Houston company forms strategic alliance to enhance tech-enabled school security

in-class safety

School security emergency notification systems just got an upgrade. Photo via Getty Images

Students are back to school, and parents are back to worrying about their children's safety. Two companies have teamed up to enhance on-campus safety technology.

Houston-based Raptor Technologies, a school safety software provider, and Baltimore-based Alertus Technologies, provider of emergency mass notification solutions, announced earlier this month they will team up with their respective technologies to integrate enhance safety and security offerings in K-12 schools and districts.

The partnership, according to a news release, takes Alertus’ notification solutions and combines it with Raptor’s emergency management and reunification tools. Alertus’ tech includes Alertus Desktop, IP Text-to-Speech Interface for PA systems, and a range of hardwired and pocket-sized activation devices. With the integration, K-12 schools utilizing Raptor Technologies can automatically send emergency notifications to all alerting modalities unified by the Alertus Mass Notification System on Raptor Connect.

“School districts across the country are recognizing the value of being able to quickly initiate an alert and notify staff and teachers in the event of a school emergency,” says Chris Noell, chief product officer of Raptor Technologies, in the release. “By integrating with Alertus, we’re expanding the ways users can rapidly access Raptor Alert to trigger an alert and increasing the ways a campus can be notified of an emergency.”

Several states, including Texas, Florida, New Jersey and New York, have emphasized funding or mandates to make mobile panic alerts available to schools.

“Every second counts in an emergency and our top priority is ensuring that schools have every possible way to get urgent, life-saving information to their students, teachers and staff – both during and after a critical event,” says Patrick Dennin, director of education at Alertus, in the release. “Our integration with Raptor enables schools to alert, respond, and recover more effectively by reducing response times, reinforcing stakeholder responsibilities and mitigating risk to their communities.”

Over 7,500 schools nationwide are on Raptor's alert platform. Founded in 2002 and with over 100 employees at the company, Raptor Technologies received private equity funding and made a strategic international acquisition last year, InnovationMap reported.

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Raptor Technologies, a Houston-based company providing safety-focused software to schools, has made an acquisition and announced new investment. Graphic via raptortech.com

Houston-based edtech company makes international acquisition following strategic investments

M&A Moves

A Houston company that provides school safety software to schools across the country has made a strategic acquisition.

Raptor Technologies announced last week that it has acquired United Kingdom-based CPOMS, which provides student safeguarding software to schools in the UK. Raptor reported that the M&A activity follows strategic investments from Chicago-based Thoma Bravo and existing investors JMI Equity, a Maryland-based firm, and New York-based Ares Capital. The terms of the deal were not disclosed.

"We are excited to add CPOMS best-in-class wellbeing products to Raptor's market-leading school safety product suite and to welcome the CPOMS team into the Raptor family," says Gray Hall, CEO of Raptor Technologies, in the press release. "Combining CPOMS software and domain expertise with Raptor further advances our mission to protect every child, every school, every day. We are eager to bring the proven capabilities of CPOMS to the US market and continue advancing CPOMS leadership position in the UK."

Raptor was founded to provide schools with a suite of software that can help implement safety across visitor, volunteer, and emergency management services. The software that the CPOMS platform provides targets reporting abuse, cyberbullying, and more.

"Raptor was the perfect fit for CPOMS. Both companies have dedicated themselves to keeping schools and students safe and share very similar cultures," says John Wild, managing director at CPOMS, in the release. "We at CPOMS are excited about joining the Raptor organization and look forward to the enhanced growth opportunities ahead."

Hall will lead the expanded organization, and Wild will transition to managing director of UK Operations for Raptor and CPOMS.

The acquisition was connected to Raptor's recent funding. The company did not disclose the amount raised.

"School safety needs in the US and UK continue to evolve, with solutions for managing the wellbeing and safety of students being paramount," says Adam Solomon, a principal at Thoma Bravo, in the release. "Through this investment and acquisition, we see tremendous potential for Raptor to extend its market leadership in K-12 school safety and its continued deployment of innovative solutions to schools in the US and UK."

