Photos: InnovationMap shares scenes from its inaugural awards celebration

event highlights

Get a sneak peek into the inaugural InnovationMap Awards presented by Techwave. Photo by Queen's Photoworks

Last week, the inaugural InnovationMap Awards presented by Techwave honored 28 companies across eight categories.

The hybrid event, which took place on September 8, was hosted at The Cannon West Houston as well as streamed online. The in-person attendees included finalists, judges, partners, and sponsors as well as their guests. Missed the event? We rounded up some moments in an episode of the Houston Innovators Podcast as well as the slideshow below.

Click here to read more articles about the InnovationMap Awards.

Scenes from the 2021 InnovationMap Awards

Photo by Queen's Photoworks

The crowd of startup founders, corporate innovators, and more attended the event at The Cannon West Houston.

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And the finalists for the inaugural InnovationMap Awards are... Graphic via Gow Media

InnovationMap names 28 Houston startup finalists for inaugural awards

who will take home the win?

Who are Houston's rising stars across energy transition, sports tech, health, and more? InnovationMap set out on a quest to discover that for its inaugural awards. Ahead of the September 8 event, we're revealing the finalists across all categories.

Eight judges evaluated over 100 applications across eight categories for the 2021 InnovationMap Awards presented by Techwave. This year's judges included: Juliana Garaizar, head of the Houston incubator and vice president of innovation at Greentown Labs; Alex Gras, managing director at The Cannon; Rajasekhar Gummadapu, co-founder and CEO of Techwave; Natalie Harms, editor of InnovationMap; Serafina Lalany, interim president at Houston Exponential; Jon Nordby, managing director at MassChallenge; Emily Reiser, senior manager of innovation community engagement at the Texas Medical Center; and Grace Rodriguez, CEO and executive director of Impact Hub Houston.

The winners will be announced and celebrated — along with this year's previously announced Trailblazer Award recipient, Barbara Burger of Chevron Technology Ventures — at the September 8 event at The Cannon - West Houston. Honorees, sponsors, judges, and their guests will celebrate in person, and the rest of the innovation community is invited to tune in to the livestream. Click here to RSVP.

Sponsorships are still available! If you are interested in partnering with InnovationMap as a sponsor of this event, send an email to awards@innovationmap.com.

Without further adieu, here are this year's finalists:

BIPOC-Founded Business Finalists

The finalists for the BIPOC-Founded Business Award category, honoring innovative tech companies founded or co-founded by BIPOC representation, are:

Allotrope Medical — creator of StimSite, a device that improves surgical safety and efficiency in millions of operations performed every year.
Hello Alice — a small business owner's passport through entrepreneurship that helps with networking, raising capital, and accessing growth tools.
LAMIK Beauty — a tech-enabled clean color cosmetics company focusing on women of all diverse backgrounds
Molecule Software — creator of a leading cloud-native energy trading software.

Female-Founded Business Finalists

The finalists for the Female-Founded Business Award category presented by Veritex Community Bank, honoring innovative tech companies founded or co-founded by women, include:

DonateStock — simplifying the process of donating stock and helping nonprofits solicit, process, and manage stock donations.
Hello Alice — a small business owner's passport through entrepreneurship that helps with networking, raising capital, and accessing growth tools.
re:3D Inc. — producer of large, affordable industrial 3D printers, and services that can print with new or recycled filament, pellets, or flake.
RingOn — wearable GPS tracker that is also a panic button that's designed for school kids and with an impact-driven mission of ending child trafficking.
Topl — impact monetization engine that enables digital and sustainable transformation across value chains and empowers the monetization of impact verified on the Topl Blockchain.
Zibrio Inc. — a fall prevention solution that empowers both clinicians and patients for better outcomes.

Health Care Business Finalists

The finalists for the Health Care Business Award category presented by Gray Reed, which honors health care businesses with an innovative solution within life sciences, include:

Allotrope Medical — creator of StimSite, a device that improves surgical safety and efficiency in millions of operations performed every year.
Medical Informatics Corp. — creator of Sickbay, which features web-based applications that transform data into actionable information to help care teams make better, faster decisions.
Saranas — creator of the Early Bird, the first and only FDA-approved bleed detection system for endovascular procedures.
Starling Medical — using AI and telehealth enabled medical devices to enable millions with bladder dysfunctions to be able to urinate safely and conveniently again.

