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Howdy folks,
How about some news and things I’m excited about?!
Houston just got its big exit.
Fervo Energy hit Nasdaq last week under $FRVO and popped 33% on debut, pushing its valuation past $10 billion. For a Houston-based geothermal startup selling 24/7 carbon-free power to Google data centers -- that's a statement. TechCrunch
Taylor Chapman put it well: investors and operators have been saying for years that what Houston's startup ecosystem needed most was a big exit. Well, now it has one. The real question is what happens next -- does this capital find its way back into the ecosystem, or does it leave town?
That's the part worth watching. Full TechCrunch breakdown here.
Houston's education ecosystem just got its own home base.
My friend Naeem Vehvaria is launching the very first InnovatED Monthly Meet-Up -- a recurring gathering for educators, EdTech founders, and leaders who are done waiting for someone else to fix learning. First events set the tone for everything that follows. Be in the room when this one starts.
Register - LINK
Spotlight: Kevin Jones & Eugenia Timasheva
Two Houston builders. Two bets on where the internet is actually going.
Kevin Jones runs developer relations at Edge & Node (the team behind The Graph), hosts the Crypto Mastery podcast, and teaches devs how to ship on Ethereum at events like HackMoney and RenderATL. Eugenia Timasheva brings 15+ years of data and growth experience across Google, Amazon, and Sephora -- and runs the operational side of everything they build together.
Together, they're co-founders of Spritz -- a censorship-resistant chat app for Web3 with HD video, live streaming, and no central server to shut down. Kevin also founded 1Claw, an AI security venture doing secret management for agents and humans: HSM-backed vaults, a TEE proxy that strips PII before it hits any LLM, and an Intents API that lets agents sign on-chain without ever touching a private key. Free tier starts at 1,000 requests a month.
Houston keeps building. These two are proof.
- oleg 👊
P.S. Know a Texas company doing something insane? hit reply.
Got a founder friend who needs to hear this? forward them this email. let's raise Houston's tech game together.
At Rocket Network, we do the dirty work for you, curating Houston's tech scene so you spend less time scrolling and more time building. Want to be featured or sponsor? Hit reply.
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 HTX THIS WEEK
⚡Geothermal Transition Summit NA (Day 1) — Norris Conference Center (All Day)
Pint of Science: AI — Decoding Humans — Social Beer Garden (7:00–9:30 PM)
Tuesday, May 19
Cappuccino Connections (8:30 am - 10:30 am)
Female Founders & Friends (9:00 am - 10:00 am)
⚡Geothermal Transition Summit NA (Day 2) — Norris Conference Center (All Day)
Angel Investing 101
🚀Bayou City Startups May Happy Hour 5:00pm – 7:00pm
Wednesday, May 20
🚀Cup of JoeY | Bay Area Houston (8:30 - 10:30 AM)
🚀Cup of JoeY | Richmond-Katy (8:30-10:30 AM)
⚡Cypher AI Summit: AI Adoption in Heavy Industry (1:00 PM - 4:00 PM)
Thursday, May 21
🚀Wade's Houston Startup Speedrun — The Ion, 4201 Main St (9:00 AM–7:00 PM)
🚀⚡Greentown AI + Energy Sector Pitch Day — The Ion, 4201 Main St (1:30–6:30 PM)
🚀Houston AI Club May Build Lab (6:00 PM to 8:00 PM CDT - 801 Travis St)
🤓💻Should You Build an MCP Server? (5:30 PM to 7:30 PM CDT)
Friday, May 22
🚀Cup of Joey — The Ion, 4201 Main St (8:30–10:30 AM)
SCORE Office Hours — The Ion, 4201 Main St (10:00–11:30 AM)
NASA Office Hours — The Ion, 4201 Main St (10:00 AM–12:00 PM)
🚀Startup Circle Houston — The Ion, 4201 Main St (10:30–11:30 AM)
⚠️Hosting a tech meetup or startup event? Submit it via the RocketNetwork Event Submission Form to boost your visibility!
FEATURED EVENTS
FEATURED JOBS
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That’s a wrap for now, RocketNetworkers,
Stay tuned, and keep grinding!
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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