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Axiom Space and the Spaceport are well suited for economic diversity.
NASA, Axiom unveil moonwalking spacesuit for Artemis III mission
NASA and Houston space tech company Axiom Space are preparing for mankind’s next giant leap with a newly revealed spacesuit designed for walking on the moon.
The Axiom Extravehicular Mobility Unit, or AxEMU, suit was revealed on March 15 during Space Center Houston’s Moon 2 Mars Festival, a weeklong event celebrating local space innovation. The suit was presented by NASA and Axiom personnel, including Johnson Space Center Director Vanessa Wyche, Axiom Space CEO Michael Suffredini and Axiom Mission 2 flight commander Peggy Whitson.
The project is the result of Axiom’s $228.5 million contract, which NASA awarded in September. The suits will be used in NASA’s upcoming Artemis III mission, the first return to the moon in over 50 years.
Meanwhile, Axiom is expanding its Houston presence with its new headquarters at the Houston Spaceport. The 22-acre Space Flight and Assembly Headquarters will be used to train private astronauts and to produce the Axiom Station, which has been billed as the world’s first free-flying, internationally available, private space station. The headquarters broke ground in 2022 and is expected to be complete this year.
While the Spaceport project was underway, Axiom also leased a 146,000-square-foot former Fry’s Electronics building in Webster in June 2022.
Something in reference here, many people reference Houston’s supposively darkest economic age as the 80s. However, also in the 80s, some of the biggest economic diversification shifts happened. Such as Continental’s hub forming at IAH, the rise of Compaq during the personal computer revolution, and what was happening at TMC at the time. On the contrary, in 2010ish, while most of the country was still struggling from the financial crisis, Houston was taking off and there seemed to be a stagnant growth (or even decline) in other areas. And companies reporting not being able to keep up with oil. Almost seems as if there’s an inverse relationship there.
Likewise, with how bad tech has gotten hit, makes you wonder if we will see any diversification pushes in SFBA and Austin now.
Something in reference here, many people reference Houston’s supposively darkest economic age as the 80s. However, also in the 80s, some of the biggest economic diversification shifts happened. Such as Continental’s hub forming at IAH, the rise of Compaq during the personal computer revolution, and what was happening at TMC at the time. On the contrary, in 2010ish, while most of the country was still struggling from the financial crisis, Houston was taking off and there seemed to be a stagnant growth (or even decline) in other areas. And companies reporting not being able to keep up with oil. Almost seems as if there’s an inverse relationship there.
Likewise, with how bad tech has gotten hit, makes you wonder if we will see any diversification pushes in SFBA and Austin now.
For Austin's sake, I sure hope so. Don't know how much dominance tech has there, but that's all I hear about when I read articles or hear what people have to say about it.
For Austin's sake, I sure hope so. Don't know how much dominance tech has there, but that's all I hear about when I read articles or hear what people have to say about it.
I think SFBA may have become less economically diverse over the last 20 years due to tech industry expansion and the migration out of CA by legacy industries; SF/Oak used to not have tech at all, it was almost all down in Silicon Valley.
Austin never had much diversification to begin with - it was government and education mostly, until tech really blew up from the 1990s on. So maybe it diversified from what it originally was, but I don't think you can call it diverse. They're now getting to experience what a tech downturn feels like, something Silicon Valley has had happen periodically for decades. It can be hard to diversify though when you start getting a reputation for being expensive, which Austin now has.
Geopolitical risk leading to onshoring manufacturing brings 500 new jobs to NW Houston helping to create a new supply chain and helping to diversify the Greater Houston economy.
Clean energy manufacturing gains ground in Texas, U.S
WASHINGTON – At an old medical device plant in northwest Houston, Jim Wood is doing something that would have seemed a surefire money loser just a few years ago.
Instead of making all its solar panels for the U.S. market at plants in Indonesia or Thailand, his company SEG Solar has plans to hire 500 workers to start turning out solar panels from the factory by early next year.
Wood, CEO of Houston-based SEG, said his company had been growing increasingly concerned with the delays in shipping panels from Asia, adding that tax incentives under the IRA offered the boost manufacturers needed to set up shop in the United States.
At the new SEG Solar plant in Houston, Wood and his management team, which includes Jun Zhuge, former executive vice president of Seraphim Solar, a China-based manufacturer with which SEG operates a joint venture, are only assembling solar panels. The actual silicon-based solar cells that convert sunlight into energy will be imported from Indonesia, Wood said.
"That part of the industry doesn't really exist in the U.S.," he said. "You're talking about mining and processing silicon for the cells. That uses a lot of water, so you have to recycle water and then there's environmental approvals. It's a much longer cycle and more expensive part of the supply chain."
Today there are three more examples of Greater Houston's evolving diverse economy. One entertainment empire acquisition, second is a EV battery manufacturer expanding out of state, and third is a power storage acquisition of a local company by a Massachusetts-based energy storage company.
