With fresh funding, Houston cancer-fighting cell therapy gears up for continued clinical trials

Houston innovators podcast episode 259

Sarah Hein, co-founder and CEO of March Biosciences, joins the Houston Innovators Podcast to discuss how the company will use its series A funding. Photo via march.bio

When cancer originates in a patient, their body fights as hard as it can against the disease, but sometimes, the cancer wins the battle. However, one Houston cell therapy startup is working on an artillery of therapeutics to help arm patients' bodies to win the war.

Founded in 2022, March Biosciences is a cell therapy company born in part out of the Texas Medical Center's Accelerator for Cancer Therapeutics, where Sarah Hein served as inaugural entrepreneur in residence. In that role, she met her co-founders Max Mamonkin and Malcolm Brenner.

Now, leading the startup as CEO, Hein tells the Houston Innovators Podcast that with March's lead product, MB-105, an autologous CD5 CAR T cell therapy, the name of the game is to zero in on advancing this particular treatment to its phase II trial next year.

"Targeted therapies are targeted. Our target is expressed on these T-cell cancers, and there are a couple other cancers, like Mantle Cell Lymphoma or Chronic Lymphocytic Leukemia," Hein says on the show. "Unfortunately, I don't think there's ever going to be a magic bullet that is going to hit a huge swath of these cancers. We're going to continue to chip away at these cancers by creating really elegantly engineered therapies against these different kinds of tumors.

"March, in general, is committed to this idea that we're going to continue to work on difficult tumors and different targets with our uniquely engineered targeting strategy against these diseases. As we expand into the next year, you'll see us speak on this a little more on how we're going to continue to work on new diseases that havent been addressed previously," she continues.

Hein explains how March Biosciences — named in part as a nod to one of Houston's best months weather wise — has benefitted from the support of the local life science community. Last year, March announced its partnership with CTMC (Cell Therapy Manufacturing Center), a joint venture between MD Anderson Cancer Center and National Resilience. Hein says over the past year, they've moved into CTMC and that's allowed them to accelerate their progress as a company.

"Houston has a unique sophistication in cell therapy. Where we've had biotech spinout, cell therapy has been one of our more successful verticals," she says. "We've had resources and knowledge here that were uniquely available for our drug category."

Earlier this month, March Biosciences announced an oversubscribed $28.4 million series A led by Mission BioCapital and 4BIO Capital and bringing the company's total funding secured to more than $51 million, including its prestigious CPRIT grant. Hein says this funding will go toward further developing March's therapeutics and team as it gears up for its phase II trial next year.

Ultimately, Hein explains on the show how passionate she is and her team is on continuing to develop treatments to fight cancer with their targeted approach.

"I never have to explain to people why we would go out and fight cancer. I think it's a self-evident hypothesis," she says. "But what I personally find is exciting in cancer therapies in general are these immune therapies, where you using the body's own immune system to seek out and destroy the cancer cells.

"What's really exciting about that is these are the same immune cells that fight cancer or pre-cancers for most of your life and usually what happens is the cancers figure out a way to mass themselves. With modern approaches, we can boost the immune system."

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DocJuris has raised a $8 million series A. Photo via Getty Images

Houston legal tech platform raises $8M series A, plans to hire

fresh funding

Houston-based DocJuris, a leader in AI contract review, announced the successful closure of its series A funding round by raising $8 million in new capital. This brings the total capital raised to date to $11.2 million.

"DocJuris AI has become an industry-leading platform that empowers enterprise legal, procurement, and sales teams to close deals faster while reducing risk," DocJuris CEO and Founder Henal Patel says in a news release. "With this funding, we will continue scaffolding our platform around generative AI, expand our customer success team, and grow our user base."

The most active venture capital firm in Texas Silverton Partners led the round with participation from previous investors Watertower Ventures, Surface Ventures, and Seed Round Capital.

Companies like Siemens, Dell, FedEx, Toyota, and Duke Energy already use DocJuris with its AI-powered contract negotiation software that automates imporrant tasks during the review, redlining, and negotiation of contracts. DocJuris uses a platform to screen third-party contracts in seconds, can redline clauses with playbook-compliant edits in one click, and also generate formatted track changes, exception tables, and amendments with a cloud-based application.

The Association of Corporate Counsel, awarded DocJuris the Value Champion Award in 2023 due to the reduced contract cycle times to minutes with AI.

“We wanted to replace repetitive, manual tasks and free up valuable time for our employees to focus on more impactful work,” lead attorney for Flex's Global Procurement and Supply Chain Iringo Csifo-Nagy adds. “To achieve this, we developed a turnkey solution for AI-driven contract reviews together with the DocJuris team."

In its first round of funding in 2021, DocJuris raised $3.2 million in seed capital.

Dr. Toby Hamilton has secured $10 million to grow his company. Photo via tmc.edu

Houston startup secures $10M to expand into rural communities

ready to grow

A Houston company that is working on a value-based model for primary care has fresh funding to support its mission.

Hamilton Health Box announced the completion of a $10 million series A funding round led by 1588 Ventures with participation from Memorial Hermann Health System, Impact Ventures by Johnson & Johnson Foundation, Texas Medical Center Venture Fund, and the Sullivan Brothers.

The company, founded in 2019 by Dr. Toby R. Hamilton, will use the funding to fuel its expansion into rural areas to help assist those living in Health Professional Shortage Areas, or HPSAs.

The company has pioneered a proprietary “small footprint primary care delivery model,” which is considered suitable for rural markets, employer worksites, office buildings, schools, and university campuses. The cost-effective microclinics are “prefabricated facilities” that are designed for primary care services, and employ a hybrid in-person and telemedicine care approach.

Hamilton began his career as a physician before founding Emerus Holdings, which is a micro-hospital system in the Houston area that later moved to private equity.

The recently acquired funding will help expedite the high-touch care model to 98 million Americans in HPSAs, which was a goal for when the company was established during the Covid-19 pandemic. HHB has made partnerships with Federally Qualified Health Centers (FQHCs) to provide primary care services both at existing FQHC centers and through new sites in rural areas.

"Hamilton Health Box that was designed to deliver the lowest possible price of primary and preventative care," Hamilton said in a previous interview with Innovation Map. "We built that to be able to take that care to the jobsite and meet the customer where they are at."
Houston-based Sage Geosystems announced the first close of $17 million round led by Chesapeake Energy Corp. Photo via sagegeosystems.com

Houston energy startup closes $17M series A to fund Texas geothermal facility

money moves

A Houston geothermal startup has announced the close of its series A round of funding.

Houston-based Sage Geosystems announced the first close of $17 million round led by Chesapeake Energy Corp. The proceeds aim to fund its first commercial geopressured geothermal system facility, which will be built in Texas in Q4 of 2024. According to the company, the facility will be the first of its kind.

The venture is joined by technology investor Arch Meredith, Helium-3 Ventures and will include support from existing investors Virya, LLC, Nabors Industries Ltd., and Ignis Energy Inc.

“The first close of our Series A funding and our commercial facility are significant milestones in our mission to make geopressured geothermal system technologies a reality,” Cindy Taff, CEO of Sage Geosystems, says in a news release. “The success of our GGS technologies is not only critical to Sage Geosystems becoming post-revenue, but it is an essential step in accelerating the development of this proprietary geothermal baseload approach.

"This progress would not be possible without the ongoing support from our existing investors, and we look forward to continuing this work with our new investors," she continues.

The 3-megawatt commercial facility will be called EarthStore and will use Sage’s technology that harvests energy from pressurized water from underground. The facility will be able to store energy — for short and long periods of time — and can be paired with intermittent renewable energy sources like wind and solar. It will also be able to provide baseload, dispatchable power, and inertia to the electric grid.

In 2023, Sage Geosystems debuted the EarthStore system in a full-scale commercial pilot project in Texas. The pilot produced 200 kilowatt for more than 18 hours, 1 megawatt for 30 minutes, and generated electricity with Pelton turbines. The system had a water loss of less than 2 percent and a round-trip efficiency (RTE) of 70-75.

Among Dimensional Energy's funders are Microsoft and United. Photo via dimensionalenergy.com

Decarbonization tech startup with Houston office scores $20M from United, Microsoft, and others

fresh funds

Climatech company Dimensional Energy, which operates a Houston office, has scooped up $20 million in series A funding.

Founded in 2014, Ithaca, New York-based Dimensional Energy specializes in producing decarbonization technology, sustainable aviation fuel, and carbon emissions-derived fuels and materials. South Korea’s Envisioning Partners led the round, with participation from investors such as:

  • United Airlines’ Sustainable Flight Fund
  • Microsoft’s Climate Innovation Fund
  • RockCreek Group’s Smart Aviation Futures fund
  • DSC Investment
  • Delek US
  • Empire State Development
  • Climate Tech Circle

The company also says it’s working toward becoming a certified B Corporation. Businesses that achieve this certification seek to balance purpose and profit.

Dimensional Energy says the $20 million funding round positions it for “significant growth,” enabling it to:

  • Build the world’s first advanced power-to-liquid fuel plant and continue developing commercial power-to-liquid fuel plants.
  • Roll out the company’s initial B2B and B2C products, such as a fossil-free surf wax and a cruelty-free fat alternative for vegan food manufacturers.
  • Evolve the company’s proprietary reactor and catalyst technologies, which are being tested at its pilot plant in Tucson, Arizona.

“The world needs immediate and rapid decarbonization across all sectors, and Dimensional Energy shows great promise as a cleaner and lower-carbon aviation solution alongside reductions in industrial emissions,” Brandon Middaugh, senior director of Microsoft’s Climate Innovation Fund, says in a news release.

Dimensional Energy’s technology transforms carbon dioxide emissions into sustainable aviation fuel (SAF), renewable diesel, and synthetic paraffin that can be refined into more than 6,000 everyday products.

“Dimensional Energy particularly stood out to us for their differentiated technology, exceptional team, and significant progress to date towards producing SAF and other industrial products from CO2,” says Justin Heyman, managing director at RockCreek. “This technology can significantly reduce the environmental footprint of the airline industry.”

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This article originally ran on EnergyCapital.

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5 Houston deep tech startups pushing the boundaries of their industries

meet the finalists

Houston has long been at the forefront of innovation, from NASA’s Johnson Space Center to its startup ecosystem using technology to disrupt industries.

As part of the 2026 Houston Innovation Awards, our Deep Tech Business category will honor an innovative startup providing technology solutions based on substantial scientific or engineering challenges, including those in the AI, robotics and space sectors.

Five deep tech companies have been named finalists for the 2026 award.

Read more about these businesses, their founders and their breakthrough technologies below. The 2026 winners will be announced on InnovationMap.com in mid-November.

Casimir

Battery tech startup Casimir develops semiconductor chips that produce continuous electrical power straight from the quantum vacuum, without the need for a battery, cord or external charge source. The company is targeting commercialization for its first-generation MicroSparc chip by 2028.

Harold “Sonny” White founded Casimir in 2023 after nearly two decades at NASA. The company emerged from stealth with a $12 million seed round in 2026. It was also awarded an STTR Phase I contract from the U.S. Space Force's SpaceWERX to support the development of the company's solid-state generator for potential use by the Department of the Air Force earlier this year.

FocisAI

Artificial intelligence startup FocisAI helps refinery owner-operators unlock actionable insights from 3D scans and images.

