3 Houston innovators to know this week

who's who

This week's roundup of Houston innovators includes Erik Ibarra of Magnolia Fund, Matthew Kuhn of Taurus Vascular, and Libby Covington of The Craig Group. 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 investment to biodesign — recently making headlines in Houston innovation.

Erik Ibarra, founder of Magnolia Fund

Erik Ibarra's latest venture is to give agency to residents in the neighborhood he grew up in. Photo courtesy

For years, Erik Ibarra has watched Houston's East End — La Segunda Barrio — evolve. Now, with tons of construction in the works, he's got a plan for a business that will tap into existing residents to give them ownership of their community.

Ibarra started Magnolia Fund, a mission-driven investment fund dedicated to enriching the East End community and preserving the neighborhood's culture and history. Ibarra, who has lived in the area the majority of his life, says on the Houston Innovators Podcast, that he's looking to turn residents into investors.

"Over the years, I've felt like there's so much development going on. But, the people from the neighborhood are very often just passive — they don't get a chance to benefit from or think about how they could participate in these new developments," Ibarra says. "The neighborhood is very close to my heart, and, about a year ago, I realized I wanted to do something about this." Read more.

Matthew Kuhn, co-founder of Taurus Vascular

A new innovation out of the Texas Medical Center's Biodesign Program is enhancing efficacy of a life-saving aortic aneurysm rupture procedure. Photo courtesy

As part of the current class of the TMC Innovation Biodesign Program, fellows Matthew Kuhn and his co-founder Melanie Lowther were tasked with creating a biomedical company in a year. The founders came up with Taurus Vascular, a medical device company that improves efficacy of abdominal aortic aneurysms treatment.

“It used to be if you had a AAA, you had a gnarly procedure,” Kuhn tells InnovationMap, which included a large incision across the abdomen. The standard treatment, endovascular aneurysm repair, or EVAR, eliminated that, but its problem is that it often results in endoleaks. As many as 20 percent of patients need another EVAR within five years.

Taurus Vascular’s technology improves on EVAR by placing a self-deploying stent to create a drainage pathway between the high-pressure aneurysm sac and a low-pressure nearby vein — mitigating the adverse impact of endoleaks that would otherwise cause the aneurysm to continue to grow. The simple solution will allow patients to live longer, healthier lives after their procedure. Read more.

Libby Covington, partner at The Craig Group

Houston expert shares how to use your data to improve your marketing efforts. Photo courtesy

Data can be hard to tap into when you're working within B2B sales, writes Libby Covington in a guest column for InnovationMap.

"When focusing on revenue growth in business to business companies, analyzing data to develop and optimize strategies is one of the biggest factors in sales and marketing success," she writes. "However, the process of evaluating B2B data differs significantly from that of B2C, or business to consumer. B2C analysis is often straightforward, focusing on consumer behavior and e-commerce transactions."

In her column, Covington shares her advice on navigating this process. Read more.

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Understanding your potential buyer's journey step by step helps the marketing and sales teams to be very intentional about strategy. Photo via Getty Images

Houston expert: Why you need to align your strategy with your buyer's journey

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Creating a successful go-to-market strategy involves several crucial steps that help define a company’s target market and potential buyers, as well as the differentiators, the competitors and the value that a product or service brings to the market.

CEOs of middle market companies know what a GTM strategy is although they may not often use the terminology. It is the sales and marketing strategy and how the company will acquire new customers, and thus grow revenue for the business.

Understanding the buyer's journey is crucial. In a nutshell, this refers to the different stages a potential customer goes through before finally making a purchase. First, there's the awareness stage, where the customer realizes their need, and starts researching possible solutions.

Next is the consideration stage, where customers weigh the pros and cons of various companies, comparing features, benefits, and pricing. Finally, in the decision stage, the customer decides on a specific solution based on the input they gathered along the way. By understanding and effectively utilizing this framework, marketing and sales teams can customize their strategy to promote trust, establish credibility, and meet revenue goals.

Understanding the journey step by step helps the marketing and sales teams to be very intentional about strategy.

