The Houston Angel Network's investors heard from growing startups in their portfolio — along with a few prospects. Getty Images

The Houston Angel Network checked in with their investors and portfolio companies at their biannual Houston Angel Summit that gathered HAN members, local investors, and startup founders for a day full of educational opportunities, pitches, and fireside chats.

The event, which took place last week at Rice University's Liu Idea Lab for Innovation and Entrepreneurship, featured 11 startups – both new and more familiar to HAN members – pitching their growing companies in hopes of catching the interest of potential investors.

BioMedical Music Solutions

Austin-based BioMedical Music Solutions has a SaaS platform that uses artificial intelligence and music to accelerate rehabilitation at a lower cost. Founder Hope Young explained her years-proven therapy can work its magic in one-third of the time and one-tenth of the cost of traditional physical therapy sessions.

Optelos

Houston-based Optelos has a patented SaaS solution that can transform physical asset images, videos, and documents into what's known as a "Digital Inspection Twin" that can enabling knowledge workers utilizing our unified data management, reality modeling, and in-process artificial intelligence solution, to digitally visualize, analyze and manage their entire asset base.

Pocket Naloxone

Maryland-based Pocket Naloxone is attempting to solve the opioid crisis. The company has a portfolio of over-the-counter drug overdose reversal agents, including a naloxone OTC product.

AI Driller

Houston-based AI Driller is using mathematic algorithms to apply automation on rigs for drilling. The startup can also offer its clients real-time data and cuts out the opportunity for human error.

Cavu Biotherapies

Houston pet immunotherapy company, Cavu Biotherapies, has seen a tremendous amount of growth and is now a treatment partner at 43 clinic providers in 18 states and Canada. Founder Colleen O'Connor says she's seen a near 600 percent growth in revenue over the past year and treated 38 dog cancer patients in that timeframe.

CorInnova

Another Houston company, CorInnova, has created a device from a soft, flexible material that can be easily inserted through a 1-inch incision, and then be used for increase blood pumping in the heart by 50 percent.

Hive Genie

Houston-based Hive Genie is using technology to help beekeepers optimize their pollination operations and monitor hive operations remotely. Gone are the days, Hive Genie hopes, that beekeepers need to suit up to track and maintain their colonies physically.

Siera AI

Austin-based Siera AI is using its AI-enabled cloud IoT platform for logistics solutions and safety improvements in warehouse settings. A goal of the company's, according to its website, is to free humans from these types of dull, dangerous, dirty tasks.

Skycom

The sky's not even the limit for Austin-based Skycom and its airship technology that supplies low-cost cell towers in orbit. The technology can bring down the cost of mobile service providers and allow for growth into new markets.

Tevido

Another Austin company, Tevido uses a pigment cell graft process to use patients' own skin cells to restore normal skin color for patients with vitiligo and pale scars.

Tot Squad

Los Angeles-based Tot Squad emerged as a service-focused company for baby-related tasks and now has emerged as a digital marketplace connecting service providers online to parents and to-be parents for needs like stroller cleaning or carseat installation.

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Houston biotech VC firm's portfolio cos. score $5.3M in federal funding

money moves

Three portfolio companies of Houston venture capital firm First Bight Ventures have received a combined $5.25 million from the U.S. Defense Department’s Distributed Bioindustrial Manufacturing Program.

“The allocation of funds by the federal government will be critical in helping grow biomanufacturing capacity,” Veronica Breckenridge (née Wu), founder of First Bight, says in a news release. “We are very proud to represent three dynamic companies that are awardees of this competitive and widely praised program.”

The three companies that were awarded Defense Department funds are:

  • Hayward, California-based Visolis, received $2.25 million to plan a facility for production of a chemical that can be transformed into rocket propellants, explosive binders, and sustainable aviation fuel.
  • Alameda, California-based Industrial Microbes received $1.55 million to plan a facility for converting ethanol feedstock into acrylic acid. This acid is a key component used in coatings, adhesives, sealants, lubricants, corrosion inhibitors, and wound dressings.
  • San Diego-based Algenesis received $1.5 million to plan and develop a facility that’ll produce diisocyanates, which are chemical building blocks used to make polyurethane products.

“This award is a testament to our commitment to advancing sustainable materials and will enable us to contribute to both national security and industrial resilience. Our planned facility represents a key step towards securing a domestic supply of critical components for polyurethanes,” says Stephen Mayfield, CEO of Algenesis.

Texas grocer H-E-B finally rolls out digital tap-to-pay services

hi, tech

Texas' favorite grocery store has some good news for shoppers who have a habit of forgetting their wallets. H-E-B is starting a phased rollout for digital tap-to-pay services, starting in San Antonio before spreading to the rest of the chain's stores.

The rollout began Monday, October 7. A release says it'll take "about a week" to spread to all stores in the region before making it ways across Texas. Although it is not known which stores will add the service on what date, the rollout includes all H-E-B stores, including Mi Tienda, H-E-B's Mexican grocery store that has locations in Houston.

With tap to pay, shoppers will finally be able to use smartphone-based systems such as Apple Pay, Samsung Pay, and Google Pay, as well as tapping a physical card.

Payments can be made with those apps, or "digital wallets," at cash registers and self-checkout lanes, as well as restaurants and pharmacies within H-E-B stores. They won't be accepted right away at H-E-B fuel pumps, but customers can use them to pay for gas if they bring their phones to the fuel station payment window.

This isn't exactly cutting-edge technology; Google Wallet launched in 2011, leading the market, and was followed by Apple Pay in 2014. But it's not ubiquitous either. In 2023, a poll by Forbes Advisor found that barely more than half of respondents used digital wallets more than traditional forms of payment.

H-E-B is on a bit of a payment revolutionizing kick, also launching a debit card in 2022 and a partnership in August of 2024 with the H-E-B-owned delivery service Favor for its fastest order fulfillment yet. Central Market and Joe V’s Smart Shop, two other H-E-B brands, also recently launched tap to pay.

“At H-E-B, we’re always exploring a broad range of technologies to enhance how customers shop and pay for products,” H-E-B vice president Ashwin Nathan said in a statement. “This has been one of the most requested services we have received from our customers and partners, and we are excited to now make this popular technology available at all our H-E-B locations.”

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This article originally ran on CultureMap.