3 Houston innovators who made headlines in May 2025

Innovators to Know

Zach Ellis, founder and general partner of South Loop Ventures. Photo via LinkedIn

Editor's note: Houston innovators are making waves this month with revolutionary VC funding, big steps towards humanoid robotics, and software that is impacting the agriculture sector. Here are three Houston innovators to know right now.

Zach Ellis, founder and partner of South Loop Ventures

Zach Ellis. Photo via LinkedIn

Zach Ellis Jr., founder and general partner of South Loop Ventures, says the firm wants to address the "billion-dollar blind spot" of inequitable distribution of venture capital to underrepresented founders of color. The Houston-based firm recently closed its debut fund for more than $21 million. Learn more.

Ty Audronis, CEO and founder of Tempest Droneworx

Ty Audronis, CEO and founder of Tempest Droneworx

Ty Audronis, center. Photo via LinkedIn.

Ty Audronis and his company, Tempest Droneworx, made a splash at SXSW Interactive 2025, winning the Best Speed Pitch award at the annual festival. The company is known for it flagship product, Harbinger, a software solution that agnostically gathers data at virtually any scale and presents that data in easy-to-understand visualizations using a video game engine. Audronis says his company won based on its merits and the impact it’s making and will make on the world, beginning with agriculture. Learn more.

Nicolaus Radford, CEO of Persona AI

Nicolaus Radford, founder and CEO of Nauticus RoboticsNicolaus Radford. Image via LinkedIn

Houston-based Persona AI and CEO Nicolaus Radford continue to make steps toward deploying a rugged humanoid robot, and with that comes the expansion of its operations at Houston's Ion. Radford and company will establish a state-of-the-art development center in the prominent corner suite on the first floor of the building, with the expansion slated to begin in June. “We chose the Ion because it’s more than just a building — it’s a thriving innovation ecosystem,” Radford says. Learn more.

Zach Ellis, founder and general partner of South Loop Ventures, which recently closed its debut fund. Photo via LinkedIn

Houston VC firm closes $21M fund for underrepresented founders

fresh funding

Houston-based South Loop Ventures recently closed its debut fund for more than $21 million, led by investments from Rice Management Company and Chevron Technology Ventures.

The funds will go toward teams with at least one underrepresented founder of color working in the energy, health, space, sports and fintech sectors. Additional investments came from The Great Commission Foundation of the Episcopal Diocese of Texas, Texas CapitalBank and others organizations.

According to South Loop Ventures, less than 3 percent of venture capital reaches underrepresented founders of color. Zach Ellis Jr., founder and general partner of South Loop, says the firm wants to address this "billion-dollar blind spot."

"Inequitable distribution of venture capital represents a clear market inefficiency—and market inefficiencies translate into exceptional opportunities," Ellis said in a release.

He added that the firm's location in Houston will help it make an impact.

"Being anchored here gives us front-row access to world-class corporations eager to engage and support innovation from founders with underrepresented voices and perspectives," he added in the release.

Ellis founded South Loop Ventures in 2022. It has funded 13 companies since August 2023 and plans to fund several more this year. Its portfolio includes Houston-based Milkify, a breast milk freeze-drying service; Lokum App, a Houston-founded platform for recruiting certified registered nurse anesthetists; and others.

Ellis' background spans the United States Military, academia, and roles at Rev1 Ventures and PepsiCo’s corporate venture team. He previously told InnovationMap that he was called to invest in founders of color after George Floyd's murder. He says he also realized how much money was being left on the table by overlooking these innovators.

"The mission of South Loop is to become the preeminent source of venture capital dollars for underrepresented, diverse teams nationally to serve as a beacon for the best underrepresented talent and to enable them to be successful through leveraging the unique resources and talent of Houston," he said on the Houston Innovators Podcast in 2024. "A big part of our mission is also to help catalyze Houston as an ecosystem for tech entrepreneurship."

Listen to the full interview with Ellis here. The recent funding news and Ellis were also featured in a profile by TechCrunch earlier this week. Click here to read more.

Ad Placement 300x100
Ad Placement 300x600

CultureMap Emails are Awesome

Property Showcase

UH receives $1M grant to advance research on rare pediatric disorder

peds research

The University of Houston has received a two-year, $1.1 million gift from the Cynthia and George Mitchell Foundation to advance research on a rare genetic disorder that can lead to both deafness and blindness in children, known as Usher Syndrome.

The current grant will support the research of UH biomedical engineering professors Muna Naash and Muayyad Al-Ubaidi, who work in the Laboratory for Retinal Molecular and Cellular Biology and Gene Therapy in the Cullen College of Engineering. The professors have published their findings in the journal Nature Communications.

Naash and Al-Ubaidi’s research focuses on mutations in the USH2A gene, which is crucial to the development and maintenance of the inner ear and retina. The work was inspired by a chance meeting that changed Naash’s life.