Energy Transition Business Finalists

The finalists for the Energy Transition Business category, which honors energy business with innovative solutions within renewables, climatetech, clean energy, and beyond, are:

Cemvita Factory — engineering microbes that eat CO2 and produce valuable chemicals.
Data Gumbo — creator of an interconnected industrial smart contract network secured and powered by blockchain.
Enercross LLC — automation software for the energy industry.
Nanotech — a material science company with a mission to fireproof the world and reduce energy consumption.
re:3D Inc. — producer of large, affordable industrial 3D printers, and services that can print with new or recycled filament, pellets, or flake.
Renewell Energy — converting idle oil and gas wells into flexible energy storage.

Sports Tech Business Finalists

The finalists for the Sports Tech Business category, which is honoring a sports tech business with an innovative solution within sports are:

FitLift — a wearable device and mobile platform that tracks motion and gives real-time feedback on lifting technique, allowing trainers, and athletes to drive results.
Mainline — an esports tournament management system, tournament organizer, and event production company.
sEATz — a mobile ordering and delivery platform for food, drinks, and merchandise at large events.

Space Tech Business Finalists

The finalists for the Space Tech Business category, which is honoring an aerospace business with an innovative solution within space exploration. are:

Cemvita Factory — engineering microbes that eat CO2 and produce valuable chemicals.
Cognitive Space — providing a scalable satellite constellation management solution to the space industry.
NANCO Aero — developing package- and person-carrying air vehicles.

Top Founder Under 40 Finalists

The finalists for the Top Founder Under 40 category, which honors an innovative founder younger than 40 by Sept. 8, 2021, are:

Pamela Singh of CaseCTRL — using artificial intelligence and automation to streamline surgical scheduling.
Timothy Neal of GoExpedi — an e-commerce, supply chain, and analytics company that is streamlining procurement for industrial and energy MRO (maintenance, repair and operations).
Kim Roxie of LAMIK Beauty — a tech-enabled clean color cosmetics company focusing on women of all diverse backgrounds.
Emma Fauss of Medical Informatics Corp. — creator of Sickbay, which features web-based applications that transform data into actionable information to help care teams make better, faster decisions.
Emily Cisek of The Postage — a legacy planning platform using tech to make afterlife decision making easier.

People’s Choice: Startup of the Year Finalists

The finalists for the People's Choice: Startup of the Year category, which will each present a 60-second live elevator pitch at the event on September 8, are:

Cheers Health — creating products that are designed to support your liver and help you feel better after consuming alcohol.
GoCo — all-in-one employee management platform.
Hello Alice — a small business owner's passport through entrepreneurship that helps with networking, raising capital, and accessing growth tools.
Liongard — a platform that helps Information Technology companies automatically discover, document, and audit their customers' IT systems.
Nanotech — a material science company with a mission to fireproof the world and reduce energy consumption.
re:3D Inc. — producer of large, affordable industrial 3D printers, and services that can print with new or recycled filament, pellets, or flake.
Topl — impact monetization engine that enables digital and sustainable transformation across value chains and empowers the monetization of impact verified on the Topl Blockchain.

Raj Gummadapu, CEO and co-founder of Techwave, is excited to be working among the tech scene in Houston. Photo courtesy of Techwave

Software co. leader shares why he bet on Houston's tech talent with HQ move

houston innovators podcast episode 96

A couple years ago, Raj Gummadapu and his executive team moved the Techwave headquarters to Houston from the Northeast in order to access a diverse workforce in a city with a developing tech scene. He's never looked back.

Gummadapu joined this week's episode of the Houston Innovators Podcast to discuss why he placed his bets on Houston and took his global IT services and solutions company from the suburbs of Philadelphia to the Bayou City — a move that happened as Techwave became more globally focused.