Identifying an ideal customer profile (ICP)

A good way to approach this is by looking at the existing customer base for any common traits by conducting revenue analysis. Likely, there will be trends in the customer data that can be very informative on ways to target new customers. Look at data points such as duration as a customer, growth in revenue per customer, industry, region, etc. to define customer personas that may be ideal for the business.

Once the targets are determined, think about ways these potential buyers get their industry or professional information. Who do they follow? What do they care about?

Examining market trends and doing competitor research will lead to the creation of customer personas that may be outside of the current customer base.

Doing market research is critical to understanding the size of the market, so companies can determine their market share. Once a team really knows the target audience, it can create more effective content and digital marketing strategies that resonate with a company’s ideal customers and ultimately lead to higher conversion rates and revenue growth.

Catering to the buyer's journey

The potential buyer is going to need different things from marketing and sales at every stage of the journey. During the awareness stage, potential buyers are just starting to recognize that they have a problem, or a need. They aren’t ready to buy but they want information to better understand their situation. Show them content that addresses their pain points and provides a solution. Blog posts, e-books, whitepapers, and webinars are all ways to do this.

Once a buyer understands their problem better, they will actively search online for solutions. There is a lot of comparison going on now. Buyers in today’s market expect more transparency from B2B companies than in the past. To capitalize on this stage, a company needs to have detailed product information and case studies that demonstrate the value of a service or solution. Some companies will produce comparison guides to show their differentiators from the competition.

At the end of the journey, a buyer has narrowed down their options and is ready to make a purchase. They may need a little more information, or reassurance that their decision is the right one. Customer testimonials and reviews as well as interaction with the sales team will help to move a customer over the finish time.

Tailored messaging for different decision-makers

In complex B2B sales, there are usually multiple decision-makers involved, with stakeholders from various departments weighing in on the decision. Therefore, it is vital to have a different message tailored to each decision-maker, built into the overall messaging.

There is never going to be just one decision maker, especially if it’s a high dollar product or service. Finance is going to weigh in. The user is going to want a say. Communication to stakeholders across multiple departments in the company is key.

Prioritizing highly converting marketing tactics

An underappreciated element of any Go To Market strategy is prioritizing marketing and sales tactics. With limited resources and budget, identifying the most highly converting tactics is essential. And as with everything else, it also requires a deep understanding of the buyer.

For example, a company may prioritize trade shows as their most highly converting tactic because decision-makers and buyers in their niche market attend these events. Some companies may benefit more from paid advertising, while others may prioritize content creation or email campaigns. Tactics will be dependent on industry, target audience, and goals.

Companies should focus on tactics that are most likely to generate the highest ROI.

Both the marketing and sales teams need to understand the buyer's journey and focus on their needs and pain points at each step. This means adopting a customer-centric approach. By doing so, businesses can create a cohesive revenue team that works together to identify the most effective tactics and improve revenue growth.

At Craig Group, we have seen first hand that companies who implement a comprehensive go-to-market strategy, track their progress and adjust their approach as necessary, have a higher chance of meeting their revenue targets.

This approach is very effective if the necessary effort and resources are dedicated to the process. The strategic guidance and support of the right team can help develop and refine a GTM approach that is tailored to the company and aligned with its goals.

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Libby Covington is partner at Houston-based The Craig Group, a strategic digital marketing solutions consulting firm. Her specialty is in understanding how sales and marketing work together effectively.

This week's roundup of Houston innovators includes Stephanie Tsuru of SheSpace, Fareed Zein of Unytag, and Libby Covington of The Craig Group. Photos courtesy

3 Houston innovators to know this week

who's who

Editor's note: In this week's roundup of Houston innovators to know, I'm introducing you to three local innovators across industries — from smart city tech to startup marketing — recently making headlines in Houston innovation.

Stephanie Tsuru, founder of SheSpace

Stephanie Tsuru joins this week's Houston Innovators Podcast to share her growth plans for 2023. Photo via LinkedIn

SheSpace opened with a splash, Founder Stephanie Tsure tells InnovationMap on last week's episode of the Houston Innovators Podcast. After surviving through the pandemic, the female-focused coworking hub expanded — with a new type of membership as well as physically.