FocisAI was founded by CEO Tyler Wooten, COO Colin Snell and CTO Kyle Snell in 2026. It is a member of Greentown Labs and launched a seed round in September, which is expected to close by the end of the year, according to the company's application. It has rolled out 10 pilot programs and is looking to move into recurring, facility-scale deployments and scale its team in Houston this year.

Machine Saver Inc.

Industrial tech startup Machine Saver Inc. builds wireless and wired vibration and proximity sensors to tell heavy industry when a machine is about to fail. The company's technology runs on an 8-plus-year battery life and helps operators reduce downtime, improve maintenance and extend equipment life.

Machine Saver was founded by CEO Colton Bach and Quentin Bach in 2013. Its customers and partners include Houston Methodist, Blue Bell, Genemco, as well as energy and heavy industry, food and beverage, and cold chain companies, according to its application. The company is raising a Series A.

Square Robot

Energytech startup Square Robot develops and operates submersible inspection robotics that inspect aboveground storage tanks while they remain in service. The robots reduce downtime and costs, improve worker safety and limit hydrocarbon emissions.

Square Robot launched its Houston office in 2019 and closed a Series B in 2025. It plans to complete its first U.S. Navy demonstrator tank in November and is also developing real-time inspection software.

Venus Aerospace

Spacetech company Venus Aerospace is developing a high-thrust rotating detonation rocket engine (RDRE) that replaces the subsonic combustion used in conventional rocket engines. The RDRE is a compact, simpler engine that can deliver up to 15 percent greater efficiency for defense and space applications. It completed its first U.S. flight test of the engine last summer.

Venus Aerospace was founded in 2020 by CEO Cassie Duggleby and CTO Andrew Duggleby. It raised a $20 million Series A in 2022 and $42 million Series A2 in 2025. It closed a $91 million Series B earlier this year and expanded its leadership team. The company is working toward longer-duration and higher-thrust testing and advancing its flight program.

Houston leads U.S. with the biggest surge in millionaire renters

Rent Report

The number of millionaire renters and homeowners in the U.S. has surged over the last five years, and Houston has soared ahead of the rest with the largest growth rate among these affluent renter households.

Houston leads the nation with the No. 1 increase in millionaire renters from 2020 to 2024, a new RentCafe study found. The number of these wealthy households increased from 18 to 232 over the last five years, representing a 1,189 percent growth rate.

"The pandemic accelerated the shift as remote work pushed the wealthy to relocate to lower-tax metros like Houston, where millionaire renters grew 13-fold, versus 3.9-fold for owners," the report said. "Granted, 232 households is still a tiny fraction of the Houston metro’s roughly 2.7 million households, but the growth rate far outpaces any other major metro."

Nationwide, the number of millionaire renter households grew 229 percent from 2020 to 2024, outpacing the 193 percent growth rate among millionaire homeowners.

Dallas was the only other Texas metro to crack the top 10. The number of millionaire renter households in North Texas has more than quintupled, from just 30 in 2020 to 165 in 2024. That represents a growth rate of 450 percent, which — surprisingly — is only the eighth highest nationwide.

But when it comes to the largest populations of millionaire renters, New York City and San Francisco still lead the way. New York claimed the No. 1 spot with nearly 7,300 millionaire renters living in the city in 2024. Houston ranked 12th on that list.

Elsewhere in Texas, Austin and Dallas ranked as the 16th and 17th, respectively, for the largest population of millionaire renters. There were 206 millionaire renters living in Austin in 2024, and 165 in Dallas.

This is who the typical millionaire renter is
The report also revealed a surprising statistic about the typical millionaire renter in the U.S. — a lot of them are millennials working in "white-collar, high-earning fields."

"Nearly half (49 percent) of millionaire renters are Millennials, and the number of affluent Millennial renter households surged 392 percent during the five-year period," the report said. "Gen X follows with 33 percent of millionaire Gen X households renting after increasing by 147 percent."