"When we started looking at various cities, Houston presented itself as a great opportunity," Gummadapu says on the episode. "Houston is home to large Fortune 500 companies, and the talent pool we get here has really attracted us to make this as our home."

The company, which employs 1,800 people, provides end-to-end software solutions for companies from scaling startups to massive corporations.

"We are widely spread in terms of our service offerings," Gummadapu says. "Our unique positioning on Techwave is it's the right sized organization for companies that are looking for services partners with strong domain knowledge and great expertise with the technology, but has a quality of being a good transition partner."

Gummadapu says Techwave has several startups in its portfolio of clients across industries, including health tech, education tech, and blockchain.

"We service a lot of technology companies in startup stage," Gummadapu says. "We bring that core knowledge to the table and help startups think from a different angle, as well as bring our services from the domain knowledge standpoint to work collaboratively to deliver a solution to startups. We're the perfect fit for startups and bring a 360-degree view."

Techwave is again betting on Houston and its startup ecosystem as the presenting sponsor for the inaugural InnovationMap Awards. Nominations for the awards have closed, but online registration for the hybrid event is open.

Gummadapu shares more on how he's seen the software services industry evolve over his 20-plus years in the industry, as well as the challenges he's facing today on the episode. Stream the show below or wherever you get your podcasts.

You have an extra week to submit your nominations. Graphic via Gow Media

Deadline extended for inaugural InnovationMap Awards nominations

nominate now

If you didn't get a chance to submit your nomination for the inaugural InnovationMap Awards presented by Techwave by the July 23 deadline — you're in luck. The nomination period has been extended, and you now have an extra week to submit.

The new — and final — deadline for nominations is July 30 by midnight. Submissions can be made online at InnovationMapAwards.com.

Following nominations, the nominated companies will receive an application to submit by August 13. The already nominated companies will receive their applications today. So, if you're interested in being a part of the awards and you haven't received an application from InnovationMap by the end of Monday, July 26, your company has not already been nominated.

The categories for the awards are:

BIPOC-Owned Business honoring an innovative tech company founded or co-founded by BIPOC representation
Female-Owned Business honoring an innovative tech company founded or co-founded by a woman
Health Care Business honoring a health care business with an innovative solution within life sciences
Energy Transition Business honoring an energy business with an innovative solution within renewables, climatetech, clean energy, and beyond
Space Tech Business honoring an aerospace business with an innovative solution within space exploration
Sports Tech Business honoring a tech business with an innovative solution within sports
Top Founder Under 40 honoring an innovative founder younger than 40 by Sept. 8, 2021
Lifetime Achievement Award honoring an innovator who's made a lasting impact on the Houston innovation community
People's Choice: Startup of the Year selected via an internet voting portal ahead of the event
Techwave's Texas Advocate Awards honoring two non-Houston based companies selected by our presenting sponsor, Techwave

Earlier this month, InnovationMap named the eight judges for this year's awards. Click here to see who will be selecting the award finalists and winners.

Follow along on InnovationMap as we learn more about the program's inaugural nominees. Then, on September 8, we will host the finalists and a group of special guests at The Cannon for a celebration of the city's top innovators. A livestream of the event will be open to everyone on the night of the awards — tune in to find out who takes home the big win across all 10 categories.

Click here to RSVP for what will surely be a can't-miss event in Houston innovation.

Here's who's making the call for the inaugural InnovationMap Awards. Photos courtesy

InnovationMap names judges for inaugural awards program

in the hot seat

It's been two weeks since InnovationMap announced its inaugural awards program presented by Techwave — and the ecosystem is already buzzing with excitement to find out the top innovative companies in town.

The InnovationMap Awards will honor Houston's innovators and their breakthrough technologies across industries. The program and hybrid event — which will take place September 8 — will shine a spotlight on the movers and shakers within Houston's burgeoning innovation community. Nominations are open for the awards now — and the deadline to submit your nomination is July 23.

Click here to nominate a deserving company.

