Author of the Texas Startup Manifesto, which highlights connecting the Texas startup community through its numerous metropolitan areas, Josh Baer, founder and CEO of Capital Factory, is expanding his accelerator and coworking space within the Lone Star State.
The organization, which launched in Austin in 2012 and expanded its reach to beyond DFW to Houston, with a partnership with the Dallas Entrepreneurial Center, UT Dallas and Accenture, among others in 2018, is merging with Station Houston and partnering with Rice University as part of its expansion in the Lone Star State in the Houston area.
Station Houston was launched in 2016, and includes more than 180 startups, 480 members and 130 mentors in its space. Capitol Factory has about 14 Houston startups under its portfolio, with a 2019 partnership with The Cannon, a Houston-based coworking space. Startups include Goodfair, GroupRaise, Evolve Energy, Hypergiant, Spruce, Syzygy Plazmonics and Zenus Biometrics.
Since its launch in North Texas, Capital Factory has accepted about 120 companies into its accelerator, 40 of which came from Dallas.
“Our vision with the [Texas] Manifesto is that if is you’re an entrepreneur, if you’re a startup, you should treat all of Texas like one big city... treat this like you’re own backyard,” Capital Factory founder and CEO Josh Baer told NTX Inno.
According to Capital Factory, Houston brings not only a strong energy and space industry into the mix, but it also brings diversity – being one of the most diverse cities in the country, with nearly 25% of residents being born in another country.
According to a blog post, “CF will be powering Station Houston and connecting its mentor network to the Texas-wide network in Austin, Dallas-Fort Worth and San Antonio. This includes the Houston mentor network that we have been developing with The Cannon.”
"you should treat all of Texas like one big city."
Capital Factory said that starting immediately, all Station Houston members will gain access to Capital Factory’s programming, education, mentor network, as well as access to coworking spaces in Austin and DFW. Houston was chosen for its focus on the energy and space industry, especially with a strong O&G industry and being home to NASA’s Johnson Space Center.
“It’s only by a complete ecosystem that you kind of start to put it together,” Baer said.
Baer said the relationship will benefit startups across the state by connecting the different industry-specialties of different Texas cities with each other. Houston’s mentor network will be connected with Capital Factory’s other efforts across the state.
“Bringing the help, bringing a bravado, bringing that oil and gas, bringing that space and aeronautics, bringing these other aspects – bringing this incredible diversity and those international connections - that will allow a lot of other things that Houston brings to the mix,” Baer said.
