Houston e-commerce company ranks as one of fastest-growing business in Texas, says Inc.

This Houston company is among the fastest-growing businesses in the state. Sean Pavone/Getty Images

A Houston-based company is among the 100 fastest growing businesses in the nation.

Homestead Brands, an e-commerce business comprised of the Lori Wall Beds and Organic Swings brands, grew 3,916 percent from 2017 to 2020, according to the newly released Inc. 5000 list. That makes the Humble-based business the eighth-fastest-growing private company in Texas and the 98th nationally.

"We are a team of A players determined to build the kind of company we all wish we could have worked at from the start of our careers: a place where everybody is valued, challenged, and comes to work with a sense of purpose," Homestead Brands says on its website.

A total of 90 Houston-area companies made the list. Other tech companies making the cut includes Onit, GoCo.io, Velentium, Softeq, Poetic, Techwave, and more.

Companies on the 2021 Inc. 5000 are ranked according to percentage growth in revenue from 2017 to 2020. To qualify, companies must have been founded and generating revenue by March 31, 2017. They also must be U.S.-based, privately held, for-profit, and independent. The minimum revenue threshold for 2017 is $100,000; the minimum for 2020 is $2 million. Among the 5,000 companies on the list, the average median three-year growth rate stood at 543 percent, and median revenue reached $11.1 million.

"The 2021 Inc. 5000 list feels like one of the most important rosters of companies ever compiled," Scott Omelianuk, editor-in-chief of Inc., says in an August 17 news release. "Building one of the fastest-growing companies in America in any year is a remarkable achievement. Building one in the crisis we've lived through is just plain amazing. This kind of accomplishment comes with hard work, smart pivots, great leadership, and the help of a whole lot of people."

San Antonio-based Texas Solar Integrated took the top spot statewide and ranked 11th nationally with a growth rate of 22,381 percent. The company installs commercial and residential solar energy systems.

"At Texas Solar, we treat our customers like family. We believe that successful relationships with partners and homeowners alike develop through transparency and the trust for doing things right the first time," the company says on its website.

The top-ranked company from the Austin area is Empowering a Billion Women, landing at No. 28. The company, which does business as EBW Worldwide, focuses on social, health, and economic empowerment of women. The company saw three-year revenue growth of 10,676 percent.

"Access to opportunity, education, and a support system for success is key to breaking the historical biases that have previously held women back from reaching their fullest social, health, and economic potential," says Linda Pringle Evans, dean of The EBW Business School for Women.

In Dallas-Fort Worth, Pomerenke Holdings is the top-ranked company on the Inc. 5000. Holding down the No. 73 spot, the automotive remarketer grew 5,164 percent from 2017 to 2020.

"Being ranked 73rd in a tough economic year for so many demonstrates the outstanding work and dedication of our team and partners," says Joey Pomerenke, founder and CEO of Pomerenke Holdings.

Following are other Texas companies that made the top 200 in the Inc. 5000, along with their three-year growth rates:

49. Residential real estate platform OJO Labs, Austin, 6,767 percent
77. Book club operator Literati, Austin, 4,898 percent
79. Tea-by-the-box purveyor Sips by, Austin, 4,754 percent
87. YouTube ad platform AdOutreach, Austin, 4,515 percent
120. Staffing agency Rayne Staffing, Houston, 3,390 percent
141. Dental services provider Endo1 Partners, Houston, 2,936 percent
165. Healthcare consulting firm ReMedi Health Solutions, Houston, 2,547 percent
169. Mortgage lender NXT Mortgage, Coppell, 2,496 percent
196. Software provider Noblesoft Technologies, Irving, 2,200 percent

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This article originally ran on CultureMap.

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Houston hospital names leading cancer scientist as new academic head

new hire

Houston Methodist Academic Institute has named cancer clinician and scientist Dr. Jenny Chang as its new executive vice president, president, CEO, and chief academic officer.

Chang was selected following a national search and will succeed Dr. H. Dirk Sostman, who will retire in February after 20 years of leadership. Chang is the director of the Houston Methodist Dr. Mary and Ron Neal Cancer Center and the Emily Herrmann Presidential Distinguished Chair in Cancer Research. She has been with Houston Methodist for 15 years.

