10 can't-miss Houston business and innovation events in July

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Check out these workshops, networking events, pitch events, and other goings on in Houston and online this month. Photo via Getty Images

This month, Houstonians have yet another good batch of online innovation events — from Zoom panels to virtual conferences — and you and your tech network need to know about them.

Here's a roundup of virtual events not to miss this month — like demo days, workshops, conventions, and more.

Note: This post might be updated to add more events.

July 7 — gBETA Summer 2021 Pitch Night

Pitch Night is a celebration of gBETA Houston's latest cohort. Pitch Night is an exclusive reception during which participating companies have the opportunity topitch to an audience of entrepreneurs, mentors, investors and community members.

The event is on Wednesday, July 7, at 5:30 pm. It's free and happening at The Cannon (1334 Brittmoore Rd) and online. Click here to register.

July 8 — Esperson Coworking Powered by The Cannon Soft Opening

The Cannon is operating new coworking space in Downtown Houston in the Esperson Building. Celebrate the soft opening with networking in the new space.

The event is on Thursday, July 8, at 3 pm. It's free and happening at the Esperson Building (808 Travis St.). Click here to register.

July 14 — People & Culture - Talent strategy is core to any business, so how do you make sure an external hire will succeed?

Did you know that more than half of external new hires fail within their first 18 months. The reason behind it: the expectations and competencies are misaligned with the recruitment process, which then are also not connected with onboarding and performance KPIs after the process is completed. The event will explore the process from end to end, diving into the main issues that lead to mistakes in executive searches. After you learn our DIY model, you can apply to external hires in levels.

The event is on Wednesday, July 14, at 11 am. It's free and happening online. Click here to register.

July 14-15 — Innovation & Entrepreneurship Summit

The Society of Petroleum Engineers' 2021 program addresses how firms are navigating the current economics of the energy industry, alternative energy partnerships, carbon innovation, resiliency in innovation, and concludes with our interactive and competitive Shark-Tank event, highlighting delivery of the next entrepreneurial solutions.

The Innovation and Entrepreneurship Summit is your premier opportunity to build connections and to pursue new solutions within the Energy industry.

The event is on Wednesday, July 14, through Thursday, July 15. Tickets begin at $80. The conference will be held at Norris Conference Center, CityCentre (816 Town & Country Blvd., Suite 210). Click here to register.

July 15 — Solving Startup Challenges at the Corvaverse

Do you have a specific startup challenge or problem you can't seem to solve? Join The Cannon and Corva for lunch and breakout sessions with industry leaders and advisors who will be sharing tips on solutions. Additionally, you will hear from Corva's CEO, Ryan Dawson, who will share his journey. It's going to be an eventful, collaborative and fun time that you don't want to miss.

The event is on Thursday, July 15, at noon. It's free and happening at The Cannon West Houston (1334 Brittmoore Rd.). Click here to register.

July 17-18 — Comicpalooza 

The greatest pop-culture festival returns with celebrities, shopping, and pop culture activities that will unite, inspire, and entertain.

The event is on Saturday, July 17, through Sunday, July 18. Passes start at $54 and the festival is happening at George R. Brown Convention Center (1001 Avenida De Las Americas). Click here to register.

July 21 —  How to Invest in Space

Join Houston Angel Network for a discussion with key thought leaders in the public and private space industry about how to invest in space.

The event is on Wednesday, July 21, at 11:30 am. It's $25 to attend and happening online. Click here to register.

July 23 — HAN Summer Social

Join the Houston Angel Network and Houston Exponential for investor and founder networking over drinks.

The event is on Friday, July 23, at 5 pm. It's free to HAN members and $25 for everyone else. It's happening at Buffalo Bayou Brewing Co. (2101 Summer St.). Click here to register.

July 28 — Understanding Financial Statements

Frost Bank's VP of Commercial Banking will help entrepreneurs learn how to analyze their cash flow to strengthen their business strategy.

The event is on Wednesday, July 28, at 11:30 am. It's free and happening online. Click here to register.

July 28 — Houston Startup Showcase

Hear a select group of local tech startups pitch their company, share their current status, and tell us where they're headed next at this monthly event hosted by The Ion.

The event is on Wednesday, July 28, at 6 pm. It's free and happening online. Click here to register.


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Where to work: These 2024 Houston Innovation Awards finalists are hiring

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About a third of this year's startup finalists for the Houston Innovation Awards are hiring — from contract positions all the way up to senior-level roles.

The finalists, announced last week, range from the medical to energy to AI-related startups and will be celebrated next month on Thursday, November 14, at the Houston Innovation Awards at TMC Helix Park. Over 50 finalists will be recognized for their achievements across 13 categories, which includes the 2024 Trailblazer Legacy Awards that were announced earlier this month.

