Houston’s tech scene has made many strides in recent years to set a foundation for startups to thrive, from founding to late stage, across industries. With a wealth of incubators coming online and a sharp uptick in venture capital funding, startups now have more landing spots and opportunity for growth in Houston than ever before.   We spoke to three tech startups about their experiences in Houston, including two that launched last year and one that recently relocated to Houston.   Envana Software Solutions Envana, a software-as-a-service company built to organize, model and forecast oil and gas industry emissions, has experienced tremendous growth since its launch in January 2023. The startup is a joint venture by Halliburton and Siguler Guff.  Envana's growth is marked by clients including the world’s second-largest oilfield services provider, national oil companies in APAC and Europe, and leading U.S. service providers. As the company prepares for future goals, Envana says it is looking not only to respond to demands within oil and gas, but to other energy sectors to help corporations manage their emissions.  “There’s no better place in the world for an oil and gas SaaS company to be based than Houston, Texas.  Houston is the ideal birth city for an energy startup.  For Envana –a Halliburton JV with private equity firm Siguler Guff– the city’s features, including access to investment capital, industry experts, and thought leadership in the evolving energy space, make it a prime geography. The number of energy companies based in Houston looking for innovative industry solutions is unparalleled elsewhere in the world.”  - Sally Lechin, Global Marketing, Envana  Allthenticate  Allthenticate describes itself as a cybersecurity startup on a mission to create seamless and efficient security solutions for companies via a smartphone application. The company is primarily focused on security at tech companies, though they intend to expand more of their presence to medtech and energy.   Allthenticate’s story began in 2012 as co-founder Dr. Chad Spensky pursued his PhD, eventually earning a job as a security researcher at MIT working to find gaps in security. Spensky and co-founder Rita Mounir teamed up at a startup competition at UC-Santa Barbara, taking first place and getting traction with early investors. The company was headquartered in Santa Barbara until 2022, when Spensky and his wife relocated to Houston. Allthenticate officially relocated to downtown later that year following a short stint in The Ion and learning of the many advantages the region offers as a hub for headquarters.  Allthenticate is going through another fundraising round following a $3.9 million round in 2022. The team says it remains focused on perfecting the hardware, software and application amid a rapidly changing list of security challenges, including deepfakes.  “As we’re pushing so many world’s firsts in our industry, I think our goal is to become the premier identity and access management company in the world. A lot of giants are trying to catch up, but I think we have an advantage here in what we’re doing and what we’ve built so far. In five years, I believe we will be THE identity management solution.” – Rita Mounir, Co-founder, Allthenticate  Think Diffusion  In 2023, three-time startup founder Phu Ngo produced Think Diffusion, an advanced AI video production platform. Think Diffusion has already established itself with noteworthy names, producing animated content for Toyota, McDonald’s and even a music video for Toni Braxton. Think Diffusion leverages cutting-edge open-source AI technologies to offer a comprehensive and integrated platform for AI art and video generation. Its commitment to open-source has led three universities - Swiss Federal Institute of Technology Lausanne, PVCC-Melbourne, and the National University of Singapore - to adopt Think Diffusion for their innovation labs.  Think Diffusion was started by Ngo, a Vietnamese-born Houstonian whose family found opportunity in the Lone Star State as he was growing up. Following an education at UT-Austin and UC-Santa Barbara, Ngo established himself as a software developer, eventually launching three startups. Think Diffusion spun out of Kinetic Chain Labs following a special request for animated video content, which resulted in an ultra-sophisticated art generator. For Ngo, Houston serves as an ideal place to start a business and call home.  “Houston is home for me, it has great tax advantages and there’s a lot to like. I’m excited by the growing tech hub forming here – I think the startup community at the Ion is a great example of that. On top of that, the food is amazing, the weather is great, and you get a great ROI on your money – it’s amazing here in terms of quality of life.” – Phu Ngo, CEO, Think Diffusion  Currently, Think Diffusion states that it is working on launching new experimental open-source products, expanding into AI-generated text and music, and increasing its focus on the education industry. Looking ahead, the team is ready to embrace the challenges and advantages that the future of AI could bring.  Learn more about Houston’s tech and innovation ecosystem. 

The Houston region has once again ranked third among top U.S. metros for attracting new business, according to Site Selection Magazine’s yearly analysis, while Texas earned its 12th consecutive Governor’s Cup.  “The Governor’s Cups recognize not only the winning governors, but their entire economic development teams, and by extension, the many professionals throughout their states who work every day to attract new investment and retain and grow existing businesses,” said Mark Arend, editor emeritus of Site Selection.  Site Selection identified 1,254 project wins for Texas in 2023, more than doubling the next-highest state, Illinois. With 226 more projects than 2022, Texas saw a 22% increase in projects. The Houston-The Woodlands-Sugar Land MSA won 413 projects, an uptick of more than 150 since 2022. Chicago and Dallas-Fort Worth placed first and second, respectively, in the top U.S. metros category.  "We are excited to see Texas continues to be the leading State for corporate relocations and expansions," said Partnership Vice President of Regional Economic Development Craig Rhodes. "Houston’s ranking as a top three metro further highlights the unique opportunity we have in our region for companies to access diverse talent, critical infrastructure, and the convergence of industries to grow their business on a global scale." Here is a look at a few of the notable project wins in 2023 for the Houston area:  Cart.com, an e-commerce unicorn that returned to Houston from Austin in efforts to scale its business. The move highlighted the value in Houston’s transportation infrastructure and accessibility, as well as its large and diverse talent pool.  Packgene Biotech, a CRO and CDMO company founded in Massachusetts, which broke ground on its 22,000 square feet cGMP manufacturing facility in 2023. This facility will create up to 80 jobs with $20 million invested. They are already in the expansion process to grow the facility to 35,000 square feet. This project will accelerate gene therapy product development by providing a fully integrated one-stop solution for clients.  Sumika Semiconductor Materials, a subsidiary of Sumitomo Chemical, is building a high-purity semiconductor process chemical manufacturing plant in the Houston region. The project includes an investment of $250 million and will create 50 jobs in the region.  SEG Solar, a solar panel manufacturing company, is slated to open its 145,000 square feet Houston facility by mid-2024. The project is projected to create 500 jobs with a capital investment of $60 million. The move reinforces Houston’s status as Energy Capital of the World.   In an interview with Site Selection Magazine, Governor Greg Abbott pointed to the state’s pro-business environment as to why companies keep choosing to relocate or expand their businesses in Texas.  “Industry-leading CEOs cite our pro-growth economic policies — with no corporate income tax and no personal income tax — along with our strong and growing workforce, easy access to global markets, robust infrastructure, and business-friendly regulations, "Abbott said.  The state’s new economic incentives program will be a critical tool in attracting new companies to the region. The Texas Jobs Energy, Technology, and Innovation, or JETI, program, replaces Chapter 313, which sunset in 2022.   Learn more on why companies continue to choose Houston.