Houston fintech company forms partnership that allows for rapid expansion of its SaaS platform

Growing gains

A Houston-based fintech company has taken a huge step in the right direction for growth. Getty Images

Houston-based fintech company HighRadius Corp. has forged a partnership with Canadian conglomerate Thomson Reuters Corp. that will open up more markets for its enterprise software-as-a-service.

The partnership equips HighRadius to tap into the global network of Confirmation.com, a unit of Thomson Reuters. Confirmation's network features more than 1,000 banks. Credit managers at those banks will be able to use HighRadius' software to automate the credit process for online credit applications.

"This partnership will allow us to expand our credit inquiry solution to new markets," Mark Portanova, Confirmation.com's vice president of sales for the Americas, says in a release. "We will enhance workflows, reporting capabilities, and client authorization processes within the HighRadius platform. These measures will progress the traditionally slow, manual, and time-consuming credit approval processes … ."

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.

Sayid Shabeer, chief product officer at HighRadius, says the company's suite of product ultimately lets companies free up millions of dollars in working capital and reallocate employees' time to higher-value tasks.

Among HighRadius' customers are corporate heavyweights like healthcare giant Johnson & Johnson, apparel maker adidas, food company Danone, and Dr Pepper Snapple Group. In January, HighRadius reported it had passed the 350-customer mark last year and doubled the size of its European workforce.

"2018 was the year that the bets we've been making over the last few years started to pay off in scale," Sashi Narahari, founder and CEO of HighRadius, says in a release.

Among HighRadius' competitors are Billtrust, Rimilia Holdings, Cforia Software, and Financial National Information Services. The global market for credit management software is forecast to exceed $2.1 billion by 2022, up from $636.4 million in 2017.

HighRadius, founded in 2006, employs more than 1,000 people in North America, Europe, and Asia. Since its inception, HighRadius has raised more than $50 million from Philadelphia-based Susquehanna Growth Equity, and has collected strategic investments from banking behemoths Citi and PNC.

HighRadius recently hired Jon Keating as vice president and general manager of its Europe, Middle East, and Africa (EMEA) markets. Keating most recently was chief sales officer at San Francisco fintech company Taulia. Earlier in the year, the company tapped SaaS veteran Natalie Fedie as vice president of customer success to help propel its global growth.

"HighRadius continues to invest in talent across Europe and Asia to fuel its growth plans and keep ahead of the innovation curve," Shabeer says.

Last year, HighRadius moved its headquarters to 200 Westlake Park Blvd. in the Energy Corridor. More than 150 employees relocated there. HighRadius subleases the space from BP America.

"The expansion of HighRadius into the Katy area represents another high-tech company choosing to mature in our community," Lance LaCour, president and CEO of the Katy Area Economic Development Corp., said at the time. "HighRadius is projected to have an estimated regional economic impact of over $600 million over a five-year period."

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Houston humanoid robotics startup inks new deal to deploy its rugged robots

big deal

Houston-based Persona AI announced the expansion of its operations at the Ion and a major milestone in deploying its humanoid robots.

The company will establish a state-of-the-art development center in the prominent corner suite on the first floor of the Ion, and is slated to begin expansion in June.

“We chose the Ion because it’s more than just a building — it’s a thriving innovation ecosystem,” CEO Nicolaus Radford said in a news release. “This is where Houston’s tech future is being built. It’s a convergence point for the people, energy, and ideas that power our mission to redefine human-machine collaboration. For an industrial, AI-driven robotics company, there’s no better place to scale than in the heart of Houston.”

Persona AI’s new development center will be located in the suite utilized by the Ion Prototyping Lab, managed by TXRX Labs. The IPL will transition its operations to the expanded TXRX facility in the East End Maker Hub, which will allow the lab to grow its team and meet increased demand.