Click here to secure your tickets to see which growing startups win.

Let's take a look at where you could land a job at one of Houston's top startups.

Double-digit growth

When submitting their applications for the 2024 Houston Innovation Awards, every startup was asked if it was hiring. Four Houston startups replied that they are growing their teams rapidly.

Houston e-commerce startup Cart.com, one of the city's few $1 billion-plus “unicorns," reported that it is hiring approximately 50 new employees. The company, which focuses on commerce and logistics software development, secured $105 million in debt refinancing from investment manager BlackRock this summer following a $25 million series C extension round that brought Cart.com’s Series C total to $85 million. It currently has about 1,500 employees and 4 offices in three companies since it was founded in 2020, according to its website.

Houston energy tech company Enovate Ai (previously known as Enovate Upstream) reported that it is hiring 10-plus positions. The company, with 35 current employees, helps automate business and operational processes for decarbonization and energy optimization. Its CEO and founder, Camilo Mejia, sat down for an interview with InnovationMap in 2020. Click here to read the Q&A.

Square Robot is hiring about 10 new Houston employees and 15 total between Houston and other markets, according to its application. The advanced robotics company was founded in Boston in 2016 and opened its Houston office in August 2019. It develops submersible robots for the energy industry, specifically for storage tank inspections and eliminating the need for humans to enter dangerous and toxic environments. Last year it reported to be hiring 10 to 30 employees as well, ahead of the 2023 Houston Innovators Award. It currently has 25 Houston employees and about 50 nationally.

InnoVent Renewables LLC is also hiring 15 new employees to be based in Mexico. The company launched last year with its proprietary continuous pyrolysis technology that can convert waste tires, plastics, and biomass into fuels and chemicals. The company scaled up in 2022 and has operations in Pune, India, and Monterrey, Mexico, with plans for aggressive growth across North America and Latin America. It has 20 employees in Mexico and one in Houston currently.

Senior roles

Geothermal energy startup Sage Geosystems reported that it is looking to fill two senior roles in the company. It also said it anticipates further staff growth after its first commercial energy storage facility is commissioned at the end of the year in the San Antonio metro area. The company also recently expanded its partnership with the United States Department of Defense's Defense Innovation Unit and announced this month that it was selected to conduct geothermal project development initiatives at Naval Air Station in Corpus Christi. It has 12 full-time employees, according to its application.

Steady growth

Other companies reported that they are hiring a handful of new workers, which for some will increase headcount by about 50 percent to 100 percent.

Allterum Therapeutics reported that it is adding six employees to its current team of 13. The biopharmaceutical company that is under the Fannin Partners portfolio of med tech companies was awarded a $12 million product development grant from the Cancer Prevention and Research Institute of Texas this spring.

Dauntless XR will add between five and eight employees, according to its application. It currently has four employees. The augmented reality software company, originally founded as Future Sight AR in 2018, recently secured a NASA contract for space weather technology after rebranding and pivoting. The company's CEO, Lori-Lee Elliott, recently sat down with the Houston Innovators Podcast. Click here to hear the interview.

Syzygy Plasmonics is hiring four positions to add to its team of 120. The company was named to Fast Company's energy innovation list earlier this year.

Venus Aerospace is adding five to 10 key hires to its team of 72. Andrew Duggleby founded the company with his wife and CEO Sassie in 2020, before relocating to the Houston Spaceport in 2021. Last year, Venus raised a $20 million series A round, and it successfully ran the first long-duration engine test of their Rotating Detonation Rocket Engine in partnership with the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency, or DARPA, earlier this year.

​Seeking selectively

Other finalists are adding to their teams with a handful of new hires of contract gigs.

​Future roles

Other finalists reported that they are currently not hiring, but had plans to in the near future.

NanoTech Materials Inc., which recently moved to a new facility, is not currently. Hiring but said it plans with new funding during its series B.

Renewable energy startup CLS Wind is not hiring at this time but reported that it plans to when the company closes funding in late 2024.

Houston-area researchers score $1.5M grant to develop storm response tech platform

fresh funding

Researchers from Rice University have secured a $1.5 million grant from the National Science Foundation to continue their work on improving safety and resiliency of coastal communities plagued by flooding and hazardous weather.

The Rice team of engineers and collaborators includes Jamie Padgett, Ben Hu, and Avantika Gori along with David Retchless at Texas A&M University at Galveston. The researchers are working in collaboration with the Severe Storm Prediction, Education and Evacuation from Disasters (SSPEED) Center and the Ken Kennedy Institute at Rice and A&M-Galveston’s Institute for a Disaster Resilient Texas.