But who will decide this year's finalists and winners for the event? A cohort of eight of the best innovation leaders in the Bayou City. Introducing: The 2021 InnovationMap Awards judges:

Juliana Garaizar, head of Greentown Houston and vice president of Greentown Labs

Courtesy photo

A longtime angel investor and Houston innovation leader, Juliana Garaizar is no stranger to the local ecosystem. Prior to her current role leading Greentown Labs in Houston, she served as director of the Texas Medical Center's Venture Fund and managing director at the Houston Angel Network. She's also involved with Houston-based Business Angel Minority Association, or baMa, and has worked with Portfolia for over five years.

Jon Nordby, managing director at MassChallenge

Photo courtesy of MassChallenge

A leader in Houston innovation for several years now, Jon Nordby oversees Boston-based MassChallenge's entire Texas operation. MassChallenge's global accelerator program supports an annual cohort of startups across industries. Prior to his current role, he served as director of strategy at Houston Exponential and vice president of talent and innovation at the Greater Houston Partnership.

Grace Rodriguez, CEO and executive director of Impact Hub Houston

Photo courtesy of Impact Hub Houston

Grace Rodriguez has dedicated herself to helping do-gooders do greater, as her LinkedIn page proudly boasts, and for the past three years, she's been doing that by leading Impact Hub Houston, a locally rooted, globally connected 501c3 nonprofit that champions inclusive, impact-driven innovation. She also co-founded Station Houston in 2016.

Emily Reiser, senior manager of innovation community engagement at the Texas Medical Center

Photo courtesy of TMC Innovation

Emily Reiser is like a switchboard operator for TMC Innovation, where she's worked with health tech startups since 2019. She supports clinicians, innovators, corporate partners, and business advisers who are dedicated to advancing healthcare innovation all while providing a common ground for collaboration, connection, and innovation.

Serafina Lalany, vice president of operations at Houston Exponential

Photo courtesy of Serafina Lalany

Serafina Lalany leads operations at Houston Exponential, the city's nonprofit focused on accelerating the development of Houston's innovation economy. She's also a board member of Diversity Fund Houston — a micro venture fund created to invest in minority tech founders during the "friends and family round."

Alex Gras, managing director at The Cannon

Photo via LinkedIn

After spending eight years in oil and gas, Alex Gras took his management skills to The Cannon Houston — a network of entrepreneurial hubs across Houston. The Cannon is the InnovationMap Awards venue for the September 8 event.

Rajasekhar Gummadapu, CEO of Techwave

Photo courtesy

Raj Gummadapu is the co-founder of Techwave, the award program's presenting sponsor. An accountant by trade, he has about 17 years of experience with combination of working with "big 5" consulting companies and various midsize to Fortune 100 companies across different industries on various strategic initiatives and global process and systems transformations.

Natalie Harms, editor of InnovationMap

Photo courtesy

Natalie Harms has been at the helm of InnovationMap — Houston's voice for Innovation — since its inception in October 2018. She oversees all editorial operations of the site and hosts its weekly podcast, the Houston Innovators Podcast.

Nominate today for the inaugural InnovationMap Awards. Graphic via Gow Media

Nominate now: InnovationMap announces inaugural Houston innovation awards

coming soon

Calling all Houston innovators — now is your time to shine.

InnovationMap and its partner, Houston-based Techwave, a global IT services and solutions provider, are pleased to present an inaugural set of awards honoring Houston's innovators and their breakthrough technologies across industries. The program and hybrid event — which will take place September 8 — will shine a spotlight on the movers and shakers within Houston's burgeoning innovation community.

