Venture capitalists from across the nation will descend on Houston September 12 to explore the city’s startup and innovation ecosystem at Venture Houston 2022, a daylong forum hosted by HX Venture Fund at The Ion. HX Venture Fund, a fund investing in venture capital funds, was created in 2017 to serve as one of several catalysts  to transform the Houston region into a world-leading hub for innovation. The fund works to attracts risk capital of leading venture capital firms outside of Houston to the area. Click to expand Since 2017, Houston’s tech and innovation ecosystem has grown significantly. Houston is now considered the third-fastest growing tech ecosystem for early-stage companies in the country. Houston companies secured $2.02 billion in venture capital funding last year, a 420% increase over five years earlier.  We spoke with HX Venture Fund’s Managing Director Sandy Guitar to discuss why Venture Houston 2022 is critical to Houston’s continued success. Why is Venture Houston 2022 important to the region and what conversations should we anticipate?  Venture Houston is a conference that showcases future innovation in Houston. We bring to the stage venture capitalists whose investment strategy is in line with the kinds of investments we offer in Houston, together with corporate innovation leaders in Houston, alongside some of Houston’s premier Founders.  We will be hosting conversations along significant tech verticals that are pillars of strength in Houston: conversations that highlight best practices in enterprise and consumer-facing software, energy transition, life sciences, space and mobility and more. The data shows us there is clear momentum in Houston. Since 2017, VC investment has grown from $423 million to $2.02 billion in 2021, a near five-fold increase and unprecedented 47.4% growth rate per year. How is Houston positioned to continue to be a top market for investment?   We believe that innovative entrepreneurs are everywhere, and very much prevalent in Houston. Historically, we have been a flyover city for many sophisticated sources of venture capital. Today, experienced venture capitalists from the coasts are landing in Houston at our invitation and are excited about the investment opportunities here. We have entrepreneurs building category-changing companies that can disrupt some of the most potent areas for innovation in the world, and the venture capitalists are paying attention. What can the Houston ecosystem do better to support and foster its innovation ecosystem and help startups increase their access to capital? The venture capitalists with whom we partner see us as the “easy button” to investing in Houston. At HX Venture Fund, we are committed to bringing in the kind of capital that Houston needs to innovate. We commend the many ecosystem players that also have a role in making connections and add value in the private company process. Groups like the Cannon, Greentown Labs, Mass Challenge and many more are making a real difference as well.  Anything else that you’d like to add or that you’d like people to know about HXVF and/or Venture Houston 2022? We would like to thank the corporate innovators in Houston that help make all of this happen.  We could not do this work without the support of our Limited Partners, who are seeking to support innovation in their own global corporations by being customers, investors and acquirers of high growth, venture-backed tech companies, and who are great corporate neighbors supporting Houston.  Learn more about Houston's innovation ecosystem. 

Houston-based Fluence Analytics ranked as one of the top-50 private advanced manufacturing companies in the world, according to a report by CB Insights. The annual report also recognized the data firm, which specializes in continuous analytics and process control solutions for polymer and biopharma industries, as a top startup under the Research & Development (R&D) Optimization bracket.  CB Insights analyzed 6,000 companies based on R&D activities, market potential, investor profiles, tech novelty, competitive landscape and other business factors  to develop the list of  50 most promising advanced manufacturing companies in the world. CB insights then segmented companies into cohorts, showcasing the leading companies those specialties. Fluence Analytics obtained an elite ranking under the R&D optimization cohort, alongside Toronto-based BenchSci and San Francisco-based Benchling.  Fluence Analytics CEO Jay Manouchehri told the Partnership his team is thrilled to see the firm’s work recognized on a global scale. "Our team is very excited that our real-time process analytics, optimization and control products for the polymer and biopharma industries are included among such elite startups,” Manouchehri said.  The new rankings come one year after the company relocated its headquarters to the Houston region from New Orleans. The company relocated  to take advantage of Houston’s talent pool and robust energy and petrol industries, which are Fluence Analytics' key customers.  "There are very, very good people in the Houston area with a lot of diverse experience — oil and gas, petrochemicals, all the service companies, a lot of the contractors and fab shops that we would work with," President and CCO Alex Reed told Houston Inno in Aug. 2021.  Fluence’s rankings showcase Houston’s thriving tech industry, consistently attracting notable companies and strong talent to the region. Houston currently houses over 40 corporate R&D centers and 24 major energy R&D centers.  Learn more about Fluence Analytics as well as Houston’s burgeoning digital tech and advanced manufacturing industries.