# Startup & founder events in Houston

Curated by [foundercal.com](https://foundercal.com/). Only events worth a founder's time: conferences, demo days, founder dinners, meetups and workshops. Generic networking filler is filtered out. Updated daily.

- City page (HTML): https://foundercal.com/cities/houston
- Calendar feed (ICS): https://foundercal.com/cities/houston.ics
- All cities + usage guide for AI agents: https://foundercal.com/llms.txt

17 upcoming events as of 31 August 2026.

## AI Operator Spotlight: Houston's AI Leaders Open Their Playbooks

- Date: Thursday 3 September 2026, 17:30 (America/Chicago)
- Type: Meetup
- Price: Free
- Venue: The Ion, 4201 Main St, Houston, TX 77002
- Organizer: [Houston AI Club](https://foundercal.com/organizers/houston-ai-club)
- Details: https://foundercal.com/events/ai-operator-spotlight-houstons-ai-leaders-open-their-playbooks-2026-09-03
- Register / official page: https://foundercal.com/out/9192?p=md

Two operators who shipped AI at opposite ends of the scale, asked for the unfiltered version. Chuck Yates left energy private equity to co-found Collide, the first generative AI platform built for oil and gas, now 6,000 users in 122 countries and backed by Mercury Fund. Charles Jessup rolled AI out…

## Houston Energy + Climate Startup Week 2026

- Date: 14 September 2026 – 18 September 2026
- Type: Conference
- Venue: The Ion District & venues across Houston, 4201 Main St, Houston, TX 77002
- Organizer: [Houston Energy Transition Initiative (Greater Houston Partnership)](https://foundercal.com/organizers/houston-energy-transition-initiative-greater-houston-partnership)
- Details: https://foundercal.com/events/houston-energy-climate-startup-week-2026-2026-09-14
- Register / official page: https://foundercal.com/out/2945?p=md

A week-long, city-wide program of 30+ founder events anchoring Houston's claim as the energy capital: pitch days, demo nights, investor matchmaking, and site tours across the most complete energy value chain in the world. The inaugural 2025 edition drew 290+ startups and 3,900+ attendees; it…

## NordicLink 2026: Nordic Innovation Meets the US

- Date: Monday 14 September 2026, 13:00 (America/Chicago)
- Type: Pitch
- Price: Free
- Venue: Greentown Labs Houston, 4200 San Jacinto St, Houston, TX 77004
- Organizer: [Greentown Labs](https://foundercal.com/organizers/greentown-labs)
- Details: https://foundercal.com/events/nordiclink-2026-nordic-innovation-meets-the-us-2026-09-14
- Register / official page: https://foundercal.com/out/9195?p=md

Norway sends its boldest climate tech companies to Houston for a live pitch competition, and Greentown puts American VCs and industrial buyers in the seats. For a Houston founder it is a short, dense afternoon: cross-border investors who rarely come through town, and a look at what the Nordic…

## 2026 Houston Energy & Climate Startup Week Kickoff

- Date: Monday 14 September 2026, 16:30 (America/Chicago)
- Type: Conference
- Venue: The Ion, 4201 Main St, Houston, TX 77002, USA
- Organizer: [Houston Energy + Climate Startup Week](https://foundercal.com/organizers/houston-energy-climate-startup-week)
- Details: https://foundercal.com/events/2026-houston-energy-and-climate-startup-week-kickoff-jwYhxVWxZwCp9mC
- Register / official page: https://foundercal.com/out/7589?p=md

Kick off Houston Energy & Climate Startup Week in the Ion District! Join founders, investors, corporate leaders, researchers, and innovators from across Houston and beyond as we officially launch a week dedicated to advancing the future of energy and climate innovation. The evening begins with a…

## Investor Breakfast & Pickleball Social

- Date: Tuesday 15 September 2026, 07:30 (America/Chicago)
- Type: Dinner
- Venue: Pickle Lab, 4203 Fannin St, Houston, TX 77004, USA
- Organizer: [Greentown Labs](https://foundercal.com/organizers/greentown-labs)
- Details: https://foundercal.com/events/investor-breakfast-and-pickleball-social-dbkqZ1bYvJZZGwB
- Register / official page: https://foundercal.com/out/4002?p=md

Kick off Houston Energy & Climate Startup Week with an invite-only morning with light breakfast, coffee and networking on the Pickle Labs pickleball courts next to The Ion. Hosted by Energy Transition Ventures, Climate Investment, Greentown Labs and Rice Alliance. Connect with fellow venture…

