Houston energy giant Shell lists local headquarters for sale for $325M

On the Market

Shell's Woodcreek campus is on the market. Photo courtesy HOK

Energy giant Shell has put its U.S. headquarters in Houston’s Energy Corridor on the market and is exploring the sale of its U.S. chemical business.

Green Street News reported Shell just listed its longtime Energy Corridor campus at 150 N. Dairy Ashford Road. The asking price is $325 million, The Real Deal reported. Shell plans to lease back half of the nearly 1.5 million-square-foot Woodcreek campus for 15 years.

A sale-leaseback deal could transform the 43.6-acre campus into a multitenant hub, CoStar News reported.

“Houston is a critical hub for Shell globally and the headquarters of our U.S. businesses,” a Shell spokesperson told the Houston Business Journal. “We remain committed to Houston and are evaluating opportunities to optimize our Woodcreek campus as part of our ongoing review of workplace needs while maintaining a strong presence in the city.”

Shell occupied its first building at the West Houston campus in 1980. The company employs more than 6,000 people in Texas.

Shell is one of the highest-profile businesses occupying space in the Energy Corridor. It’s home to 67,000 workers, more than 27 million square feet of office and mixed-use space, and 3.8 million square feet of retail and restaurant space.

Shell considers $8B sale of chemical business
As the company seeks to unload its Woodcreek campus, The Financial Times reported Shell is looking into selling its U.S. chemical business. The price tag: $8 billion.

Potential buyers include Spring-based ExxonMobil and Houston-based LyondellBasell.

Shell operates four chemical plants in Texas, Louisiana and Pennsylvania, producing an array of chemicals for use in plastics, detergents and pharmaceuticals.

Shell CEO Wael Sawan said last year that the company had spent $45 billion in capital “that is underperforming for us,” split between its chemical business and renewable energy arm.

Shell also agreed to sell its solar and wind power business in India this summer. Read more here.

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This article originally appeared on EnergyCapitalHTX.com.

TMEIC Corporation Americas has moved its U.S. headquarters to Houston. Photo via tmeic.com

Japanese energy tech manufacturer moves U.S. headquarters to Houston

HQ HOU

TMEIC Corporation Americas has officially relocated its headquarters from Roanoke, Virginia, to Houston.

TMEIC Corporation Americas, a group company of Japan-based TMEIC Corporation Japan, recently inaugurated its new space in the Energy Corridor, according to a news release. The new HQ occupies the 10th floor at 1080 Eldridge Parkway, according to ConnectCRE. The company first announced the move last summer.

TMEIC Corporation Americas specializes in photovoltaic inverters and energy storage systems. It employs approximately 500 people in the Houston area, and has plans to grow its workforce in the city in the coming year as part of its overall U.S. expansion.

"We are thrilled to be part of the vibrant Greater Houston community and look forward to expanding our business in North America's energy hub," Manmeet S. Bhatia, president and CEO of TMEIC Corporation Americas, said in the release.

The TMEIC group will maintain its office in Roanoke, which will focus on advanced automation systems, large AC motors and variable frequency drive systems for the industrial sector, according to the release.

TMEIC Corporation Americas also began operations at its new 144,000-square-foot, state-of-the-art facility in Brookshire, which is dedicated to manufacturing utility-scale PV inverters, earlier this year. The company also broke ground on its 267,000-square-foot manufacturing facility—its third in the U.S. and 13th globally—this spring, also in Waller County. It's scheduled for completion in May 2026.

"With the global momentum toward decarbonization, electrification, and domestic manufacturing resurgence, we are well-positioned for continued growth," Bhatia added in the release. "Together, we will continue to drive industry and uphold our legacy as a global leader in energy and industrial solutions."

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This article originally appeared on EnergyCapitalHTX.com.

Healgen Scientific opened its new headquarters in Houston last week. Photo courtesy of Healgen

Global diagnostics manufacturer opens new Houston facility, headquarters

moving in

A global health care company has cut the ribbon on its new facility and headquarters in Houston.

