Houston-based HighRadius has launched a new platform. Photo via Getty Images

Houston-based HighRadius — which recently hit $1 billion valuation, reaching unicorn status — has launched a new learning platform.

Highako Academy by HighRadius, launched the platform to help credit and collections teams build certain skills faster. Highako features over 650 expert-led videos, community forums, and resources. The new on-the-job training platform, which announced its launch this week, is used by more than 2,800 companies, according to a press release.

"Our customers have asked us for an online self-service learning platform, and that led us to launch highako.com as a beta platform last year," says HighRadius COO Urvish Vashi in the release. "With 10,000+ users on the platform and a vibrant partner ecosystem consisting of credit groups, collection agencies, attorneys and industry associations, we see this echoing a larger trend of millennials and Gen Z gravitating towards microlearning platforms."

In honor of the launch of Highako Academy, the organization has announced plans for Credit SkillCon '21, a lunch-and-learn event from June 16 to July 20. The 53 live workshops, panel discussions, and on-demand sessions will focus on topics including negotiations, credit risk assessment, bankruptcy litigation, collections strategy and more. .

"We continually hear from members about wanting more and different educational options," says Jon Flora, president and CEO of NACM Business Credit Service. "The last year has changed much about how we answer this call, and now we have a solution. We are the first NACM affiliate to partner with Highako Academy."

HighRadius and its AI-powered SaaS technology, which streamlines accounts-receivable and cash-management processes, are growing fast. The company, which processes over $2.23 trillion in receivables transactions annually, per the release, raised $300 million in March. At the time of that raise, HighRadius, founded in 2006, employed more than 1,000 people around the world — and was hiring.

"Our goal has always been to build a long-lasting business that outlasts all of us," Sashi Narahari, founder and CEO of HighRadius, said in the news release. "I look forward to working with [our] high-quality, long-term investors, who share a common vision of transforming the office of the CFO using a combination of artificial intelligence built on top of connected-finance workspaces and embedded analytics."

HighRadius, a SaaS fintech company and Houston's first unicorn, has expanded in Europe. Getty Images

Houston fintech software startup expands with new German office

unicorn on the move

A growing Houston fintech software-as-a-service startup has announced that it's opening an additional European office following reaching unicorn status earlier this year.

HighRadius, which has a software that automates key treasury management processes, is opening an office in Frankfurt, Germany, the company announced today.The news comes after the company has posted triple-digit year-over-year growth, according to a press release. HighRadius boasts of 25 new customers and a 250 percent increase in bookings over the past year.

"Frankfurt's position in central Germany makes other parts of the country readily accessible, and its status as the financial center of the country opens up a gateway to a deep pool of talent and relevant partnerships," says Jon Keating, HighRadius' Vice President and General Manager, EMEA, in a news release.

The company, which achieved unicorn status with a $1 billion valuation following a $125 million raise in January, opened an office in Amsterdam last year and has had its London office since 2017. According to the release, Germany, Switzerland, and Austria are territories with major market opportunities. The Frankfurt office will house sales, pre-sales, marketing, and consulting employees.

HighRadius's technology is relevant amid the COVID-19 pandemic more than ever as its clients are in need of safe and easy remote technology and automation to prevent delays in accounts receivable. Last month, the SaaS company launched new technology to help with this need: the RadiusOne A/R Suite for mid-sized businesses.

"We launched the RadiusOne B2B Network to facilitate suppliers and A/R teams to digitally connect with their buyers and A/P teams for faster processing of receivables and payments. Currently, the network has millions of active businesses," says Sashi Narahari, founder and CEO of HighRadius, in a news release. "The RadiusOne A/R Suite will provide the essential apps for A/R teams at mid-sized businesses to instantly plug their ERPs and A/R processes into this network and digitally connect with their buyers across the globe."

Houston-based HighRadius has reported reaching unicorn status following a $125 million raise. Photo via highradius.com

Houston SaaS company achieves unicorn status following $125 million fundraising round

New unicorn

Following the closing of a $125 million series B investment round, a Houston software-as-a-service company is boosting a new title: Unicorn.

HighRadius, an artificial intelligence-powered fintech software company, has announced its unicorn status, which is defined as being valued at over $1 billion. The series B round, which achieved this status for HighRadius, was led by ICONIQ Capital, with participation from existing investors Susquehanna Growth Equity and Citi Ventures, according to a news release from the company.

