3 Houston innovators to know this week

who's who

This week's roundup of Houston innovators includes Samantha Lewis of Mercury, Lydia Davies of Teamates, and Karen Leal of Insperity. Photos courtesy

Editor's note: In this week's roundup of Houston innovators to know, I'm introducing you to three local innovators across industries — from sportstech to venture capital — recently making headlines in Houston innovation.

Samantha Lewis, principal at Mercury Fund

Samantha Lewis, principal at Mercury Fund, joins this week's episode of the Houston Innovators Podcast. Photo courtesy of Mercury Fund

It's not an easy time to be a startup founder, and Samantha Lewis, principal at Houston-based venture capital firm Mercury, knows that best. She joined the Houston Innovators Podcast to share what she's observed from the market — and how to navigate these uncertain times.

“We all know it’s turbulent market times. We’re unsure where the market is going, and when there’s uncertainty in the public markets, that puts uncertainty in the private markets,” Lewis says on this week's episode of the Houston Innovators Podcast. “What I’ve been spending the past two quarters doing is working with our portfolio companies to just make sure our balance sheets are bulked up for what’s to come in 2023.” Read more.

Karen Leal, performance specialist at Insperity

Time to think ahead, business owners. Here's what this expert thinks you need to prioritize. Photo courtesy

It's that time of year — the time to plan ahead for the next calendar year. Karen Leal, an expert at HR solutions company Insperity, wrote in a guest column her tips for small businesses and startups navigating the current market and planning ahead.

"While it is uncertain what lies ahead for businesses in 2023, leaders can prepare to face staffing challenges by choosing the best talent and creating a culture that shows employees that they are valued," she writes. Read more.

Lydia Davies, founder of TeeMates Golf and Teamates

Calling all sports fans. Image via LinkedIn

Lydia Davies, who launched TeeMates Golf last year, is back with another way for the athletically inclined to find likeminded individuals. Teamates, a new, Houston-based, multi-sport meetup app, connects like-minded sporty types who want to connect and run, hike, surf, or play golf, pickleball, and more.

“I have noticed more and more over the years that it is hard for adults to find friends, especially to find friends to play sports with,” said Davies in a press release. “Why not get active and use it as an icebreaker? Let us come out of the last few years healthier and happier by linking together to get outside and get active. Teamates makes it so easy to join a meetup with just one click.” Read more.

Teamates, a new, Houston-based, multi-sport meetup app, connects like-minded sporty types who want to connect and run, hike, surf, or play golf, pickleball, and more. Photo courtesy of TeeMates

Smart new Houston-based app helps sporty locals connect and get their game on

play on

Active Houstonians who're looking to meet up with fellow locals and get their sports on now have a new app for that.

Teamates, a new, Houston-based, multi-sport meetup app, connects like-minded sporty types who want to connect and run, hike, surf, or play golf, pickleball, and more. Users can download the app on Apple IOS or Google Play.

Specifically, users follow their favorite sports, while the app then filters meetups and social feed for those sports. Users can join in, favorite friends, post meetups with photos, group message, request to join meetups, and post and share on the feed and stories.

Seriously competitive users can soon earn rewards and get on the leaderboard to win biweekly sports prizes. Friends can award others "Mate Medals" for being top-rated buddies and true MVPs.

Founder Lydia Davies created Teamates after launching TeeMates Golf last year. Her inspiration came out of necessity: Davis simply wanted to help her “golf-addicted husband” who travels frequently and was constantly playing rounds alone.

“I have noticed more and more over the years that it is hard for adults to find friends, especially to find friends to play sports with,” said Davies in a press release. “Why not get active and use it as an icebreaker? Let us come out of the last few years healthier and happier by linking together to get outside and get active. Teamates makes it so easy to join a meetup with just one click.”

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This article originally ran on CultureMap.

The Softeq Venture Studio has named 14 startups — two from Houston — to its third cohort. Photo via Getty Images

Houston tech company's venture studio names new partner and cohort

developing tech

A Houston-based tech company has named a new limited partner and 14 new startups to its venture arm.

Softeq Development Corporation announced its third group of early-stage startups to join the Softeq Venture Studio, which is geared at helping its resident startups quickly develop their technology and build their businesses. With 14 startups, the summer 2022 cohort is the largest yet and brings the total portfolio to 27 companies. Additionally, the $40 million Softeq Venture Fund welcomed Royal Eagle Capital Partners, a Houston-based investment firm, as a limited partner with its $3 million commitment.

