Nonprofit awards 10 Houston companies over $30,000 in grant funding

founders first

Ten Houston companies received funding from the Founders First CDC's Job Creators Quest Grant. Photo courtesy

A national nonprofit has granted $100,000 in funding to 31 companies across the state. Ten of the recipients are based in Houston.

Founders First CDC — an organization that supports diverse founder-led, revenue-generating businesses — named the winners of its new Job Creators Quest Grant this week. Over 600 Texas businesses applied, and the selected recipients represent industries from construction and manufacturing to STEM and healthcare, to hospitality, and more.

"The challenges of simply keeping the doors open have been amplified by an unforeseen obstacle – the pandemic. Now more than ever it takes commitment, perseverance and healthy funding to succeed, which is why I'm excited about Founders First CDC," says Texas State Senator and small business owner, Royce West, in a news release. "This organization is providing small businesses with wherewithal to create jobs, which in turn help sustain operations, achieve business goals and stimulate the economy."

Launched earlier this year, the Job Creators Quest Grant is funding businesses to help them retain and grow their workforce through the pandemic. Since its inception, the program has awarded more than $220,000 to minority and underrepresented business owners throughout the United States.

"We have observed many founders working more in their business than on their business. Our priority is to give entrepreneurs resources to grow while simultaneously becoming premium wage job creators within their community," says Shaylon Scott, executive director of Founders First CDC, in the release. "Investing in diverse entrepreneurs is an impactful way to drive job and wealth creation in underserved communities. The Job Creators Quest Grant is more than a dollar amount, it's a celebration of their success."

Eligibility requirements included the company's founder must be Black, indigenous, a person of color, LGBTQIA+, military veteran, woman or located in a low to moderate income area and be a for-profit company with annual revenues between $100,000 to $3 million. Grant winners will use the funds to help create and add 1-2 net new premium wage jobs in the next 12 months. The program was funded by a $1 million grant from the Rockefeller Foundation, along with Founders First CDC Capital Partners' recent $9 million series A.

The Houston companies that received funding were:

  • DM Electrical and Construction LLC - $10,000
  • Medley Inc. - $10,000
  • EFS GROUP PLLC - $2,500
  • AtWork Personnel Services - $2,500
  • Camellia Alise, LLC - $1,500
  • Flava Wings - $1,500
  • Oops Steam Cleaning - $1,500
  • The Body: A Home for Love - $1,500
  • TNR Accounting & Management Consulting, LLC - $2,500
  • Socium Solutions LLC - $2,500

The other Texas companies that received grant money were:

  • COCINA 54 (Austin) - $1,500
  • Laundris Corp (Austin) - $1,500
  • Center for Music Therapy, Inc. (Austin) - $1,500
  • Le Rouge Cuisine Food Company (Dallas) - $5,000
  • TDG Scientific (Dallas) - $5,000
  • SCENT & FIRE CANDLE COMPANY (Dallas) - $2,500
  • brittani (Dallas) - $2,500
  • Atmospheric Home Staging (Dallas) - $1,500
  • RD Adams Enterprise LLC dba ONE Elite Staffing (Dallas) - $1,500
  • Civil Pour (Dallas) - $1,500
  • Lalloon Marketing Group, LLC dba Imperium Surgical Partners (Dallas) - $1,500
  • WEST ONE PRODUCTS LLC (Fort Worth) - $1,500
  • Hooked On Code, LLC (Frisco) - $5,000
  • Hustle Clean (Frisco) - $5,000
  • PriceSenz LLC (Irving) - $1,500
  • R2R Palliative and Hospice Care LLC (Lewisville) - $1,500
  • Bernadette Davis Communications (Plano) - $1,500
  • Channel Source Inc (Southlake) - $5,000
  • KoderLabs (Trophy Club) - $1,500
  • Brisco Wheel Repair LLC DBA Alloy Wheel Repair of San Antonio (San Antonio) - $1,500
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Innovation pioneers on why Pumps & Pipes is so uniquely Houston

A Day of Discussion

Pumps & Pipes 2022, Houston’s premier innovation event, is rapidly approaching on December 5 from 8 am-3 pm at the Ion.