"Today marks an important milestone for HighRadius and we're thrilled to have ICONIQ join us in our vision to modernize the Order to Cash space," says Sashi Narahari, founder and CEO of HighRadius, in a news release. "ICONIQ combines patient capital with a long-term vision of investing in category-defining businesses, and the firm has worked with some of the world's most successful tech entrepreneurs. We are building HighRadius into a self-sustaining, long-term category leader, and ICONIQ is a great partner for us in this journey."

The company, which offices in West Houston, was founded in 2006 founded in 2006 and employs more than 1,000 people in North America, Europe, and Asia. In November, HighRadius opened an office in Amsterdam. According to the news release, the company will use the funds to further expand its global footprint.

"We're thrilled to support HighRadius' efforts to bring innovative AI capabilities to the financial side of the enterprise," says Will Griffith, partner at ICONIQ Capital, in a news release. "As we have seen in many of our portfolio companies and past investments, including BlackLine and Coupa, digital transformation is increasingly a CFO priority."

HighRadius' AI-powered software is designed to streamline accounts-receivable and cash-management processes. For instance, HighRadius' Cash Application software relies on AI to comb through documents like emails and invoices to automatically match incoming payments with customers' accounts.

"The HighRadius platform is game-changing for CFOs and finance departments, and the company has earned tremendous customer loyalty by enabling receivables and treasury teams to perform more efficiently and effectively, and by delivering mission-critical ROI," Griffith continues in the release. "HighRadius fits squarely into our commitment to invest in best-in-class, long-term technology businesses driven by incredible teams, and we look forward to working alongside Sashi and the rest of the HighRadius team through their next phase of growth."

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Houston healthtech leader launches clinical trial for innovative anxiety-treating device

making waves

Houston-based Nexalin Technology’s proprietary neurostimulation device will move forward with a new clinical trial evaluating its treatment of anxiety disorders and chronic insomnia in Brazil.

The first of Nexalin’s Gen-2 15-milliamp neurostimulation devices have been shipped to São Paulo, Brazil, and the study will be conducted at the Instituto de Psiquiatria university hospital (IPq-HCFMUSP). The shipments aim to support the launch of a Phase II clinical trial in adult patients suffering from anxiety and insomnia, according to a news release.

“Brazil is an important emerging market for mental health innovation, and this collaboration marks our first IRB-approved study in the region,” Mike White, CEO of Nexalin, said in the release.

The study will be led by Dr. Andre Russowsky Brunoni, who specializes in neuromodulation and interventional psychiatry. He currently serves as director of the interventional psychiatry division at IPq-HCFMUSP and this summer will join UT Southwestern in Dallas and its Peter O’Donnell Jr. Brain Institute as a professor of psychiatry.

The Phase II study plans to enroll 30 adults in São Paulo and assess the efficacy of Nexalin’s non-invasive deep intracranial frequency stimulation (DIFS™) of the brain in reducing anxiety symptoms and improving sleep quality, according to the company. Using the Hamilton Anxiety Rating Scale (HAM-A), the trial’s goal is a reduction in anxiety symptoms, and assessments of sleep onset latency, total sleep time, overall sleep quality, depressive symptoms and clinical impression of improvement. The company plans to share results in a peer-reviewed scientific journal.

“Anxiety and insomnia are very common conditions that often occur together and cause significant distress,” Brunoni added in the news release. “In this study, we are testing a new, non-invasive brain stimulation technology that has shown promising results in recent research. Our goal is to offer a safe, painless, and accessible alternative to improve people’s well being and sleep quality.”

The Nexalin Gen-2 15-milliamp neurostimulation device has been approved in China, Brazil, and Oman.

The company also enrolled the first patients in its clinical trial at the University of California, San Diego, in collaboration with the VA San Diego Healthcare System for its Nexalin HALO, which looks to treat mild traumatic brain injury and post-traumatic stress disorder in military personnel and the civilian population. It also recently raised $5 million through a public stock offering. Read more here.

Texas university to lead new FAA tech center focused on drones

taking flight

The Texas A&M University System will run the Federal Aviation Administration’s new Center for Advanced Aviation Technologies, which will focus on innovations like commercial drones.

“Texas is the perfect place for our new Center for Advanced Aviation Technologies,” U.S. Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy said in a release. “From drones delivering your packages to powered lift technologies like air taxis, we are at the cusp of an aviation revolution. The [center] will ensure we make that dream a reality and unleash American innovation safely.”

U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz, a Texas Republican, included creation of the center in the FAA Reauthorization Act of 2024. The center will consist of an airspace laboratory, flight demonstration zones, and testing corridors.

