Spring cohort announced for Houston tech company's startup accelerator

ready to grow

Fourteen companies are joining the spring cohort of the Softeq Venture Studio. Photo courtesy of Softeq

A Houston tech company has announced the latest cohort of its accelerator program, bringing the total number of startups supported by the company to 63.

Softeq Development Corp., a technology services development company, named 14 new startups joining its three-month spring Softeq Venture Studio cohort.

“We are so proud of the success we have had with the Softeq Venture Studio, helping to support and secure funding for 63 startups to date through the Softeq Venture Fund," says Christopher A. Howard, founder and CEO of Softeq. "With 23 of 89 founders coming from outside of the U.S., we demonstrate Houston’s growing influence as a startup hub where entrepreneurs can find a welcoming innovation community, a strong talent base, and world-class research facilities."

The spring 2023 cohort for Softeq includes:

  • Houston-based AIM7, data intelligence platform that unlocks wearable and mHealth data to provide customized and predictive wellness solutions.
  • Avendly, based in Providence, Rhode Island, makes robotic automation for restaurants to help, not supplant humans. Its first of many products is Mixibot, an integrated back-bar cocktail vending system.
  • Founded in Austin, ClioVis, is meeting today’s content-creator students where they are and how they learn. The company provides unique experiential learning tools designed for today’s content-creator students who learn by doing, not lectures.
  • Based in Tel Aviv, Israel, Flometrica, is a digital health solution featuring "use anywhere" devices to remotely monitor and diagnose various urinary tract problems through analysis of different urine parameters.
  • Gophr, from Lake Charles, Louisiana, is a technology-driven logistics company that provides tailored and efficient delivery solutions for various industries, individuals, and businesses of all sizes.
  • Chicago-based KarChing puts cash in teens’ hands for safe driving. The only app built for parents, teens, and insurance companies that rewards drivers for phone- and distraction-free behavior behind the wheel.
  • Houston-founded Meander collects travel customer satisfaction micro-surveys as people go about their trips. The research platform rewards travelers for sharing their pics, videos, and insights.
  • MEedia, based in Sacramento, California, puts a professional press conference event in your pocket. Individuals can create broadcast-worthy interactive shareable content with just their phone.
  • MeterLeader, from Huntington Beach, California, gamifies saving energy in homes by using real-time utility data and behavioral science. We're like a Fitbit challenge for your home, but instead of steps we measure kWh, therm, and CO2 reductions.
  • Houston-based PayOnDelivery, integrates secure payment with delivery for markets like Craigslist and Facebook. It’s low-hassle, fraud-free buying and selling for peer-to-peer marketplaces.
  • Another Lake Charles business, Picasso Analytics has a platform that can reduce delays and save oil refiners and petrochem owners 10 to 15 percent on multi-million dollar turnaround events by providing a single source of truth integrating the schedule, time entry, and shop status.
  • Sarasota, Florida-based Toivoa develops software-based therapies for people with disabilities who experience mental health disorders. On track for FDA approval, the platform is prescription-based, clinically validated, and delivered on your phone.
  • UpBrainery Technologies, founded in Houston, helps students explore careers through digital experiences. AI guides their interests in career paths and credentials their achievements for employers and colleges.
  • Also from Houston, WellWorth (https://wellworthapp.com/), is a financial modeling SaaS platform that helps upstream oil and gas finance leaders improve their decision-making around raising, managing, and deploying capital.

Softeq Venture Studio launched over a year ago with its inaugural cohort in 2021, and the fund was launched last year. Since launch, Softeq has raised 80 percent of its inaugural $40 million Softeq Venture Fund and made investments in 63 startups. Softeq has also reformatted its accelerator program to include two cohort classes per year, allowing for more time to be spent with the Venture Studio and its cohort startups.

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A Houston software company has announced its new venture fund. Photo via Getty Images

Houston tech company launches $40M fund to invest in early-stage startups

money moves

A Houston company that recently launched an innovation studio to support startups has now announced that they are launching a new fund to take startup support to the next level.

Houston-based Softeq Development Corporation, a global full-stack development company, launched The Softeq Venture Fund, a $40 million venture fund to invest in seed and series A startup rounds. According to a news release, more than half the fund will be deployed to power the Softeq Venture Studio, Softeq's recently launched accelerator program.

“For generations, the state of Texas has been home to world-renowned tech companies who have greatly contributed to our regional success. As a local entrepreneur, advisor, and angel investor, it’s been my dream for many years to create a venture fund benefiting startups," says Christopher A. Howard, founder and CEO of Softeq, in the release. "I am proud to increase our support of the state’s early-stage tech community. Our investment fund is designed to attract tech visionaries from both inside and outside the state and grow innovative concepts in Houston."

Jumana Capital, a single-family office also based in Houston and founded in 2018, has made a "sizable investment" in the fund, per the release.

“The Softeq team has successfully engineered, developed, and launched technology solutions for enterprise and early-stage companies for 25 years. In partnership with Softeq, we are thrilled to play a role in the creation of their new fund and to support the entrepreneurs that come to Houston to develop cutting-edge technologies and build businesses,” says Chris Martin, managing director at Jumana Capital, in the release.

While the fund will mostly go into investing in and supporting studio companies, Softeq will also tap into the fund to "invest opportunistically."

In October, the company announced the six startups that make up the studio's inaugural cohort. The purpose of the studio was to identify startups with scalable solutions but that need guidance and support from Softeq and its network.

"Historically, most tech startups had a founder with development skills. However, we're now seeing more and more business people, doctors, and other professionals start companies, and they need a strong engineering partner to develop their products," Howard says in an October news release. "We take it several steps further with the Venture Studio providing technology business consulting, development services, and much-needed cash. We're a vested partner, so we also help secure follow-on funding for continued growth."

Applications are open for the spring 2022 cohort. More information and applications are available online.

Christopher A. Howard is the founder and CEO of Softeq. Photo courtesy of Softeq

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Houston legacy planning platform secures $2.5M investment, adds to board

fresh funding

Houston-based Paige, a comprehensive life planning and succession software company, has secured a $2.5 million investment to expand the AI-driven tools on its platform.

The funding comes from Alabama-based 22nd State Banking Company, according to a news release. Paige says it will use the funding to expand automation, AI-driven onboarding and self-service tools, as well as add to its sales and customer success teams.

The company was originally founded by CEO Emily Cisek in 2020 as The Postage and rebranded to Paige last year. It helps users navigate and organize end-of-life planning with features like document storage and organization, password management, and funeral and last wishes planning.

“Too many families are left trying to piece together important information during some of the hardest moments of their lives,” Cisek said in the news release. “This investment allows us to accelerate the next phase of growth for Paige by improving the product and expanding support for our members, our financial institution partners and the communities they serve,”

In addition to the funding news, the company also announced that 22nd State Banking CEO and President Steve Smith will join Paige's board of directors.

“We believe banking should be grounded in relationships and built around the real needs of the people and communities we serve. Paige brings something deeply relevant to that mission," Smith added in the release. "It helps families prepare for the future in a practical and meaningful way, and it gives the banking community new pathways to support customers through important life transitions.”

Paige estimates that $124 trillion in assets will change hands through 2048. Yet about 56 percent of Americans do not have an estate plan.

Read more on the topic from Cisek in a recent op-ed here; or listen to InnovationMap's 2021 interview with her here.

Houston digital health platform Koda lands strategic investment

money moves

Houston-based advance care planning platform Koda Health has added another investor to the lineup.

The company secured a strategic investment for an undisclosed amount from UPMC Enterprises, the commercialization arm of the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center. The funding is part of Koda's oversubscribed series A funding round that closed in October, according to a release.

