The Ion, Houston’s tech epicenter, is excited to announce its fourth cohort of the Ion Smart and Resilient Cities Accelerator (ISRCA) and the second cohort of the Ion Aerospace Innovation Accelerator (AIA) for Minority Business Enterprises are in the home stretch of programming in their respective cohorts and will soon participate in Demo Day on June 14-15. This two-day celebration, which is open to the public, is hosted by the Ion Accelerator Hub, which has been working with ten organizations that are focused on building a safer, smarter, and more accessible city for all Houstonians. The Demo Days will celebrate both of the cohort’s successes through networking and pitch competitions.

Event details can be found here:

● June 14, at 4 PM: The Ion Accelerator Hub Demo Day

● June 15, at 1 PM: The Ion Accelerator Hub Elevator Pitch Competition

During the 12-week programs, ISRCA and AIA for Minority Business Enterprises startups participated in curated mentor office hours, networking, and events including 1:1 pitch coaching sessions, education, and training from top experts, design thinking workshops and executive coaching.

Presenting startups include:

● Boxes – Boxes is a Techstars and Greentown Labs startup. With their devices, they are powering the future of retail by combining physical and digital technology to democratize convenient, affordable, and sustainable retail.

● Cochran Aerospace – Cochrane Exploration offers everyone the opportunity to experience and experiment in space. They are developing unmanned vehicles to offer asset deployment and recovery for various mission profiles on a recurring schedule and crewed vehicles to transport teams to Space Stations, the Moon, Mars, and beyond.

● InnoGrid – The mission of InnoGrid is to provide equity through energy resiliency. They are developing the first working lab in the heart of Houston’s Innovation Corridor for microgrid and distributed energy resource (DER) innovators and start-ups from near and far.

● My AfterLife – My AfterLife organizes your entire online life into a bundle of digital living wills, funeral plans, multimedia memorial portfolios, and estate arrangements. They help you with the details of how you’re laid to rest and assure you get the final say.

● Renu Energy – Renu Energy Services Inc. is an energy technology company focused on energy recovery, creation, and storage. The startup is a services-based company converting waste to electricity on-site, providing reliable 24/7 energy, and keeping waste from the environment, landfills, and oceans.

● Rescunomics – Now, First Responders and Active Shooter victims can be found in real-time without latency. For the first time, emergency workers and Law Enforcement can view the internal layouts of the building they respond to just by typing the address into their Mobile Display Units (MDC).

● Spark Spaces – Sparks Spaces is an ESG-focused project management firm working on electrification, mobility, and energy transition. Their current solution allows EV drivers to charge anywhere.

● Smartiron – Smartiron is pioneering AI-enabled guidance for construction equipment. Our foundational product is an AI guidance module mounted on top of manned construction equipment providing operators with AI-assisted vision into their productivity, safety, and workflow.

● Studio Pod – Studio Pod was created with the mission to make professional-quality headshots more accessible through an interactive and self-guided experience. Through automation, we deliver a superior experience and product at a fraction of the price of a traditional headshot taken by a photographer.

● Universal Toll Tag – Unytag offers on-demand toll travel from your phone. Use their safe, simple, secure platform to pay as you travel through each toll. No more down payments at the beginning of the month to pay for tolls you haven’t passed through yet. Unytag only charges the account as you drive through the toll.

The Ion Accelerator Hub unites four accelerator programs under one roof. The hub works to cultivate technology and talent in relevant industries, including but not limited to engineering, construction, robotics, medicine, health support systems, and additive manufacturing. The Ion Accelerator Hub is empowered by the support of Ion partners Microsoft, Chevron, Aramco, ExxonMobil, Intel, bp, The City of Houston, NASA, and DivInc.

The Accelerator Hub is funded by a grant from the U.S. Economic Development Administration [ED20HDQ0200051]. The Ion’s Aerospace Innovation Hub is funded by a grant from the U.S. Department of Commerce, Minority Business Development Agency [MB20OBD8020146].