In honor of Labor Day, here are three Houston innovators who probably aren't taking the day off. Courtesy photos

It may be Labor Day, but some of the hardest working Houston innovators are probably still checking their email on their phones from the pool.

Here are this week's innovators to know around town.

Marie Myers, CFO of UiPath

Marie Myers is the CFO of UiPath. Courtesy of UiPath

Marie Myers is a self-proclaimed Houstonian, avid bike rider, and robotics nerd — for lack of a better word. She's had a 20-year career in tech — most roles based right here in town — and throughout her whole experience, robotics process automation has been the most exciting technology she's gotten to work with.

UiPath just opened an office in Houston earlier this year, and Myers serves the company as CFO. She first worked with UiPath on the client side of things, and the technology awed her. She says she jumped at the opportunity to join the organization.

"When I think about RPA, the world lights up for me," she says. "It's truly transformative."

Click here to read more about the company.

Marco Bo Hansen, chief customer officer at Sani nudge and his executive team

Marco Bo Hansen, right, the chief customer officer at Sani nudge. Courtesy of TMCx

The Sani nudge executives may not be from Houston, but we give the Denmark-based company a pass for all its success coming out of the Texas Medical Center's accelerator program earlier this year. Sani nudge is a medical device company that can better track and encourage hand sanitation. The company is headed to California after being selected for a prestigious program with the Mistletoe Foundation.

Dr. Marco Bo Hansen is the chief customer officer and says that he'll be vigilantly advocating that his Sani nudge colleagues and the Mistletoe researchers keep hospital patients and staff in mind as Sani nudge moves forward with its innovations.

"We have to make sure that our solutions always generate value to the end users and can easily be used by the clinicians, infection preventionists, and hospital managers," he says.

Click here to read more about the company.

Ashley Gilmore, CEO and co-founder of Tracts.co

When Ashley Gilmore was studying law — specifically for the purposes of going into oil and gas — it amazed him how non-digitized the industry was, especially the mineral buying process. Gilmore figured out a way how to use tech to make the process way easier — and cheaper.

Now, his company, Tracts, has a new land group that's growing at a revenue rate of 30 percent month to month. With more and more clients, Tracts engages more data. And, with more and more data, the product increases in value for his customers.

"For some of our clients, Tracts is now existential for their business," Gilmore says. "In other words, they wouldn't be able to operate on their current business model without Tracts."

Click here to read more about the company.

Sani nudge has developed a hand hygiene tool that prompts medical professionals to clean their hands more often. Courtesy of TMC

Health care tech company with Houston ties gets huge opportunity on the West Coast

hands free

Sani nudge, a graduate of the TMCx healthcare accelerator's nineth cohort at Houston's Texas Medical Center, is getting a significant nudge from a new collaboration with a social-impact organization based in California.

Among more than 1,000 startups that were considered, Copenhagen, Denmark-based Sani nudge was chosen as one of nine participants in the Mistletoe Research Fellowship Startup Collaboration Program, sponsored by the Mistletoe Foundation. Three dozen researchers from seven universities also are taking part in the program.

Fresh off a $1.2 million funding round, Sani nudge's technology is an automated monitoring system aimed at helping healthcare workers bolster hygiene compliance and processes through insights from data and a feature that "nudges" healthcare workers to practice proper hand hygiene. Sani nudge created the technology in conjunction with Bispebjerg Hospital and Aarhus University Hospital, both in Denmark.

In the Mistletoe program, representatives of Sani nudge will work alongside four American researchers to improve the startup's technology, thereby providing hospitals with better data and tapping the researchers' expertise in engineering and robotics to come up with related healthcare platforms. Sani nudge employs 13 people in the U.S., Denmark, and Poland.

During tests in healthcare settings, the use of Sani nudge has resulted in a jump in hand hygiene compliance of as much as 200 percent and a reduction in infections of at least 29 percent, the company says. Several hospitals in Scandinavia are using the Sani nudge system.

Theis Jensen, CEO of Sani nudge, and Dr. Marco Bo Hansen, the chief customer officer, became acquainted with Mistletoe when they met Mark Castleman — a partner at the Mistletoe Inc. global-impact investment fund — during a startup and innovation tour of Texas organized by Capital Factory, a startup accelerator with locations in Houston, Austin, and Dallas.