“We are thrilled to see how much the Softeq Venture Studio has grown since 2021,” says Christopher A. Howard, founder and CEO of Softeq, in a news release. “We’re also pleased to welcome Royal Eagle Capital Partners as an investment partner in our Venture Fund, which allowed us to achieve more than 50 percent of our funding goal in just five months. We look forward to building on this partnership and growing Softeq in North America, Latin America, and beyond.”

Softeq is also celebrating a recent expansion into Latin America and staffing the new regional office with 30 engineers. The company has plans to grow to 150 employees in the region over the next year.

“The Softeq Venture Fund presents a unique opportunity to diversify our holdings within the alternative investments space. The concept of risk mitigation in venture investments resonates with investment firms globally, and we are excited to be working with Softeq and the amazing talent of their early-stage companies,” said Mark Valdez — co-founder, managing partner, and chief investment officer at Royal Eagle Capital Partners — in the release. "The emphasis on growth in Latin America by Softeq was a driving factor for our commitment and will open the door to new opportunities in Mexico and beyond.”

The Q2 2022 cohort is from across the United States with even some international representatives. The companies are using tech to solve problems across industries from human resources and wellness to med-tech and sports-tech and more. Applications are open for the next cohort online.

Here are the 14 companies making up the cohort:

  • Concerto Commerce, based in Southlake, Texas, is an eCommerce platform that combines automated catalog management and payment processing to streamline reseller operations.
  • New York City-based Dailyhuman is a software platform designed to help companies retain employees by fostering safety, trust, and connection in the workplace.
  • Headquartered in Houston, FrakBlock is a blockchain-based predictive tool providing financial products for the adulting process of young teens in Latin America.
  • High Tech Ranch Solutions, from The Woodlands, is a digital ranch management system designed by ranchers to bring monitoring to the palm of your hand.
  • Santa Barbara, California-based Homesavi is a platform that helps first-time homebuyers understand the home-buying process and guides them to their dream home.
  • Louder.ai is an advertising platform that revolutionizes how people can support causes they care about and see the impact of their donations.
  • Mallard Bay, founded out of Louisiana State University, is a marketplace for guided hunting and fishing trips that streamlines booking and administrative processes for consumers and outfitters. The company won Softeq's prize at the Rice Business Plan Competition.
  • RYN is a social platform to help families in the Middle East find and employ household migrant workers providing better working and living conditions.
  • Delaware-based SAmAS Gamify is building a gamified psychometric assessment platform that helps employers evaluate and select the most qualified candidates.
  • Founded in North Carolina, ShopAgain is an AI-powered customer retention platform redefining personalized customer experiences for eCommerce businesses.
  • Houston-based TeeMates Golf is a mobile app that connects golfers worldwide using social media, tee time linking, and offers a merchandise marketplace.
  • ViiT Health, based in Mexico, is a non-invasive technology to help people measure and monitor blood sugar levels more accurately without a finger prick lancet.
  • WellnessWins is a CRM to streamline intake processes for private therapy clinics to reduce waitlists and increase access to mental health care.
  • WorkHint helps retail companies manage on-demand hourly talent to increase flexibility, reduce cost, and generate actionable data-driven insights.
Swing into golf games with new friends with this new app. Photo courtesy of TeeMates Golf

New Houston-based golf app links up players, sets tee times, and more

there's an app for that

A new, Houston-based golf app is teeing up a chance for enthusiasts to link up over their love of the sport.

TeeMates Golf is a custom-made app that globally connects players and even sparks new networks and even friendships. The clever app has launched on the Apple Store and Google Play, with a full web version next month, the company notes in a press release.

How does it work? Users create a profile page with a (hopefully honest!) handicap, play preferences, description, and photos for sharing. Users can then post and share videos and photos on others' profile pages or on the newsfeed.

Players can review their favorite courses, show off swing skills, share best golf tips and drills, and more. Like most social media apps, users can like, comment, learn and interact from other people's lessons or posts, and also add friends, a release notes.

Game on
Those who already have scheduled a tee time and want to invite other players can utilize the "Create a Teetime" option. The feature searches for available players in the area, displays their profiles and skill level, and offers a chance to connect and invite to games. Like a dating app, users can even accept or decline — ouch — requests.

Another key feature allows players to post days and/or times they are available to play, which opens them up to an "add TeeMates" section. Available tee times also pop up in users' geographic areas.

Personal pro shop
TeeMates also boasts a pro shop feature, where users can create a store and sell their own new and used products (always a help for beginners who don't want to invest in expensive new clubs). Users can also promote their own clothing and apparel lines or gear.

