Reporting on San Antonio’s Startups

Soul Mobility powered wheelchair accessory innovates the mobility market

8Nov

By Iris GonzalezNo Comments

Soul Mobility powered wheelchair accessory innovates the mobility market

A San Antonio startup is bringing a powered accessory to the market that addresses a common issue for the more than 3.3 million Americans who use a wheelchair. Soul Mobility is producing an innovative powered wheelchair attachment that can easily convert a manual wheelchair into a powered one, making navigating long distances easier for users.Soul Mobility founder and CEO Todd Hargroder broke his neck in a motorcycle accident when he was 19. He worked hard to build strength to use his manual wheelchair but still found it tiring to use on uneven surfaces, long distances, or hilly terrain, especially as he aged."It takes time and practice to master this skill [using a manual wheelchair]," Hargroder said. "Plus, you need good upper body strength and stamina to propel yourself in a man...

Femtech startup Well and Worthy wins Trinity University Stumberg competition

19Oct

By Iris GonzalezNo Comments

Articles, Featured

Femtech startup Well and Worthy wins Trinity University Stumberg competition

A female-founded women's wellness startup won Trinity University's finalist round of the Louis H. Stumberg Venture Competition Thursday evening. The duo also was voted as the audience favorite.Senior Sofia Ortiz and sophomore Ashleigh Reese won the $25,000 grand prize in equity-free funding for scaling their startup. The team won an additional $2,500 donated by Helios Technologies senior vice president of innovation and Technology Doug Conyers, who was slated to judge the competition but could not attend.Ortiz and Reese launched their software platform and app, Well and Worthy, to provide a personalized wellness and lifestyle plan for women via a menstrual cycle-based lifestyle approach. Using science-based approaches and leveraging the holistic practice of cycle syncing, women rec...

Geekdom Pre-Accelerator Program Graduates 7 Startups

17Oct

By Iris GonzalezNo Comments

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Geekdom Pre-Accelerator Program Graduates 7 Startups

Geekdom, a downtown San Antonio co-working community, hosts a variety of programs designed to help founders build successful startups. Seven teams demonstrated their progress Monday night after participating in Geekdom's 2023 Pre-Accelerator program.Since 2018, Geekdom has run the annual six-week program to help local startups prepare for accelerator applications or early-stage investment. As founders practice their pitches, area tech leaders and investors mentor the teams in weekly workshops. The teams learned to refine their business model, focus their marketing, and polish their pitch decks. This year's pre-accelerator teams include:Based, founded by Juan Farias, is an immersive content platform that makes content meaningful and monetization easy. ColdCalr, founded by R...

Kaleido AR platform helps artists sell artwork globally

16Oct

By Iris GonzalezNo Comments

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Kaleido AR platform helps artists sell artwork globally

A serial entrepreneur turned art collector has built the first interactive media platform for the visual arts. Kaleido is an augmented reality (AR) marketplace for artists interested in listing their artwork for sale.The software-as-a-service (SaaS) platform allows collectors to easily and securely buy art directly from artists. Most of Kaleido’s artwork can be viewed through its mobile application (iPhone and Android), which renders content as virtual augmentations on screen. Users can then read information about the artist, the art piece, and the artwork's provenance. Kaleido also uses artificial intelligence to allow artists to upload audio stories that can be accessed on the web and in AR.San Antonio native and founder Ian Panchèvre was inspired to start art collecting in 2017 ...

GDIT opens new cyber facility at Port San Antonio

10Oct

By Iris GonzalezNo Comments

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GDIT opens new cyber facility at Port San Antonio

General Dynamics Information Technology (GDIT), a business unit of General Dynamics (NYSE:GD), announced Tuesday morning the opening of its new cyber facility at Port San Antonio. GDIT delivers consulting, technology, and mission services to major U.S. government, defense, and intelligence agencies.Technology partners and other stakeholders attended the Oct. 10 opening of the new facility, which has over 11,000 square feet (sq. ft.). There is 3,000 sq. ft. configured for unclassified information processing. An additional 8,000 sq. ft. can be set up for classified work as demand for GDIT's specialized expertise expands. GDIT expects to hire up to 55 people, with additional positions expected as the company’s operations expand in the region.GDIT will use the space at Port San Antonio...