The three men soon found common ground in a shared vision for reducing hospital-acquired infections and combating resistance to antibiotics. Both are costly, potentially fatal problems.

At any given time, 1 in 25 patients in the U.S. are fighting hospital-acquired infections, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services says. "These infections lead to the loss of tens of thousands of lives," according to the department, "and cost the U.S. healthcare system billions of dollars each year."

Meanwhile, more than 2 million people in the U.S. are infected each year with antibiotic-resistant bacteria, and at least 23,000 people die as a result, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).

Sani nudge's participation in the Mistletoe program kicked off July 31 and August 1 at a workshop in Tokyo. For the next nine months, the Sani nudge group — led by Rebekah Alexander, the startup's in-house data expert — will team up with its four assigned researchers to advance the startup's wireless technology.

The researchers "will work with us over the following academic year to help us take the Sani nudge solution to the next level and enable hospitals to get even more detailed hand hygiene information that can eliminate hospital-acquired infections," Sani nudge wrote on its blog.

In June 2020, the next-level Sani nudge technology is scheduled to be presented to potential investors and academic researchers in Silicon Valley. Sani nudge says Mistletoe effort will strengthen its ties to the U.S. market and the academic research community.

"There are many opportunities within healthcare IoT that can help both patients and hospitals, and our system is designed to embrace these opportunities," Hansen says.

Hansen, a physician, says he'll be vigilantly advocating that his Sani nudge colleagues and the Mistletoe researchers keep hospital patients and staff in mind as Sani nudge moves forward with its innovations.

"We have to make sure that our solutions always generate value to the end users and can easily be used by the clinicians, infection preventionists, and hospital managers," he says.

Three companies in TMCx's current cohort are leaving the program with new funds. Courtesy of TMCx

3 TMCx companies have raised funds while completing the Houston accelerator

Extracurriculars

The Texas Medical Center's accelerator program is wrapping up its Digital Health cohort this week with the culmination of its TMCx Demo Day, and, while all of the companies have something to celebrate, three have announced that they are leaving the program with fresh funds.

Meru, Roundtrip, and Sani Nudge have raised over $10 million between the three companies. All three will be presenting at the TMCx Digital Health Demo Day on June 6 with the 16 other companies in the cohort. Click here to RSVP.

Three more TMCx companies have raised funds throughout the program but have let to formally announce their raises. Axem Neurotechnology, Optellum, and Dosentrx have collectively raised over $5 million this spring, according to TMCx.

Here's what you need to know about the three companies that have freshly padded pockets to grow their presence within the digital health industry.

Meru

Meru allows patients mental health treatment at their fingertips. Photos via meruhealth.com

Having access to health care has been an increasing issue and more and more startups are hoping they can provide solutions. Palo Alto, California-based Meru has created a low-cost digital clinic that offers an app-based treatment program from licensed therapists. The company completed a $4.2M raise in April 2019. The round was led by San Francisco-based Freestyle Capital.

Roundtrip

Philadelphia-based RoundTrip, which is in TMCx's current cohort, closed a hefty Series A round. Photo via roundtriphealth.com

An estimated 3.6 million patients miss or postpone their medical appointments annually, which leads to bigger medical issues that could have been prevented or treated earlier. Philadelphia-based RoundTrip created a platform where patients can book transportation to and from appointments. The startup closed its Series A round of $5.14 million led by Virginia-based Motley Fool Ventures in April.

Sani Nudge

Sani Nudge has optimized tech for sanitation compliance in hospitals. Photo via saninudge.com

Denmark-based Sani Nudge is one of the cohort's international members. The company's founders created a few devices that fit onto existing hospital gadgets — ID cards and hand sanitizing stations, for instance — that are able to track and monitor sanitization practices within hospitals.

According to the CDC, there are an estimated 680,000 health care-related infections in the U.S annually with a mortality rate of 10 percent.With the company's devices, hospitals can track compliance and hand sanitizing data within the hospital — but the health care professionals remain anonymous.