First somebody we all know.
Fertitta Entertainment to buy Hard Rock Hotel & Casino Lake Tahoe for new Golden Nugget location.
Local billionaire Tilman Fertitta is expanding his hospitality empire with another acquisition, this time a hotel and casino.
Houston-based Fertitta Entertainment LLC agreed to acquire the Hard Rock Hotel & Casino Lake Tahoe from Las Vegas-based Paragon Gaming. The acquisition includes the business and its 24 acres of land in Stateline, Nevada, but the price was not disclosed.
The deal is expected to close within the next seven to 12 months. Shortly thereafter, Fertitta Entertainment plans to remodel the property, which will become a Golden Nugget Hotel and Casino location.
“This acquisition represents a significant opportunity for us to expand our footprint into the Northern Nevada marketplace,” said Fertitta, CEO and owner of Fertitta Entertainment.
Currently, there are Golden Nugget locations in downtown Las Vegas; Lake Charles, Louisiana; Atlantic City, New Jersey; Biloxi, Mississippi; and Laughlin, Nevada, according to the company's website. The company acquired and rebranded the locations in Biloxi and Lake Charles around a decade ago.
Last October, Fertitta received approval to develop another hotel-casino on the Las Vegas Strip. Plans for the 43-story, 2,420-room project include restaurants, about 91,000 square feet of convention space, a 37,000-square-foot spa and fitness center, a wedding chapel, an auto showroom and a roughly 2,500-seat theater.
A Houston-based electric vehicle battery-maker will power up its first plant in Greater Nashville this fall — and invest up to $150 million to double its capacity.
Executives with Microvast Holdings Inc. (Nasdaq: MVST) disclosed that expected new investment figure and other details about future expansion in Clarksville, Tennessee, after releasing its 2022 financial results late last week.
Microvast is one of several automotive companies pouring new investment into Greater Nashville and hitching the largest piece of Tennessee's manufacturing economy to electric vehicles. So far, Microvast has committed close to 290 jobs at its first Clarksville factory and another 600 to 700 at a potential second factory nearby. Notably, Microvast also makes energy storage systems that store power generated by solar and wind operations.
Microvast reported 35% growth in revenue from 2021 to 2022. Its backlog of orders more than tripled, to $410.5 million.
Microvast also is expanding manufacturing operations in China, where 65% of its revenue came from in 2022.
Agilitas Energy enters Houston with $75M acquisition of energy storage projects.
Massachusetts-based Agilitas Energy is acquiring six Houston-area energy storage system projects from Gulf States Renewable Energy in a deal worth approximately $75 million. All six will operate in the Electric Reliability Council of Texas region.
The deal marks Agilitas’ first expansion into Texas, and CEO Barrett Bilotta confirmed to the Houston Business Journal that the company plans to expand its footprint with a Houston office.
“We’re expanding not just through acquisitions but through greenfield origination,” Bilotta said. “I anticipate we get a Houston office in 2024, when we get enough headcount to justify a space.”
The six projects have a system size of 9.96 megawatts, or 20.721 megawatt hours, for a total of 60 megawatts for Agilitas’ battery storage project pipeline. The projects will deliver electricity for customers of Houston-based CenterPoint Energy Inc. (NYSE: CNP), charging when demand is low and discharging when demand is high.
Two projects will begin operations in 2023, followed by the other four beginning in 2024, the company said.
Innovation Madness spurring competition to create more economic diversity for the Greater Houston economy.
Announcing the winner of Houston Inno Madness
With over 70% of the vote, property tech app BlockX is the winner of this year’s Houston Inno Madness. Voting closed March 27 for the final round of Houston Inno’s startup competition, where BlockX defeated food delivery service UrbanGoodz Delivery to take this year’s crown.
In a nomination submitted in January, BlockX co-founder Stephen Garza wrote that the company was trying to make real estate investment more accessible by unlocking data. The data BlockX provides includes flood zones, average income in a designated area, and tax values, according to the company’s website.
BlockX overcame renewable energy startup CES Renewables in the third round — with over 87% of the vote — following wins over blockchain startup Topl in the first round and education artificial intelligence startup Upbrainery in the second round.
Inno Madness is designed to generate awareness and excitement for the city’s startup ecosystem and those who are driving it forward. This year, we had 16 companies submitted from Houston Inno readers and from the Inno editorial team. This year’s contestants represented both a variety of industries as well as the ways Houston founders have gotten their starts.
Here are the 16 companies that competed in this year’s Houston Inno Madness, plus their final placings:
BlockX: Incubating a property tech app in Houston that provides data and valuation on target real estate. Winner.
UrbanGoodz Delivery: A company launching a food delivery app focusing on underrepresented food businesses and mom-and-pop shops that aren’t always found on competitors. Runner-up
ProjectUS: A company producing a platform for construction project managers to organize data and workflow. Eliminated in Round 3.