Nominations for the InnovationMap Awards are open now online, and nominees will receive an application to submit in late July. A group of industry experts and Houston innovation leaders will review submissions and determine finalists and winners across 10 categories. The categories for the awards are:

BIPOC-Owned Business honoring an innovative tech company founded or co-founded by BIPOC representation
Female-Owned Business honoring an innovative tech company founded or co-founded by a woman
Health Care Business honoring a health care business with an innovative solution within life sciences
Energy Transition Business honoring an energy business with an innovative solution within renewables, climatetech, clean energy, and beyond
Space Tech Business honoring an aerospace business with an innovative solution within space exploration
Sports Tech Business honoring a tech business with an innovative solution within sports
Top Founder Under 40 honoring an innovative founder younger than 40 by Sept. 8, 2021
Lifetime Achievement Award honoring an innovator who's made a lasting impact on the Houston innovation community
People's Choice: Startup of the Year selected via an internet voting portal ahead of the event
Techwave's Texas Advocate Awards honoring two non-Houston based companies selected by our presenting sponsor, Techwave

Click here to RSVP for what will surely be a can't-miss event in Houston innovation.

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Houston doctors recognized among top creative leaders in business

winners

This week, Fast Company announced its 14th annual list of Most Creative People in Business — and two notable Houstonians made the cut.

Dr. Peter Hotez and his fellow dean of the National School of Tropical Medicine at Baylor College of Medicine, Dr. Maria Elena Bottazzi, were named among the list for “open sourcing a COVID-19 Vaccine for the rest of the world.” The list, which recognizes individuals making a cultural impact via bold achievements in their field, is made up of influential leaders in business.

Hotez and Bottazzi are also co-directors for the Texas Children's Hospital's Center for Vaccine Development -one of the most cutting-edge vaccine development centers in the world. For the past two decades it has acquired an international reputation as a non-profit Product Development Partnership (PDP), advancing vaccines for poverty-related neglected tropical diseases (NTDs) and emerging infectious diseases of pandemic importance. One of their most notable achievements is the development of a vaccine technology leading to CORBEVAX, a traditional, recombinant protein-based COVID-19 vaccine.

"It's an honor to be recognized not only for our team's scientific efforts to develop and test low cost-effective vaccines for global health, but also for innovation in sustainable financing that goes beyond the traditional pharma business model," says Hotez in a statement.

The technology was created and engineered by Texas Children's Center for Vaccine Development specifically to combat the worldwide problem of vaccine access and availability. Biological E Limited (BE) developed, produced and tested CORBEVAX in India where over 60 million children have been vaccinated so far.

Earlier this year, the doctors were nominated for the 2022 Nobel Peace Prize for their research and vaccine development of the vaccine. Its low cost, ease of production and distribution, safety, and acceptance make it well suited for addressing global vaccine inequity.

"We appreciate the recognition of our efforts to begin the long road to 'decolonize' the vaccine development ecosystem and make it more equitable. We hope that CORBEVAX becomes one of a pipeline of new vaccines developed against many neglected and emerging infections that adversely affect global public health," says Bottazzi in the news release from Texas Children's.

Fast Company editors and writers research candidates for the list throughout the year, scouting every business sector, including technology, medicine, engineering, marketing, entertainment, design, and social good. You can see the complete list here

Samsung sets sights on nearly $200 billion expansion in Texas

chipping in

As it builds a $17 billion chipmaking factory in Taylor, tech giant Samsung is eyeing a long-term strategy in the Texas area that could lead to a potential investment of close to $200 billion.

Samsung’s plans, first reported by the Austin Business Journal, call for an additional $192.1 billion investment in the Austin area over several decades that would create at least 10,000 new jobs at 11 new chipmaking plants. These facilities would be at the new Taylor site and the company’s existing site in Northeast Austin.

The first of the 11 new plants wouldn’t be completed until 2034, according to the Business Journal.

“Samsung has a history already in the Austin market as an employer of choice, providing high wages, great benefits, and a great working environment. All of this will be on steroids in the not-too-distant future, creating a historic boost to the already booming Austin economy,” John Boyd Jr., a corporate site selection consultant, tells CultureMap.

Samsung’s preliminary plans were revealed in filings with the State of Texas seeking possible financial incentives for the more than $190 billion expansion. The South Korean conglomerate says the filings are part of the company’s long-range planning for U.S. chipmaking facilities.

Given that Samsung’s 11 new plants would be decades in the making, there’s no certainty at this point that any part of the potential $192.1 billion expansion will ever be built.