## Cypher Pilotathon and Startup Showcase 2026

- Date: Tuesday 15 September 2026, 09:00 (America/Chicago)
- Type: Pitch
- Venue: POST Houston, 401 Franklin St, Houston, TX 77002
- Organizer: [Energytech Cypher](https://foundercal.com/organizers/energytech-cypher)
- Details: https://foundercal.com/events/cypher-pilotathon-and-startup-showcase-2026-2026-09-15
- Register / official page: https://foundercal.com/out/9191?p=md

Founders do not pitch the company here. They pitch one concrete pilot, in seven minutes, to the operators and corporates who can actually greenlight it. That is the point: startups need a pilot to survive, corporate qualification takes a year, and this compresses it into a day. Alongside the…

## Activate Houston: Meet the 2026 Cohort

- Date: Tuesday 15 September 2026, 17:00 (America/Chicago)
- Type: Demo Day
- Price: Free
- Venue: The Ion, 4201 Main St, Houston, TX 77002
- Organizer: [Activate Houston](https://foundercal.com/organizers/activate-houston)
- Details: https://foundercal.com/events/activate-houston-meet-the-2026-cohort-2026-09-15
- Register / official page: https://foundercal.com/out/9196?p=md

Activate is the fellowship that pays scientists two years of salary to turn a lab result into a company, and this is the night its Houston cohort goes public. The 2026 class covers geologic hydrogen, optical hydrogen sensing, rare-earth-free electric motors and natural materials. Go if you build…

## Rice Alliance Energy Tech Venture Forum 2026

- Date: 16 September 2026 – 17 September 2026
- Type: Conference
- Venue: Rice University / The Ion, 6100 Main St, Houston, TX 77005
- Organizer: [Rice Alliance for Technology and Entrepreneurship](https://foundercal.com/organizers/rice-alliance-for-technology-and-entrepreneurship)
- Details: https://foundercal.com/events/rice-alliance-energy-tech-venture-forum-2026-2026-09-16
- Register / official page: https://foundercal.com/out/2944?p=md

The premier energy-tech venture capital conference, where 100+ vetted energy and climate startups present 50+ live pitches to 600+ angels, VCs, and corporate venture groups. The most-promising ventures get invite-only investor office hours the second day. If you are building in energy transition,…

## Houston Climatetech Summit 2026

- Date: Wednesday 16 September 2026, 09:00 (America/Chicago)
- Type: Conference
- Venue: Greentown Labs Houston, 4200 San Jacinto St, Houston, TX 77004
- Organizer: [Greentown Labs](https://foundercal.com/organizers/greentown-labs)
- Details: https://foundercal.com/events/houston-climatetech-summit-2026-2026-09-16
- Register / official page: https://foundercal.com/out/2946?p=md

Greentown Labs' annual gathering of its 260+ climatetech startup community with the corporates, investors, and policymakers who back them, held at the world's largest climatetech incubator. Expect startup showcases, candid panels on scaling hard tech, and high-signal networking with founders…

## SciSure & Nucleate: Lunch and Learn

- Date: Thursday 17 September 2026, 12:00 (America/Chicago)
- Type: Meetup
- Venue: Farnsworth Pavilion, 6100 Main St, Houston, TX 77005, USA
- Organizer: [Nucleate Global Events Calendar](https://foundercal.com/organizers/nucleate-global-events-calendar)
- Details: https://foundercal.com/events/scisure-and-nucleate-lunch-and-learn-JWfF708sZ6Uuh5G
- Register / official page: https://foundercal.com/out/9791?p=md

About the Host: Nucleate is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization dedicated to empowering the next generation of biotech leaders. With chapters spanning 41 geographic regions and participation from over 280 academic institutions, Nucleate sparks new intellectual communities and embeds emerging talent…

## Halliburton Labs Pitch Day 2026

- Date: Friday 18 September 2026, 08:00 (America/Chicago)
- Type: Demo Day
- Price: Free
- Venue: The Ion, 4201 Main St, Houston, TX 77002
- Organizer: [Halliburton Labs](https://foundercal.com/organizers/halliburton-labs)
- Details: https://foundercal.com/events/halliburton-labs-pitch-day-2026-2026-09-18
- Register / official page: https://foundercal.com/out/9190?p=md

Sixteen Halliburton Labs companies present to a curated room of early-stage energy technology investors, and the finalists compete for a place in the accelerator. Halliburton Labs backs the physical end of the energy transition: reactors, electrochemistry, thermal storage, recovered materials. Past…