"UPMC Enterprises’ investment is a meaningful signal, not just to Koda, but to the broader market," Dr. Desh Mohan, chief medical officer and co-founder of Koda Health, said in the news release. "It validates that health systems are ready to invest in infrastructure that makes advance care planning work the way it should: proactively, at scale, and with the human support that these conversations require. Having UPMC Enterprises as a strategic investor puts us in a unique position to prove what's possible."

Koda has raised $14 million to date, according to a representative from the company. Its series A round was led by Evidenced, with participation from Mudita Venture Partners, Techstars and the Texas Medical Center last year. At the time, the company said the funding would allow it to scale operations and expand engineering, clinical strategy and customer success. The company described the round as a "pivotal moment," as it had secured investments from influential leaders in the healthcare and venture capital space.

Koda Health, which was born out of the TMC's Biodesign Fellowship in 2020, saw major growth last year, as well, and now supports more than 1 million patients nationwide through partnerships with Cigna Healthcare, Privia Health, Guidehealth, Sentara, UPMC and Memorial Hermann Health System.

The company integrated its end-of-life care planning platform with Dallas-based Guidehealth in April 2025 and with Epic Systems in July 2025. It also won the 2025 Houston Innovation Award in the Health Tech Business category. Read more here.

UH med school gets $2M gift and more top Houston innovation news

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Editor's note: The top Houston innovation news of the month is full of fresh funding, with two Texas medical schools receiving major gifts — one of historic proportions. Below are the five most-read InnovationMap headlines from April 16-30, 2026.

UH med school granted $2M gift to offer student scholarships

A new scholarship endowment aims to support students in the University of Houston’s recently established medical school. The University of Houston’s Tilman J. Fertitta Family College of Medicine received a planned estate gift commitment estimated at $2.1 million to establish the Bob Diehl and Teresa Evans Diehl Scholarship Endowment. The scholarship will assist full-time medical students who demonstrate financial need and meet academic standards. Continue reading.

How Houston innovators played a role in the historic Artemis II splashdown

Research from Rice University played a critical role in the safe return of U.S. astronauts aboard NASA’s Artemis II mission this month. Rice mechanical engineer Tayfun E. Tezduyar and longtime collaborator Kenji Takizawa developed a key computational parachute fluid-structure interaction (FSI) analysis system that proved vital in NASA’s Orion capsule’s descent into the Pacific Ocean. The FSI system, originally developed in 2013 alongside NASA Johnson Space Center, was critical in Orion’s three-parachute design, which slowed the capsule as it returned to Earth, according to Rice. Continue reading.

Baylor scientist lands $2M grant to explore links between viruses and Alzheimer’s

A Baylor College of Medicine scientist will begin exploring the possible link between Alzheimer’s disease and viral infections thanks to a $2 million grant awarded in March. Dr. Ryan S. Dhindsa hypothesizes that Alzheimer’s may have some link to previous viral infections contracted by the patient. To study this intriguing possibility, the American Brain Foundation has gifted him the Cure One, Cure Many award in neuroinflammation. Continue reading.

New UT Austin med center, anchored by MD Anderson, gets historic gift

A donation announced April 21 breaks a major record at the University of Texas at Austin. Michael and Susan Dell are now UT Austin's first supporters to give $1 billion. In response, the university will create the UT Dell Campus for Advanced Research and the UT Dell Medical Center to "advance human health," per a press release. Continue reading.

Houston VC funding surged nearly 50% in Q1 2026, report says

Houston saw a jump in VC funding in Q1 2026, fueled by several major investments in clean energy startups. Image via Getty Images

First-quarter venture capital funding for Houston-area startups climbed nearly 50 percent compared to the same time last year, according to the PitchBook-NVCA Venture Monitor. In Q1 2026, Houston-area startups raised $532.3 million, a 49 percent jump from $320.2 million in Q1 2025, according to the PitchBook-NVCA Venture Monitor. However, the Q1 total fell 23 percent from the $671.05 million raised in Q4 2025. Continue reading.

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