Texas A&M University-Corpus Christi will lead the initiative, testing unstaffed aircraft systems and other advanced technologies. The Corpus Christi campus houses the Autonomy Research Institute, an FAA-designated test site. The new center will be at Texas A&M University-Fort Worth.

The College Station-based Texas A&M system says the center will “bring together” its 19 institutions, along with partners such as the University of North Texas in Denton and Southern Methodist University in University Park.

According to a Department of Transportation news release, the center will play “a pivotal role” in ensuring the safe operation of advanced aviation technologies in public airspace.

The Department of Transportation says it chose the Texas A&M system to manage the new center because of its:

  • Proximity to major international airports and the FAA’s regional headquarters in Fort Worth
  • Existing infrastructure for testing of advanced aviation technologies
  • Strong academic programs and industry partnerships

“I’m confident this new research and testing center will help the private sector create thousands of high-paying jobs and grow the Texas economy through billions in new investments,” Cruz said.

“This is a significant win for Texas that will impact communities across our state,” the senator added, “and I will continue to pursue policies that create new jobs, and ensure the Lone Star State continues to lead the way in innovation and the manufacturing of emerging aviation technologies.”

Texas Republicans are pushing to move NASA headquarters to Houston

space city

Two federal lawmakers from Texas are spearheading a campaign to relocate NASA’s headquarters from Washington, D.C., to the Johnson Space Center in Houston’s Clear Lake area. Houston faces competition on this front, though, as lawmakers from two other states are also vying for this NASA prize.

With NASA’s headquarters lease in D.C. set to end in 2028, U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz, a Texas Republican, and U.S. Rep. Brian Babin, a Republican whose congressional district includes the Johnson Space Center, recently wrote a letter to President Trump touting the Houston area as a prime location for NASA’s headquarters.

“A central location among NASA’s centers and the geographical center of the United States, Houston offers the ideal location for NASA to return to its core mission of space exploration and to do so at a substantially lower operating cost than in Washington, D.C.,” the letter states.

Cruz is chairman of the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation; and Babin is chairman of the House Committee on Science, Space, and Technology. Both committees deal with NASA matters. Twenty-five other federal lawmakers from Texas, all Republicans, signed the letter.

In the letter, legislators maintain that shifting NASA’s headquarters to the Houston area makes sense because “a seismic disconnect between NASA’s headquarters and its missions has opened the door to bureaucratic micromanagement and an erosion of [NASA] centers’ interdependence.”

Founded in 1961, the $1.5 billion, 1,620-acre Johnson Space Center hosts NASA’s mission control and astronaut training operations. More than 12,000 employees work at the 100-building complex.

According to the state comptroller, the center generates an annual economic impact of $4.7 billion for Texas, and directly and indirectly supports more than 52,000 public and private jobs.

In pitching the Johnson Space Center for NASA’s HQ, the letter points out that Texas is home to more than 2,000 aerospace, aviation, and defense-related companies. Among them are Elon Musk’s SpaceX, based in the newly established South Texas town of Starbase; Axiom Space and Intuitive Machines, both based in Houston; and Firefly Aerospace, based in the Austin suburb of Cedar Park.

The letter also notes the recent creation of the Texas Space Commission, which promotes innovation in the space and commercial aerospace sectors.

Furthermore, the letter cites Houston-area assets for NASA such as:

  • A strong business environment.
  • A low level of state government regulation.
  • A cost of living that’s half of what it is in the D.C. area.

“Moving the NASA headquarters to Texas will create more jobs, save taxpayer dollars, and reinvigorate America’s space agency,” the letter says.

Last November, NASA said it was hunting for about 375,000 to 525,000 square feet of office space in the D.C. area to house the agency’s headquarters workforce. About 2,500 people work at the agency’s main offices. NASA’s announcement set off a scramble among three states to lure the agency’s headquarters.

Aside from officials in Texas, politicians in Florida and Ohio are pressing NASA to move its headquarters to their states. Florida and Ohio both host major NASA facilities.

NASA might take a different approach, however. “NASA is weighing closing its headquarters and scattering responsibilities among the states, a move that has the potential to dilute its coordination and influence in Washington,” Politico reported in March.

Meanwhile, Congressional Delegate Eleanor Holmes Norton, a Democrat who represents D.C., introduced legislation in March that would prohibit relocating a federal agency’s headquarters (including NASA’s) away from the D.C. area without permission from Congress.

“Moving federal agencies is not about saving taxpayer money and will degrade the vital services provided to all Americans across the country,” Norton said in a news release. “In the 1990s, the Bureau of Land Management moved its wildfire staff out West, only to move them back when Congress demanded briefings on new wildfires.”