Frazzled Texans are the 9th most stressed-out people in America, new report says

BREATHE IN, BREATHE OUT

Texans are especially stressed-out at work. Photo by Tim Gouw on Unsplash

From a global pandemic to rising inflation and interest rates, there are plenty of things to be stressed about in 2023. And when they say everything is bigger in Texas, that includes the stress levels.

Texas was ranked the ninth most stressed state of 2023, according to the latest report from personal finance website WalletHub. WalletHub compared all 50 states across 41 metrics to determine every state’s worries on certain issues, such as work, money, or family-related stress. The report is timed to April being National Stress Awareness Month, as designated by the National Institutes of Health.

In the overall work-related stress category, the Lone Star State ranked No. 5. Texas employees specifically have the highest stress levels in the nation when it comes to their average hours worked per week. That probably includes Houston, which was named the No. 1 most stressful city to work in. Two fellow Southern states – Mississippi (No. 4) and Louisiana (No. 3) – had higher work-related stress levels, while Wyoming (No. 2), and Alaska (No. 1) earned the top two spots.

Texas also ranked No. 5 in overall family-related stress. The states that have higher family-related stress include North Carolina (No. 4), New York (No. 3), Nevada (No. 2), and New Mexico (No. 1).

In the category of health and safety-related stress, Texas ranked just outside the top 10 at No. 11. Most Texans aren’t quite feeling it when it comes to financial stress, ranking in the middle of the metaphorical stress road at No. 23. However, Houstonites are feeling that financial squeeze if they want to live comfortably in the city.

The good news? Texans aren't quite as stressed as they were in spring of 2021, when the state placed No. 6 in the same study. (At that time, COVID-19 was still raging, and vaccines had just become available.)

Leah C. Hibel, a professor of human development and family studies at the University of California, Davis, says much of the financial stress individuals experience is a result of systemic issues, not because of how an individual lives his or her life.

“[It’s] due to rising housing costs, rising food costs, and stagnant wages,” she explained. “Individuals can try to live in places where the cost of living is lower and wages are higher, or where food, child care, and other expenses are subsidized through state programs. Individuals can take on additional work and cut extra expenses, but sometimes these fixes are beyond what an individual can do.”

The top 10 most stressed states are:

No. 1 – Mississippi
No. 2 – Louisiana
No. 3 – New Mexico
No. 4 – West Virginia
No. 5 – Nevada
No. 6 – Arkansas
No. 7 – Alabama
No. 8 – Kentucky
No. 9 – Texas
No. 10 – Oklahoma

The full report can be found on wallethub.com.

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This article originally ran on CultureMap.

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Big winners: 5 Houston companies that raised the most funding in 2024

year in review

Editor's note: As 2024 comes to a close, InnovationMap is looking back at the year's top stories in Houston innovation. When it came to the money raised in Houston, these five startups raised the most, according to reporting done by InnovationMap. Be sure to click on each story to read the full article.

Fervo Energy secures $600M in multiple rounds

The latest deal brings Fervo's total funding secured this year to around $600 million. Photo courtesy of Fervo

Fervo secured a lot of fresh funding this year to deliver on its 100x growth plans. Most recently, the company announced that it has raised $255 million in new funding and capital availability. A $135 million corporate equity round was led by Capricorn’s Technology Impact Fund II and a $120 million letter of credit and term loan facility was granted by Mercuria, an independent energy and commodity group that previously invested in the company. Read more about the round.

In February, Fervo secured $244 million in a financing round led by Devon Energy, and in September, the company received a $100 million bridge loan for the first phase of its ongoing project in Utah. This project, known as Project Cape, represents a 100x growth opportunity for Fervo, as Latimer explained to InnovationMap earlier this year. As of now, Project Cape is fully permitted up to 2 GW and will begin generating electricity in 2026, per the company.

Solugen scores $213.6M to support new facility

The new Solugen facility is expected to reduce annual carbon emissions by up to 18 million kilograms. Photo courtesy of Solugen

Houston-based Solugen secured financing from the U.S. Department of Energy's Loan Programs Office in June to support its mission of producing clean chemicals.

The LPO's $213.6 million loan guarantee will go toward the construction of the company's 500,000-square-foot Bioforge Marshall facility in Southwest Minnesota, which broke ground in April and will produce bio-based chemical products to be used in wastewater treatment, construction, agriculture, and the energy sector. According to Solugen, the facility is expected to reduce annual carbon emissions by up to 18 million kilograms.

"American manufacturing is at a turning point, and we are proud to have the opportunity to work with the DOE in bringing critical chemical production capabilities onshore to communities like Marshall," Gaurab Chakrabarti, CEO of Solugen, says in a news release. "By scaling cutting-edge technologies, we are meeting domestic demand for innovative solutions and setting global standards for sustainable biomanufacturing." Read more about the round.

Cart.com brings in $130M in financing, series C extension

Cart.com announced a $25 million series C extension round and $105 million in debt refinancing from investment manager BlackRock. Photo courtesy of Cart.com

While 2024 was less lucrative for Houston-based Cart.com when it comes to VC activity, the scaleup did pull in significant funding.

The company, which operates a multichannel commerce platform, secured $105 million in debt refinancing from investment manager BlackRock in July.

The debt refinancing follows a recent $25 million series C extension round, bringing Cart.com’s series C total to $85 million. The scaleup’s valuation now stands at $1.2 billion, making it one of the few $1 billion-plus “unicorns” in the Houston area. Read more about the round.