Healgen Scientific, which manufacturers diagnostic products for infectious diseases, toxicology, oncology, and more, opened the facility last week. Operating as the company's new headquarters, the location is the first manufacturing facility in Houston for Healgen. The company currently has around 120 employees in the U.S. and is expected to create over 200 new jobs in the next three years

“This new facility in Houston uses very innovative technology that will precisely diagnose viruses or diseases so people can be confident in the results they are receiving,” Bingliang Fang, CEO of Healgen Scientific, says in a release. “Here, Healgen is able to produce quality tests on a very large scale—nearly a half million per day. We are proud to provide made in the USA products with a commitment to using local materials, employing local residents and being an integral part of the community.”

Amid the COVID-19 pandemic, Healgen Scientific teamed up with Siemens Healthcare Diagnostics Inc. on a Rapid COVID-19 Antigen Self-Test. Today, over 2 billion Rapid COVID-19 Antigen Self-Test Kits have been used worldwide.

With 325 automated production lines around the world, Healgen's facilities have a daily production capacity of more than 22 million health care tests. Recently, the company moved 15 of these production lines to the U.S., investing over $100 million in three large-scale manufacturing and warehouse facilities in New York, New Jersey, and Texas. The facility in Houston will also produce RSV tests later in the year.

“We welcome you to our great city,” says Chris Hollins, city controller, City of Houston Controller’s Office. “This is a city, and a state, of business and of commerce. We’re excited that hundreds of jobs are on the way because of the investment of Healgen and the Fang family, and we’re grateful for your presence. On behalf of more than 2 million Houstonians, we applaud Healgen Scientific LLC on bringing world-class innovation and disease management to the United States.”

Healgen cut the ribbon on its newest facility last week. Photo courtesy of Healgen

Elon Musk announced that both SpaceX and X will relocate headquarters to two Texas cities. Photo via Getty Images

Elon Musk says he's moving SpaceX, X headquarters from California to Texas

cha-cha-changes

Billionaire Elon Musk says he's moving the headquarters of SpaceX and social media company X to Texas from California.

Musk posted on X Tuesday that he plans on moving SpaceX from Hawthorne, California, to the company's rocket launch site dubbed Starbase in Texas. X will move to Austin from San Francisco.

He called a new law signed Monday by California Gov. Gavin Newsom that bars school districts from requiring staff to notify parents of their child’s gender identification change the “final straw.”

“I did make it clear to Governor Newsom about a year ago that laws of this nature would force families and companies to leave California to protect their children,” Musk wrote.

Tesla, where Musk is CEO, moved its corporate headquarters to Austin from Palo Alto, California in 2021.

Musk has also said that he has moved his residence from California to Texas, where there is no state personal income tax.

SpaceX builds and launches its massive Starship rockets from the southern tip of Texas at Boca Chica Beach, near the Mexican border at a site called Starbase. The company’s smaller Falcon 9 rockets take off from Cape Canaveral, Florida, and Southern California.

It’s just below South Padre Island, and about 20 miles from Brownsville.

Omair Tariq of Cart.com joins the Houston Innovators Podcast to share his confidence in Houston as the right place to scale his unicorn. Photo via Cart.com

Houston innovator bets on Bayou City to scale fast-growing unicorn tech co.

HOUSTON INNOVATORS PODCAST EPISODE 223

Last November, Houston-founded logistics tech company Cart.com announced that it would be returning its headquarters to Houston after spending the last two years growing in Austin. But Co-Founder and CEO Omair Tariq says that while the corporate address may have changed, he actually never left.

"I've been in Houston now forever — and I don't think I'm planning on leaving anytime soon. I love Houston — this city has given me everything I have," Tariq says on the Houston Innovators Podcast. "I even love the traffic and everything people hate about Houston."

Tariq, who was born in Pakistan and grew up in Dubai before relocating as a teen to Houston, shared his entrepreneurial journey on the show, which included starting a jewelry business and being an early employee at Blinds.com before it was acquired in 2014 by Home Depot.

"For me to build something here was always a priority," Tariq says. He founded Cart.com in 2020.

He explains that the initial HQ relocation to Austin in 2021 was more of a co-location between the two Texas cities that was motivated by an increase in Austin activity for investors and potential customers for Cart.com.