Together, the team is developing and hopes to deploy “Open-Source Situational Awareness Framework for Equitable Multi-Hazard Impact Sensing using Responsible AI,” or OpenSafe.AI, a new platform that utilizes AI, data, and hazard and resilience models "to provide timely, reliable and equitable insights to emergency response organizations and communities before, during and after tropical cyclones and coastal storm events," reads a news release from Rice.

“Our goal with this project is to enable communities to better prepare for and navigate severe weather by providing better estimates of what is actually happening or might happen within the next hours or days,” Padgett, Rice’s Stanley C. Moore Professor in Engineering and chair of the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, says in the release. “OpenSafe.AI will take into account multiple hazards such as high-speed winds, storm surge and compound flooding and forecast their potential impact on the built environment such as transportation infrastructure performance or hazardous material spills triggered by severe storms.”

OpenSafe.AI platform will be developed to support decision makers before, during, and after a storm.

“By combining cutting-edge AI with a deep understanding of the needs of emergency responders, we aim to provide accurate, real-time information that will enable better decision-making in the face of disasters,” adds Hu, associate professor of computer science at Rice.

In the long term, OpenSafe.AI hopes to explore how the system can be applied to and scaled in other regions in need of equitable resilience to climate-driven hazards.

“Our goal is not only to develop a powerful tool for emergency response agencies along the coast but to ensure that all communities ⎯ especially the ones most vulnerable to storm-induced damage ⎯ can rely on this technology to better respond to and recover from the devastating effects of coastal storms,” adds Gori, assistant professor of civil and environmental engineering at Rice.

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This article originally ran on EnergyCapital.

3+ Houston innovators to know this week

who's who

Editor's note: Every week, I introduce you to a handful of Houston innovators to know recently making headlines with news of innovative technology, investment activity, and more. This week's batch includes a drone tech startup founder, biotech investor, and health care innovator.

Divyaditya Shrivastava, co-founder of Paladin

Paladin’s AI-enhanced autonomous drones help public safety agencies, such as police and fire departments, respond to 911 calls. Photo via LinkedIn

Houston-based Paladin, whose remotely controlled drones help first responders react quickly to emergencies, has collected $5.2 million in seed funding.

Gradient, a seed fund that backs AI-oriented startups, led the round. Also participating were Toyota Ventures, the early-stage VC arm of Japanese automaker Toyota; venture capital firm Khosla Ventures; and VC fund 1517. The company was co-founded by Divyaditya Shrivastava and Trevor Pennypacker.

Among the agencies that have tried out Paladin’s technology is the Houston area’s Memorial Villages Police Department. The department participated in a three-month Paladin pilot project in 2019. Read more.

Veronica Breckenridge (née Wu), founder of First Bight Ventures

Veronica Breckenridge, founder of First Bight VenturesInvestor advocates now is the time to position Houston as a leading biomanufacturing hub

Veronica Breckenridge is the founder of First Bight Ventures, which just celebrated three portfolio companies. Photo courtesy

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.” Read more.

Sunil Sheth, associate professor in the Department of Neurology at McGovern Medical School at UTHealth Houston

UTHealth Houston has secured millions in grant funding — plus has reached a new milestone for one of its projects. Photo via utsystem.edu

UTHealth recently received a grant that will improve the odds for patients who have had a stroke with the successful re-opening of a blocked vessel through endovascular surgery. The $2.5 million grant from the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke, part of the National Institutes of Health, will fund a five-year study that will include the creation of a machine-learning program that will be able to predict which stroke patients with large blood vessel blockages will benefit most from endovascular therapy.

The investigators will form a database of imaging and outcomes of patients whose blockages were successfully opened, called reperfusion, from three U.S. hospitals. This will allow them to identify clinical and imaging-based predictors of damage in the brain after reperfusion. From there, the deep-learning model will help clinicians to know which patients might go against the tenet that the sooner you treat a patient, the better.

“This is shaking our core of deciding who we treat, and when, and how, but also, how we are evaluating them? Our current methods of determining benefit with imaging are not good enough,” says principal investigator and associate professor in the Department of Neurology at McGovern Medical School at UTHealth Houston, Sunil Sheth. Read more.

Top innovators: 2024 Houston Innovation Awards finalists revealed

Here's what Houston startups and innovators will be honored at the Houston Innovation Awards on November 14. Graphic via Gow Media

After nearly 300 nominations, InnovationMap and its group of judges are ready to reveal the finalists for this year's Houston Innovation Awards.

Taking place on Thursday, November 14, the Houston Innovation Awards celebrates all of Houston's innovation ecosystem — startups, entrepreneurs, investors, mentors, and more. Over 50 finalists will be recognized in particular for their achievements across 13 categories, which includes the 2024 Trailblazer Legacy Awards that were announced earlier this month.

Click here to see the 2024 Houston Innovation Awards finalists.

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