From lab to launch pad: how Houston’s universities became startup incubators
The breakthrough came in a University of Houston lab at 2:30 AM on a Tuesday. Dr. Sarah Chen’s team had been working for months on a new energy storage material when the latest test results finally clicked into place.
Within six months, that late-night discovery would become the foundation for a startup that’s now raising its Series A round.
How Houston is defying national startup trends in 2025
While venture capital dried up across much of America in 2025, Houston startups were busy collecting checks.
The city’s entrepreneurs raised over $1 billion in funding this year, swimming upstream against a national slowdown that left many tech hubs gasping for investment air.
Handshake economy: inside Houston’s business social scene
This year’s event calendar tells the story of Houston’s maturing ecosystem. TECHSPO Houston in April drew over 2,000 attendees, mixing established tech companies with emerging startups across Internet, mobile, and SaaS sectors. But the real action happened at XPONENTIAL 2025 in May, where Houston’s aerospace and advanced air mobility companies took center stage.
“These aren’t just networking events anymore,” observes a local venture capital partner. “They’ve become essential business development platforms where partnerships get formed and funding conversations begin.”
The Space Vision and AI Challenge (find out more here), scheduled for October at the George R. Brown Convention Center, represents Houston’s growing confidence in its artificial intelligence capabilities. The event combines the city’s aerospace heritage with its emerging AI talent, creating conversations that wouldn’t happen anywhere else.
Beyond ChatGPT: Shoreless Creates AI Workers That Connect, Execute, Self-Code, and Scale
At Boomsling Labs, Shoreless AI is quietly building something both simple and significant: AI systems that actually work with startups, not just show off. Founded in 2023 in Houston by a tight-knit team led by Ken Myers and Chris Buckner,… Continue reading Beyond ChatGPT: Shoreless Creates AI Workers That Connect, Execute, Self-Code, and Scale
Why entrepreneurs should pay attention to “Vision 2050”
If you’re building something in Houston— company, product, or career—there’s a new long-term strategy on the table that’s worth your attention.
The Center for Houston’s Future, a nonprofit nestled under the Greater Houston Partnership umbrella, focuses on shaping the region’s economic and social direction. Under new leadership, they’ve just rolled out the early phase of their latest project: Vision 2050. The goal? To imagine what Houston should look like in 25 years and create a plan to get there.
To build out the initiative, the Center pulled together experts from across the region to research and explore five focus areas, which they’re calling the Vision 2050 pillars: