Supply's CEO, Patrick Coddou, is originally from Houston but now runs his startup from North Texas. Photo courtesy of Shark Tank

The owners of a North Texas startup that supplies an inventive men's razor dove into the Shark Tank on November 3 and swam away with a $300,000 investment.

Husband-and-wife team Patrick and Jennifer Coddou, owners of Supply, pitched their product to the panel of five investors on ABC's Shark Tank and hooked one of them, tech millionaire Robert Herjavec. In exchange for his $300,000 investment, Herjavec received a 15 percent stake in the four-year-old company.

"It was a surreal experience for us just making an appearance on the show, but we couldn't have been more pleased with the outcome," Patrick Coddou, CEO of Supply and a Houston native, says in a release. "I knew we had shaped a brand that sets itself apart, not only because of the innovative razor design but also the kind of standard we hold ourselves to, and I'm glad that resonated with Robert and the rest of the Sharks."

Herjavec battled against fellow Shark Kevin O'Leary to invest in Supply, but the Coddous wound up accepting Herjavec's offer.

Patrick Coddou, an engineer-turned-entrepreneur, launched Supply in 2015 from his home in Fort Worth.

The single-blade Supply razor cuts hairs at the skin level, compared with multiblade razors that cut hairs under the skin level, which causes irritation. The startup's other offerings include men's skincare products, travel cases, Dopp kits, marble shaving bowls, shaving cream, and shaving brushes.

Supply ranks as the most popular single-edge razor ever sold through fundraising platform Kickstarter, collecting more than $250,000 in 45 days. Today, Supply delivers single-edge razors to customers in 43 countries.

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Axiom Space-tested cancer drug advances to clinical trials

mission critical

A cancer-fighting drug tested aboard several Axiom Space missions is moving forward to clinical trials.

Rebecsinib, which targets a cancer cloning and immune evasion gene, ADAR1, has received FDA approval to enter clinical trials under active Investigational New Drug (IND) status, according to a news release. The drug was tested aboard Axiom Mission 2 (Ax-2) and Axiom Mission 3 (Ax-3). It was developed by Aspera Biomedicine, led by Dr. Catriona Jamieson, director of the UC San Diego Sanford Stem Cell Institute (SSCI).

The San Diego-based Aspera team and Houston-based Axiom partnered to allow Rebecsinib to be tested in microgravity. Tumors have been shown to grow more rapidly in microgravity and even mimic how aggressive cancers can develop in patients.

“In terms of tumor growth, we see a doubling in growth of these little mini-tumors in just 10 days,” Jamieson explained in the release.

Rebecsinib took part in the patient-derived tumor organoid testing aboard the International Space Station. Similar testing is planned to continue on Axiom Station, the company's commercial space station that's currently under development.

Additionally, the drug will be tested aboard Ax-4 under its active IND status, which was targeted to launch June 25.

“We anticipate that this monumental mission will inform the expanded development of the first ADAR1 inhibitory cancer stem cell targeting drug for a broad array of cancers," Jamieson added.

According to Axiom, the milestone represents the potential for commercial space collaborations.

“We’re proud to work with Aspera Biomedicines and the UC San Diego Sanford Stem Cell Institute, as together we have achieved a historic milestone, and we’re even more excited for what’s to come,” Tejpaul Bhatia, the new CEO of Axiom Space, said in the release. “This is how we crack the code of the space economy – uniting public and private partners to turn microgravity into a launchpad for breakthroughs.”

Chevron enters the lithium market with major Texas land acquisition

to market

Chevron U.S.A., a subsidiary of Houston-based energy company Chevron, has taken its first big step toward establishing a commercial-scale lithium business.

Chevron acquired leaseholds totaling about 125,000 acres in Northeast Texas and southwest Arkansas from TerraVolta Resources and East Texas Natural Resources. The acreage contains a high amount of lithium, which Chevron plans to extract from brines produced from the subsurface.

Lithium-ion batteries are used in an array of technologies, such as smartwatches, e-bikes, pacemakers, and batteries for electric vehicles, according to Chevron. The International Energy Agency estimates lithium demand could grow more than 400 percent by 2040.

“This acquisition represents a strategic investment to support energy manufacturing and expand U.S.-based critical mineral supplies,” Jeff Gustavson, president of Chevron New Energies, said in a news release. “Establishing domestic and resilient lithium supply chains is essential not only to maintaining U.S. energy leadership but also to meeting the growing demand from customers.”

Rania Yacoub, corporate business development manager at Chevron New Energies, said that amid heightening demand, lithium is “one of the world’s most sought-after natural resources.”

“Chevron is looking to help meet that demand and drive U.S. energy competitiveness by sourcing lithium domestically,” Yacoub said.

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This article originally appeared on EnergyCapital.