Houston venture capitalist says it's time for more women in VC

HOUSTON INNOVATORS PODCAST EPISODE 73

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

In all the turmoil of 2020, Samantha Lewis had at least one silver lining. The former director of Goose Capital transitioned into her new position as principal at Mercury Fund.

However fortunate she feels to have her new position, she shares on the Houston Innovators Podcast this week that there's not nearly enough of women like her in venture capital.

"The bottom line is there has to be more women with check-writing abilities," Lewis says on the show. "And when there is more women with check-writing abilities, more women will get funded."

Joining the podcast at the start of Women's History Month, Lewis says that the pandemic disproportionately affected women's careers across the board — but when it comes to VC, the solution is growing the female representation at firms.

"It is up to the people in VC hiring or the institutional investors who are giving money to funds to make sure there's a woman on the investment team," she says — adding that just one isn't enough.

In her role at Mercury, Lewis is helping build up the fund's processes — something she specialized in at Goose. She's also focused on building up the portfolio around a specific theme.

"One of the things specifically that Mercury brought me over to focus on from an investment perspective is something we're calling our 'power theme,'" Lewis says. "Think about it as giving people the power to make decisions that are authentic to their values around sustainability and impact."

There have been significant changes in consumer values driven by millennials, and businesses are prioritizing sustainability and transparency in order to keep up. Lewis discusses how Houston-based Topl, which is one of Mercury's portfolio companies, has a major role to play in this space.

Another key area of interest for Lewis is fintech.

"The other piece of the theme is thinking about the democratization of financial services," Lewis says. "Legacy financial institutions have ignored large groups of our population here in America and broader for a very long time. Technology is actually breaking down a lot of those barriers, so there are all these groups that have traditionally been ignored that now technology can reach to help them build wealth."

Lewis discusses more about how Mercury Fund is at an inflection point and how the Houston innovation ecosystem is developing with intention on the episode. Listen to the full interview below — or wherever you stream your podcasts — and subscribe for weekly episodes.

Kim Raath, CEO of Topl, and Leslie Goldman, general partner at The Artemis Fund, identified three challenges that female entrepreneurs face while going through the fundraising process. Photos courtesy

2 female Houston entrepreneurs discuss challenges women face during fundraising

women in VC

It's estimated that women make up only around 10 percent of decision makers in venture capital firms in the United States, and women-led companies only receive of a fraction of venture capital invested. And, stats aside, female entrepreneurs continue to face obstacles in the process that their male counterparts don't always share.

Kim Raath — co-founder and CEO of Topl, a Houston-based blockchain startup — and Leslie Goldman — general partner and co-founder of The Artemis Fund — discussed some of these obstacles at a virtual fireside chat for Dallas Startup Week. Here are the three challenges women face during fundraising, as Raath and Goldman discussed.

Balancing being realist with optimism

It's almost a chiche at this point — yet it still holds a great deal of truth — that women tend to be more honest than men when it comes to applying for jobs, for instance. Goldman says she's seen it plenty of times, especially when she was involved in corporate recruiting at one point in her career. Raath and Goldman agreed, women want to check off all the boxes on a requirements list.

"Men would apply if they could check just one box," Goldman says. "Women tend to be more realistic."

This trait, while noble, can be a disadvantage as it translates to the fundraising process.

Navigating unconscious bias

Raath says she's no stranger to discrimination for being a woman. In the chat, she tells a story of when she was a girl and the woman's track event she was supposed to run was canceled. She had her heart set on getting to nationals, so her father lobbied for her to get a chance to run in the boy's race. Eventually, they let her and she came in second place.

She continued to observe moments like this throughout her schooling, especially when she started studying male-dominated studies like economics and statistics — Raath now has a master's and a Ph.D from Rice University. When recently raising money for Topl's latest round, her observational and statistical mind picked up on something. Raath explains that there are two types of questions a VC might ask you — preventative vs. promotional. An example she gives for each is:

Preventative: "How many daily users do you have?"
Promotional: "How do you look to acquire users?"

"About three months in, I started realizing that I'm constantly getting these preventative questions. So, I did a little research," Raath says, explaining that she found that women are more likely to get these preventative questions. "Now, every preventative question I got, I started answering with a promotional answer."

It's the same unconscious bias as how a young male entrepreneur might be considered, "young and promising," while a woman with the same resume would be considered, "young and inexperienced."

Creating a supportive network

Raath and Goldman discussed the importance of women surrounding themselves with supportive networks made up of both women and men. On one hand, it's key to have fellow female entrepreneurs or investors who have been in your shoes before or whom you can give advice to — Raath says she created "woke woman wine nights" with her interns this summer.

On the other hand, having men in your network who can act as advocates — like Raath's father was as well as her male co-founders whom she says are great supporters — is crucial too.