"We had so many people who wanted to be a part of the community — so we started a social networking group," she says.

Now, the entrepreneur is looking to expand this year to open satellite locations. She shares more on the show. Read more.

Fareed Zein, founder of Unytag

Unytag celebrated a big win at the Ion recently — and has taking its prizes into the new year. Photo via LinkedIn

As the father of four competitive-tennis-playing daughters, Fareed Zein spent years driving “from California to Florida,” he says. Throughout those years, he and his wife racked up toll violation after toll violation. “I thought, there’s got to be an easier way,” he recalls.

Fortunately, Zein wasn’t just any sports dad with thousands of miles on his car. The University of Texas grad put in 26 years developing IT systems at Shell. He retired from that role in 2015, which allowed him to spend more time on the road with his youngest daughter, now playing for UT Austin. In 2019, he used his technology expertise to start Unytag, a company focused on making it easier to drive around the country as the Zein family had so many times.

Unytag is a system that allows users to trash their multiple toll tags in favor of just one RFID (radio-frequency identification) sticker and an app. The app, which Zein says is currently in its testing phase, will be available on both IOS and Android phones in the second half of the year.

“A phone is a device everyone has nowadays, right?” says Zein. “Just like you use your phone to pay for a latte at Starbucks, we are going to simplify how you pay tolls.” Read more.

Libby Covington, partner at The Craig Group

It's undeniable that businesses are facing economic uncertainty in 2023. Here's what marketing tools to tap into to navigate the challenges ahead. Photo via LinkedIn

Make 2023 the year of optimized marketing for your startup — that's Libby Covington's advice. Partner at The Craig Group, she outlined her tips in a guest column for InnovationMap.

"Continued growth starts with goal setting and coming up with a marketing and business development strategy that fits the unique needs of a business," she writes. "This works most effectively when a company’s management team ensures that marketing and sales are working in lockstep. They are two sides of the same coin and need to see themselves that way to maximize results and therefore profit." Read more.

It's undeniable that businesses are facing economic uncertainty in 2023. Here's what marketing tools to tap into to navigate the challenges ahead. Photo via Getty Images

Houston expert: 5 marketing musts for business growth plans in 2023

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All indications point to a fair amount of economic uncertainty in the coming months. I think a lot of B-to-B companies, across many industries, are going to retrench in their spending, and deals will likely be harder to close because more approvals will be required. Still, there are going to be those companies who will continue to grow because they are using the right go to market strategies and tactics.

Here are some of the things for high growth company management teams to consider doing.

Invest in a CRM tool — and the time to set it up

A customer relations management, or CRM, tool is an essential component of data measurement — and every company needs to closely track those key performance indicators towards revenue and growth goals.

A CRM tool doesn’t have to be expensive. There are many low initial investment options such as Hubspot, SharpSpring, and others. The investment then becomes the staff or consultant time to set it up correctly so that it meets a company’s needs and to continue to monitor it.

How much time is spent depends on what you want the system to do. Some companies run their website out of a CRM platform, or send automated emails, or do their other social media through it. Others only use it to track their contacts and sales.

Data may show desired progress — or it may show stagnation — and a team needs to be able to analyze information expediently to reformulate a plan, or pivot to a new one, if needed.

Prioritize the digital toolkit

While companies have a lot of different digital marketing tools at their disposal, there are five basic elements to consider optimizing. If the resources aren’t available to tackle them all at once, the management team needs to determine their top priorities.

Website design and content: Think about this as a company’s virtual lobby. A well-designed website with relevant content is essential for attracting new business. Ranking well in organic web searches — SEO — is also a very important component.

Social media: LinkedIn, with its business focus, is a great place to start. Companies can share their story, interact with potential investors, and build relationships with potential clients.

Email marketing: An email marketing newsletter is the logical step after developing a compelling company website. The content should benefit the reader. What can you do for them?

Content marketing: Blog posts, videos and ebooks are just some of the value added content you can share with potential investors and clients. What makes your company different from your competitors?

