Editor’s note:Another week has come and gone, and it’s time to round up the top headlines from the past few days.
Access to capital is key for all our members, and I’m going to be in charge of refining and upgrading our investment program.” Read more.
In Houston, we’re lucky to have top-tier doctors in the Texas Medical Center, ready to treat us with the newest technology.
Since InnovationMap last caught up with Jim Havelka, CEO of InformAI, two years ago, that hope has come far closer to a reality.
SinusAI, which helps to detect sinus-related diseases in CT scans, received its CE Mark — the European equivalent of FDA approval — last year and is being sold across the Atlantic today, says Havelka.
“At TMC Innovation, we start with a promise of uniting cutting-edge innovators in science and medicine with the talent found at the Texas Medical Center,” says Emily Reiser, associate director of TMC Innovation, in a news release.
“We are excited to welcome a new group of researchers and companies to the TMC Innovation Factory, and to work collaboratively with our new cohort members and our partners from across the Texas Medical Center,” she continues.
The project is a joint effort from Houston-based Syzygy Plasmonics and nonprofit research institute RTI International and sponsored by Equinor Ventures and Sumitomo Corporation of Americas.
“Integrating our technology with RTI’s Fischer-Tropsch synthesis system has the potential to significantly reduce the carbon intensity of shipping, trucking, and aviation without requiring major fleet modifications.” Read more.
But Audronis, who has literally written the book on designing purpose-built drones — actually, more than one — wasn’t going to sit back and let it happen again.
When asked how he connected with co-founder Dana Abramowitz, Audronis admits that it was Match.com — the pair not only share duties at Tempest, they are engaged to be married.
When Audronis mentioned his vision of drone battalions, where each is doing a specialized task, Abramowitz, a serial entrepreneur and founder who prefers to leave the spotlight to her partner, told him that he shouldn’t give the idea away at a conference, they should start a company.
The system uses a video game engine for viewing, but as Audronis puts it, “the magic happens” on the back end.
With the example of wildfires in mind, battalions can swarm an affected area to inform officials, stopping a fire before it gets out of hand.
The civilian version of Harbinger will be available for sale at the end of 2023 or beginning of 2024.
Not bad for a company that was, until recently, fully bootstrapped.
As Audronis says, Tempest Droneworx is “100-percent made in Houston.” Paradise may have been lost, but with Harbinger soon to be available, such a disaster need never happen again.