Ion Houston, Austin-based Pride.VC, and Houston-based Sesh Coworking are collaborating on a Pride in Tech event, tomorrow, June 24, at noon at the Ion. It's free to attend and all is welcome. The Ion is also encouraging attendees to come early for a cup of coffee at Common Bond for the weekly Cup of Joey networking happy hour from 8:30 to 10:30 am.

The event will feature a panel moderated by Sesh's Maggie Segrich and Meredith Wheeler, and will tackle topics around how Houston can do more to build a truly inclusive business community. The panelists include

Wallace, who co-founded the Greater Houston LGBT Chamber of Commerce in 2016, joined InnovationMap for a quick Q&A ahead of the event.

InnovationMap: What kind of challenges do LGBTQIA+ founders in Houston face these days?

Tammi Wallace: First, LGBTQIA+ founders need to be at the table and have a voice. When we launched the Greater Houston LGBT Chamber of Commerce in 2016, our primary goal was to make sure we were seen, heard and engaged.

A seat and a voice at the table matters because LGBTQIA+ founders often lack visibility in the broader economic ecosystem and continue to experience discrimination. This means they cannot engage with their full and authentic selves as entrepreneurs and experience unique challenges. More specifically, they face challenges with access to venture capital and angel investment funds and these entrepreneurs lack strong LGBTQIA+ role models and mentors.

In fact, some LGBTQIA+ business owners never come out because they fear losing customers or clients. We hear stories all the time about LGBTQIA+ founders not seeking either traditional or non-traditional funding because they fear that they will have to out themselves in the process and fear discrimination and a lack of acceptance in the process. Disclosing personal information, such as financial information, in some cases, can effectively out them as an LGBTQIA+ person. Funding paths must be fully inclusive and ensure that the process is viewed from the lens of the LGBTQIA+ entrepreneur and how that can impact their access to capital.


    IM: How would you recommend these founders find the community and support they are looking for? 

    TW: Definitely get involved with the Houston LGBT Chamber of Commerce. Since 2016, the chamber has been working to build a strong community to support LGBTQIA+ entrepreneurs and get them access to resources to help their businesses grow and thrive.

    We create connections and give LGBTQIA+ entrepreneurs a space and place to walk through the door as their full and authentic selves. Through the Chamber, LGBTQIA+ founders can find support, whether from other entrepreneurs, mentors and Corporate Partners. We collaborate with the National LGBT Chamber of Commerce (NGLCC) as well as the other LGBTQIA+ chambers in Texas to drive connections and build a strong LGBTQIA+ business network across the country and the state.

    We encourage LGBTQIA+ businesses to get LGBTBE® Certified as well which offers even more connection with other certified businesses, major corporations and other key stakeholders and mentoring opportunities with major companies. We can help these founders get started with the LGBTBE® certification process and tap into national, regional and statewide resources.

    IM: How do you recommend startup development organizations, investors, and other businesses become better allies to the LGBTQIA+ startup community? 

    TW: Ensure that LGBTQIA+ entrepreneurs and business and community leaders are engaged with your organization. Organizations like the Greater Houston LGBT Chamber of Commerce and the Ion are working "boots on the ground" to support the LGBTQIA+ business community and can offer the opportunity for meaningful collaboration. We also recommend advocating for others -- when you are around a table, look around and if the LGBTQIA+ community is not being represented, ask why.

    If representation is around the table, be intentional to ensure that we have a voice. As organizations that are involved in Houston's economic ecosystem, be strong and visible advocates for the LGBTQIA+ business community through engagement of businesses and the Chamber throughout the year. Be engaged -- not just during Pride Month, but twelve months out of the year.

    Whether a startup, investor or a business, you can help raise the profile for LGBTQIA+ businesses and the LGBTQIA+ business movement.

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    XSpace adds 3 Houston partners to fuel national expansion

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    Texas-based XSpace Group has brought onboard three partners from the Houston area to ramp up the company’s national expansion.

    The new partners of XSpace, which sells high-end multi-use commercial condos, are KDW, Pyek Financial and Welcome Wilson Jr. Houston-based KDW is a design-build real estate developer, Katy-based Pyek offers fractional CFO services and Wilson is president and CEO of Welcome Group, a Houston real estate development firm.

    “KDW has been shaping the commercial [real estate] landscape in Texas for years, and Pyek Financial brings deep expertise in scaling businesses and creating long‑term value,” says Byron Smith, founder of XSpace. “Their commitment to XSpace is a powerful endorsement of our model and momentum. With their resources, we’re accelerating our growth and building the foundation for nationwide expansion.”

    The expansion effort will target high-growth markets, potentially including Nashville, Tennessee; Orlando, Florida; and Charlotte and Raleigh, North Carolina.

    XSpace launched in Austin with a $20 million, 90,000-square-foot project featuring 106 condos. The company later added locations on Old Katy Road in Houston and at The Woodlands Town Center. A third Houston-area location is coming to the Design District.

    XSpace condos range in size from 300 to 3,000 square feet. They can accommodate a variety of uses, such as a luxury-car storage space, a satellite office, or a podcasting studio.

    “XSpace has tapped into a fundamental shift in how entrepreneurs and professionals want to use space,” Wilson says. “Houston is one of the best places in the country to innovate and build, and XSpace’s model is perfectly aligned with the needs of this fast‑growing, opportunity‑driven market.”

