The future of Texas’ digital economy is strong, according to a new study

by the numbers

Texas ranks in the top 10 states with promising digital economies. Photo via Getty Images

A new report from California-based software firm Tipalti ranks Texas in the top 10 for states with the best digital economy outlooks.

Based on findings from Indeed.com, the U.S. Census Bureau, The Computing Technology Industry Association, and BroadbanNow, the study looks at which states and countries are best prepared for future and continued shifts towards a more digitized world.

Texas was ranked ninth overall, with a score of 8.4 out of 10 for Tipalti’s digital economy score. The report based this score on a few criteria. Here’s what it found.

Texas was found to have had:

  • 86.23 “digital jobs” per every 100,000 posted
  • A 425.9 MBps download speed
  • 2,634.01 tech employees per every 100,000 employees
  • An economic impact of $142.8 billion economic impact from the tech sector
  • 39,299 tech firms in the state
  • A $91,885 median tech occupation wage

Comparatively, Virginia, which ranked first with a 10 out of 10 score, had:

  • 125.09 “digital jobs” per every 100,000 posted
  • A 505.6 MBps download speed
  • 4,047.26 tech employees per every 100,000 employees
  • An economic impact of $57.8 from the tech sector
  • 20,600 tech firms in the state
  • A $105,412 median tech occupation wage

Of the states in the top 10, Texas had the second-highest tech sector economic impact, falling only behind California with an impact of $515.6 billion. California also had the highest number of tech firms in the country with a total of 54,303.

Vermont was reported to have embraced remote working the most, with 63.05 remote jobs posted per 100,000 residents. Maryland had the highest average download speeds of 506.7 Mbps. And tech workers in Washington were reported to earn the highest median tech occupation wage of $124,653.

The United States did not rank on Tipalti's list of countries with the most promising digital economies. The city-state, which could "dominate the digital landscape in the near future," according to the report, had $193.93 billion in total tech exports in 2020.

On a late-2022 report, Houston and Texas also ranked high among regions to launch a startup. Houston ranked as ninth, falling just behind Dallas at No. 8, on a list from the 42Floors real estate website of the top spots for new entrepreneurs. Around that same time, Job search platform Lensa also ranked Texas as the best state to launch a startup.
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Houston humanoid robotics startup inks new deal to deploy its rugged robots

big deal

Houston-based Persona AI announced the expansion of its operations at the Ion and a major milestone in deploying its humanoid robots.

The company will establish a state-of-the-art development center in the prominent corner suite on the first floor of the Ion, and is slated to begin expansion in June.

“We chose the Ion because it’s more than just a building — it’s a thriving innovation ecosystem,” CEO Nicolaus Radford said in a news release. “This is where Houston’s tech future is being built. It’s a convergence point for the people, energy, and ideas that power our mission to redefine human-machine collaboration. For an industrial, AI-driven robotics company, there’s no better place to scale than in the heart of Houston.”

Persona AI’s new development center will be located in the suite utilized by the Ion Prototyping Lab, managed by TXRX Labs. The IPL will transition its operations to the expanded TXRX facility in the East End Maker Hub, which will allow the lab to grow its team and meet increased demand.

At the start of the year, Persona AI closed $25 million in pre-seed funding. Earlier this month, the company announced a memorandum of understanding with HD Korea Shipbuilding & Offshore Engineering, HD Hyundai Robotic, and Korean manufacturing firm Vazil Company to create and deploy humanoid robots for complex welding tasks in shipyards.

The project will deliver prototype humanoids by the end of 2026, with field testing and full commercial deployment scheduled to begin in 2027.

"As heavy industry faces growing labor constraints—especially in high-risk trades like welding—the need for rugged, autonomous humanoid robots is more urgent than ever,” Radford added in a separate statement. “This partnership with HD Hyundai and Vazil is more than symbolic—deploying to the shipyard is one of the largest real-world proving grounds for Persona's tough, humanoid robots.”

Houston climatech co. to lead one of world's largest carbon capture projects

Big Deal

Houston-based CO2 utilization company HYCO1 has signed a memorandum of understanding with Malaysia LNG Sdn. Bhd., a subsidiary of Petronas, for a carbon capture project in Malaysia, which includes potential utilization and conversion of 1 million tons of carbon dioxide per year.

The project will be located in Bintulu in Sarawak, Malaysia, where Malaysia LNG is based, according to a news release. Malaysia LNG will supply HYCO1 with an initial 1 million tons per year of raw CO2 for 20 years starting no later than 2030. The CCU plant is expected to be completed by 2029.

"This is very exciting for all stakeholders, including HYCO1, MLNG, and Petronas, and will benefit all Malaysians," HYCO1 CEO Gregory Carr said in the release. "We approached Petronas and MLNG in the hopes of helping them solve their decarbonization needs, and we feel honored to collaborate with MLNG to meet their Net Zero Carbon Emissions by 2050.”

The project will convert CO2 into industrial-grade syngas (a versatile mixture of carbon monoxide and hydrogen) using HYCO1’s proprietary CUBE Technology. According to the company, its CUBE technology converts nearly 100 percent of CO2 feed at commercial scale.

“Our revolutionary process and catalyst are game changers in decarbonization because not only do we prevent CO2 from being emitted into the atmosphere, but we transform it into highly valuable and usable downstream products,” Carr added in the release.

As part of the MoU, the companies will conduct a feasibility study evaluating design alternatives to produce low-carbon syngas.

The companies say the project is expected to “become one of the largest CO2 utilization projects in history.”

HYCO1 also recently announced that it is providing syngas technology to UBE Corp.'s new EV electrolyte plant in New Orleans. Read more here.

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This story originally appeared on our sister site, EnergyCapitalHTX.com.

Texas tops ranking of best states for investors in new report

by the numbers

Texas ranks third on a new list of the best states for investors and startups.

Investment platform BrokerChooser weighed five factors to come up with its ranking:

  • 2024 Google search volume for terms related to investing
  • Number of investors
  • Number of businesses receiving investments in 2024
  • Total amount of capital invested in businesses in 2024
  • Percentage change in amount of investment from 2019 to 2024

Based on those figures, provided mostly by Crunchbase, Texas sits at No. 3 on the list, behind No. 1 California and No. 2 New York.

Especially noteworthy for Texas is its investment total for 2024: more than $164.5 billion. From 2019 to 2024, the state saw a 440 percent jump in business investments, according to BrokerChooser. The same percentages are 204 percent for California and 396 percent for New York.

“There is definitely development and diversification in the American investment landscape, with impressive growth in areas that used to fly under the radar,” says Adam Nasli, head analyst at BrokerChooser.

According to Crunchbase, funding for Texas startups is off to a strong start in 2025. In the first three months of this year, venture capital investors poured nearly $2.9 billion into Lone Star State companies, Crunchbase data shows. Crunchbase attributes that healthy dollar amount to “enthusiasm around cybersecurity, defense tech, robotics, and de-extincting mammoths.”

During the first quarter of this year, roughly two-thirds of VC funding in Texas went to just five companies, says Crunchbase. Those companies are Austin-based Apptronik, Austin-based Colossal Biosciences, Dallas-based Island, Austin-based NinjaOne, and Austin-based Saronic.

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