"Austin was doing a really good job of branding itself as being the city in Texas to come to when you think about innovation or technology," Tariq says. "What we learned was that as we were building our own brand of being a technology company and being a company that wanted to gain global and at least national credibility, we thought that if we're closer to the action happening in Austin, we would get there faster."

Since the relocation, Cart.com raised a $60 million series C and grown its customer base to over 6,000 users. After making several acquisitions, the company also operates 14 fulfillment centers nationwide.

"I think Austin served its purpose. It certainly allowed us to be in the limelight in all the right ways, and I'm grateful for it," Tariq says. "But once we got to a point, once we closed our series C round and became a unicorn ... I think we're now at a scale where the infrastructure that Houston provides is probably something that will be more attractive and useful for us in the long term."

And Tariq adds on the show that he feels confident that he knows Houston well, and knows it is the right place to continue Cart.com's growth, which he says hopes includes 10 times the brands supported, a global footprint, and potentially an IPO.

Axiom Space's new Houston Spaceport facility is now open. Photo courtesy of Houston Airports

Space tech unicorn opens new 22-acre HQ in the Houston Spaceport

ribbon cutting

The Houston Spaceport has officially celebrated the opening of another facility from a fast-growing space tech company.

Axiom Space has opened its new Assembly Integration and Test Building, which will be the new headquarters for the Houston-based aerospace company at a new 22-acre campus at the Houston Spaceport at Ellington Airport in Southeast Houston. The building will include employee offices, facilities for astronaut training and mission control, testing labs and a high bay production facility to house Axiom Space Station modules currently under construction.

Axiom Space partnered with Jacobs, Turner Construction Company, Savills, and Griffin Partners to expand the company’s headquarters with the Houston spaceport building, which is the tenth spaceport in the nation.

For the first time in Houston’s history, the Space City is now home to the development of human-rated spacecraft with the Axiom Stations modules. Houston Spaceport has laboratory office space like technology incubator space and large-scale hardware production facilities, and is the world’s first urban commercial spaceport.

“These are historically exciting times for us all,” Houston Mayor Sylvester Turner says in a news release. “As the city that helped put men on the moon, Houston continues to lead the way in technology and innovation. Axiom Space has set itself apart from others in the private space industry. Our city – Space City — is leading this second space race. And the work being done in our city will return humanity to the moon in a sustainable way.”

Axiom operates end-to-end missions to the International Space Station. They are also developing its successor, Axiom Station, and building next-generation spacesuits for the moon, low-Earth orbit, and other missions. The company describes itself as “the leading provider of human spaceflight services and developer of human-rated space infrastructure.”

Axiom joins Collins Aerospace and Intuitive Machines as the three tenants of the Houston Spaceport, which is an FAA-licensed, urban commercial spaceport for the aerospace community. Intuitive Machines supports NASA’s $93 billion Artemis program, which aims to return astronauts to the moon by 2024 and eventually send humans to Mars.

“Today’s celebration is the culmination of teamwork and tenacity, and it underscores a year of historic milestones for Houston Airports,” Mario Diaz, director of Aviation for Houston Airports, says in a news release. “It’s not enough that we operate world-class airports, Houston Airports must also endeavor to progress humanity’s reach out into space. Axiom space solidifies this unique urban center for collaboration and ideation. A place where the brightest minds in the world work closely together to lead us beyond the next frontier of space exploration.”

The Houston Spaceport Development Corp. received $5 million from funds administered by the Governor's Office of Economic Development and Tourism. Axiom Space is valued at $1 billion as of earlier this year, according to Bloomberg. Axiom joins Intuitive Machines, which opened its new Houston Spaceport headquarters earlier this year.

