🔥What's hot in Houston's Innovation Ecosystem this week?

5/26/25 - 6/1/25

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🚨HTX Founders! You’re Invited.

We’re thrilled to bring Founders Live back to Houston on June 3rd – and it’s going to be electric. REGISTRATION - LINK

5 founders
99 seconds each
4 minutes of audience Q&A
Your votes decide the winner

This global pitch competition is unlike anything you’ve seen — fast-paced, founder-first, and filled with energy. Grab your friends, coworkers, or investors and come connect with the people building the next big thing… right here in HOUSTON, Texas.

Thank you to The Ion and Honeycomb Software for supporting this special night.

Hosted by Oleg Lysiak, City Leader
Featuring Nick Hughes, founder of Founders Live

🚀 The Startups Competing
Vinita (A) GuptaAyeDu – AI-powered wedding planning
Tony Hernandez-Ferman Omniscale – B2B leads for DTC eComm brands
Chris MullinsAnswerPath – AI-driven RFI management
Sam Bhattacharyya Katana.video – Zoom to podcast in minutes
Laketta BrooksTraceWrap – GPS-powered package tracking

Agenda
5:30 PM – Networking + Happy Hour
7:00 PM – Pitches + Q&A
8:00 PM – After-party @ Second Draught

REGISTER - LINK

🎤 Want to pitch next? Apply here


🚨 Startups, Zuck and Llama wants to back you

Meta just dropped the Llama Startup Program — a no-brainer if you're building with generative AI.

What you get:

  • Up to $6K/month in cloud credits (for 6 months)

  • Hands-on support from Llama engineers

  • Early access + resources to help you ship faster

Who it’s for:
US-based startups with < $10M raised & at least one dev. If you're building in AI (health, fintech, retail, whatever), you're in the zone.

🔥 Appliacation close May 30 — don't sleep on it. - Apply

🚨Apply to the AI Futures Fund by Google

The AI Futures Fund is open to companies anywhere Gemini is available, and we’re looking for startups that want to build the future of AI with us. Is that you? Apply today.

🤓💻


LET'S ROCKET NETWORK!


We are using emojis to guide subscribers in our event list 📅📍

🚀 - must attend

🔥🌶️ - something hot

🤓💻 - good for developers and other technical folks

🦄💰- venture capital and investing-related

- energy-related

♻️- renewable energy and sustainability-related

🏥 - health care related

🎖️🪖 - veteran or military related

🏅 - sports tech related

- web3 related

HERE ARE OUR PICKS FOR THIS WEEK

Monday, May 26

Tuesday, May 27

Thursday, May 29

Friday, May 30

🌶️🦄💰Cup of Capital

Saturday, May 31

⚠️Hosting a tech meetup or startup event? Submit it via the RocketNetwork Event Submission Form to boost your visibility!


🚨BANKING FOR YOUR STARTUP + Free AWS Credits - LINK

🚨Master The Art of Crafting a Pitch Deck That Gets You Funded - LINK00 Global’s Flagship Accelerat
🚨Power your growth with $25,000 -APPLY LINK

🚨PITCH at FOUNDERS LIVE - APPLY

🚨PITCH at SOFTWARE DAY AT THE ION - APPLY

🚨THE LAUNCH Accelerator - APPLY (SPRING COHORT)

🚨Apply for up to $100K equity-free funding and one year of mentoring from Unicef - LINK

🚨Snowflake startup challenge! (receive up to $1 million in investments from Snowflake, mentorship from industry leaders at NYSE-listed companies) - APPLY

🚨Invest in Houston's first community-owned food-maker hub - LINK

🚨Everything They Teach at YCombinator in just 10 Minutes

🚨Black Founders Fund by Google - Register your interest

🚨Greater Houston Support Stack Program by Impact Hub Houston - Participant Form
🚨YC Requests for Startups - LINK
🚨AI Voice Agents: 2025 Update - LINK

🚨$100,000 For Researchers, Builders and Creatives - LINK

🚨Apply to Startup Battlefield - APPLY

🚨Win up to $10,000 in cash & prizes! Will you accept The Challenge? Entries are open April 7 - June 15 - APPLY

🚨Apply to Tech Stars - APPLY

🚨Receive 500 bonus flex credits from Windsurf - LINK

🚨Develop skills to raise your first $1M for your energytech startup Application open until May 4th, 2025 Its free to apply. - APPLY
🚨Perplexity for Startups - Apply

🚨n8n is a powerful workflow automation platform that blends AI with business process automation—start building smarter workflows today - LINK

🚨Meta just dropped the Llama Startup Program — a no-brainer if you're building with generative AI. - Appliacation close May 30 - Apply

🚨Apply to the AI Futures Fund - Apply

👉Entry Level Tech Jobs - LINK

👉Energy Community and Energy Tech Jobs - LINK

👉The Biggest Free Remote Job Board in North America - LINK

👉Soft Skills-Focused Interviews for Better Hiring Decisions - LINK

That’s a wrap for now, RocketNetworkers,

Stay tuned, and keep grinding!

❤️ - ROCKET NETWORK TEAM

Disclaimer: The content in this newsletter is for informational purposes only and does not constitute an endorsement or recommendation by any sponsors. All opinions and information are those of the author and not of the sponsors or affiliated organizations.

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