"I have been surrounded by some amazing male counterparts," Raath says. "That's the other side of this is finding male champions."

Sandy Guitar — along with other Houston female venture capitalists — are gathering virtually to promote networking and friendship amid the pandemic. Photo courtesy of Sandy Guitar

Houstonian fosters collaboration and mentorship for women in venture capital

HOUSTON INNOVATORS PODCAST EPISODE 46

When Sandy Guitar saw that Austin had a group of women in venture capital group that promoted collaboration and networking, she knew Houston had to have one too.

Guitar, who is the managing director of the HX Venture Fund, connected with the Austin group, picked their brains and asked for advice on starting a local iteration, and recruited a few fellow female VC experts in town — and the rest is history.

"There's a part of us as women that understands necessarily that work and life combine," Guitar says on this week's episode of the Houston Innovators Podcast. "Our lives as women don't allow us to segment our lives. The truth is those parts of our lives come together. The more we can do that, the more we can build networks that help us achieve everything we want both professionally and personally."

Now, over a year later, the Women Investing in VC in Houston group has grown to over 30 members — so much that their virtual visits are broken into smaller groups. The group boasts diversity and has representatives across types of funds. To join, women must simply live in Houston and be a venture capital investor. Other than that, the group is unstructured and casual, which fosters an environment where members are allowed to ask a stupid question or speak up on something personal, as Guitar says.

"When you have no dues and very little formality, no structure, no pressure to attend — it's in that setting that you actually build trust. Organically, the friendships come together," she says. "That's what it's really about."

While the group had pre-pandemic beginnings, the model of mentorship and networking is more relevant now than ever. Men and women alike, Guitar says, are not able to silo work and life as we work from home and practice social distancing.

"COVID has made us vulnerable in an entirely new set of ways," she says. "We use our support groups — whatever they are — to help us."

Guitar discusses the group and how what the venture capital industry needs to do to evolve into a more welcoming space for women in the episode of the podcast. You can listen to the full interview below — or wherever you stream your podcasts — and subscribe for weekly episodes.

The Women Investing in VC in Houston group has pivoted to virtual events since the start of COVID-19. Photo courtesy of Sandy Guitar

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U.S. News names 5 Houston suburbs as the best places to retire in 2026

Retirement Report

Houston-area suburbs should be on the lookout for an influx of retirees in 2026. A new study by U.S. News and World Report has declared The Woodlands and Spring as the fourth and fifth best cities to retire in America, with three other local cities making the top 25.

The annual report, called "250 Best Places to Retire in the U.S. in 2026" initially compared 850 U.S. cities, and narrowed the list down to a final 250 cities (up from 150 previously). Each locale was analyzed across six indexes: quality of life for individuals reaching retirement age, value (housing affordability and cost of living), health care quality, tax-friendliness for retirees, senior population and migration rates, and the strength of each city's job market.

Midland, Michigan was crowned the No. 1 best place to retire in 2026. The remaining cities that round out the top five are Weirton, West Virginia (No. 2) and Homosassa Springs, Florida (No. 3).

According to U.S. News, about 15 percent of The Woodlands' population is over the age of 65. The median household income in this suburb is $139,696, far above the national average median household income of $79,466.

Though The Woodlands has a higher cost of living than many other places in the country, the report maintains that the city "offers a higher value of living compared to similarly sized cities."

"If you want to buy a house in The Woodlands, the median home value is $474,279," the city's profile on U.S. News says. "And if you're a renter, you can expect the median rent here to be $1,449." For comparison, the report says the national average home value is $370,489.

Spring ranked as the fifth best place to retire in 2026, boasting a population of more than 68,000 residents, 11 percent of whom are seniors. This suburb is located less than 10 miles south of The Woodlands, while still being far enough away from Houston (about 25 miles) for seniors to escape big city life for the comfort of a smaller community.

"Retirees are prioritizing quality of life over affordability for the first time since the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic," said U.S. News contributing editor Tim Smart in a press release.

The median home value in Spring is lower than the national average, at $251,247, making it one of the more affordable places to buy a home in the Houston area. Renters can expect to pay a median $1,326 in monthly rent, the report added.

Elsewhere in Houston, Pearland ranked as the 17th best place to retire for 2026, followed by Conroe (No. 20) and League City (No. 25).

Other Texas cities that ranked among the top 50 best places to retire nationwide include Victoria (No. 12), San Angelo (No. 28), and Flower Mound (No. 37).

The top 10 best U.S. cities to retire in 2026 are:

No. 1 – Midland, Michigan
No. 2 – Weirton, West Virginia
No. 3 – Homosassa Springs, Florida
No. 4 – The Woodlands, Texas
No. 5 – Spring, Texas
No. 6 – Rancho Rio, New Mexico
No. 7 – Spring Hill, Florida
No. 8 – Altoona, Pennsylvania
No. 9 – Palm Coast, Florida
No. 10 – Lynchburg, Virginia

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This article originally appeared on CultureMap.com.