Paid advertising: Companies can use paid advertising to target potential new customers through online channels such as search engines and social media. The nice thing about paid advertising is that the attribution is there — companies can pinpoint exactly what messaging resonated with a potential client.

Let goals drive strategy

SEO and digital ads are not the solution for every company. Some companies need to make only a handful of deals each year to reach revenue goals. Broad-based digital marketing is not the best strategy for these players. What is? Often content.

The internet has given potential customers unparalleled ability to comparison shop. They want to know what a company does differently than its competitors. Whether a service or product is cheaper or faster or easier to work with. So tell them.

In addition to web content, speaking opportunities at conferences are a powerful way for companies to position themselves as differentiated in a given marketplace.

On the flip side, high volume players who require a lot of smaller deals would do very well with a far-reaching digital outreach approach.

Listen to experts

No one is an expert in all areas. And they shouldn’t try to be. Whether that is financial analysis or digital marketing, hiring the right people to fill in any deficiencies is the smart move.

Trying to wing it through effort and good intentions is often frustrating for everyone. With digital marketing and lead generation, a lack of expertise can sometimes result in implementing a product or service that’s not really going to generate the expected results.

If a company spends big money on a digital marketing tactic, and it fails to land new business, then the assumption might be that digital marketing doesn’t work. That’s often not the case. It was simply the wrong tool for the job. An expert would help pinpoint the correct one.

Measure success first by revenue

Digital marketing should primarily be responsible for moving potential customers down the sales funnel. And sales revenue is the best evidence that the marketing was effective.

There has always been that push and pull with sales and marketing about what actions actually contribute to closing a deal but a good CRM tool will help.

There are other ways to measure the success of any campaign:

  • The number of visitors to a company’s website or social media page
  • The level of engagement a campaign generates or the amount of time a prospect engages with content
  • The number of leads generated, along with the quality of that lead
  • The return on investment

Continued growth starts with goal setting and coming up with a marketing and business development strategy that fits the unique needs of a business. This works most effectively when a company’s management team ensures that marketing and sales are working in lockstep. They are two sides of the same coin and need to see themselves that way to maximize results and therefore profit.

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Libby Covington is partner at Houston-based The Craig Group, a strategic digital marketing solutions consulting firm. Her specialty is in understanding how sales and marketing work together effectively.

This week's roundup of Houston innovators includes Allie Danziger of Ampersand, Wesley Okeke of CUBIO, and Libby Covington of The Craig Group. Courtesy photos

3 Houston innovators to know this week

who's who

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


Allie Danziger, co-founder and CEO of Ampersand Professionals

Allie Danziger, is bridging the gap between the next generation — and their future employers. Photo courtesy of Ampersand

Allie Danziger has established herself as an expert in the future of work and all things Gen Z in the workplace. The founder of an internship matching and training platform called Ampersand, she's contributed numerous articles on related topics, including "The Great Resignation," which is affecting the workforce across industries. It's also something her platform can address, as she explains on the Houston Innovators Podcast.

"When someone leaves, other people take on that work. If you don't hire proper support for the people still there, you see the trickle. You see more and more people leave, because they are just burnt out," Danziger says. "By hiring interns or entry-level support, it shows the employees still there that you've got them."

Danziger shares more on Ampersand's future and navigating the Gen Z workforce on the podcast. Click here to read more and stream the episode.

Wesley Okeke, CEO of CUBIO Innovation Center

Wesley Okeke has established some much-needed new lab space in the Texas Medical Center. Photo courtesy

Look alive, Houston biotech innovators. CUBIO Innovation Center has some new space available for you. What originated as mostly coworking space, CUBIO has pivoted to provide more lab space for early stage biotech startups. The latest edition to CUBIO in the Texas Medical Center? A brand new wet lab.

“We have all the necessary equipment for a fully functioning biotech lab,” Okeke tells InnovationMap.

"For those working with cell culture, the dry lab provides almost no resources or infrastructure for you to build it out," he continues. "A wet lab brings in the necessary equipment and environment to be successful in developing pharmaceuticals, drug delivery devices, whatever you need in the biotech space.” Click here to read more.