Leading up to this exciting event, InnovationMap spoke with several of the speakers representing various industries to ask them, "What makes Pumps & Pipes uniquely Houston?"

Here are their responses:

Dr. Alan Lumsden, chair of cardiovascular surgery at Houston Methodist and Pumps & Pipes founder:

“…What can we learn from one another? What is inside the other person’s toolkit? A lot of solutions are already out there but sometimes we don’t have the ability to see into their toolkit. This has become the driving force behind Pumps & Pipes throughout the last 15 years…”

Dr. Lucie Low, chief scientist for microgravity research at Axiom Space:

“‘Houston, we have a problem’ — everyone knows Houston as a major player in the aerospace industry as highlighted by this famous quote from Apollo 13. What people may not know and what is exciting to me about Houston are the opportunities for collaboration with other industries that can help drive our mission to build communities of healthy humans in space. With the largest medical center in the world right next to Johnson Space Center, Houston is a prime city for innovation at the intersection of medicine and space.”

David Horsup, managing director of technology at OGCI Climate Investments:

“The remarkable diversity of thought, culture, and expertise that exists in Houston creates an incredible cauldron for innovation. The city has been the leading light in pushing frontiers in energy, aerospace, and medicine for many years, and Pumps & Pipes is a powerful ‘node’ for some of the brightest minds across these industries to connect, collaborate, and innovate. I am extremely excited to see how Houston is pivoting to embrace the challenge that climate change is presenting, and the city will play a defining role going forward.”

Purchase tickets for Pumps & Pipes here and follow Pumps & Pipes on social media at LinkedIn, Twitter, and YouTube.

Houston startup founders report on clean energy tech efficacy

seeing results

A team from Rice University has uncovered an inexpensive, scalable way to produce clean-burning hydrogen fuel.

In research published this month in the journal Science, researchers from Rice’s Laboratory for Nanophotonics, in partnership with Syzygy Plasmonics Inc. and Princeton University’s Andlinger Center for Energy and the Environment, detail how they converted ammonia into carbon-free fuel using a light-activated catalyst.

The new catalyst separates the liquid ammonia into hydrogen gas and nitrogen gas. Traditional catalysts require heat for chemical transformations, but the new catalyst can spur reactions with just the use of sunlight or LED light.

Additionally, the team showed that copper-iron antenna-reactors could be used in these light-driven chemical reactions, known as plasmonic photocatalysis. In heat-based reactions, or thermocatalysis, platinum, and related precious (and expensive) metals like palladium, rhodium, and ruthenium are required.

“Transition metals like iron are typically poor thermocatalysts,” Naomi Halas, a co-author of the report from Rice, said in a statement. “This work shows they can be efficient plasmonic photocatalysts. It also demonstrates that photocatalysis can be efficiently performed with inexpensive LED photon sources.”

Halas, Rice's Stanley C. Moore Professor of Electrical and Computer Engineering, was joined on the project by Peter Nordlander, Rice’s Wiess Chair and Professor of Physics and Astronomy, and Rice alumni and adjunct professor of chemistry Hossein Robatjazi. Emily Carter, the Gerhard R. Andlinger Professor in Energy and Environment, represented Princeton University.

“These results are a great motivator," Carter added. "They suggest it is likely that other combinations of abundant metals could be used as cost-effective catalysts for a wide range of chemical reactions.”

Houston-based Syzygy, which Halas and Nordlander founded in 2018, has licensed the technology used in the research and has begun scaled-up tests of the catalyst in the company’s commercially available, LED-powered reactors. According to Rice, the test at Syzygy showed the catalysts retained their efficiency under LED illumination and at a scale 500 times larger than in tests in the lab setup at Rice.

“This discovery paves the way for sustainable, low-cost hydrogen that could be produced locally rather than in massive centralized plants,” Nordlander said in a statement.

Earlier this month, Syzygy closed its $76 million series C round to continue its technology development ahead of future deployment/

Houston is home to many other organizations and researchers leading the charge in growing the hydrogen economy.

Earlier this year, Mayor Sylvester Turner announced he's determined to position the city as hub for hydrogen innovation as one of the EPA's Regional Clean Hydrogen Hubs. Organizations in Texas, Southwest Louisiana and the surrounding Gulf Coast region, known and HyVelocity Hub, also announced this month that it would be applying for the regional funding.