    Rice Business Plan Competition names startup teams for 2026 event

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    The Rice Alliance for Technology and Entrepreneurship has announced the 42 student-led teams that will compete in the 26th annual Rice Business Plan Competition this spring.

    The highly competitive event, known as one of the world’s largest and richest intercollegiate student startup challenges, will take place April 9-11 on Rice's campus and at the Ion. Teams in this year's competition represent 39 universities from four countries, including one team from Rice and two from the University of Texas at Austin.

    Graduate student-led teams from colleges or universities around the world will present their plans before more than 300 angel, venture capital and corporate investors to compete for more than $1 million in prizes. Top teams were awarded $2 million in investment and cash prizes at the 2025 event.

    The 2026 invitees include:

    • Alchemll, University of Tennessee - Knoxville
    • Altaris MedTech, University of Arkansas
    • Armada Therapeutics, Dartmouth College
    • Arrow Analytics, Texas A&M University
    • Aura Life Science, Northwestern University
    • BeamFeed, City University of New York
    • BiliRoo, University of Michigan
    • BioLegacy, Seattle University
    • BlueHealer, Johns Hopkins University
    • BRCĒ, Michigan State University
    • ChargeBay, University of Miami
    • Cocoa Potash, Case Western Reserve
    • Cosnetix, Yale University
    • Cottage Core, Kent State University
    • Crack'd Up, University of Wisconsin - Madison
    • Curbon, Princeton University
    • DialySafe, Rice University
    • Foregger Energy Systems, Babson College
    • Forge, University of California, Berkeley
    • Grapheon, University of Pittsburgh
    • GUIDEAIR Labs, University of Washington
    • Hydrastack, University of Chicago
    • Imagine Devices, University of Texas at Austin
    • Innowind Energy Solutions, University of Waterloo (Canada)
    • JanuTech, University of Washington
    • Laetech, University of Toronto (Canada)
    • Lectra Technologies, MIT
    • Legion Platforms, Arizona State University
    • Lucy, University of Pennsylvania
    • NerView Surgical, McMaster University (Canada)
    • Panoptica Technologies, Georgia Tech University
    • PowerHouse, MIT
    • Quantum Power Systems, University of Texas at Austin
    • Routora, University of Notre Dame
    • Sentivity.ai, Virginia Tech
    • Shinra Energy, Harvard University
    • Solid Air Dynamics, RWTH Aachen (Germany)
    • Spine Biotics, University of North Carolina - Chapel Hill
    • The Good Company, Michigan Tech
    • UNCHAIN, Lehigh University
    • VivoFlux, University of Rochester
    • Vocadian, University of Oxford (UK)

    This year's group joins more than 910 RBPC alums that have raised more than $6.9 billion in capital, according to Rice.

    The University of Michigan's Intero Biosystems, which is developing the first stem cell-driven human “mini gut,” took home the largest investment sum of $902,000 last year. The company also claimed the first-place prize.

    Houston suburb ranks as No. 3 best place to retire in Texas

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    Texas retirees on the hunt for the right place to settle down and enjoy their blissful retirement years will find their haven in the Houston suburb of Pasadena, which just ranked as the third-best city to retire statewide.

    A new study conducted by the research team at RetirementLiving.com, "The Best Cities to Retire in Texas," compared the affordability, safety, livability, and healthcare access for seniors across 31 Texas cities with at least 90,000 residents.

    Wichita Falls, about 140 miles northwest of Dallas, claimed the top spot as the No. 1 best place to retire in Texas.

    The senior living experts said Pasadena has the best healthcare access for seniors in the entire state, and it ranked as the No. 8 most affordable city on the list.

    "Taking care of one’s health can be stressful for seniors," the report said. "Harris County, where [Pasadena is] located, has 281.1 primary care physicians per 1,000 seniors — that’s almost 50-fold the statewide ratio of 5.9 per 1,000."

    Pasadena ranked 10th overall for its livability, and ranked 25th for safety, the report added.

    Meanwhile, Houston proper ranked as the No. 31 best place to retire in Texas, but its livability score was the 7th best statewide.

    Seven of the Lone Star State's top 10 best retirement locales are located in the Dallas-Fort Worth Metroplex: Carrollton (No. 2), Plano (No. 4), Garland (No. 5), Richardson (No. 6), Arlington (No. 7), Grand Prairie (No. 8), and Irving (No. 9). McAllen, a South Texas border town, rounded out the top 10.

    RetirementLiving said Carrollton has one of the lowest property and violent crime rates per capita in Texas, and it ranked as the No. 5 safest city on the list. About 17 percent of the city's population is aged 65 or older, which is higher than the statewide average of just 14 percent.

    The top 10 best place to retire in Texas in 2026 are:

    • No. 1 – Wichita Falls
    • No. 2 – Carrollton
    • No. 3 – Pasadena
    • No. 4 – Plano
    • No. 5 – Garland
    • No. 6 – Richardson
    • No. 7 – Arlington
    • No. 8 – Grand Prairie
    • No. 9 – Irving
    • No. 10 – McAllen
    ---

    This article originally appeared on CultureMap.com.

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