The Collectiv Foundation, in collaboration with Rice University, today announced the creation of the AI Native Dual-Use Sports, Health & Wellness Accelerator powered by The Collectiv in Houston’s Ion District, a 16-acre innovation hub in Houston’s Midtown developed by Rice. The accelerator platform is designed to support early-stage founders building artificial intelligence technologies validated in sports and scaled across health, enterprise and consumer markets.
The accelerator will officially launch in March and will be hosted at the Ion, the epicenter of the Ion District and Houston’s emerging venture advantage platform. It will connect founders with emerging and established professional sports leagues and franchises, university athletic conferences and departments, hospital systems, corporate partners, leading university entrepreneurship and business programs, and venture capital. Through The Collectiv’s platform, founders gain direct access to mentors, advisers, operators, pilot opportunities and investment capital, with the sports sector serving as an early validation layer and commercialization pathways extending into larger global markets.
The accelerator will focus on high-growth sportstech verticals, including but not limited to performance and health, fan experience and media platforms, data and analytics, and enterprise infrastructure. Additional details on accelerator programming, partners and application timelines will be announced in the coming weeks.
“Houston is quickly becoming one of the most important innovation hubs at the intersection of sports, health and AI,” said Ashley DeWalt, co-founder and managing partner of The Collectiv and founder of The Collectiv Foundation. “By launching this platform with Rice University in the Ion District, we are building a category-defining acceleration engine that gives founders access to world-class research, global sports properties, hospital systems and venture capital. This is about turning sports-validated technology into globally scalable companies at a moment when the world’s attention is converging on Houston ahead of the 2026 World Cup.”
The Collectiv’s accelerator is launching at a time when innovation across these sectors is accelerating, and AI-driven performance, data, and health technologies are expanding into global commercial and consumer markets. Houston is emerging as a national hub at this intersection, driven by major initiatives including the Rice-Houston Methodist Center for Human Performance, the Rice Brain Institute, the Rice Gateway Project and stadium revitalization.
At the same time, Houston’s health and life sciences ecosystem is gaining national prominence in brain health research and translational medicine with Rice and Texas Medical Center institutions advancing new funding initiatives and interdisciplinary collaborations that are strengthening the region’s leadership at the intersection of health, technology and commercialization.
“The combination of Rice University’s research leadership, Houston’s unmatched health ecosystem, and The Collectiv’s operator-driven investment platform creates a powerful acceleration engine,” said Blair Garrou, co-founder and managing partner at Mercury Fund and senior adviser to The Collectiv. “This is exactly the type of venture-scale infrastructure needed to support founders building the next generation of AI Native sportstech and wellness companies.”
With capital, research, infrastructure, and global visibility converging ahead of the FIFA World Cup 2026, this represents a generational opportunity to support founders building dual-use technologies validated in sports and scaled into health, enterprise and consumer markets, the founders said.
“This platform gives founders something that is incredibly rare — direct access to decision-makers across professional sports, health care, academia and enterprise,” said Chantell Preston, managing partner at The Collectiv and vice chair of The Collectiv Foundation. “We are creating real commercialization pathways through mentorship, pilots, partnerships and capital, all built around a global stage that few cities in the world can offer.”
The accelerator is backed by The Collectiv, a community-powered venture capital fund built and backed by senior leaders across sports, technology and venture, in strategic partnership with venture capital firm Mercury Fund.
“The Ion was built to serve as the front door for innovation in Houston, bringing together founders, corporations, universities and investors,” said John Reale, interim associate vice president and executive director of the Rice Alliance for Technology and Entrepreneurship, which drives activation at the Ion. “This accelerator embodies that mission and positions Houston as a global destination for sports, health and AI innovation.”