Comcast unveils its $16 million technology center in a growing suburb just outside of Houston

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The new $16 million Comcast facility is another feather in the cap of Fort Bend County, which is booming with new business. Courtesy of Comcast

At Comcast's new $16 million technology center in Missouri City, technicians for the internet and cable TV provider can "test drive" new product and services at a demo lab and can take classes at Comcast University. It's a far cry from the stereotypical workplace of the "cable guy."

The center represents a cutting-edge expansion for Comcast — and represents yet another feather in the economic-growth cap of Missouri City and Fort Bend County.

On June 19, officials from Comcast, Missouri City government, and the Fort Bend Economic Development Council debuted the 32,000-square-foot center. The center is at 551 Buffalo Lakes Dr., near the intersection of Texas Freeway and Independence Boulevard. Aside from the demo lab and Comcast University classrooms, the center features more than 100 workstations and 15 conference rooms.

The center employs more than 300 technicians, Comcast Business and Xfinity sales professionals. Service technicians install and maintain internet, video, voice, and home security services for residential and business customers in Missouri City and nearby areas, while network technicians build and maintain Comcast's local fiber-optic system.

Employees at the new center previously worked at other offices in the Houston metro area but live in Missouri City and surrounding communities. More than 1,200 people work at Comcast's 10 technology centers throughout the Houston area.

Michael Bybee, director of external communications at Comcast, says Missouri City was picked for the new center because of its strong economic growth and its proximity to major highways and, ultimately, "to bring our employees closer to customers."

Missouri City and Fort Bend County are gaining more potential Comcast customers by the day. From April 2010 to July 2018, the population of Missouri City grew 12.3 percent, according to the U.S. Census Bureau. For Fort Bend County, the population growth rate during the same period stood at 34.7 percent.

Economic growth has accompanied that population growth. Last year, the Comcast center was among several economic development wins scored by Missouri City. An $85 million, 550,000-square-foot Best Buy distribution center and a 200,000-square-foot Warren Valve warehouse and distribution center were two of the other wins.

Fort Bend County as a whole is enjoying economic success. For instance, discount retailer Dollar Tree said in February that it's building a $130 million distribution center on a 140-acre site in Rosenberg that will employ more than 300 people. The company operates more than 1,600 Dollar Tree and Family Dollar stores in Texas.

The 1.2-million-square-foot distribution center, on Spur 10 near Klosterhoff Road, is scheduled to open in the summer of 2020.

"When you have a company like Dollar Tree seeing the opportunity that we offer, it just adds to our strengths and builds on our assets," Bret Gardella, executive director of Rosenberg Development Corp., said in a Dollar Tree news release.

The economic growth in Missouri City, Rosenberg and other places in Fort Bend County isn't likely to subside, at least for the next several decades. A report from the University of Houston's Hobby School of Public Affairs predicts Fort Bend County will end up being the state's third-fastest-growing county from 2010 to 2050.

"Fort Bend County has continued to top lists for livability and economic success — and there is no sign of slowing down," the Fort Bend Economic Development Council says on its website. "Residents and businesses agree that there's no place better to live or work."

Contributing to Fort Bend County's draw is the presence of five business parks — two in Missouri City, and one each in Rosenberg, Sugar Land, and Stafford. The council touts Fort Bend County as "the hub for industrial development."

  

Courtesy of Comcast

Aside from the demo lab and Comcast University classrooms, the center features more than 100 workstations and 15 conference rooms.

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Houston founder aims to help find your purpose, make strategic connections over a cup of coffee

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What is your purpose in life? One Houstonian is asking that question of his fellow entrepreneurs all across town.

Joey Sanchez founded Cup of Joey, a weekly meetup opportunity for innovators, business leaders, and the whole Houston community meet. The events are a place not only to share a cup of coffee but also their very own mission in life.

What is your Y?

Cup of Joey events ask attendees about their purpose in life. Photo courtesy of Cup of Joey

It all started in 2021 at the Houston Tech Rodeo, an initiative from Houston Exponential, where Sanchez worked as a director of corporate engagement. Texas had just opened social distancing in public events since the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic, and Sanchez was finding ways to reconnect the Houston community.

