Texas Venture Fest: Houston Edition
The Lone Star State shouldn’t have lone star founders.
The Texas Venture Fest is the only truly "Texas-sized" day highlighting the ecosystem of startup support. More than 10 cities simultaneously host this statewide phenomenon, co-creating what is a record-breaking event for the country and proud moment for the state. Across our nation's biggest metropolis as well as small towns, 3,000+ Texans rally to see innovation flourish. When Texas thinks and acts as big as we are and in one concerted effort, it's our entrepreneurs (our states best problem solvers) who stand to benefit.
HOUSTON EDITION TENTATIVE AGENDA
8:30 AM to 10:30 AM - Cup of Joey
- Boomtown Coffee at Understory w/Joey Sanchez
10:45 AM to 11:45 AM - Office Hours
following Cup of Joey at Understory
with Houston Angel Network (HAN) w/Mitra Miller
with Allthenticate (Cybersecurity, SaaS, Enterprise, Female Founders) w/Rita Mounir
10:45 AM to 11:45 AM - A Conversation around World Cup 2026
Join us at Understory
1 PM to 6 PM - PANEL CONVERSATIONS
1 PM to 1:40 PM - Funding for Good: Innovative Approaches to Social Impact Investing w/Impact Hub - 24th Floor
LaGina Harris (The Us Space) w/Erik Ibarra (Magnolia Fund), Juliana Garaizar (ETN/Portfolia) , Kiley Summers (SpenDebt), Phillip Yates (Chair, Impact Hub Houston)
2 PM to 2:40 PM - Redefining Success: Venture Capital in Houston w/ Golden Section (GS) - 24th Floor
Katie Gregory (Senior Director, Golden Section) w/Andrew Smith (GP, GS) & Oscar Kutch (Senior Associate, GS) & Kelly Moore (Whale Song)
2:50 PM to 3:30 PM -Houston’s DeepTech Landscape - 24th Floor
Amy Tran (IMPAVIDUS) w/Homer Quintana (Houston Methodist), Carlos Estrada (First Bight Ventures), Rita Mounir (Allthenticate), Steven Gonzalez (Ecosphere Ventures & Seldor Capital)
3:40 PM to 4:10 PM - Empowering Immigrant Entrepreneurship w/Unshackled Ventures - 24th Floor
Luly Castillo (Halliburton Labs) w/Nitin Pachisia & Alexis Maciel (Unshackled Ventures)
4:20 PM to 5:00 PM - Climate Tech + AI w/ Energy Tech Nexus - 24th Floor
Jason Ethier (ETN) w/Sujatha Kuma (Dsider) & Alejandro Zotti (Decimetrix) & Katie Mehnert (Ally Energy), Robert Alford (Biatech)
5:10 PM to 5:50 PM - Houston - A Global SportsTech Leader - 17th Floor
Jesse Martinez (invincible) w/Aaron Knape (Rivalry Tech), Mark Faulkenberg (Boomtown Innovation), Maurice Ouderland (SportsNL), Jan-Luc Blakborn (Van Holland Group)
6:00 PM to 8 PM - Happy Hour with Bayou City Startups w/Adrianne Stone
COMMUNITY PARTNERS
MEDIA PARTNER
TEXAN'S CHOICE AWARDS: This year's event registration asks for your favorite investor, startup, and community leader for the Texan's Choice Awards— the "People's Choice Awards" for our statewide innovation community. Learn more about this here. Alternatively, if you need additional time to thoughtfully make suggestions, proceed with registration and upon submission we automatically email a form to complete at your convenience.
HISTORY: Read how the Texas Venture Fest started in 2022 with a handful of venture capital firms across multiple venues and 1,000+ attendees in downtown Austin, here. In 2023 it grew to 10 cities, 16 venues, 40+ venture panelists, and nearly 3,000 Texans, read the recap here. This is a sister signature event to the Texas Venture Gala & Forum, a gathering bringing together all of Texas innovation.
