Houston tech co. makes acquisition, free coworking space contest launches, and more innovation news

Short stories

From a free workspace competition at The Cannon to a tech company's big acquisition, here are some Houston innovation short stories. Courtesy of The Cannon

It's easy to miss some of Houston's innovation news — there's quite a lot coming out across town. From contests launching out of The Cannon to a Houston tech company making a major acquisition, here are some quick news stories you need to know.

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Onit Inc.makes acquisition

Houston-based contract management software company, Onit Inc., announced the acquisition of SimpleLegal, another legal services software company. The terms of the deal were not made public.

"Onit and SimpleLegal share both a passion for both disrupting the legal technology space and valuing product innovation," says Eric M. Elfman, Onit CEO and co-founder, in a release. "Our shared commitment to elevate legal operations technology is an asset for all of our customers – from rapidly growing startups with their first in-house counsel all the way to the largest, most complex organizations. Together, our goal is to help all legal operations professionals achieve operational excellence on their legal technology journey."

According to the release, all product, support and services will go on without any interruption for customers of both companies. Elfman will serve as the CEO of the merged organization, and Nathan Wenzel, who was the CEO and co-founder of SimpleLegal, has been named the general manager of SimpleLegal.

"Today, corporations spend more than $160 billion on their in-house legal teams. The combination of Onit and SimpleLegal is a game-changer for the legal market and the future of legal operations," says Wenzel in the release. "Our teams are uniquely equipped to help shape the technology that is powering legal departments worldwide. Together, we're looking forward to combining efforts and talent to build and bring to market the next generation of legal operations technology."

The Cannon and Insperity launch startup competition

The Cannon's 120,000-square-foot space is on track to open this summer. Courtesy of The Cannon

The Insperity Innovation Scholarship is back — this time the prize of 6 months of free office space inside The Cannon means the new, 120,000-square-foot space that's set to open in West Houston very soon.

"We are so excited that Insperity has chosen to bring back this year's Innovation Scholarship and will be rewarding another lucky Houston area startup with space in our brand new building," says The Cannon's founder and CEO, Lawson Gow, in a release. "As one of our original partners, we are looking forward to another year of working with Insperity to fulfill a mission that we share — providing Houston area startups with all the resources they need to succeed and establish Houston as an exceptional place to start your business." (Gow is the son of InnovationMap's CEO.)

The applications are open from now until June 5. The finalists will be notified on June 7. All of the finalists will pitch their company to a panel of judges on June 13. Companies based in the Houston area with 3 to 8 employees are eligible. Startups can apply here.

New-to-Houston coworking concept in CITYCENTRE breaks ground

FUSE Dynamic Workspace just announced its new 26,000-square-foot project coming to CITYCENTRE. Photo via workfuse.com

The construction process has officially started this month for Texas-based FUSE Dynamic Workspace's second location in CITYCENTRE. The complex will consist of 26,000 square feet of coworking space in two buildings connected by a bridge, and include an additional 5,000 square feet across four outdoor terraces. The space will have 95 private offices, a coworking café and lounge, dedicated desks, and conference space for up to 100 people.

FUSE strives to provide business professional amenities while also giving back to its community. The first location was in Prosper, Texas.

re:3D wins over $700,000 grant

After just opening a new factory and community space, re:3D was awarded a large grant. Courtesy of re:3D

Houston-based re:3D, which just opened its new 7,000-square-foot community space and factory, recently won a six-figure grant from the National Science Foundation.

The SBIR Phase II grant is for $749,111 to further commercialize the company's Gigabot and increase maker manufacturing through 3D printing with reclaimed plastic and direct drive pellet extrusion, according to an email sent to re:3D's community.

Griddy grows with new partnership

Griddy Energy enables customer pricing transparency. Photo via gogriddy.com

Griddy Energy has signed a strategic partnership with EDF Trading Ltd — a subsidiary of low-carbon energy group EDF Group. Through this partnership, EDF will provide support to Griddy as it expands its services.

"We're thrilled to announce this deal because our focus has always been saving Texans money by connecting them directly to the grid for wholesale electricity rates. This partnership means we can bring the power of wholesale to far more people," Greg Craig, CEO of Griddy, says in a release, "In 2018, Texans paid a combined $20 billion to REPs. Had Texans paid wholesale last year, they would have paid just $14 billion. That means Texans overpaid by a staggering $6 billion last year. Our goal is to get as much of that money back into the hands of Texans in the form of savings — and this partnership with EDF will allow us to do just that."

Griddy, which has a huge presence in Texas, provides customers wholesale electricity prices and promises to be open, honest, and transparent. Rather than charging inflated rates, the company only makes a profit from the $9.99 monthly membership fees. Everything else is at cost — no margins, hidden fees, or break fees. Read more about Griddy here.

LetsLaunch and The Cannon team up ahead of a live fundraising event

LetsLaunch, a Houston-based fundraising platform, has teamed up with The Cannon. Courtesy of LetsLaunch

Fundraising for your company could be stressful, but exciting. Now, imaging that process taking place at an event in a face-to-face capacity. LetsLaunch and The Cannon have teamed up to put on a live fundraising event — think of it like a online fundraising platform meets a cocktail party.

