Reporting on San Antonio’s Startups

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

22Sep

By Iris GonzalezNo Comments

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

Articles, Featured

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

Articles, Featured

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 ...

Are You a Security Tech Startup? Apply by July 5 to gener8tor’s Cybersecurity Accelerator

13Jun

By Iris GonzalezNo Comments

Articles, Featured, Sponsored Post

Are You a Security Tech Startup? Apply by July 5 to gener8tor’s Cybersecurity Accelerator

Are you building a security technology startup and could use some help getting your cybersecurity product or service to market?Apply to gener8tor, a San Antonio-based startup accelerator designed for early-to-growth stage security tech-focused startups. The Fall 2023 cohort starts August 17 and runs for 12 weeks ending November 10. The deadline to apply for the Fall 2023 cybersecurity accelerator cohort is July 5.The gener8tor Cybersecurity Accelerator offers a cutting-edge program in San Antonio, Texas, home to the second-largest concentration of cybersecurity experts in the United States. San Antonio is home to the largest pool of certified cybersecurity experts outside the nation’s capital region, the U.S. Air Force Cyber headquarters, NSA Texas, a massive private sector presenc...

Top 5 IP Mistakes Startups Make — and How to Avoid Them

12Jun

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Articles, Featured, Guest Posts

Top 5 IP Mistakes Startups Make — and How to Avoid Them

Samar Shah is a patent attorney at Outlier Patent Attorneys, PLLC, where he represents startups and enterprise companies on patents in the AI, robotics, cybersecurity, SaaS, and health-tech sectors, as well as advanced tech for medical devices, mechanical devices, and biotech applications.Startups often make costly intellectual property (IP) mistakes due to inexperience, lack of resources, or simply not addressing IP ownership and protection in agreements. Here’s a guide to help you understand what IP is, what to avoid, and the best practices you can implement as a startup navigating a seemingly daunting legal landscape. What is Intellectual Property or IP? IP generally covers creations of the mind but, more practically, can refer to a product idea, software, song, or even custom...

Robotic Prosthetics Startup Alt-Bionics Wins New Innovation Award

5Jun

By Iris GonzalezNo Comments

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Robotic Prosthetics Startup Alt-Bionics Wins New Innovation Award

San Antonio robotics startup Alt-Bionics has garnered the first-ever Shaun D. Kennedy Award Of Excellence In Empathy & Innovation. On Monday, founder Ryan Saavedra announced his robotics startup had won this award and a non-diluting $15,000 cash prize that will help Alt-Bionics closer to its goal of helping those in need of an affordable robotic hand."Alt-Bionics mission is to create high functioning, highly affordable prosthetic devices for below-elbow amputees," Saavedra said. "We plan to expand our line of prosthetics over time to produce bionic upper limb and lower limb devices."San Antonio philanthropist Harvey Najim created this award to recognize an entrepreneur building a company focused on solutions for those with physical or developmental disabilities. The award is na...

Bunker Labs Partners with Geekdom to Support Veteran-Launched Startups

23May

By Iris GonzalezNo Comments

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Bunker Labs Partners with Geekdom to Support Veteran-Launched Startups

National veteran-focused nonprofit Bunker Labs and Geekdom, San Antonio’s collaborative startup community, have partnered to support veterans and service members transitioning from a military career to entrepreneurship.Bunker Labs supports veterans virtually and with in-person entrepreneurial programs in almost 40 major cities across the U.S. The San Antonio chapter first launched in 2016, only to shut down during the height of the pandemic in 2020. CEO Blake Hogan said Bunker Labs has since relaunched its three main programs in San Antonio.Read: Bunker Labs Relaunches San Antonio Chapter to Support Veteran Startups One of Bunker Labs' programs is their Veterans in Residence business incubator for veteran-owned and military spouse-owned startups. Bunker Labs is partnering with Gee...

VelocityTX TechNovum accelerator graduates 5 new life science startups

11May

By Iris GonzalezNo Comments

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VelocityTX TechNovum accelerator graduates 5 new life science startups

The University of Texas Health Science Center in San Antonio hosted a demo day Tuesday showcasing life science researchers who participated in UT Health’s six-week TechNovum accelerator program. VelocityTX, a San Antonio-based nonprofit innovation center, signed an agreement with UT Health San Antonio in February to run TechNovum. The TechNovum accelerator program was first launched in 2019 to support UT Health investigators interested in learning entrepreneurship to commercialize their inventions. Read: VelocityTX signs UT Health San Antonio agreement to run TechNovum accelerator The cohort included six UT Health San Antonio researchers from five new companies developing advances for the market. Jeremy Davis is an associate professor in UT’s Department of Neurology and Glenn Biggs Ins...

PorchPass Hires Rackspace Co-Founder to Scale Fintech Platform

10May

By Iris GonzalezNo Comments

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PorchPass Hires Rackspace Co-Founder to Scale Fintech Platform

PorchPass, a financial technology (fintech) app developed by Braustin Homes, has hired software developer Dirk Elmendorf, Rackspace Technology co-founder, along with Jobward developers Brett Elmendorf, Natalie Karney, and Emily Rodriguez to help scale the San Antonio startup’s fintech platform.PorchPass is the first fintech app designed for land buyers, sellers, and dealerships in the manufactured housing sector. Braustin Homes created PorchPass as a cash-backed solution to streamline the new home construction process for manufactured homes.While Braustin Homes addressed the need for a streamlined home-buying experience — something co-founder and CEO Alberto Piña discovered the U.S. homebuilding industry overall wrestles with — one critical piece was missing. These same buyers ofte...