The Houston company was founded in 2003. In 2018, Raptor received investment from JMI Equity.

"Combining CPOMS with Raptor creates a company with unique capabilities to help schools manage the safety and wellbeing of their students," says Bob Nye, general partner at JMI Equity, in the release. "We're excited about this acquisition and the strategic opportunity ahead."

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Rice Alliance and the Ion leader Brad Burke to retire this summer

lasting legacy

Brad Burke—a Rice University associate vice president who leads the Ion District’s Rice Alliance for Technology and Entrepreneurship and is a prominent figure in Houston’s startup community—is retiring this summer after a 25-year career at the university.

Burke will remain at the Rice Alliance as an adviser until his retirement on June 30.

“Brad’s impact on Rice extends far beyond any single program or initiative. He grew the Rice Alliance from a promising campus initiative into one of the most respected university-based entrepreneurship platforms,” Rice President Reginald DesRoches said in a news release.

During Burke’s tenure, the Rice Business School went from unranked in entrepreneurship to The Princeton Review’s No. 1 graduate entrepreneurship program for the past seven years and a top 20 entrepreneurship program in U.S. News & World Report’s rankings for the past 14 years.

“Brad didn’t just build programs — he built an ecosystem, a culture, and a reputation for Rice that now resonates around the world,” said Peter Rodriguez, dean of the business school. “Through his vision and steady leadership, Rice became a place where founders are taken seriously, ideas are rigorously supported, and entrepreneurship is embedded in the fabric of the university.”

One of Burke’s notable achievements at Rice is the creation of the Rice Business Plan Competition. During his tenure, the competition has grown from nine student teams competing for $10,000 into the world’s largest intercollegiate competition for student-led startups. Today, the annual competition welcomes 42 student-led startups that vie for more than $1 million in prizes.

Away from Rice, Burke has played a key role in cultivating entrepreneurship in the energy sector: He helped establish the Energy Tech Venture Forum along with Houston Energy and Climate Startup Week.

Furthermore, Burke co-founded the Texas University Network for Innovation and Entrepreneurship in 2008 to bolster the entrepreneurship programs at every university in Texas. In 2016, the Rice Alliance assumed leadership of the Global Consortium of Entrepreneurship Centers.

In 2023, Burke received the Trailblazer Award at the 2023 Houston Innovation Awards and was recognized by the Deshpande Foundation for his contributions to innovation and entrepreneurship in higher education.

“Working with an amazing team to build the entrepreneurial ecosystem at Rice, in Houston, and beyond has been the privilege of my career,” Burke said in the release. “It has been extremely gratifying to hear entrepreneurs say our efforts changed their lives, while bringing new innovations to market. The organization is well-positioned to help drive exponential growth across startups, investors, and the entrepreneurial ecosystem.”

Starting April 15, John “JR” Reale Jr. will serve as interim associate vice president at Rice and executive director of the Rice Alliance. He is managing director of the alliance and co-founder of Station Houston, beginning April 15. Reale is co-founder of the Station Houston startup hub and a startup investor and was also recently named director for startups and investor engagement for the Ion.

“The Rice Alliance has always been about helping founders gain advantages to realize their visions,” Reale said. “Under Brad’s leadership, the Rice Alliance has become a globally recognized platform that is grounded in trust and drives transformational founder outcomes. My commitment is to honor what Brad has built and led while continuing to serve our team and community, deepen relationships and deliver impact.”

Burke joined the Houston Innovators Podcast back in 2022. Listen to the full interview here.

Houston team uses CPRIT funding to develop nanodrug for cancer immunotherapy

cancer research

With a relative five-year survival rate of 50 percent, pancreatic cancer is a diagnosis nobody wants. At 60 percent, the prognosis for lung cancer isn’t much rosier. That’s because both cancers contain regulatory B cells (Bregs), which block the body’s natural immunity, making it harder to fight the enemies within.