Libby Covington, partner at The Craig Group

What should Houston startups know about marketing? Photo courtesy

How should startups be marketing themselves to venture capitalists? Libby Covington has some advice in a guest article for InnovationMap — from making your marketing plan and catering specifically to VCs.

"It is important to focus on efficient top line revenue growth as a business grows and scales," she writes. "Digital marketing is an important part of the overall growth plan, and should not be overlooked. The clock starts ticking on profitability growth once a business owner partners with investors. Make sure your business has an effective plan to meet the goals set out." Click here to read more.

What should Houston startups know about marketing? Photo via Getty Images

Houston expert weighs in on marketing from an investor’s perspective

guest column

Just what do investors want to see from a startup with regards to the company’s marketing? I recently spoke on this topic to a cohort of early-stage technology startup entrepreneurs at Softeq Venture Studio, an accelerator program that helps founders build investable technologies and businesses.

Here are some of the highlights of our discussion.

Building the base for marketing efforts

It’s important for company founders to think about the bigger picture. When we’re talking to clients at Craig Group, we talk about market growth and revenue growth, not just marketing. Because that’s what the investors are thinking about.

Things like the EBITDA margin and recurring revenue are important to investors. They prefer predictable revenue growth rather than uneven or project based fluctuations . Investors also expect the founders to have a plan for the scalability of their business.

Entrepreneurs need to consider how they are going to scale and where they are going to scale. What markets are they going to address and what’s the plan for that — what’s the timeframe?

An exit plan is also a must because even if the founder is planning on staying in the business, investors are seeking a return on investment with another transaction after the successful growth, and profitability, of a company. Founders have to begin with the end in mind.

A marketing strategy that appeals to investors

There are hundreds of private equity firms interested in lower middle-market companies, defined by having between $2 million and $20 million in EBITDA, or earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortization. It’s competitive but there’s a lot of money to be put to work.

Startup founders need to focus on the basics first when setting the expectations for marketing investment. And they need to know who their customers are and where their ideal target audience is.

Considerations include the serviceable obtainable market (SOM) which is what the company thinks that they can logically support today. That is separate from the serviceable addressable market (SAM) and the total addressable market, which is what a company will work towards penetrating.

You want to know how many of these potential customers exist, and to do that, you need data. If you don’t have it, you can look at adjacent markets. Build the customer acquisition cost that you can afford. It’s not as important what the number starts out with but how it trends, as it should become more efficient over time.

The marketing investment will grow top-line revenue, target the most profitable customers, be able to reach potential customers in more scale and more quickly than sales efforts alone, and elevate the perception of the company prior to the investor’s exit.

Key parts of a strategic marketing plan

The most expensive customer is a new customer.

In the marketing cycle, "pre-awareness" requires the biggest marketing investment. If potential customers don’t understand what a product or service is, it is going to cost the company a lot to educate them on a new category, so that is best left to those with more resources than a middle-market startup.

A more cost-effective way to reach customers is during the research or comparison part of the marketing cycle. You can demonstrate what differentiates you from your competitors. Are you selling on price? Are you selling on service? Think about a side by side comparison.

Once the buyer has reached the decision and loyalty part of the sales funnel and purchased from the company, then the marketing has been effective, and customer retention becomes a key focus.

In complicated business to business sales cycles, there might be a number of people involved in making the decision to buy your product or service. What is important to the IT decision maker might not be important to the potential customer in finance or purchasing. You need to have compelling messaging for all of them, which means you need your marketing to be like your customer, and meet their needs directly.

Sales and marketing 101

Many middle market companies don’t pay enough attention to their front door, which is a company’s website.

Your potential customer is going to be on your website often but certainly 20 to 30 minutes before a sales meeting. And if they don’t find something compelling, they probably won’t be inclined to move forward with your product or service.

Digital strategy and content geared toward both awareness and lead generation can help with the ultimate goal of profitability.

Entrepreneurs shouldn’t spend on marketing tactics until they have a solid strategy, but once they do start investing in advertising or other marketing tactics, they should be able to get metrics and ROI on their campaigns from their marketing partners.