The event is set for June 15, and LetsLaunch is taking applications for potential participating startups until May 24. Apply here.

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Houston startup raises $2.4M for sleep apnea technology

sleep score

Houston-based Bairitone Health has closed an oversubscribed seed round and achieved a regulatory milestone, the company tells InnovationMap.

The healthtech startup, which is developing solutions and technology for untreated obstructive sleep apnea (OSA), raised $2.4 million, says CEO and co-founder Meagan Pitcher, exceeding its $2 million goal.

New York-based Golden Seeds, which invests in female entrepreneurs, led the round. Houston-based South Loop Ventures also participated, as well as MALIAM, Impact Invest Her and additional angel, venture, syndicate and family office investors. The company previously raised a pre-seed round of $435,000 in 2024.

Pitcher says the latest funding will go toward Bairitone's clinical site expansion, FDA-facing work and the continued product development of its SOMNAR technology.

"What I’m most excited about is what this lets us do next: expand our clinical testing, work with more patients and physicians, and keep improving based on what we learn," Pitcher said in a LinkedIn post.

SOMNAR is the company's noninvasive diagnostic platform for sleep apnea airway assessment. The platform maps users' anatomy during natural sleep using a facial patch to determine the root cause of airway obstruction. It then offers effective therapies for each patient.

SOMNAR received Breakthrough Device Designation from the Food and Drug Administration in April. It is currently for investigational use only and is still pending FDA clearance. The new designation aims to help speed up development, assessment and review for premarket approval for medical devices, according to the FDA. It will also give Bairitone more opportunities to interact directly with FDA experts to make the approval process more efficient.

Bairitone was founded in 2022 in the Texas Medical Center's Biodesign program by Pitcher, CTO Onur Kilic and chief medical officer Britt Cross. It was a member of Activate Houston's inaugural cohort and has participated in numerous accelerators and incubators.

The company was a finalist for the Houston Innovation Awards in 2025 and 2024.

Houston university to launch master’s in artificial intelligence

AI experts

Houston’s Rice University will welcome students to its new Master of Artificial Intelligence (MAI) program next fall, the college announced last week.

The program, which will begin taking applications this fall, is geared toward students with a computer science background as well as working engineers, scientists and technologists as they pursue careers that create and deploy AI. It will be part of Rice’s Department of Computer Science.

The new graduate degree comes after Rice created its Bachelor of Science in AI program in 2025.

Students enrolled in the 30-credit-hour, non-thesis professional degree program will prepare for prospective jobs as AI architects, applied AI researchers and AI and machine learning engineers, according to a news release.

“AI is rapidly moving from research laboratories into the systems that shape how we work, learn and solve complex problems,” Luay Nakhleh, Dean of the George R. Brown School of Engineering and Computing, said in the release. “The MAI will give students the technical depth and practical experience to build these systems responsibly.”

The on-campus degree program will include coursework in AI foundations and traditional, hands-on learning over its three-semester duration. Students will have easy access to faculty and have the opportunity to collaborate in small cohorts. The program includes a required internship before completion.

Chris Jermaine, chair of Rice’s Department of Computer Science, says Houston is well-positioned to connect students with industries where AI is increasingly being used, including health care, energy, aerospace, finance and technology.

“The Master of Artificial Intelligence reflects the graduate education Rice is working to advance: rigorous, forward-looking and connected to the challenges graduates will encounter in their careers,” Jermaine said in the release. “Combining strong academic foundations with practical experience will prepare students to contribute thoughtfully and responsibly as AI continues to evolve.”

Other Texas universities offer similar degrees, like Texas A&M's online Master of Science in Artificial Intelligence, Baylor’s Master of Science in Artificial Intelligence (MSAI+), University of Houston Downtown’s Master of Science in Artificial Intelligence program, and University of Texas at Austin’s online master’s in AI.

MAI works as part of Rice’s Momentous strategic plan that incorporates responsible AI use, according to the university.

Tech giant Meta opens first Texas retail store in Houston's Galleria

Metaverse

Social media giant Meta has arrived in Houston with a new store that allows shoppers to go hands-on with all of its products. The Meta Lab, which offers an immersive retail experience, is now open daily on level two of the Galleria.

Shoppers will find all of Meta’s virtual reality products at the store, including including Meta Glasses, Ray-Ban Meta, Meta Ray-Ban Display, Oakley Meta HSTN, and Oakley Meta Vanguard. People can also try out demos of the company’s virtual reality gaming headsets, the Meta Quest 3 and Meta Quest 3S.

Visitors are encouraged to put the devices on in order to experience what it’s like to wear and use them. Those who need prescription lenses for their Meta glasses can order those at the store, too.

It is the ninth Meta Lab to open nationwide and the first in Texas.

Prices start at about $225 for Ray-Ban Meta glasses and go up to $799 for the Meta Ray-Ban Display, which has an in-lens display for updates and other information. Meta Quest runs from $349 to $599.

"Our approach to experiential retail is rooted in culture, creativity, and self-expression, and we're committed to building a space that reflects the Houston community," a spokesperson told the Houston Chronicle. "We look forward to welcoming people into a new experience to get hands-on with our AI glasses and VR products."

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This article first appeared on CultureMap.com.

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