2 new VCs step up, RBPC names participants, and more top Houston innovation news from the week

trending news 2 new VCs step up, RBPC names participants, and more top Houston innovation news from the week Photo courtesy of Rice Editor’s note: Let’s roundup the top Houston innovation news from the week . Trending Houston tech and startup articles on InnovationMap included the announcement of the participating teams in the Rice Business Plan Competition, two new venture groups launching, and more. Annual student startup competition in Houston names teams for 2024 Rice Business Plan Competition named its participants for 2024. Photo courtesy of Rice The Rice Alliance for Technology and Entrepreneurship announced the 42 student-led teams worldwide that will compete in the highly competitive Rice Business Plan Competition this spring. The annual competition, known as one of the world’s largest and richest intercollegiate student startup competitions, will take place April 4 to 6 in Houston. Teams in this year’s competition represent 35 universities from four countries, including two teams from Houston and four others from Texas. Teams, made up of graduate students from a college or university anywhere in the world, will present their plans before 350 angel, venture capital, and corporate investors to compete for more than $1 million in prizes. Last year, teams were awarded $3.4 million in investment and in-kind prizes, the largest total awarded thus far in the decades-old competition after some investors doubled — or even tripled — down on investment awards. Continue reading. New Houston venture studio emerges to target early-stage hardtech, energy transition startups A Houston investor is looking to target high-potential hardtech startups within the energy transition with his new venture studio. Photo via Getty Images The way Doug Lee looks at it, there are two areas within the energy transition attracting capital. With his new venture studio, he hopes to target an often overlooked area that’s critical for driving forward net-zero goals. Lee describes investment activity taking place in the digital and software world — early stage technology that’s looking to make the industry smarter. But, on the other end of the spectrum, investment activity can be found on massive infrastructure projects. While both areas need funding, Lee has started his new venture studio, Flathead Forge, to target early-stage hardtech technologies. “We are really getting at the early stage companies that are trying to develop technologies at the intersection of legacy industries that we believe can become more sustainable and the energy transition — where we are going. It’s not an ‘if’ or ‘or’ — we believe these things intersect,” he tells EnergyCapital. Continue reading. Texas organization grants $68.5M to Houston institutions for recruitment, research Several Houston organizations have received millions from the Cancer Prevention and Research Institute of Texas . Photo via tmc.edu Three prominent institutions in Houston will be able to snag a trio of high-profile cancer researchers thanks to $12 million in new funding from the Cancer Prevention and Research Institute of Texas. The biggest recruitment award — $6 million — went to the University of Texas MD Anderson Center to lure researcher Xiling Shen away from the Terasaki Institute for Biomedical Innovation in Los Angeles. Shen is chief scientific officer at the nonprofit Terasaki Institute. His lab there studies precision medicine, including treatments for cancer, from a “systems biology perspective.” Continue reading. $100M Houston VC fund launches to back technical founders The new fund is founded by longtime investors Managing Partners Paul Sheng and Eric Bielke. Photos via ff.vc A new venture capital fund has launched with an initial $100 million mission of supporting founders with innovative critical infrastructure solutions. Fathom Fund, which is looking to build out a portfolio of advanced computing, material science, climate resilience, and aerospace startups, announced they’ve launched with an initial close of over $100 million. The fund is founded by longtime investors Managing Partners Paul Sheng and Eric Bielke. “We believe recent technological advances have accelerated the pace of scientific discovery, increasing the pool of technology companies that can produce venture-scale returns,” Sheng says in a news release. Continue reading. Houston space company’s lunar lander touches down on the moon in historic mission Though landing with a weak signal, Intuitive Machines confirmed its lunar lander has successfully landed on the moon — the first United States moon touchdown in over 50 years. Photo via intuitivemachines.com A private lander on Thursday made the first U.S. touchdown on the moon in more than 50 years, but managed just a weak signal back until flight controllers scrambled to gain better contact. Despite the spotty communication, Intuitive Machines, the company that built and managed the craft, confirmed that it had landed upright. But it did not provide additional details, including whether the lander had reached its intended destination near the moon’s south pole. The company ended its live webcast soon after identifying a lone, weak signal from the lander. “What we can confirm, without a doubt, is our equipment is on the surface of the moon,” mission director Tim Crain reported as tension built in the company’s Houston control center. Continue reading.