It is important to focus on efficient top line revenue growth as a business grows and scales. Digital marketing is an important part of the overall growth plan, and should not be overlooked. The clock starts ticking on profitability growth once a business owner partners with investors. Make sure your business has an effective plan to meet the goals set out.

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Libby Covington is partner at Houston-based The Craig Group, a strategic digital marketing solutions consulting firm. Her specialty is in understanding how sales and marketing work together effectively.

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Houston-founded startup raises $1.2M and moves headquarters to Detroit

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Houston-founded ChurchSpace, known as the Airbnb for churches, has formed an official partnership with the City of Detroit and will relocate its headquarters.

The announcements come as the company successfully closed a $1.2 million oversubscribed funding round. The round was led by California-based Black Ops Ventures, with participation from Michigan Rise and Dug Song of Minor Capital, who is also the founder of the Song Foundation, another Michigan-based organization.

"This raise is more than a business milestone—it's a testament to what happens when strategy meets faith. In today's climate, raising capital takes grit and resilience—especially without deep networks or traditional access. By God's grace, doors have opened, and our mission is clearer than ever. Now, with capital in hand, we're building boldly toward a future where the Church isn't just surviving—but leading community transformation," Emmanuel Brown, co-founder and CEO of ChurchSpace, said in a statement.

In Detroit, ChurchSpace plans to activate underutilized church campuses as micro-logistics spaces for food distribution and retail partnerships, as well as last-mile delivery centers. To kick off its relocation, ChurchSpace will host a Detroit Pastor Meetup on July 19.

"We welcome ChurchSpace's investment in Detroit and the jobs and innovation it will bring," Detroit Mayor Mike Duggan added in the release. "Our faith community has long been a critical backbone of our neighborhoods. Through ChurchSpace's groundbreaking work, they will continue to be anchors of opportunity and resilience in our city's future."

ChurchSpace was originally founded to convert underutilized church real estate into event, meeting and commercial kitchen space to boost revenue and relieve financial burden while remaining compliant with IRS regulations for non-profits. The company participated in the inaugural cohort of the AWS Impact Accelerator for Black Founders, which included a pre-seed fundraising campaign and a $125,000 equity injection from Amazon in 2022. It was also one of two Houston companies to receive $100,000 as part of the Google for Startups Black Founders Fund that same year.

The company reports that its platform in Texas has generated up to $100,000 annually in new revenue that was reinvested into church ministries, food programs and community initiatives.

"What we built in Houston was more than technology—it was transformation. We expanded our purpose and packaged proven strategies to help churches thrive, transform communities, and even combat food insecurity," Day Edwards, co-founder and president of ChurchSpace, added in the statement. "Now, with prayer and the support of our team and investors, we're bringing that same impact to Detroit—to help churches, communities, and small businesses redefine pulpits and rediscover communal possibilities."

Houston space tech co. lands millions and more innovation news to know

Trending News

Editor's note: It's time to recap the top innovation news for the first half of May 2025. Our five most-read stories from May 1-15 include updates from Intuitive Machines and The Ion. Plus, driverless trucks hit the road from Houston to Dallas. Get all of the details below.

1. Houston space tech leader lands up to $10 million for Earth re-entry vehicle and lab

The Texas Space Commission has selected Houston's Intuitive Machines to develop a vehicle that will return lunar samples to Earth, along with an orbital fabrication lab. Photo courtesy Intuitive Machines.

Houston-based space technology, infrastructure, and services company Intuitive Machines has been awarded a state grant of up to $10 million to help develop an Earth re-entry vehicle and in-space biomanufacturing lab. The Texas Space Commission approved the grant, which is coming from the state’s Space Exploration and Research Fund. Intuitive Machines says the money will support its “critical risk-reduction platform” for returning lunar samples to Earth. The funding will go toward an early 12-month phase of the project. Continue reading.

2. 9 can't-miss Houston business and innovation events for May

Don't miss these May events — from an investor activation series to a crawfish cook-off. Photo courtesy Greentown Labs.

There's a lot to learn this month at events around Houston. Hear from AI and energy experts or gain insights into how to tap into funding at informative panels or sessions. Continue reading.