‘We thought what better way than over a cup of coffee?” Since then, Sanchez has connected thousands of people based on purpose every Friday for the past three and a half years.

The difference between a regular networking event and a Cup of Joe is the why.

“We ask everybody what is their why and what is their purpose in life. That is a powerful, deep question that many have not contemplated in their life, but when they are asked, they usually come up with a pretty profound answer," he says.

After great success at Houston Exponential, he brought the Cup of Joey to The Ion, taking on the role of senior director of ecosystems. When he left in January 2024, he started to think of ways to transform this success into a business model that would allow him to expand Cup of Joey across multiple locations in Houston.

Today, Cup of Joey has meetups in Sugar Land Town Square, The Cannon West, The Woodlands, the Houston Space Center, and, beginning this month, Memorial City.

He also recognizes the importance of his volunteers and ambassadors for helping him open these doors. “They are the real super connectors,” Sanchez says.

The community builder

Joey Sanchez won Ecosystem Builder at the Houston Innovation Awards last year. Photo by Emily Jaschke/InnovationMap

Born and raised in Sugar Land, Sanchez has always been a community builder; from his time at Elkins High School to Jacksonville University in Florida, where he was student body president and created the university's hand symbol while completing his studies in Business Administration.

After attending Jacksonville University, Sanchez began his career in Houston's energy industry at National Oil Well Varco. Later, he landed at the Greater Houston Partnership as a business director, where he learned about the local business ecosystem and how all the players come together “to help the city become a better place for all,” he explains.

Additionally, in 2015, Sanchez and his wife Kelly's curiosity during a bike ride led to the creation of the Blue Tile Project, which celebrates Houston's unique blue tile street signs and showcases the beauty of the city's civic image.

“We are a very diverse, spread-out city, and through my career, I've learned that density helps create innovation. When you have density, you have connections, which are amongst like-minded or opposite people to create companies that matter,” he adds.

Opportunity model and future expansion

Cup of Joey has expanded across Houston. Photo courtesy of Cup of Joey

Cup of Joey’s business model relies on co-hosting opportunities, where organizations sponsor events, focusing on people and purpose.

"Imagine if everybody who had a coffee from a local coffee shop to your corporate office actually thought about what they're doing in their life, instead of just drinking mindlessly 10 cups of coffee a day,” he says.

This is Sanchez's dream: building a connection brand that will “create purposeful relationships and change the future for good.”

While focused on Houston, he has had conversations with other Texas cities, such as Round Rock, Texas, San Antonio, and Dallas.

In West Houston, he recently partnered with MetroNational to host three Cup of Joey’s at Memorial City during October. The first one was successfully launched this week.

“At Metro National, we really believe in investing in what moves our city forward: people and their ideas. With a legacy of 70-plus years, at MetroNational we believe innovation drives forward, but it's also human-centric,” explains Joanne James, vice president of communications at MetroNational.

Cup of Joey at Memorial City will continue on October 15 and 29 from 8:30 to 10:30 am at 820 Gessner. For more information about future events and locations, check out the website.

Tilman Fertitta tops new Forbes list of Houston's richest billionaires

A dozen of Houston's illustrious billionaires have made the cut on the newForbes 400, a list of the 400 richest people in the United States for 2024.

Houston hospitality king and Rockets owner Tilman Fertitta is the 12th richest Texan and the 99th richest person in the United States, according to Forbes' list, released October 1.

Forbes estimates Fertitta's net worth in 2024 as $10.1 billion, which has steadily climbed from his 2023 net worth of $8.1 billion. Fertitta, 67, purchased the Houston Rockets in October 2017 for $2.2 billion. The billionaire also owns Texas-based hospitality and entertainment corporation Landry's. In 2019, Fertitta embarked on a new venture as an author.

"Fertitta released his first book titled Shut Up And Listen! in September [2019], detailing his experiences in the dining and entertainment industries," Forbes wrote in Fertitta's profile.