Micro-nuclear reactor to launch at Texas A&M innovation campus in 2026

nuclear pilot

The Texas A&M University System and Last Energy plan to launch a micro-nuclear reactor pilot project next summer at the Texas A&M-RELLIS technology and innovation campus in Bryan.

Washington, D.C.-based Last Energy will build a 5-megawatt reactor that’s a scaled-down version of its 20-megawatt reactor. The micro-reactor initially will aim to demonstrate safety and stability, and test the ability to generate electricity for the grid.

The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) fast-tracked the project under its New Reactor Pilot Program. The project will mark Last Energy’s first installation of a nuclear reactor in the U.S.

Private funds are paying for the project, which Robert Albritton, chairman of the Texas A&M system’s board of regents, said is “an example of what’s possible when we try to meet the needs of the state and tap into the latest technologies.”

Glenn Hegar, chancellor of the Texas A&M system, said the 5-megawatt reactor is the kind of project the system had in mind when it built the 2,400-acre Texas A&M-RELLIS campus.

The project is “bold, it’s forward-looking, and it brings together private innovation and public research to solve today’s energy challenges,” Hegar said.

As it gears up to build the reactor, Last Energy has secured a land lease at Texas A&M-RELLIS, obtained uranium fuel, and signed an agreement with DOE. Founder and CEO Bret Kugelmass said the project will usher in “the next atomic era.”

In February, John Sharp, chancellor of Texas A&M’s flagship campus, said the university had offered land at Texas A&M-RELLIS to four companies to build small modular nuclear reactors. Power generated by reactors at Texas A&M-RELLIS may someday be supplied to the Electric Reliability Council of Texas (ERCOT) grid.

Also in February, Last Energy announced plans to develop 30 micro-nuclear reactors at a 200-acre site about halfway between Lubbock and Fort Worth.

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

Houston falls from top 50 in global ranking of 'World's Best Cities'

Rankings & Reports

Houston is no longer one of the top 50 best cities in the world, according to a prestigious annual report by Canada-based real estate and tourism marketing firm Resonance Consultancy.

The newest "World's Best Cities" list dropped Houston from No. 40 last year to No. 58 for 2026.

The experts at Resonance Consultancy annually compare the world's top 100 cities with metropolitan populations of at least 1 million residents or more based on the relative qualities of livability, "lovability," and prosperity. The firm additionally collaborated with AI software company AlphaGeo to determine each city's "exposure to risk, adaptation capacity," and resilience to change.

The No. 1 best city in the world is London, with New York (No. 2), Paris (No. 3), Tokyo (No. 4), and Madrid (No. 5) rounding out the top five in 2026.

Houston at least didn't rank as poorly as it did in 2023, when the city surprisingly plummeted as the 66th best city in the world. In 2022, Houston ranked 42nd on the list.

Despite dropping 18 places, Resonance Consultancy maintains that Houston "keeps defying gravity" and is a "coveted hometown for the best and brightest on earth."

The report cited the Houston metro's ever-growing population, its relatively low median home values ($265,000 in 2024), and its expanding job market as top reasons for why the city shouldn't be overlooked.

"Chevron’s shift of its headquarters from California to Houston, backed by $100 million in renovations, crowns relocations drawn by record 2024 Port Houston throughput of more than four million containers and a projected 71,000 new jobs in 2025," the report said.

The report also draws attention to the city's diversity, spanning from the upcoming grand opening of the long-awaited Ismaili Center, to the transformation of several industrial buildings near Memorial City Mall into a mixed-use development called Greenside.

"West Houston’s Greenside will convert 35,000 square feet of warehouses into a retail, restaurant and community hub around a one-acre park by 2026, while America’s inaugural Ismaili Center remains on schedule for later this year," the report said. "The gathering place for the community and home for programs promoting understanding of Islam and the Ismaili community is another cultural jewel for the country’s most proudly diverse major city."

In Resonance Consultancy's separate list ranking "America's Best Cities," Houston fell out of the top 10 and currently ranks as the 13th best U.S. city.

Elsewhere in Texas, Austin and Dallas also saw major declines in their standings for 2026. Austin plummeted from No. 53 last year to No. 87 for 2026, and Dallas fell from No. 53 to No. 78.

"In this decade of rapid transformation, the world’s cities are confronting challenges head‑on, from climate resilience and aging infrastructure to equitable growth," the report said. "The pandemic, long forgotten but still a sage oracle, exposed foundational weaknesses – from health‑care capacity to housing affordability. Yet, true to their dynamic nature, the leading cities are not merely recovering, but setting the pace, defining new paradigms of innovation, sustainability and everyday livability."

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