The app was created by Houston realtor and self-professed sports enthusiast and tech lover Lydia Davies, who notes in press materials that her inspiration came from trying to assist her "golf-addicted husband" who travels frequently and was constantly playing rounds alone.

She added that her goal is to create an app that helps "grow and promote the game of golf by linking golfers globally in a social media setting. Whether it be for fun, competition, exercise, or just to meet new people with similar skill sets, TeeMates will serve as a network link for those that enjoy the sport."

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This article originally on on CultureMap.

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Announcing the 2025 Houston Innovation Awards finalists

Inspirational Innovators

InnovationMap is proud to reveal the finalists for the 2025 Houston Innovation Awards.

Taking place on November 13 at Greentown Labs, the fifth annual Houston Innovation Awards will honor the best of Houston's innovation ecosystem, including startups, entrepreneurs, mentors, and more.

This year's finalists were determined by our esteemed panel of judges, comprised of past award winners and InnovationMap editorial leadership.

The panel reviewed nominee applications across 10 prestigious categories to determine our finalists. They will select the winner for each category, except for Startup of the Year, which will be chosen by the public via online voting launching later this month.

We'll announce our 2025 Trailblazer Award recipient in the coming weeks, and then we'll unveil the rest of this year's winners live at our awards ceremony.

Get to know all of our finalists in more detail through editorial spotlights leading up to the big event. Then, join us on November 13 as we unveil the winners and celebrate all things Houston innovation. Tickets are on sale now — secure yours today.

Without further ado, here are the 2025 Houston Innovation Awards finalists:

Minority-founded Business

Honoring an innovative startup founded or co-founded by BIPOC or LGBTQ+ representation:

  • Capwell Services
  • Deep Anchor Solutions
  • Mars Materials
  • Torres Orbital Mining (TOM)
  • Wellysis USA

Female-founded Business

Honoring an innovative startup founded or co-founded by a woman:

  • Anning Corporation
  • Bairitone Health
  • Brain Haven
  • FlowCare
  • March Biosciences
  • TrialClinIQ

Energy Transition Business

Honoring an innovative startup providing a solution within renewables, climatetech, clean energy, alternative materials, circular economy and beyond:

  • Anning Corporation
  • Capwell Services
  • Deep Anchor Solutions
  • Eclipse Energy
  • Loop Bioproducts
  • Mars Materials
  • Solidec

Health Tech Business

Honoring an innovative startup within the health and medical technology sectors:

  • Bairitone Health
  • Corveus Medical
  • FibroBiologics
  • Koda Health
  • NanoEar
  • Wellysis USA

Deep Tech Business

Honoring an innovative startup providing technology solutions based on substantial scientific or engineering challenges, including those in the AI, robotics and space sectors:

  • ARIX Technologies
  • Little Place Labs
  • Newfound Materials
  • Paladin Drones
  • Persona AI
  • Tempest Droneworx

Startup of the Year (People's Choice)

Honoring a startup celebrating a recent milestone or success. The winner will be selected by the community via an online voting experience:

  • Eclipse Energy
  • FlowCare
  • MyoStep
  • Persona AI
  • Rheom Materials
  • Solidec

Scaleup of the Year

Honoring an innovative later-stage startup that's recently reached a significant milestone in company growth:

  • Coya Therapeutics
  • Fervo Energy
  • Koda Health
  • Mati Carbon
  • Molecule
  • Utility Global

Incubator/Accelerator of the Year

Honoring a local incubator or accelerator that is championing and fueling the growth of Houston startups:

  • Activate
  • Energy Tech Nexus
  • Greentown Labs
  • Healthtech Accelerator (TMCi)
  • Impact Hub Houston

Mentor of the Year

Honoring an individual who dedicates their time and expertise to guide and support budding entrepreneurs. Presented by Houston Community College:

  • Anil Shetty, Inform AI
  • Jason Ethier, EnergyTech Nexus
  • Jeremy Pitts, Activate
  • Joe Alapat, Liongard
  • Neil Dikeman, Energy Transition Ventures
  • Nisha Desai, Intention

Trailblazer Recipient

  • To be announced
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Interested in sponsoring the 2025 Houston Innovation Awards? Contact sales@innovationmap.com for details.

Houston scientists earn prestigious geophysics career awards

winner, winner

Two Rice University professors have been recognized by the American Geophysical Union, one of the world’s largest associations for Earth and space science.

Rice climatologist Sylvia Dee was awarded the 2025 Nanne Weber Early Career Award by the AGU’s Paleoceanography and Paleoclimatology Section. Richard Gordon, a Rice professor of geophysics also received the 2025 Walter H. Bucher Medal by the AGU. They will both be recognized at the AGU25 event on Dec.15-19 in New Orleans.