Procyrion closes $57.7M series E to fund journey to FDA approval, commercialization

Procyrion has announced the closing of its series E round of funding. Photo via Getty Images

Houston-born and bred medical device company, Procyrion, has completed its series E with a raise of $57.7 million, including the conversion of $10 million of interim financing.

Procyrion is the company behind Aortix, a pump designed to be placed in the descending thoracic aorta of heart failure patients, which has been shown to improve cardiac performance in seriously ill subjects. The money raised will allow the company to proceed with a the DRAIN-HF Study, a pivotal trial that will be used for eventual FDA approval and commercialization.

The Aortix is the brainchild of Houston cardiologist Reynolds Delgado. According to Procyrion’s CSO, Jace Heuring, Delgado, gained some of his experience with devices for the heart working with legendary Texas Heart Institute surgeon O.H. “Bud” Frazier. He filed his first patents related to the Aortix in 2005. Read more about the round.

Utility Global raises $53M series C investment

Utility Global’s technology enables reduction of greenhouse gas emissions along with generation of low-carbon fuels and chemicals. Photo courtesy of Utility Global

Houston-based Utility Global, a maker of decarbonization-focused gas production technology, has raised $53 million in an ongoing series C round.

Among the participants in the round are Canada’s Ontario Power Generation Pension Plan, the XCarb Innovation Fund operated by Luxembourg-based steel company ArcelorMittal, Houston-based investment firm Ara Partners, and Saudi Aramco’s investment arm.

Also, Utility Global and ArcelorMittal have agreed to develop at least one decarbonization facility at an ArcelorMittal steel plant. Read more about the round.

Houston-based startup secures fresh funding led by local investor to expand HVAC, plumbing platform

money moves

Houston-based SmartAC.com, which provides a customer loyalty management platform for contractors, has raised a follow-on round from Mercury Fund and other investors. The dollar amount of the round wasn’t disclosed.

An October filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) indicates SmartAC.com planned to raise $8.2 million in venture capital. Of that sum, about $4 million had already been raised, the company reported, and nearly $4.2 million remained to be raised.

SmartAC.com's platform enables contractors in the HVAC and plumbing industries monitor, manage, and optimize their maintenance memberships through advanced sensors, AI-driven diagnostics, and proactive alerts.

“Growing a business in the trades is all about customer loyalty, and loyalty is driven by optimizing the customer’s experience,” Josh Teekell, founder and CEO of SmartAC.com, says in a news release. “SmartAC.com was built to perfect the experience of home comfort through data-driven insights that bring long-term value to homeowners and contractors alike.”

SmartAC.com says the new funding will enable expansion of its platform.

“Amid rising consumer demand for ‘smart home’ innovations, SmartAC.com is addressing a critical need for more sophistication in HVAC and plumbing through a technology-driven strategy,” says Heath Butler, a partner at Mercury Fund.

In 2020, SmartAC.com emerged from stealth mode and announced a $10 million series A round. The company raised a $22 million series B round in 2023.

Houston scientists create first profile of Mars’ radiant energy budget, revealing climate insights on Earth

RESEARCH FINDINGS

Scientists at the University of Houston have found a new understanding of climate and weather on Mars.

The study, which was published in a new paper in AGU Advances and will be featured in AGU’s science magazine EOS, generated the first meridional profile of Mars’ radiant energy budget (REB). REB represents the balance or imbalance between absorbed solar energy and emitted thermal energy across latitudes. An energy surplus can lead to global warming, and a deficit results in global cooling, which helps provide insights to Earth's atmospheric processes too. The profile of Mars’ REB influences weather and climate patterns.

The study was led by Larry Guan, a graduate student in the Department of Physics at UH's College of Natural Sciences and Mathematics under the guidance of his advisors Professor Liming Li from the Department of Physics and Professor Xun Jiang from the Department of Earth and Atmospheric Sciences and other planetary scientists. UH graduate students Ellen Creecy and Xinyue Wang, renowned planetary scientists Germán Martínez, Ph.D. (Houston’s Lunar and Planetary Institute), Anthony Toigo, Ph.D. (Johns Hopkins University) and Mark Richardson, Ph.D. (Aeolis Research), and Prof. Agustín Sánchez-Lavega (Universidad del País, Vasco, Spain) and Prof. Yeon Joo Lee (Institute for Basic Science, South Korea) also assisted in the project.

The profile of Mars’ REB is based on long-term observations from orbiting spacecraft. It offers a detailed comparison of Mars’ REB to that of Earth, which has shown differences in the way each planet receives and radiates energy. Earth shows an energy surplus in the tropics and a deficit in the polar regions, while Mars exhibits opposite behavioral patterns.

The surplus is evident in Mars’ southern hemisphere during spring, which plays a role in driving the planet’s atmospheric circulation and triggering the most prominent feature of weather on the planet, global dust storms. The storms can envelop the entire planet, alter the distribution of energy, and provide a dynamic element that affects Mars’ weather patterns and climate.

The research team is currently examining long-term energy imbalances on Mars and how it influences the planet’s climate.

“The REB difference between the two planets is truly fascinating, so continued monitoring will deepen our understanding of Mars’ climate dynamics,” Li says in a news release.

The global-scale energy imbalance on Earth was recently discovered, and it contributes to global warming at a “magnitude comparable to that caused by increasing greenhouse gases,” according to the study. Mars has an environment that differs due to its thinner atmosphere and lack of anthropogenic effects.

“The work in establishing Mars’ first meridional radiant energy budget profile is noteworthy,” Guan adds. “Understanding Earth’s large-scale climate and atmospheric circulation relies heavily on REB profiles, so having one for Mars allows critical climatological comparisons and lays the groundwork for Martian meteorology.”