Home to multiple deepwater ports, two international airports with over 180 non-stop destinations, and a diverse, highly educated workforce, Houston is a manufacturing and logistics powerhouse with an eye focused on the future.  As the base of operations for the international oil and gas exploration and production industry, as well as a number of the nation’s largest international engineering and construction firms, Houston has cemented its place as an important hub for an increasingly global economy. With over 7,000 manufacturing establishments and strategic advantages in chemical and machinery manufacturing and petroleum refining, accounting for over 44 percent of the nation’s overall petrochemicals manufacturing capacity, the Houston region offers unparalleled energy expertise and a talented workforce with transferable skills.  According to BDO’s 2024 Manufacturing CFO Outlook Survey, 89 percent of manufacturing CFOs plan to expand their U.S. operations this year, providing many opportunities for Houston as the No. 2 U.S. metropolitan area for manufacturing GDP and the No. 3 global competitive city in machinery and equipment.  Earlier this month, two Dallas-area companies, Eagle Materials Inc. and Heidelberg Materials North America, announced their plans to open a joint cement facility in Houston. Once fully operational, the Texas Lehigh Cement Company facility will have a manufacturing capacity of 500,000 tons per year.  According to a recent HBJ article, international cement companies have been looking at Texas, and Houston in particular, for possible expansion opportunities. In November 2023, CRH PLC, an Irish building materials manufacturer, announced its plans to expand its footprint in Texas, including three cement plants and terminals in the Houston area.  Earlier this year, Houston startup success story NanoTech Materials opened its 43,000-square-foot manufacturing facility and headquarters in the Katy area. Meanwhile, solar manufacturer EnGoPlanet recently announced its plans to open an assembly plant near George Bush Intercontinental Airport. According to President and COO Kirk Wehby, “We feel like there’s a strong workforce [in Houston] that will allow us to grow and continue what we do. The facilities here also best utilize our capabilities. Our plan is to be central to our suppliers that will do coding, lighting [and] to be close to the airport and the port. Houston is a home run.”  Workforce  Employing over 225,000 workers in 2022, manufacturing plays a critical role in Houston’s economy. Having set records for employment growth in 2021 and 2022, industry leaders and educational institutions are continuing to partner together in developing the region’s future workforce.  According to a regional workforce study conducted by the Partnership in 2020, Houston has an above-average and growing demand for middle-skill workers. To address these skills gaps, an increasing number of public-private partnerships have launched to strengthen Houston’s talent pipeline and bolster the workforce readiness of high school and college graduates in the region.  TXRX Labs, a non-profit makerspace in Houston’s East End, received a two-year grant from JPMorgan earlier this year to launch two advanced training programs in electronic assembly and welding fabrication. The grant comes as part of Houston’s Resiliency Workforce Collaborative, an initiative launched in December 2022 that helps increase career opportunities for Houston residents, particularly from underserved and under-resourced communities. According to the Houston Chronicle, the collaborative is on track to train 6,600 people and place over 1,400 in high-demand jobs by 2025.  Logistics & Distribution  In the last decade, Houston has emerged as an important logistics center, with developers adding over 83 million square feet of warehouse space since 2020. The region has also experienced a significant increase in the construction of large-scale industrial properties to accommodate the growth of national fulfillment and regional distribution centers, including Amazon, FedEx, McKesson, Sysco and UPS.  Home to four deepwater seaports including the Port of Houston, the nation’s No. 1 port for foreign waterborne tonnage, the region is one of the most significant transportation and distribution hubs in the nation, providing companies with exceptional access to global markets. Port Houston handled 578 million metric tons of cargo between January 2021 and January 2024 according to the Partnership’s 2024 Global Houston publication.  The region’s two international airports – William P. Hobby (HOU) and George Bush Intercontinental (IAH) - also serve as an important international gateway for passengers and air freight, with the Houston Airport System (HAS) serving over 54 million passengers and handling nearly 553,000 metric tons of freight in 2022.  Additionally, as the crossroads of major highways including I-45, I-10 and I-69, Houston’s extensive freeway and highway infrastructure contributes to minimizing transportation and distribution costs for companies of all sizes.  Learn more about the advantages of Houston as a world-class manufacturing, logistics and distribution hub.

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.