Last week, Axiom Space cut the ribbon on the new facility. Photo courtesy of Houston Airports

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Houston ranks among 15 U.S. hot spots for women in tech

Ranking It

Houston is soaring among the best places in the U.S. for women in tech, a new report says. Houston ranked No. 15 nationwide in SmartAsset's new report, "Best and Worst Cities for Women in Tech — 2026 Study," which compared the 50 biggest U.S. cities across four metrics:

  • Gender pay gap — women's median earnings as a percentage of men’s median earnings in tech
  • The share of all tech workers that are women
  • The overall concentration of employment for tech workers, defined as "tech workers as a share of the local workforce"
  • Women tech workers’ median earnings, adjusted for regional price parity
For the purpose of the study, tech workers are defined as "city residents employed in computer and mathematical occupations." The study's findings show that fewer than 9,500 tech workers in Houston are women, or 25.6 percent of the total tech workforce in the city. In total, tech workers in general make up less than 3 percent of the Houston workforce.Despite the high ranking, women tech workers in Houston have a sizeable gap to cross to receive equal pay compared to their male counterparts in the same industry. Women tech workers make just over $97,000 in median earnings after adjusting for regional price parity, which is only 93 percent of what male tech workers make, SmartAsset found.

There are only two U.S. cities where women in tech earn more than what their male counterparts: Miami and Memphis, Tennessee. Women tech workers in Miami make an adjusted $88,650 in median earnings, or 101.7 percent of what men in tech make. In Memphis, women make $84,718 in adjusted earnings, or 101.5 percent of what men in tech earn.

The findings also assert that women remain underrepresented in the nation's overall tech sector, despite making up nearly half of the total workforce. Only 22.6 percent of the country's tech labor force is made up of women, according to the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission."Opportunities for women in tech can vary considerably by location, and these differences shape access to jobs, career advancement and earning potential," the report's author wrote. "In some places, women account for a larger share of tech workers, face narrower pay gaps and enjoy a stronger local labor market. In others, they may encounter a more challenging career environmentThe six other Texas cities that earned spots in the report are Austin (No. 6), Fort Worth (No. 26), Dallas (No. 32), Arlington (No. 38), San Antonio (No. 42), and El Paso (No. 49).

The top 10 best U.S. cities for women in tech are:

  • No. 1 – San Jose, California
  • No. 2 – Seattle, Washington
  • No. 3 – San Francisco, California
  • No. 4 – Atlanta, Georgia
  • No. 5 – Baltimore, Maryland
  • No. 6 – Austin, Texas
  • No. 7 – Oakland, California
  • No. 8 – Portland, Oregon
  • No. 9 – Boston, Massachusetts
  • No. 10 – Minneapolis, Minnesota
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This article first appeared on CultureMap.com.

2026 Houston Innovation Awards finalists revealed and more top stories

Trending News

Editor's note: The top Houston innovation news for the first half of October celebrates the finalists for our sixth annual awards program. Plus, Rice launches a new venture fund and an energy AI company picks Houston for its first U.S. office. Here are the five most-read stories published October 1-15, 2026:

Announcing the 2026 Houston Innovation Awards finalists

InnovationMap is proud to reveal the finalists for the 2026 Houston Innovation Awards. The sixth annual Houston Innovation Awards program returns in an all-digital format this fall to honor the best of Houston's innovation ecosystem, including startups, entrepreneurs, mentors, and more. Get to know our finalists in more detail through editorial spotlights on InnovationMap.com leading up to the winner announcement in mid-November. Continue reading.

Meet the esteemed judges for the 2026 Houston Innovation Awards

Our 2026 Houston Innovation Awards judging panel comprises past award winners who represent a variety of industries and areas of expertise. They are joined by InnovationMap's interim editor. All are deeply engaged in the Houston innovation ecosystem. Continue reading.

Energy AI company opens first U.S. office at Houston's the Ion

Building on its partnership with Houston-based oilfield services provider Halliburton, energy-sector AI company Shape Digital recently opened an office at The Ion. It’s the company’s first U.S. location. Shape Digital’s workforce in Houston includes employees specializing in tech support, business development and client services. The company’s local hiring projections and headcount weren’t available. The new office will be located within Industrious at the Ion, according to Rice Alliance. Continue reading.