“Our work began more than two decades ago when I met a young boy who had lost his both his vision and hearing, and it made me realize just how precious those two senses are, and it truly touched my heart,” Naash said in a news release from UH. “Thanks to the generosity of the Cynthia and George Mitchell Foundation, we can now take the next critical steps in our research and bring hope to families affected by this challenging condition.”

The grant from the foundation comes in addition to a previous $1.6 million award from the National Eye Institute in 2023, which helped create a research platform for innovative gene therapy approaches for the condition.

Usher Syndrome affects 25,000 people in the U.S. and is the most common genetic condition worldwide that impacts both hearing and vision in children. Currently, there is no cure for any of the main three types of the condition. UH believes support from the Cynthia and George Mitchell Foundation will help elevate research, advance real-world solutions in health and improve lives.

“What makes UH such a powerful hub for research is not just its own resources, but also its location and strategic partnerships, including those with the Texas Medical Center,” Al-Ubaidi said in a news release. “We have access to an extraordinary network, and that kind of collaborative environment is essential when tackling complex diseases like Usher syndrome, where no single lab can do it alone.”

Members-only coworking club Switchyards to open first Houston location

Where to Work

An innovative take on the coworking space is coming to Houston. Switchyards will open its first location in the Bayou City on Monday, September 29.

Located in the former Buffalo Exchange at 2901 S Shepherd Drive, Switchyards is well located on the border of Montrose, River Oaks, and Upper Kirby. Founded in Atlanta, the Houston location will join 30 outposts in cities such as Austin, Dallas, Denver, Kansas City, and Nashville.

Unlike WeWork, which caters to companies looking for office space for groups of employees, Switchyards pitches itself as a club for individuals who want to get a little work done away from their home offices.

“Working from home all the time is pretty lonesome,” Switchyards creative director Brandon Hinman says. “It feels good to have places to get out and mix it up. To change paces and change scenery.”

Switchyards facilitates that change of scenery with an environment that blends touches of hotel lobbies, college libraries, and coffee shops. As seen in the photos of the company’s other location, the furniture is a mix of desks, comfy chairs, and couches for individuals or small groups. It’s a far cry from the cube farms of the Office Space era.

“They tend to be historic, textured, layered,” Hinman says about the company’s locations. “A lot of really good furniture. Really thoughtful for getting a couple hours of work done.”

Each location features fast wi-fi, plenty of electrical outlets, and good quality coffee and tea. All 250 members have 24/7 access to the space. And by choosing the real estate they lease carefully, Switchyards keeps its membership price to $100 per month.

“Packaging it together like that and opening in these neighborhoods where people actually live has been pretty magical,” Hinman says. "The big opportunity, I think, is that 90 percent of our members have never had a shared space before. It is unlocking a new thing for people.”

Those who are interested in learning more can sign up at switchyards.com/houston-tx to get early access to memberships and an invite to a sneak peek party.

Memberships go on sale Thursday, September 25 at 10 am. Switchyards notes that the last 14 clubs have sold out on day one.

---

This story originally appeared on CultureMap.com.

Houston's surge in new startups cools since pandemic peak, study shows

by the numbers

Startup activity in the Houston metro area has dipped since its pandemic peak, according to a new study.

Dating back to 2005, the volume of applications to form new businesses in the Houston area hit its highest level in 2021 (151,804). Since then, though, the application volume has fallen, according to the study, conducted by business debt collection agency The Kaplan Group. Here's the breakdown from the last few years:

  • Applications dropped to 130,011 in 2022
  • Climbed to 145,926 in 2023
  • Dropped again to 138,595 in 2024

Looking at the Houston area’s figures another way, the 2024 total surpassed the 2015-19 average by roughly 60 percent to 90 percent, the study shows.

Dallas-Fort Worth has seen similar startup declines (162,312 in 2021 vs. 153,378 in 2024), but the San Antonio metro area recorded higher application volume in 2023 and 2024 (37,412 and 35,798, respectively) than it did in 2021 (34,208).

The story is different in the Austin metro area. Application volume in 2023 and 2024 (53,200 and 59,190, respectively) exceeded the 2021 total (47,106).

The picture for startup activity in Texas’ four major metros deviates from the nationwide picture.

“America’s real viral trend is entrepreneurship,” says The Kaplan Group. “New business formations are reaching an all-time high across the country.”

In the U.S., per-month business formations soared 435 percent from 2004 (89,561) to 2025 (478,805), the study says.

Amid the growth of startup activity, business bankruptcies in the U.S. have plummeted almost 74 percent since 2004, according to The Kaplan Group.

“The country’s business scene has grown both more resilient and more ambitious in the past two decades,” the collection agency says.

View All Listings