At the start of the year, Persona AI closed $25 million in pre-seed funding. Earlier this month, the company announced a memorandum of understanding with HD Korea Shipbuilding & Offshore Engineering, HD Hyundai Robotic, and Korean manufacturing firm Vazil Company to create and deploy humanoid robots for complex welding tasks in shipyards.

The project will deliver prototype humanoids by the end of 2026, with field testing and full commercial deployment scheduled to begin in 2027.

"As heavy industry faces growing labor constraints—especially in high-risk trades like welding—the need for rugged, autonomous humanoid robots is more urgent than ever,” Radford added in a separate statement. “This partnership with HD Hyundai and Vazil is more than symbolic—deploying to the shipyard is one of the largest real-world proving grounds for Persona's tough, humanoid robots.”

Houston climatech co. to lead one of world's largest carbon capture projects

Big Deal

Houston-based CO2 utilization company HYCO1 has signed a memorandum of understanding with Malaysia LNG Sdn. Bhd., a subsidiary of Petronas, for a carbon capture project in Malaysia, which includes potential utilization and conversion of 1 million tons of carbon dioxide per year.

The project will be located in Bintulu in Sarawak, Malaysia, where Malaysia LNG is based, according to a news release. Malaysia LNG will supply HYCO1 with an initial 1 million tons per year of raw CO2 for 20 years starting no later than 2030. The CCU plant is expected to be completed by 2029.

"This is very exciting for all stakeholders, including HYCO1, MLNG, and Petronas, and will benefit all Malaysians," HYCO1 CEO Gregory Carr said in the release. "We approached Petronas and MLNG in the hopes of helping them solve their decarbonization needs, and we feel honored to collaborate with MLNG to meet their Net Zero Carbon Emissions by 2050.”

The project will convert CO2 into industrial-grade syngas (a versatile mixture of carbon monoxide and hydrogen) using HYCO1’s proprietary CUBE Technology. According to the company, its CUBE technology converts nearly 100 percent of CO2 feed at commercial scale.

“Our revolutionary process and catalyst are game changers in decarbonization because not only do we prevent CO2 from being emitted into the atmosphere, but we transform it into highly valuable and usable downstream products,” Carr added in the release.

As part of the MoU, the companies will conduct a feasibility study evaluating design alternatives to produce low-carbon syngas.

The companies say the project is expected to “become one of the largest CO2 utilization projects in history.”

HYCO1 also recently announced that it is providing syngas technology to UBE Corp.'s new EV electrolyte plant in New Orleans. Read more here.

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

Texas tops ranking of best states for investors in new report

by the numbers

Texas ranks third on a new list of the best states for investors and startups.

Investment platform BrokerChooser weighed five factors to come up with its ranking:

  • 2024 Google search volume for terms related to investing
  • Number of investors
  • Number of businesses receiving investments in 2024
  • Total amount of capital invested in businesses in 2024
  • Percentage change in amount of investment from 2019 to 2024

Based on those figures, provided mostly by Crunchbase, Texas sits at No. 3 on the list, behind No. 1 California and No. 2 New York.

Especially noteworthy for Texas is its investment total for 2024: more than $164.5 billion. From 2019 to 2024, the state saw a 440 percent jump in business investments, according to BrokerChooser. The same percentages are 204 percent for California and 396 percent for New York.

“There is definitely development and diversification in the American investment landscape, with impressive growth in areas that used to fly under the radar,” says Adam Nasli, head analyst at BrokerChooser.

According to Crunchbase, funding for Texas startups is off to a strong start in 2025. In the first three months of this year, venture capital investors poured nearly $2.9 billion into Lone Star State companies, Crunchbase data shows. Crunchbase attributes that healthy dollar amount to “enthusiasm around cybersecurity, defense tech, robotics, and de-extincting mammoths.”

During the first quarter of this year, roughly two-thirds of VC funding in Texas went to just five companies, says Crunchbase. Those companies are Austin-based Apptronik, Austin-based Colossal Biosciences, Dallas-based Island, Austin-based NinjaOne, and Austin-based Saronic.

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