CES Renewables: A startup focusing on operations and maintenance for renewable energy installations ranging from wind turbines to energy storage. Eliminated in Round 3.
RedSwan: Focusing on blockchain technology to tokenize real estate for property owners to raise capital and for investor liquidity and transparency. Eliminated in Round 2
BlackPearl Technology Inc.: This Woodlands-based engineering company provides design services with specialization in hardware, firmware and integrated software. Eliminated in Round 2
Upbrainery: The company is working on a platform for education using artificial intelligence and machine learning. Eliminated in Round 2.
Pagewood: A company developing a commercial real estate platform using artificial intelligence and data science to create investment strategies. Eliminated in Round 2.
PicSolve.ai: An artificial intelligence startup that helps answer your homework questions – just by scanning in a picture. Eliminated in Round 1
MacroFab: An electronics manufacturing company that built a platform for companies to build, test, and package products. Eliminated in Round 1.
Starling Medical: A digital health company that is developing a way to detect bladder health issues early. Eliminated in Round 1.
Cellvie: A biotech company developing medicines from mitochondria in cells to help those facing metabolism issues. Eliminated in Round 1.
Clutch: A platform for social media and short-form video creators to find brands willing to partner with them. Eliminated in Round 1.
Amperon: A company developing technology to provide real-time energy data and forecasts. Eliminated in Round 1.
Topl: A blockchain startup that helps businesses and organizations track sustainability initiatives. Eliminated in Round 1.
GoCo.io: A company creating an all-in-one human resources platform targeting small and medium-sized businesses. Eliminated in Round 1.
A Houston-based electric vehicle battery-maker will power up its first plant in Greater Nashville this fall — and invest up to $150 million to double its capacity.
Executives with Microvast Holdings Inc. (Nasdaq: MVST) disclosed that expected new investment figure and other details about future expansion in Clarksville, Tennessee, after releasing its 2022 financial results late last week.
Microvast is one of several automotive companies pouring new investment into Greater Nashville and hitching the largest piece of Tennessee's manufacturing economy to electric vehicles. So far, Microvast has committed close to 290 jobs at its first Clarksville factory and another 600 to 700 at a potential second factory nearby. Notably, Microvast also makes energy storage systems that store power generated by solar and wind operations.
Microvast reported 35% growth in revenue from 2021 to 2022. Its backlog of orders more than tripled, to $410.5 million.
Microvast also is expanding manufacturing operations in China, where 65% of its revenue came from in 2022.
Houston's Microvast selects Kentucky site for $505M electric vehicle battery plant
A Houston-based electric vehicle battery company has selected the location for a $504.5 million plant and its 562 promised jobs.
Microvast Holdings Inc. (Nasdaq: MVST) will build the battery separator factory in Hopkinsville, Kentucky. The project is backed by a $200 million grant from the U.S. Department of Energy, which is incentivizing electric vehicle companies to expand their manufacturing capacity.
The location choice comes as somewhat of a surprise because federal officials identified Clarksville, Tennessee, as the anticipated location for the plant when announcing the grant funding on Oct. 19. At a public meeting the next day, Buck Dellinger, CEO of the Clarksville-Montgomery County Economic Development Council, called the plant "another big 'add' for our community."
Cemvita opens Houston pilot plant to convert carbon dioxide emissions into bioproducts
A Houston company using biotechnology processes to convert carbon dioxide into usable products hit a landmark milestone with the opening of a pilot plant for its technology.
Cemvita said April 12 it opened its eCO2 Process Innovation Center, or EPIC, in Houston. The plant is producing the company’s eCO2 Oil, an alternative to soybean oil that is being shipped to plastics manufacturers and renewable fuels companies. Cemvita CEO Moji Karimi, who co-founded the company with his sister, Tara, said the plant was the most cost-effective way to produce chemical feedstocks.
The plant is located at Cemvita's corporate offices in the Texas Technology Park at 9350 Kirby Drive. The facility boasts a production capacity of 55,000 liters and is about 600 square feet.
The eCO2 platform, which is capable of operating in existing petrochemical plants, uses engineered microbes that absorb carbon dioxide and convert the gas into finished products. Lab tests showed the carbon dioxide products were competitive with existing hydrocarbon-sourced ethylene processes. Cemvita’s processes are based on research by Tara Karimi, and the pilot plant will cycle through several different test technologies to see which are viable for commercial scaling.
While the pilot plant was under development, Cemvita hit several other milestones. The company’s carbon dioxide technologies earned Cemvita a spot in the 2021 Carbon to Value Initiative, an accelerator focused on carbon tech. Cemvita was also named as an inaugural cohort member of Somerville, Massachusetts-based Greentown Labs’ Houston location, which also opened in 2021.
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