Sani Nudge raised $1.2 million in a round led by InQvation. The company will use the funds to grow its presence in the United States, specifically in Houston's medical center.

"Being part of the TMCx accelerator program has been game-changing," says CEO Theis Jensen in a release. "By attending a variety of workshops and hands-on events as well as receiving guidance from many experts and advisors have helped us to fully understand the US market, refine our strategies and connected us with hospitals so we can conduct studies in the TMC Medical Center".

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CultureMap Emails are Awesome

Trailblazing Houston entrepreneur brings big ideas to new Yahoo Finance show

tune in

Elizabeth Gore, co-founder and president of Houston's Hello Alice, debuted the first episode of her new video podcast series with Yahoo Finance on Thursday, April 24.

The weekly series, known as "The Big Idea with Elizabeth Gore," will focus on providing information and resources to small business owners and sharing stories of entrepreneurship, according to a news release from Yahoo Finance.

“Entrepreneurs and small business owners drive our country’s economy forward. With a record number of small businesses launching in our communities, my goal is to help every citizen live the American Dream. On the Big Idea, we will break down barriers for entrepreneurs and lift up opportunities for every person wanting to be their own boss,” Gore said in the release.

“By hosting the 'Big Idea' on Yahoo Finance, I’m looking forward to elevating business owners’ stories and providing actionable insights to small business owners at a scale like never before. I am blown away to be joining the number one finance news source that is already trusted by so many.”

Gore was joined by Hello Alice co-founder and CEO Carolyn Rodz in the premiere episode, titled "Got a big idea for a small business? Here's your first step," to discuss the steps they took when launching the business.

Gore and Rodz founded Hello Alice in 2017. The fintech platform supports over 1.5 million small businesses across the nation. It has helped owners access affordable capital and credit and distributed over $57 million in grants to businesses across various industries. The company raised a series C round backed by Mastercard last year for an undisclosed amount and reported that the funding brought the company's valuation up to $130 million at the time.

According to Yahoo Finance, Gore's experience and expertise build on its "mission to be the trusted guide of financial information to all investors, and democratize access to quality content."

“Over the past year, we invested in expanding our programming lineup with the launch of new shows and podcasts, and welcomed new financial creators and influencers into our newsroom,” Anthony Galloway, head of content at Yahoo Finance, added the release. “By diversifying our programming and talent roster, Yahoo Finance is introducing unique points-of-view that make financial topics more engaging, actionable, and personalized. Small business owners are a vital part of our audience, so we’re excited to welcome Elizabeth Gore from Hello Alice, whose insights and expertise will help us serve and connect with this important cohort in meaningful ways.”

The show is available on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, iHeart, Pandora, and Amazon Music for listening. Streamers can view it on yahoofinance.com, Amazon Prime Video, Samsung TV, Fire TV, Vizio, Haystack, DirectTV and other streaming platforms. Watch the premiere here:

7 top Houston researchers join Rice innovation cohort for 2025

top of class

The Liu Idea Lab for Innovation and Entrepreneurship (Lilie) has announced its 2025 Rice Innovation Fellows cohort, which includes students developing cutting-edge thermal management solutions for artificial intelligence, biomaterial cell therapy for treating lymphedema, and other innovative projects.

The program aims to support Rice Ph.D. students and postdocs in turning their research into real-world solutions and startups.

“Our fourth cohort of fellows spans multiple industries addressing the most pressing challenges of humanity,” Kyle Judah, Lilie’s executive director, said in a news release. “We see seven Innovation Fellows and their professors with the passion and a path to change the world.”

The seven 2025 Innovation Fellows are:

Chen-Yang Lin, Materials Science and Nanoengineering, Ph.D. 2025

Professor Jun Lou’s Laboratory

Lin is a co-founder of HEXAspec, a startup that focuses on creating thermal management solutions for artificial intelligence chips and high-performance semiconductor devices. The startup won the prestigious H. Albert Napier Rice Launch Challenge (NRLC) competition last year and also won this year's Energy Venture Day and Pitch Competition during CERAWeek in the TEX-E student track.