Rice University launches new venture fund for university-affiliated startups

Rice University has launched its new One Giant Leap Ventures Fund I, which will invest in the university’s spinouts and alumni-founded startups. The early-stage institutional venture fund will function with a hybrid structure that allows for participation from traditional equity investors and philanthropic investors. According to the university, the fund will invest up to $500,000 per Rice-affiliated company. To be considered eligible for funds, companies must use intellectual property licensed by the university or be led or founded by alumni. Continue reading.

Here’s where wages grew the most in Houston since 2021, according to new report

Bolstered by a thriving manufacturing sector, Waller County—the country’s second-fastest-growing county—leads all Houston-area counties for the growth of pay from 2021 to 2026, according to a new study. The study, conducted by personal finance website SmartAsset, found average pay in Waller County rose 48 percent from 2021 to 2026. The county’s average weekly pay climbed from $891 to $1,323 during that period. Continue reading.

5 female-founded Houston startups shine as Innovation Awards finalists

meet the finalists

Houston is home to many standout female founders, making inroads and breakthroughs in every industry.

As part of the 2026 Houston Innovation Awards, our Female-founded Business category honors women-led startups that are shaping Houston innovation.

Five female-founded businesses have been named finalists for the 2026 award. This year's finalists, selected by our esteemed panel of judges, range from an AI startup for C-Suite execs to a company developing semi-autonomous crawler robots for corrosion detection.

Read more about these innovative startups and the visionary female founders behind them below. The 2026 winners will be announced on InnovationMap.com in mid-November.

Adair

Artificial intelligence startup Adair uses computational linguistics and behavioral economics to measure, model and quantify the impact of spoken and written language on firm valuation and stock prices. The company works with C-Suite executives of public companies on high-stakes communications before they go live.

The company was founded last year by CEO Kathleen Perley, CPO Alex Duong and CTO Anthony Grivet. It raised $5.6 million earlier this year, according to its application.

ARIX Technologies

Energytech startup ARIX Technologies has developed a semiautonomous VENUS crawler robot to detect corrosion under insulation before it becomes a failure. The robots climb insulated piping in refineries, chemical plants and energy facilities to capture inspection data without removing insulation or building scaffolding. ARIX's inspection portal then turns information from the inspection into data a company can act on.

ARIX was founded in 2017 by Dianna Liu, who serves as director, and Head of Product Petter Wehlin. Craig Malloy serves as CEO. The company has raised more than $22 million in seed funding and a Series A round, according to its application.

Bairitone Health

Healthtech startup Bairitone Health is bringing anatomy imaging for sleep apnea to the home environment. The company's platform maps users' anatomy during natural sleep using a facial patch to determine the root cause of airway obstruction. It then offers effective therapies for each patient.

The company was founded in 2022 in the Texas Medical Center's Biodesign program by CEO Meagan Pitcher, CTO Onur Kilic and chief medical officer Britt Cross. It was a member of Activate Houston's inaugural cohort and has participated in numerous accelerators and incubators. The company raised an oversubscribed seed round for $2.4 million earlier this year and received Breakthrough Device Designation from the Food and Drug Administration in April.

FlowCellutions

Energytech startup FlowCellutions is developing a chemistry-agnostic diagnostics platform for flow and metal-air batteries supporting data centers and critical infrastructure. The platform is designed to help reduce operating costs, prevent failures and costly downtime, and extend battery lifetime from approximately seven years to more than 30 years. It has deployed four paid pilots and plans to take insights from the programs to develop its next-gen sensor platform technology.

CEO Becca Segel founded the company in 2022. It is a member of Greentown Labs, and Segel was a 2025 Activate Fellow. The company has raised over $2 million in non-dilutive funding and received a $1.5 million NSF SBIR Fast-Track award earlier this year.

ParaDocs Health

Healthtech startup ParaDocs Health is developing a clinical intelligence platform that helps doctors and care teams streamline administrative tasks and make better use of patient records. Its technology organizes fragmented clinical data into actionable insights, helping care teams identify gaps in care, assess patient risks and simplify documentation and reimbursement.

ParaDocs was founded in 2022 by CEO Dr. Dhini Nasution and CTO Dr. Omar Mohtar. The company participated in the TMCi Biodesign Program and raised a preseed round last year, according to its application.

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