2025 Houston Innovation Awards have been released.
The 2025 Houston Innovation Awards took place on November 13 at Greentown Labs, celebrating standout companies and leaders across Houston’s innovation ecosystem. More than 40 finalists were recognized, with winners selected by past award recipients, industry leaders, and Innovation Map’s editorial team. One category—Startup of the Year—was chosen by public vote. Below are the winners by category: Business & Startup Categories • Minority-Founded Business: Mars Materials — Converts captured carbon into useful chemicals and plans to open its first commercial plant within 18 months. • Female-Founded Business (Presented by Houston Powder Coaters): March Biosciences — A biotech company developing CAR-T cell therapies for hard-to-treat cancers, now in Phase 2 trials. • Energy Transition Business: Eclipse Energy — Creates sustainable hydrogen by converting end-of-life oil fields, with field trials showing promising hydrogen production. • Health Tech Business: Koda Health — Provides a digital advance-care-planning platform integrated with major health systems, recently raising a $7M Series A. • Deep Tech Business: Persona AI — Builds modular humanoid robots for dangerous or labor-short industries and is developing a robot-welder prototype for Hyundai. Growth & Ecosystem Awards • Scaleup of the Year: Fervor Energy — A geothermal energy leader developing the 400-MW Cape Station project and securing major funding and power agreements. • Incubator/Accelerator of the Year: Greentown Labs — A major climate tech incubator offering labs, resources, and investor access for startups. • Startup of the Year (People’s Choice): Flow Care — A period-health platform with smart dispensers and education, now deployed across key Houston locations.