The report continued, "Although Gen Z still represents a small share of millionaire renters (just 2 percent of the total), no generation has expanded faster: Gen Z millionaire renter households leaped from fewer than a dozen to more than 400 — a tiny cohort today, but one that was virtually nonexistent five years ago."

The top three most common professions for millionaire renters are chief executives, software developers, and managers, the report additionally found. In Houston, the surge of wealthy newcomers are mostly executives, professional athletes, and entertainers.

"These roles tend to generate steady, substantial income without necessarily tying workers to one location, making renting a practical fit, rather than a financial necessity," the report said.

Hotspots for millionaire homeowners
In RentCafe's separate list comparing the top 10 most popular U.S. metros for millionaire homeowners, Houston ranked 12th nationally with 4,374 millioniare homeowners living in the metro as of 2024. These wealthy Houstonians are most likely working as chief executives, physicians, managers, and lawyers and judges.

Houston has already proven to be a hotspot for millennial homebuyers, and the latest RentCafe data says millennials make up 19 percent of all millionaire homeowners in the U.S. Gen Xers and Baby Boomers still maintain the largest shares of millionaire homeowners nationwide, at 45 and 33 percent, respectively.

Dallas (No. 10) and Austin (No. 20) also appeared among the hottest metros for millionaire homeowners.

Only one Texas city appeared among RentCafe's list of the 20 fastest-growing metros for millionaire homeowners: College Station ranked 13th nationwide with a growth rate of 1,329 percent. From 2020-2024, the number of millionaire homeowners residing in College Station grew from 14 to 200.

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This article originally appeared on CultureMap.com.

Houston ranks high on best cities for small-business expansion report

business growth

For small businesses looking to expand, Houston might be the right place.

Among 56 major U.S. metros, Houston grabbed the No. 6 spot on a new list of the metros boasting the strongest environments for small-business expansion.

A 2025 report from the state comptroller’s office showed roughly 970,000 small businesses operate in the 13-county Gulf Coast region. The region includes the majority of the Houston metro area.

“Whether it’s a family-owned shop on Main Street or a fast-growing startup, small businesses power our state’s economic engine, create opportunity, and strengthen the character of every Texas community,” Kelly Hancock, who was interim state comptroller when the report was released, said in a press release.

Business lending platform Clarify Capital analyzed five factors to develop the list: job growth, business entry and exit, net job creation, and unemployment.

Overall, the Nashville area claimed the No. 1 spot on the list. Other major Texas metros also cracked the top 10, including Austin at No. 3 and Dallas-Fort Worth at No. 7.

“The highest-ranking metros combine labor-market momentum with steady business formation and relatively favorable local employment conditions,” Clarity Capital says.

The Houston metro ranked sixth for job growth, 11th for business entry rate, 38th for business exit rate, second for net job creation rate, and 50th for unemployment rate.

“For business owners, the ranking is a starting point rather than a guarantee,” Clarify Capital says. “Local demand, competition, operating costs, and access to capital still shape whether an expansion works.”

“Building enough cash-flow room for hiring, equipment, and unexpected expenses can help small and midsize business owners take advantage of a strong market without stretching the business too thin,” the company adds.

Of course, money fuels small-business expansion in the Houston area or anywhere else.

According to an analysis of SBA loan data by feasibility consulting firm MMCG, the Houston metro area saw 1,685 approvals for 7(a) loans and 101 approvals of 504 loans in the federal government’s 2025 budget year. The approval numbers for both loan categories increased from the previous year.

Altogether, the 7(a) and 505 loans exceeded $1 billion.

The data from the U.S. Small Business Administration suggests small-business expansion may be on the rise in the Houston area.

Further potential evidence of small-business expansion in the Houston area: The region experienced a 92 percent rise in account applications from 2024 to 2025 submitted to Bluevine, a small-business banking platform. The Houston metro ranked fifth for the number of Bluevine small-business applications in 2025.

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