Newly popular immunotherapies in a category known as STING agonists may stimulate natural cancer defenses. However, they can also increase Bregs while simultaneously causing significant side effects. But Wei Gao, assistant professor of pharmacology at the University of Houston College of Pharmacy, may have a solution to that conundrum.

Gao and her team have developed Nano-273, a dual-function drug, packaged in an albumin-based particle, that boosts the immune system to help it better fight pancreatic and lung cancers. Gao’s lab recently received a $900,000 grant from the Cancer Prevention and Research Institute of Texas (CPRIT) to aid in fueling her research into the nanodrug.

“Nano-273 both activates STING and blocks PI3Kγ—a pathway that drives Breg expansion, while albumin nanoparticles help deliver the drug directly to immune cells, reducing unwanted side effects,” Gao said in a press release. “This approach reduces harmful Bregs while boosting immune cells that attack cancer, leading to stronger and more targeted anti-tumor responses.”

In studies using models of both pancreatic and lung cancers, Nano-273 has shown great promise with low toxicity. Its best results thus far have involved using the drug in combination with immunotherapy or chemotherapy.

With the CPRIT funds, Gao and her team will be able to charge closer to clinical use with a series of important steps. Those include continuing to test Nano-273 alongside other drugs, including immune checkpoint inhibitors. Safety studies will follow, but with future patients in mind, Gao will also work toward improving her drug’s production, making sure that it’s safe and high-quality every time, so that it is eventually ready for trials.

Gao added: “If successful, this project could lead to a new type of immunotherapy that offers lasting tumor control and improved survival for patients with pancreatic and lung cancers, two diseases that urgently need better treatments."

Houston booms as No. 2 U.S. metro for new home construction

Construction Boom

Driven by population growth, more residential rooftops are popping up across Houston and the rest of Texas than anywhere else in America.

Using data from the U.S. Census Bureau and Zillow, Construction Coverage found 65,747 new residential units were authorized in greater Houston in 2024. That figure landed Houston in second place among major metro areas for the total number of housing permits, including those for single-family homes, apartments, and condos.

Just ahead of Houston was the Dallas-Fort Worth Metroplex, which took first place with 71,788 residential permits approved in 2024. In third place was the country’s largest metro, New York City (57,929 permits).Elsewhere in Texas, the Austin metro ranked sixth (32,294 permits), and the San Antonio metro ranked 20th (14,857 permits).

Construction Coverage also sorted major metro areas based on the number of new housing units authorized per 1,000 existing homes in 2024. Raleigh, North Carolina, held the No. 1 spot (28.8 permits per 1,000 existing homes), followed by Austin at No. 2 (28.6), DFW at No. 3 (22.2), Houston at No. 4 (21.6), and San Antonio at No. 13 (13.6).

A Newsweek analysis of Census Bureau data shows building permits for 225,756 new residential units were approved in 2024 in Texas — a trend fueled largely by activity in DFW, Houston, Austin, and San Antonio. That put Texas atop the list of states building the most residential units for the year.

Through the first eight months of last year, 145,901 permits for new residential units were approved in Texas, according to Census Bureau data. That’s nearly 80,000 permits shy of the 2024 total.

Among the states, Construction Coverage ranks Texas sixth for the number of residential building permits approved in 2024 per 1,000 existing homes (17.9).

Extra housing is being built in Texas to meet demand spurred by population growth. From April 2020 to July 2024, the state’s population increased 7.3 percent, the Census Bureau says.

While builders are busy constructing new housing in Texas, they’re not necessarily profiting a lot from homebuilding activity.

“Market conditions remain challenging, with two-thirds of builders reporting they are offering incentives to move buyers off the fence,” North Carolina homebuilder Buddy Hughes, chairman of the National Association of Home Builders, said in a December news release. “Meanwhile, builders are contending with rising material and labor prices, as tariffs are having serious repercussions on construction costs.”

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