Leaptran wins SBIR funding, prizes for its solar energy forecasting

9Oct

By Iris GonzalezNo Comments

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Leaptran wins SBIR funding, prizes for its solar energy forecasting

Leaptran has won significant funding for its innovative software that helps utilities manage and integrate renewable energy sources more efficiently. The San Antonio startup won a Phase II Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) grant in September for $650,000 from the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) and the National Institute of Food and Agriculture (NIFA) to develop its solar energy forecasting technology for rural and community use. As renewable energy sources like solar and wind power become increasingly prevalent in power generation, net load forecasting becomes more challenging. Net load forecasting refers to predicting the electricity demand after accounting for the electricity generated by renewable sources. Electric utilities use this data for long-term planning a...

San Antonio Startup Week (SASW) to feature pitch competitions, panels

22Sep

By Iris GonzalezNo Comments

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San Antonio Startup Week (SASW) to feature pitch competitions, panels

Entrepreneurs, it's time to highlight your calendar for the week of Oct. 16 – 21.San Antonio Startup Week (SASW) offers a week of pitch competitions, business-focused panels, and networking opportunities in downtown San Antonio. The schedule features 75 events, including five startup pitch competitions that will invest nearly $300,000 in startups during the week. Most SASW events will be held at Geekdom, located at 110 E. Houston St.Admission to all events is free, but registration is required.The week-long conference starts Monday morning with a panel featuring Mayor Ron Nirenberg, former HUD Secretary and mayor Julian Castro, Jenna Saucedo-Herrera, president and CEO of greater:SATX, and moderated by Beto Altamirano, CEO of Irys. The panelists will discuss “San Antonio Forward...

Darkhive drone startup wins $5M Air Force contract for advanced drone autonomy

6Jul

By Iris GonzalezNo Comments

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Darkhive drone startup wins $5M Air Force contract for advanced drone autonomy

San Antonio-based Darkhive is one step closer to scaling its autonomous uncrewed drone systems for military and public safety use. The startup has won a $5 million Phase III Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) contract with the U.S. Air Force AFWERX Autonomy Prime.AFWERX, the Air Force office in charge of finding new and innovative ways to use technology, has set up a new program called Autonomy Prime to learn about the autonomous technologies companies have under development — and how the military could adapt them for its missions.Defense industry executive and U.S. Special Operations veteran John Goodson launched Darkhive in Sept. 2021. Since then, he and chief technology officer Steven Turner have developed an effective, affordable alternative for military and law enforcem...

Turn Medical secures U.S. federal government contract vehicle for its innovative hospital bed

6Jul

By Iris GonzalezNo Comments

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Turn Medical secures U.S. federal government contract vehicle for its innovative hospital bed

San Antonio medical device company Turn Medical has secured a major contract with the U.S. federal government enabling the startup to supply federal customers such as the U.S. Department of Defense (DOD), the Veteran Administration (VA), and the Indian Health Service.The VA's Veterans Health Administration is the largest integrated healthcare network in the United States, with 1,255 healthcare facilities serving 9 million enrolled veterans annually.In January, Turn Medical partnered with the national provider of rented medical equipment US Med-Equip (USME) to widen access to the startup's first product for critically ill patients with severe respiratory issues.Read: Turn Medical partners with U.S. Med-Equip to widen access to its innovative hospital bed"The DOD and VA didn'...

Port San Antonio Announces Addition of Defense Contractor Tenant Leidos

14Jun

By Iris GonzalezNo Comments

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Port San Antonio Announces Addition of Defense Contractor Tenant Leidos

Port San Antonio announced the addition of Leidos Holdings Inc., a Virginia-based information technology and engineering services company, to its innovation campus. One of the largest defense contractors supporting the U.S. government, Leidos has 43,000 employees and reported annual revenues of $13.7 billion for the fiscal year ending December 31, 2021.Port CEO Jim Perschbach said during Wednesday's annual State of the Port address that he expects Leidos to open a facility on campus in the upcoming months. No financial details about the real estate transaction, facility size, and where it will be located were given at press time. Perschbach spoke to a sold-out audience of 400 business and elected government stakeholders about the Port's enviable problem. The largest commercial ...