Sarah Jimenez, Bioengineering, Ph.D. 2027

Professor Camila Hochman-Mendez Laboratory

Jimenez is working to make transplantable hearts out of decellularized animal heart scaffolds in the lab and the creating an automated cell delivery system to “re-cellularize” hearts with patient-derived stem cells.

Alexander Lathem, Applied Physics and Chemistry, Ph.D. 2026

Professor James M. Tour Laboratory

Lathem’s research is focused on bringing laser-induced graphene technology from “academia into industry,” according to the university.

Dilrasbonu Vohidova is a Bioengineering, Ph.D. 2027

Professor Omid Veiseh Laboratory

Vohidova’s research focuses on engineering therapeutic cells to secrete immunomodulators, aiming to prevent the onset of autoimmunity in Type 1 diabetes.

Alexandria Carter, Bioengineering, Ph.D. 2027

Professor Michael King Laboratory

Carter is developing a device that offers personalized patient disease diagnostics by using 3D culturing and superhydrophobicity.

Alvaro Moreno Lozano, Bioengineering, Ph.D. 2027

Professor Omid Veiseh Lab

Lozano is using novel biomaterials and cell engineering to develop new technologies for patients with Type 1 Diabetes. The work aims to fabricate a bioartificial pancreas that can control blood glucose levels.

Lucas Eddy, Applied Physics and Chemistry, Ph.D. 2025

Professor James M. Tour Laboratory

Eddy specializes in building and using electrothermal reaction systems for nanomaterial synthesis, waste material upcycling and per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) destruction.

This year, the Liu Lab also introduced its first cohort of five commercialization fellows. See the full list here.

The Rice Innovation Fellows program assists doctoral students and postdoctoral researchers with training and support to turn their ideas into ventures. Alumni have raised over $20 million in funding and grants, according to Lilie. Last year's group included 10 doctoral and postdoctoral students working in fields such as computer science, mechanical engineering and materials science.

“The Innovation Fellows program helps scientist-led startups accelerate growth by leveraging campus resources — from One Small Step grants to the Summer Venture Studio accelerator — before launching into hubs like Greentown Labs, Helix Park and Rice’s new Nexus at The Ion,” Yael Hochberg, head of the Rice Entrepreneurship Initiative and the Ralph S. O’Connor Professor in Entrepreneurship, said in the release. “These ventures are shaping Houston’s next generation of pillar companies, keeping our city, state and country at the forefront of innovation in mission critical industries.”

Houston startup Collide secures $5M to grow energy-focused AI platform

Fresh Funds

Houston-based Collide, a provider of generative artificial intelligence for the energy sector, has raised $5 million in seed funding led by Houston’s Mercury Fund.

Other investors in the seed round include Bryan Sheffield, founder of Austin-based Parsley Energy, which was acquired by Dallas-based Pioneer Natural Resources in 2021; Billy Quinn, founder and managing partner of Dallas-based private equity firm Pearl Energy Investments; and David Albin, co-founder and former managing partner of Dallas-based private equity firm NGP Capital Partners.

“(Collide) co-founders Collin McLelland and Chuck Yates bring a unique understanding of the oil and gas industry,” Blair Garrou, managing partner at Mercury, said in a news release. “Their backgrounds, combined with Collide’s proprietary knowledge base, create a significant and strategic moat for the platform.”

Collide, founded in 2022, says the funding will enable the company to accelerate the development of its GenAI platform. GenAI creates digital content such as images, videos, text, and music.

Originally launched by Houston media organization Digital Wildcatters as “a professional network and digital community for technical discussions and knowledge sharing,” the company says it will now shift its focus to rolling out its enterprise-level, AI-enabled solution.

Collide explains that its platform gathers and synthesizes data from trusted sources to deliver industry insights for oil and gas professionals. Unlike platforms such as OpenAI, Perplexity, and Microsoft Copilot, Collide’s platform “uniquely accesses a comprehensive, industry-specific knowledge base, including technical papers, internal processes, and a curated Q&A database tailored to energy professionals,” the company said.

Collide says its approximately 6,000 platform users span 122 countries.

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This story originally appeared on our sister site, EnergyCapitalHTX.com.