The Nanne Weber Early Career Award recognizes contributions to paleoceanography and paleoclimatology research by scientists within 10 years of receiving their doctorate.

“Paleoclimate research provides essential context for understanding Earth’s climate system and its future under continued greenhouse warming," Dee said in a news release. “By studying how climate has evolved naturally in the past, we can better predict the risks and challenges that lie ahead.”

Dee’s work explores how Earth’s natural modes of variability interact with the changing climate and lead to extreme weather. It shows how these interactions can add to climate risks, like flooding and rainfall patterns all around the world.

The Bucher Medal is awarded to just one scientist for their original contributions to the knowledge of the Earth’s crust and lithosphere.

Gordon’s research has reshaped how scientists understand the movement and interaction of Earth’s tectonic plates. He helped reveal the existence of diffuse plate boundaries—areas where the planet’s crust slowly deforms across broad regions instead of along a single fault line. His work also explored true polar wander, a phenomenon in which Earth gradually shifts its orientation relative to its spin axis.

Gordon introduced the concept of paleomagnetic Euler poles, a method for tracing how tectonic plates have moved over millions of years. He also led the development of major global plate motion models, including NUVEL (Northwestern University Velocity) and MORVEL (Mid-Ocean Ridge Velocity).

“Receiving the Walter Bucher Medal is a profound honor,” Gordon said in a news release. “To be included on a list of past recipients whose work I have long admired makes this recognition especially meaningful. There are still countless mysteries about how our planet works, and I look forward to continuing to explore them alongside the next generation of scientists.”

3 Houston-area companies appear on Fortune’s inaugural AI ranking

eyes on ai

Three companies based in the Houston area appear on Fortune’s inaugural list of the top adopters of AI among Fortune 500 companies.

The three companies are:

  • No. 7 energy company ExxonMobil, based in Spring
  • No. 7 tech company Hewlett Packard Enterprise, based in Spring
  • No. 47 energy company Chevron, based in Houston

All three companies have taken a big dive into the AI pool.

In 2024, ExxonMobil’s executive chairman and CEO, Darren Woods, explained that AI would play a key role in achieving a $15 billion reduction in operating costs by 2027.

“There is a concerted effort to make sure that we're really working hard to apply that new technology to the opportunity set within the company to drive effectiveness and efficiency,” Woods told Wall Street analysts.

Hewlett Packard Enterprise is also employing AI to decrease costs. In March, the company announced a restructuring plan — including the elimination of 3,000 jobs — aimed at cutting about $350 million in annual expenses. The restructuring is scheduled to wrap up by the end of October.

Hewlett Packard Enterprise’s Catalyst cost-cutting program includes a push to use AI across the company to improve efficiency, Marie Myers, the company’s executive vice president and chief financial officer, told Wall Street analysts in June.

“Our ambition is clear: A leaner, faster, and more competitive organization. Nothing is off limits. We are focused on rethinking the business — not just reducing our costs, but transforming the way we operate,” Myers said.

At Chevron, AI tools are being used to quickly analyze data and extract insights from it, according to tech news website VentureBeat. Also, Chevron employs advanced AI systems known as large language models (LLMs) to create engineering standards, specifications and safety alerts. AI is even being put to work in Chevron’s exploration initiatives.

Bill Braun, Chevron’s chief information officer, said at a VentureBeat-sponsored event in 2024 that AI-savvy data scientists, or “digital scholars,” are always embedded within workplace teams “to act as a catalyst for working differently.”

The Fortune AIQ 50 ranking is based on ServiceNow’s Enterprise AI Maturity Index, an annual measurement of how prepared organizations are to adopt and scale AI. To evaluate how Fortune 500 companies are rolling out AI and how much they value AI investments, Fortune teamed up with Enterprise Technology Research. The results went into computing an AIQ score for each company.

At the top of the ranking is Alphabet (owner of Google and YouTube), followed by Visa, JPMorgan Chase, Nvidia and Mastercard.

Aside from ExxonMobil, Hewlett Packard Enterprise, and Chevron, two other Texas companies made the list: Arlington-based homebuilder D.R. Horton (No. 29) and Austin-based software company Oracle (No. 37).

“The Fortune AIQ 50 demonstrates how companies across industry sectors are beginning to find real value from the deployment of AI technology,” Jeremy Kahn, Fortune’s AI editor, said in a news release. “Clearly, some sectors, such as tech and finance, are pulling ahead of others, but even in so-called 'old economy' industries like mining and transport, there are a few companies that are pulling away from their peers in the successful use of AI.”

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