The grant from Rice is part of "several financial commitments" the university is making to support inclusivity at the Ion District. Photo courtesy of The Ion

Rice University awarded DivInc. an $800,000 grant this month to support its work in sports technology.

The Texas-based company, which operates numerous accelerators, focuses on BIPOC and female founders working toward social and economic equity through entrepreneurship. The grant from Rice is part of "several financial commitments" the university is making to support inclusivity at the Ion District.

DivInc runs its Sports Tech Accelerator out of The Ion, which recently named its latest cohort for the 2024 Sports Tech Accelerator.

“We’ve been in Houston since 2021, so we’re extremely honored and grateful to partner with Rice University,” Preston James, CEO and founder of DivInc, said in a statement. “Leveraging the top university sports management program in the U.S., Rice’s highly ranked sports medicine and sport analytics programs, we’re providing exceptional value to our portfolio of companies ... Sports tech is a vast and rapidly growing industry that represents a tremendous opportunity for diverse founders.”

Among the 10 companies selected for DivInc's current 12-week sports accelerator are a cash-back powered marketplace designed for the golf industry, a scouting automation software, an artificial intelligence company that collects real-time biometrics on athletes, and others.

Selected founders can receive up to $100,000 and access to curriculum, as well as mentorship from executives from the Houston Rockets, Houston Astros, San Antonio Spurs, Rice Alliance for Technology and Entrepreneurship, Mercury Fund, The Collectiv, HTX Sports Tech and more.

“We have strategically created one of the nation’s premier accelerator programs in Houston, Texas, dedicated to supporting BIPOC and women founders driving innovation in the sports industry by leveraging best practices and insights from stakeholders within the sports tech ecosystem,” Ashley DeWalt, DivInc’s managing director of startups and programs, said in a statement.

DivInc also launched its first DWeb for Social Impact Accelerator from the Ion last fall. The 12-week intensive hybrid program sponsored by Filecoin Foundation for the Decentralized Web, supported nine companies, all of whom integrate Web3 technologies into their impact entrepreneurship, and each of the companies selected were awarded a non-dilutive $10,000 grant to use during the course of the program.

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Houston clean energy co. wins $50 million at Elon Musk-backed competition

xprize winners

Houston-based Mati Carbon has won the $50 million grand prize in the XPRIZE Carbon Removal competition, backed by Elon Musk’s charitable organization, The Musk Foundation.

Mati was selected in 2024 as one of 20 global finalists. The company removes carbon through its Enhanced Rock Weathering (ERW) program that works with agricultural farms in Africa and India.

The 3-year-old startup accelerates the natural process of rock weathering (ERW) by applying pulverized basalt to croplands of partnered smallholder farmers, free of charge. Mati says the farmers it partners with are some of the most vulnerable to the impacts of climate change.

“Winning this XPRIZE competition is an incredible honor and a definitive validation of our research and development, and building out the infrastructure needed to impact millions of farmers while delivering verifiable carbon dioxide removal at a gigaton scale,” Mati Carbon Founder and CEO Shantanu Agarwal, said in a news release. “I couldn’t be prouder, not just of the Mati team, but of our collaborators, research partners and the thousands of smallholder farmers who let us be part of their lives. This XPRIZE recognition will allow us to collaborate with local partners to accelerate the use of enhanced rock weathering across the Global South.”

Mati reports that it plans to use the award to “scale its efforts working with smallholder farmers worldwide.” Apart from the XPRIZE funding, Mati plans to grow its model through the sale of CDR credits. According to the company, it counts Shopify, Stripe, and H&M among its early carbon credit buyers.

“Mati Carbon’s deployments bolster farmers’ livelihoods through improved soil health, reduced agricultural inputs, and increased income at zero cost to them. Mati Carbon’s team has developed a scientifically rigorous approach to monitoring and verification, and excelled across each of XPRIZE’s prize evaluation criteria – operational, sustainability, and cost metrics – giving the XPRIZE judges the highest confidence in Mati Carbon’s solution’s long-term scalability,” the XPRIZE judges wrote.

Houston-based Vaulted Deep took home the second-runner-up prize in the competition and $8 million for its organic waste storage process. The company provides permanent carbon storage by injecting nonhazardous organic waste deep underground. It spun off with $8 million in seed funding from Advantek Waste Management Services in 2023.

"Our approach is grounded in geomechanical injection techniques that have been safely deployed globally for decades by our team and predecessors," Omar Abou-Sayed, co-founder and executive chairman of Vaulted, said in a separate release. "XPRIZE recognized that this is a proven approach—already in use, delivering impact, and built on the kind of reliability the industry needs to scale responsibly."

Launched in 2021, the four-year XPRIZE Carbon Removal competition challenged global innovators to deploy scalable solutions for removing carbon dioxide from the atmosphere and oceans. More than 1,300 teams from 88 countries competed. XPRIZE finalists were required to remove at least 1,000 tonnes of CO2 over a one-year demonstration period.

French company NetZero took home the first-runner-up prize of $15 million, and London-based UNDO came in as third-runner-up with a $5 million prize.

Since the announcement of the XPRIZE Carbon Removal competition, the Musk-led Department of Government Efficiency has cut climate funding for agencies, projects and research. While the Musk Foundation sponsored the XPRIZE event, it is not affiliated with the California-based organization, according to the Associated Press.

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This story originally appeared on our sister site, EnergyCapitalHTX.com.

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Houston palliative care startup partners with new platform to expand reach

palliative care partnership

Houston-based Koda Health and Dallas’ Guidehealth, an AI-powered health care services platform, announced a strategic partnership to provide access to tech-enabled solutions to help improve care and reduce costs for patients navigating serious illness.

Health systems and clinically integrated networks working with Guidehealth can now deploy Koda Health’s Advance Care Planning (ACP) platform, which allows patients to document and share their care preferences, goals and advance directives for health systems. Guidehealth’s platform integrates into primary care workflows and allows providers to identify high-risk patients, coordinate care and reduce administrative burden.

Guidehealth also works with a team of virtual caregivers, known as Guidehealth Healthguides, who help patients navigate end-of-life decisions. With this new partnership, the Healthguides will be able to integrate Koda Health’s ACP platform into their workflows.

“Koda Health’s mission is to ensure that every patient’s voice is heard, especially during the most vulnerable times in their lives,” Dr. Desh Mohan, Chief Medical Officer and co-founder of Koda Health, said in a news release. “This partnership with Guidehealth accelerates our ability to reach patients at scale, especially those in value-based arrangements where care alignment and quality of life are top priorities.”

Guidehealth works with more than 500,000 patients and major systems, such as Emory Healthcare, according to the release. The company closed a $14 million seed round last year, which included investment from Memorial Hermann.

“Advance care planning is essential to delivering care that is not just high quality, but also compassionate and aligned with what matters most to each patient,” Dr. Sanjay Doddamani, founder and CEO of Guidehealth, said in a news release. “Koda Health brings a scalable, digital-first approach to a historically complex and emotional process. By embedding Koda into our value-based care ecosystem, we’re equipping providers to have meaningful conversations with patients, reduce unnecessary interventions and ultimately improve the experience for families and clinicians alike.”

Koda Health was born out of the TMC's Biodesign Fellowship and was launched by CEO Tatiana Fofanova, Dr. Desh Mohan, and Katelin Cherry in March 2020. It closed an oversubscribed seed round for an undisclosed amount last year, with investments from AARP, Memorial Hermann Health System and the Texas Medical Center Venture Fund. The company also added Kidney Action Planningto its suite of services in 2024.