With a pool of top talent, a market with plenty of opportunities, and affordable living and working spaces, it’s easy to see why Houston is a great place to start a tech company. Last year, Houston nearly caught up with Austin in terms of startup funding activity, and accounted for 39.2% of all venture capital investments in Texas, which was primarily raised from local investors.

Indeed, one of the best reasons to build a startup in Houston is vast number of local funding sources in the city. If you’re looking for investment for your startup in Houston, then check out this massive list of some of the most important funding sources, divided by stage and capital-type.

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Early Stage Funding in Houston

Notable Seed Accelerators in Houston

A "seed accelerator" is a cohort-based program that typically accepts teams (not solo-founders) with a product (functional prototype or live product) and some form of traction (for example, user, revenue, or team growth). If accepted to a seed-accelerator, a company typically receives a small investment ($15,000-$150,000) in exchange for equity (6-10%). The goal of a seed-accelerator is to help companies accelerate their product or user growth during the program (typically 3-6 months) in order to raise a proper Angel or Seed Round of funding at the "Demo Day" that concludes the program.

• Capital Factory Accelerator
• enventure.
• JLABS
• MassChallenge
• NextHIT Accelerator Program
• OwlSpark
• RED Labs
• RedHouse Associates
• Station Houston
• TMCx Accelerator
• Vesalius Accelerator

Notable Angel Investors in Houston

Angel investors are people that typically invest their personal capital in early-stage startups or entrepreneurs, and generally provide only a small one-time investment to help the business grow. They generally provide more favorable terms compared to other types of investors, since they usually invest in the earliest stages of a business, and are more focused on helping startups build a product instead of generating a profit. Angel investors sometimes go by other names, including “informal investors”, “angel funders”, “private investors”, “seed investors”, and “business angels”. Many angel investors are also professional investors and run more advanced venture funds. 

• Amitav Misra
• Aziz Gilani
• Bedros Bedrosian
• Blair Garrou
• Brad Wilson
• Carlos Hamilton
• Christopher A Howard
• Damon Spiegel
• David Baumgartner
• David Steakley
• Jai Mehta
• Jason Hill
• Jason Hodges
• John Filla
• John Leggett
• Jonas V Butkus
• Josh Adler
• Karun Sreerama
• Keith Kreuer
• Kirk Coburn
• Mike Bridges
• Purav Patel
• Rakesh Agrawal
• Richard Yoo
• Robert Anderson
• Roy Touchy
• Sudz Khawaja
• Traveon Rogers
• Vivek Dixit
• Warren Pinkerton

Notable Angel Investor Groups and Events in Houston

Angel investor groups are networks, or syndicates, of angel investors who pool their resources together to invest more money than would typically be issued with a private angel investment. Most angel networks focus their efforts on sectors or verticals in which members have experience or knowledge, although they are usually open to investments in other areas. In general, investors in groups contribute funds to the group, and a professional syndicate management team chooses the investments. The resources below are both formal angel investor groups, and also events and networks that informally gather many angel investors.

• Access Silicon Valley (Houston)
• Angel Investment Network
• GOOSE Society of Texas
• HBS Houston Alumni Angels
• Houston Angel Network
• Pipeline Angels
• Rice Angel Network
• Texas Investment Network
• TiE Houston

Growth Stage Funding

Notable Venture Capital Firms in Houston

Venture Capital ("VC") firms provide startup or growth equity capital and/or loan capital to promising ventures for returns that are higher than market interest rates, and typically focus on later stage companies. VC firms only invest in companies that have long-term growth potential of at least 10X their investment, and that already have considerable traction (very fast revenue or user growth), a strong team, and a viable product or service. Because of these high standards, generally less than .1% of businesses are funded by venture capital.

There are also many different types of VC firms. The first (and lowest) funding level for VCs is typically called a "Seed Round", which is appropriate for smaller companies that have just recently generated traction and need capital to fuel the fire of growth. After that, rounds of subsequent funding are categorized by letter ("Series-A", "Series-B", "Series-C", and so on), with the investment amount (and maturity of the business receiving funding) getting larger as the letters progress down the alphabet. Some firms invest across many (or all) of these types of rounds, but most specifically focus on one or two of these stages.

• BroadVail Capital Partners
• Chevron Technology Ventures
• Cottonwood Venture Partners
• Denham Capital
• Donovan Ventures
• EnCap Investments
• Energy Innovation Capital
• EnergyFunders
• EnerVest
• First Reserve
• Houston Health Ventures
• Houston Ventures
• KKR
• Main Street Capital
• Mercury Fund
• Murphree Venture Partners
• Rock Hill Capital
• Small Ventures USA
• TA Capital
• Texas HALO Fund
• TMC Venture Fund
• Vesalius Ventures
• Yellowstone Capital Partners

Are you a solo-founder, or is your company or idea too early for these funding options?

The Founder Institute is an idea-stage accelerator that works with solo-entrepreneurs, and teams, during the earliest stages of building a business. Through an intensive 3.5 month program, FI participants build their business through a proven structured process, and receive feedback and assistance from over 30+ successful entrepreneurs and investors in Houston. Upon completing the program, Graduates join a global network of entrepreneurs and receive ongoing help to get funding and build their business. FI Graduates have raised over $1.85BN in funding, and are building some of the world's fastest growing companies.

Learn more about the Founder Institute at FI.co, join a free startup event in Houston, or apply to build a startup in Houston today.