## Cursor Houston x AITX Community Hackathon

- Date: 19 September 2026 – 20 September 2026
- Type: Hackathon
- Venue: POST Houston, 401 Franklin St, Houston, TX 77201, USA
- Organizer: [Cursor Houston, US](https://foundercal.com/organizers/cursor-houston-us)
- Details: https://foundercal.com/events/cursor-houston-x-aitx-community-hackathon-2OSdp6F4hQleSii
- Register / official page: https://foundercal.com/out/8013?p=md

Come help Houston put our best foot forward as we battle for statewide Cursor Hackathon dominance. You will link up with other builders from Houston to build around the industries that define our city: Space, Manufacturing, Healthcare, Energy....and now AI.You will have a 24 hour runway to ideate,…

## NASA Tech Talks at the Ion

- Date: Thursday 24 September 2026, 18:00 (America/Chicago)
- Type: Meetup
- Price: Free
- Venue: The Ion, 4201 Main St, Houston, TX 77002
- Organizer: [NASA Johnson Space Center and the Ion](https://foundercal.com/organizers/nasa-johnson-space-center-and-the-ion)
- Details: https://foundercal.com/events/nasa-tech-talks-at-the-ion-2026-09-24
- Register / official page: https://foundercal.com/out/9193?p=md

Engineers from NASA's Johnson Space Center stand up once a month and describe, in detail, the technology problems they have not solved yet. The pitch to the room is explicit: here is where human spaceflight is stuck, come solve it. For a hardware or space founder this is the closest thing Houston…

## First Principles Tech Talk: From Orbit to the Lunar Surface

- Date: Wednesday 30 September 2026, 17:00 (America/Chicago)
- Type: Meetup
- Price: Free
- Venue: The Ion, 4201 Main St, Houston, TX 77002
- Organizer: [The Ion](https://foundercal.com/organizers/the-ion)
- Details: https://foundercal.com/events/first-principles-tech-talk-from-orbit-to-the-lunar-surface-2026-09-30
- Register / official page: https://foundercal.com/out/9198?p=md

Two people from Axiom Space walk through the commercial space economy as engineering, not narrative: the low Earth orbit transition and where the real bottlenecks sit, then the AxEMU lunar suit and what its constraints tell you about the true pace of the return to the Moon. First Principles is…

## Mercury Fund Day at the Ion

- Date: Tuesday 13 October 2026, 15:30 (America/Chicago)
- Type: Workshop
- Price: Free
- Venue: The Ion, Forum Stairs, 4201 Main St, Houston, TX 77002
- Organizer: [Mercury Fund and the Ion](https://foundercal.com/organizers/mercury-fund-and-the-ion)
- Details: https://foundercal.com/events/mercury-fund-day-at-the-ion-2026-10-13
- Register / official page: https://foundercal.com/out/9197?p=md

Mercury is the most active early-stage software investor headquartered in Houston, and once a month it runs its own day at the Ion. The format is office hours by application, one keynote on a specific topic, then open networking. Founders use the office hours to get a real read on their round from…

## Texas Life Science Forum 2026

- Date: 10 November 2026 – 11 November 2026
- Type: Conference
- Venue: Jones Graduate School of Business, Rice University, 1900 Rice Blvd, Houston, TX 77005
- Organizer: [Rice Alliance for Technology and Entrepreneurship & BioHouston](https://foundercal.com/organizers/rice-alliance-for-technology-and-entrepreneurship-and-biohouston)
- Details: https://foundercal.com/events/texas-life-science-forum-2026-2026-11-10
- Register / official page: https://foundercal.com/out/2947?p=md

The premier life science and healthtech venture event in Texas, co-hosted by Rice Alliance and BioHouston in the shadow of the Texas Medical Center: the largest medical complex on earth. Emerging biotech, medtech, and digital-health companies pitch to a room of life-science investors, pharma, and…

## Rice Business Plan Competition 2027

- Date: 8 April 2027 – 10 April 2027
- Type: Pitch
- Venue: Rice University, Jones Graduate School of Business, 1900 Rice Blvd, Houston, TX 77005
- Organizer: [Rice Alliance for Technology and Entrepreneurship](https://foundercal.com/organizers/rice-alliance-for-technology-and-entrepreneurship)
- Details: https://foundercal.com/events/rice-business-plan-competition-2027-2027-04-08
- Register / official page: https://foundercal.com/out/9194?p=md

The largest and richest student startup competition in the world, now in its 27th year. Around 40 teams from universities across the globe come to Houston to pitch for more than a million dollars in cash and investment prizes, judged by several hundred active investors. Alumni have gone on to raise…