The Forbes 400list is a definitive ranking of the wealthiest Americans, using interviews, financial data, and documentation provided by billionaires and their companies.

According to the report, America's elite class is now worth $5.4 trillion collectively, which is a $1 trillion jump since 2023.

“The Forbes 400 is richer than ever, and it’s harder than ever to be one of the 400 richest people in America," said Forbes senior editor Chase Peterson-Withorn in a press release.

In all, 43 Texas billionaires made the list.

Unsurprisingly, Austin resident Elon Musk ranks No. 1 nationally for the third time, with a net worth of $244 billion. Despite ranking at the top of the list this year, Musk's net worth has actually dropped by $7 billion since 2023.

New to the 2024 list are Houston-based Westlake Corporation co-owners Albert Chao, James Chao, and their respective families. According to their Forbes profiles, the Chaos own nearly 25 percent of Westlake Corporation, which produces low-density polyethylene that is used for food packaging and other products.

"His father, T.T. Chao, moved the family from Taiwan to the U.S. and founded Westlake in 1986," Albert Chao's profile says. "Albert and brother James Chao are credited with helping launch the company. Albert was CEO from 2004 to July 2024, when he became executive chairman. James was chairman from 2004 to July 2024, when he became senior chairman."

Here's how the rest of Houston's billionaires fared on this year's list:

  • Oil and gas chairman Richard Kinderranks No. 112 nationally with an estimated worth of $9.3 billion.
  • Houston pipeline heir Randa Duncan Williams ties for No. 126 with an estimated net worth of $8.6 billion. Fellow pipeline heirs Dannine Avara and Milane Frantztie for 130th nationally. Each has an estimated net worth of $8.5 billion. Scott Duncan ranks No. 137 with an $8.3 billion estimated net worth.
  • Toyota mega-dealer Dan Friedkin and Houston oil tycoon Jeffery Hildebrand tie for 156th nationally with an estimated net worth of $7.6 billion.
  • Houston Texans owner Janice McNair ties for No. 210 nationally with an estimated net worth of $6.2 billion.
  • Energy exploration chief exec George Bishop of The Woodlands ranks No. 266 with an estimated net worth of $5 billion.

Missing from the 2024 list is local hedge fund honcho John Arnold, who ranked No. 345 nationally in 2023 but now ranks No. 991 in 2024 with an estimated net worth of $3.3 billion. As of October 1, Forbes estimates Arnold's net worth at $2.9 billion.

Find all the Texans on the new Forbes 400 list here.

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This article originally ran on CultureMap.

Houston-based autonomous trucking tech co. raises $20M

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A Houston-based autonomous vehicle technology company has raised early funding.

Bot Auto has announced the completion of its pre-series A funding round which was oversubscribed and raised $20 million. The round was led by investments from Brightway Future Capital, Cherubic Ventures, EnvisionX Capital, First Star Ventures, Linear Capital, M31 Capital, Taihill Venture, Uphonest Capital, and Welight Capital.

“As true believers in autonomous trucking, we're thankful for our investors' shared vision,” Xiaodi Hou, founder and CEO of Bot Auto, says in a news release. “Our strong commitment, combined with recent AI advancements and a sharpened focus on operational efficiency, has created a clear path to commercialization.”

The funds raised will be focused on developing the technology and will opt to avoid unnecessary hiring ahead of operational maturity, scaling the operational footprint prior to product readiness, over expansion and partnership debt. The company aims for a more sustainable and efficient future, and is hoping its engineers and AV executives help Bot Auto become an autonomous trucking game changer.

The Investment is expected to help expand Bot Auto's tech development in autonomous trucking that will focus on safety and operation efficiency.

“Our prospects for success have never been more promising,” Hou adds. “ We march forward, committed to bringing this transformative technology to humanity for a brighter future.”

Bot Auto’s vision aligns with the pioneering spirit of Houston’s legacy in space exploration, striving to achieve remarkable feats in technology and transportation. The company is dedicated to leveraging this investment to make significant strides in the US autonomous trucking industry, ultimately contributing to a more sustainable and efficient future.

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