Last November, Samsung announced it would build a $17 billion chipmaking factory in Taylor to complete its semiconductor operations in Northeast Austin. Construction is underway, with completion set for 2024. Boyd proclaimed last year that the Taylor project will trigger an “economic tsunami” in the quiet Williamson County suburb.

The Taylor facility, which is expected to employ more than 2,000 people, ranks among the largest foreign economic development projects in U.S. history. The impact of a nearly $200 billion cluster of 11 new chipmaking plants would far eclipse the Taylor project.

The Taylor factory will produce advanced chips that power mobile and 5G capabilities, high-performance computing, and artificial intelligence.

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This article originally ran on CultureMap.

5 most popular innovation stories in Houston this week

what's trending

Editor's note: Another week has come and gone, and it's time to round up the top headlines from the past few days. Trending Houston tech and startup news on InnovationMap included innovators to know, a roundup of startup news, the latest cohort of a Houston clean energy, and more.

3 Houston innovators to know this week

This week's roundup of Houston innovators includes Jim Sledzik of Saudi Aramco Energy Ventures, Arti Bhosale of Sieve Health, and Paul Cherukuri of Rice University. Photos courtesy

In this week's roundup of Houston innovators to know, I'm introducing you to three local innovators across industries — from corporate venture capital to digital health — recently making headlines in Houston innovation. Click here to continue reading.

Houston-based health tech startup is revolutionizing patient selection for clinical trials

Sieve Health is an AI cloud-based SaaS platform designed to automate and accelerate matching patients with clinical trials. Photo via Getty Images

On many occasions in her early career, Dr. Arti Bhosale, co-founder and CEO of Sieve Health, found herself frustrated with having to manually sift through thousands of digital files.

The documents, each containing the medical records of a patient seeking advanced treatment through a clinical trial, were always there to review — and there were always more to read.

Despite the tediousness of prescreening, which could take years, the idea of missing a patient and not giving them the opportunity to go through a potentially life-altering trial is what kept her going. The one she didn’t read could have slipped through the cracks and potentially not given someone care they needed.

“Those stories have stayed with me,” she says. “That’s why we developed Sieve.” Click here to continue reading.

Houston startup raises $25M, biz plan competition opens apps, and more local innovation news

Here's your latest roundup of Houston startup and innovation news you may have missed. Photo via Getty Images

We're on the other side of the hill that is Houston's summer, but the Bayou City's still hot in terms of innovation news, and there might be some headlines you may have missed.

In this roundup of short stories within Houston startups and tech, a Houston venture capital fund has made its latest investment, a hydrogen startup has raised fresh funding, accelerators open apps, and more. Click here to continue reading.

Houston-based gig economy startup raises $1.2M, launches beta platform

Madison Long, left, and Simone May co-founded Clutch to democratize side gig success on college campuses. Photo courtesy of Clutch

Two Houstonians on a mission to enable safe and equitable entrepreneurship on college campuses have launched a new beta platform and closed pre-seed funding.

Clutch, a digital marketplace startup founded by Simone May and Madison Long, closed its pre-seed round of funding at $1.2 million – led by Precursor Ventures and other partners such as Capital Factory and HearstLab. The investment from this round will support Clutch’s national open beta launch of its platform for brands and student creators nationwide and its continued investment in customer and product strategy.

“We are at this inflection point where marketing is changing,” May says in a press release. “We know that the next generation can clearly see that and I think a lot of marketing agencies are starting to catch on. We need to be prioritizing the next generation’s opinion because they are driving who is interested in what they buy. This upcoming generation does not want to be sold to and they don’t like inorganic, inauthentic advertisements. That’s why user generated content is so big, it feels authentic.” Click here to continue reading.

5 Houston energy tech companies named to Rice accelerator

The Rice Alliance has named its second annual cohort. Photo via Getty Images

The Rice Alliance for Technology and Entrepreneurship has announced the 17 companies joining its second accelerator — and the program didn't have to venture very far for some of them.

The Rice Alliance Clean Energy Accelerator named the early- to mid-stage startups that will participate in its second annual class — five of which are based in Houston. Click here to continue reading.

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