3. Autonomous truck company rolls out driverless Houston-Dallas route

Aurora began regular driverless deliveries between Houston and Dallas on April 27. Photo courtesy Aurora.

Houston is helping drive the evolution of self-driving freight trucks. In October, Aurora opened a more than 90,000-square-foot terminal at a Fallbrook Drive logistics hub in northwest Houston to support the launch of its first “lane” for driverless trucks—a Houston-to-Dallas route on the Interstate 45 corridor. Aurora opened its Dallas-area terminal in April and the company began regular driverless customer deliveries between the two Texas cities on April 27. Continue reading.

4. Texas-based 'DoorDash for laundry' startup tumbles into Houston market

The service has been a smash success in Austin. Courtesy photo

Laundry may seem like an endless task that piles up, but a new service offers a solution to overwhelmed Houston families. NoScrubs, an Austin-based home laundry pickup service has just expanded to Houston. Described by the company as "DoorDash — but for laundry," they wash customer's clothes at local laundromats and return them the same day, folded and ready to be put away. The service took off like gangbusters in Austin, making an expansion to the state's largest city an obvious choice. Continue reading.

5. New energy innovation and coworking spaces open at the Ion

The Oxy Innovation Center has opened at the Ion and Industrious' coworking space launches soon. Photo courtesy of The Ion

Houston-based Occidental officially opened its new Oxy Innovation Center with a ribbon cutting at the Ion. The opening reflects Oxy and the Ion's "shared commitment to advancing technology and accelerating a lower-carbon future," according to an announcement from the Ion. Oxy, which was named a corporate partner of the Ion in 2023, now has nearly 6,500 square feet on the fourth floor of the Ion. Rice University and the Rice Real Estate Company announced the lease of the additional space last year, along with agreements with Fathom Fund and Activate. Continue reading.

Houston healthtech leader launches clinical trial for innovative anxiety-treating device

making waves

Houston-based Nexalin Technology’s proprietary neurostimulation device will move forward with a new clinical trial evaluating its treatment of anxiety disorders and chronic insomnia in Brazil.

The first of Nexalin’s Gen-2 15-milliamp neurostimulation devices have been shipped to São Paulo, Brazil, and the study will be conducted at the Instituto de Psiquiatria university hospital (IPq-HCFMUSP). The shipments aim to support the launch of a Phase II clinical trial in adult patients suffering from anxiety and insomnia, according to a news release.

“Brazil is an important emerging market for mental health innovation, and this collaboration marks our first IRB-approved study in the region,” Mike White, CEO of Nexalin, said in the release.

The study will be led by Dr. Andre Russowsky Brunoni, who specializes in neuromodulation and interventional psychiatry. He currently serves as director of the interventional psychiatry division at IPq-HCFMUSP and this summer will join UT Southwestern in Dallas and its Peter O’Donnell Jr. Brain Institute as a professor of psychiatry.

The Phase II study plans to enroll 30 adults in São Paulo and assess the efficacy of Nexalin’s non-invasive deep intracranial frequency stimulation (DIFS™) of the brain in reducing anxiety symptoms and improving sleep quality, according to the company. Using the Hamilton Anxiety Rating Scale (HAM-A), the trial’s goal is a reduction in anxiety symptoms, and assessments of sleep onset latency, total sleep time, overall sleep quality, depressive symptoms and clinical impression of improvement. The company plans to share results in a peer-reviewed scientific journal.

“Anxiety and insomnia are very common conditions that often occur together and cause significant distress,” Brunoni added in the news release. “In this study, we are testing a new, non-invasive brain stimulation technology that has shown promising results in recent research. Our goal is to offer a safe, painless, and accessible alternative to improve people’s well being and sleep quality.”

The Nexalin Gen-2 15-milliamp neurostimulation device has been approved in China, Brazil, and Oman.

The company also enrolled the first patients in its clinical trial at the University of California, San Diego, in collaboration with the VA San Diego Healthcare System for its Nexalin HALO, which looks to treat mild traumatic brain injury and post-traumatic stress disorder in military personnel and the civilian population. It also recently raised $5 million through a public stock offering. Read more here.

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