And according to a recent report from The Center for Houston's Future, the Bayou City is poised to "lead a transformational clean hydrogen hub with global impact."

7+ can't-miss Houston business and innovation events for December

where to be

Houstonians have yet another good batch of in-person and online innovation events, and you and your tech network need to know about them.

Here's a roundup of virtual events not to miss this December — like pitch nights, workshops, conventions, and more.

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


December 1 — 2022-2023 UH Energy Symposium Series

The Division of Energy and Innovation, along with the UH Center for Carbon Management in Energy, are hosting a day-long symposium to discuss pathways and solutions to make Texas carbon neutral by 2050. UH experts and energy industry partners will serve as panelists to discuss the drivers, opportunities, and challenges for change, and more.

The event is on Thursday, December 1, from 9 am to 7 pm, at University of Houston (Houston Room - University of Houston Student Center South). Click here to register.

December 5 — Pumps & Pipes: Ion to Infinity

Highlighting innovations in Web3, Artificial Intelligence, Extended Reality, and Robotics, attendees will hear from visionaries across medicine, energy, and aerospace who are developing and launching technologies in these fields.

The event is on Monday, December 5, from 8 am to 3 pm at The Ion. Click here to register.

December 6 — Softeq Venture Studio Demo Day

The Softeq Venture Studio's 2H 2022 cohort is the largest yet with 22 member companies, which brings the total portfolio to 49 companies. This cohort includes entrepreneurs from several global locations as diverse as the United Kingdom, Iceland, Mexico, and Peru. In this capstone event, founders have three minutes each to present their pitch deck, demo their product, outline their ask, and answer questions.

The event is on Tuesday, December 6, from 6 to 9 pm at Queensbury Theatre. Click here to register.

December 7 — Houston Veterans In Residence Showcase

Bunker Labs’ Veterans in Residence Showcase is a nationwide event, celebrating over 500 veteran and military spouse entrepreneurs launching their startups and businesses.

The event is on Wednesday, December 7, from 6 to 8 pm at Sesh Coworking. Click here to register.

December 8 — 8th Annual SWPDC Symposium on Pediatric Device Innovation and Business Meeting:

The 8th Annual SWPDC Symposium on Pediatric Device Innovation and Business Meeting will feature the keynote presentation "Non-Dilutive Federal Funding for Pediatric Device Startups" by Michael Heffernan, Director of Research & Technology at Fannin Innovation Studio.

The event is on Thursday, December 8, from 4 to 7 pm, at the JLABS@TMC. Click here to register.

December 8 — HAN Holiday Party

Join the Houston Angel Network for their annual party.

The event is on Thursday, December 8, from 6 to 8 pm, at Postino City Centre. Click here to register.

December 10 — TXRX Holiday Make-a-thon

Get your festive fun on by participating in one of our hands-on workshops. Learn more about how we make through our live demos.

The event is on Saturday, December 10, from 3 to 6 pm, at TXRX. Click here to register.

December 13 — Future of the Houston Region

The reimagined Future of the Houston Region event features one of the fastest-growing areas in the Houston region - Montgomery County. Conversations will be focused on the county’s rapid growth, business developments within the area, future plans of expansion and its overall importance to the region.

The event is on Tuesday, December 13, from 10:30 am to 1:30 pm at The Woodlands Waterway Marriott. Click here to register.

December 15 — Engage VC: Climate Capital & Energy Capital Ventures

Join HX Venture Fund at the Ion on December 15 to hear a conversation moderated by Burak Powers, Strategy Director of Circularity & Low-Carbon Solutions at LyondellBasell and featuring Michael Luciani, Managing Partner of Climate Capital, Vic Pascucci, Co-Founder and Managing General Partner of Energy Capital Ventures, and Moji Karimi, Co-Founder and CEO of Cemvita Factory. This dynamic group will discuss their perspectives on venture investing in the energy transition space, current and future trends, and how startups can find great VCs among other topics.

The event is on Thursday, December 15, from 8:30 to 10 am at the Ion. Click here to register.

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