GoExpedi, a three-year-old e-commerce and supply chain startup based in Houston, has closed a $25 million round of funding. Photo via goexpedi.com

A Houston-based industrial supply chain and analytics company has announced that it has closed its series C round this week.

GoExpedi raised $25 million in series C funding led by San Francisco-based Top Tier Capital Partners with participation from San Jose Pension Fund, Houston-based CSL Ventures, San Francisco-based Crosslink Capital and Hack VC, New York-based Bowery Capital, and more. Last year, GoExpedi raised $25 million in a series B round — also led by Top Tier Capital — and $8 million in a series A just a few months before.

"This new injection of capital will help us advance our digital platform for MRO and supply chain systems and accelerate the rollout of our new robotics operations, as well as deepen our technology team to help us meet new, insatiable demand," says Tim Neal, CEO of GoExpedi, in a news release. "Leveraging our intuitive, customer-focused, and interactive intelligence platform is a no-brainer for companies seeking to modernize their respective supply chains.

Founded in 2017, the e-commerce, supply chain, and analytics company, is using the funds to expand beyond energy into adjacent markets and further develop its machine learning software, robotics, and advanced analytics technologies. According to the release, the company also plans to hire.

"Our strong cash flow coupled with our innovative technologies are positioning us far beyond other market offerings and attracting significant interest from the industrial space," Neal continues. "We look forward to continuing our exponential growth and helping more customers that are in need of our proven technology and services."

GoExpedi's end-to-end technologies prioritize cost-cutting efficiency and upgrades the energy industry's usually outdated procurement system — all of which is attractive to the company's investors.

"We are responding to the market's heightened demand and overwhelmingly positive response from energy and industrial clients to GoExpedi's state-of-the-art digital solutions by increasing our exposure to this thriving company," says Garth Timoll, senior managing director at Top Tier Capital Partners. "We are pleased to support GoExpedi's impressive build out of additional technology and robotics as they continue to grow and expand into new markets."

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German biotech co. to relocate to Houston thanks to $4.75M CPRIT grant

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Armed with a $4.75 million grant from the Cancer Prevention and Research Institute of Texas, a German biotech company will relocate to Houston to work on developing a cancer medicine that fights solid tumors.

Eisbach Bio is conducting a clinical trial of its EIS-12656 therapy at Houston’s MD Anderson Cancer Center. In September, the company announced its first patient had undergone EIS-12656 treatment. EIS-12656 works by suppressing cancer-related genome reorganization generated by DNA.

The funding from the cancer institute will support the second phase of the EIS-12656 trial, focusing on homologous recombination deficiency (HRD) tumors.

“HRD occurs when a cell loses its ability to repair double-strand DNA breaks, leading to genomic alterations and instability that can contribute to cancerous tumor growth,” says the institute.

HRD is a biomarker found in most advanced stages of ovarian cancer, according to Medical News Today. DNA constantly undergoes damage and repairs. One of the repair routes is the

homologous recombination repair (HRR) system.

Genetic mutations, specifically those in the BCRA1 and BCRA1 genes, cause an estimated 10 percent of cases of ovarian cancer, says Medical News Today.

The Cancer Prevention and Research Institute of Texas (CPRIT) says the Eisbach Bio funding will bolster the company’s “transformative approach to HRD tumor therapy, positioning Texas as a hub for innovative cancer treatments while expanding clinical options for HRD patients.”

The cancer institute also handed out grants to recruit several researchers to Houston:

  • $2 million to recruit Norihiro Goto from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology to MD Anderson.
  • $2 million to recruit Xufeng Chen from New York University to MD Anderson.
  • $2 million to recruit Xiangdong Lv from MD Anderson to the University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston.

In addition, the institute awarded:

  • $9,513,569 to Houston-based Marker Therapeutics for a first-phase study to develop T cell-based immunotherapy for treatment of metastatic pancreatic cancer.
  • $2,499,990 to Lewis Foxhall of MD Anderson for a colorectal cancer screening program.
  • $1,499,997 to Abigail Zamorano of the University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston for a cervical cancer screening program.
  • $1,497,342 to Jennifer Minnix of MD Anderson for a lung cancer screening program in Northeast Texas.
  • $449,929 to Roger Zoorob of the Baylor College of Medicine for early prevention of lung cancer.

On November 20, the Cancer Prevention and Research Institute granted funding of $89 million to an array of people and organizations involved in cancer prevention and research.

West Coast innovation organization unveils new location in Houston suburb to boost Texas tech ecosystem

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Leading innovation platform Plug and Play announced the opening of its new flagship Houston-area location in Sugar Land, which is its fourth location in Texas.

Plug and Play has accelerated over 2,700 startups globally last year with corporate partners that include Dell Technologies, Daikin, Microsoft, LG Chem, Shell, and Mercedes. The company’s portfolio includes PayPal, Dropbox, LendingClub, and Course Hero, with 8 percent of the portfolio valued at over $100 million.

The deal, which facilitated by the Sugar Land Office of Economic Development and Tourism, will bring a new office for the organization to Sugar Land Town Square with leasing and hiring between December and January. The official launch is slated for the first quarter of 2025, and will feature 15 startups announced on Selection Day.

"By expanding to Sugar Land, we’re creating a space where startups can access resources, build partnerships, and scale rapidly,” VP Growth Strategy at Plug and Play Sherif Saadawi says in a news release. “This location will help fuel Texas' innovation ecosystem, providing entrepreneurs with the tools and networks they need to drive real-world impact and contribute to the state’s technological and economic growth."

Plug and Play plans to hire four full-time equivalent employees and accelerate two startup batches per year. The focus will be on “smart cities,” which include energy, health, transportation, and mobility sectors. One Sugar Land City representative will serve as a board member.

“We are excited to welcome Plug and Play to Sugar Land,” Mayor of Sugar Land Joe Zimmerma adds. “This investment will help us connect with corporate contacts and experts in startups and businesses that would take us many years to reach on our own. It allows us to create a presence, attract investments and jobs to the city, and hopefully become a base of operations for some of these high-growth companies.”

The organization originally entered the Houston market in 2019 and now has locations in Bryan/College Station, Frisco, and Cedar Park in Texas.