Over the last five years, Chang has served as the institute’s chief clinical science officer and is credited with strengthening cancer clinical trials. Her work has focused on therapy-resistant cancer stem cells and their treatment, particularly relating to breast cancer.

Her work has generated more than $35 million in funding for Houston Methodist from organizations like the National Institutes of Health and the National Cancer Institute, according to the health care system. In 2021, Dr. Mary Neal and her husband Ron Neal, whom the cancer center is now named after, donated $25 million to support her and her team’s research on advanced cancer therapy.

In her new role, Chang will work to expand clinical and translational research and education across Houston Methodist in digital health, robotics and bioengineered therapeutics.

“Dr. Chang’s dedication to Houston Methodist is unparalleled,” Dr. Marc L. Boom, Houston Methodist president and CEO, said in a news release. “She is committed to our mission and to helping our patients, and her clinical expertise, research innovation and health care leadership make her the ideal choice for leading our academic mission into an exciting new chapter.”

Chang is a member of the American Association of Cancer Research (AACR) Stand Up to Cancer Scientific Advisory Council. She earned her medical degree from Cambridge University in England and completed fellowship training in medical oncology at the Royal Marsden Hospital/Institute for Cancer Research. She earned her research doctorate from the University of London.

She is also a professor at Weill Cornell Medical School, which is affiliated with the Houston Methodist Academic Institute.

Texas A&M awarded $1.3M federal grant to develop clean energy tech from electronic waste

seeing green

Texas A&M University in College Station has received a nearly $1.3 million federal grant for development of clean energy technology.

The university will use the $1,280,553 grant from the U.S. Department of Energy to develop a cost-effective, sustainable method for extracting rare earth elements from electronic waste.

Rare earth elements (REEs) are a set of 17 metallic elements.

“REEs are essential components of more than 200 products, especially high-tech consumer products, such as cellular telephones, computer hard drives, electric and hybrid vehicles, and flat-screen monitors and televisions,” according to the Eos news website.

REEs also are found in defense equipment and technology such as electronic displays, guidance systems, lasers, and radar and sonar systems, says Eos.

The grant awarded to Texas A&M was among $17 million in DOE grants given to 14 projects that seek to accelerate innovation in the critical materials sector. The federal Energy Act of 2020 defines a critical material — such as aluminum, cobalt, copper, lithium, magnesium, nickel, and platinum — as a substance that faces a high risk of supply chain disruption and “serves an essential function” in the energy sector.

“DOE is helping reduce the nation’s dependence on foreign supply chains through innovative solutions that will tap domestic sources of the critical materials needed for next-generation technologies,” says U.S. Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm. “These investments — part of our industrial strategy — will keep America’s growing manufacturing industry competitive while delivering economic benefits to communities nationwide.”

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This article originally appeared on EnergyCapital.

Biosciences startup becomes Texas' first decacorn after latest funding

A Dallas-based biosciences startup whose backers include millionaire investors from Austin and Dallas has reached decacorn status — a valuation of at least $10 billion — after hauling in a series C funding round of $200 million, the company announced this month. Colossal Biosciences is reportedly the first Texas startup to rise to the decacorn level.

Colossal, which specializes in genetic engineering technology designed to bring back or protect various species, received the $200 million from TWG Global, an investment conglomerate led by billionaire investors Mark Walter and Thomas Tull. Walter is part owner of Major League Baseball’s Los Angeles Dodgers, and Tull is part owner of the NFL’s Pittsburgh Steelers.

Among the projects Colossal is tackling is the resurrection of three extinct animals — the dodo bird, Tasmanian tiger and woolly mammoth — through the use of DNA and genomics.

The latest round of funding values Colossal at $10.2 billion. Since launching in 2021, the startup has raised $435 million in venture capital.

In addition to Walter and Tull, Colossal’s investors include prominent video game developer Richard Garriott of Austin and private equity veteran Victor Vescov of Dallas. The two millionaires are known for their exploits as undersea explorers and tourist astronauts.

Aside from Colossal’s ties to Dallas and Austin, the startup has a Houston connection.

The company teamed up with Baylor College of Medicine researcher Paul Ling to develop a vaccine for elephant endotheliotropic herpesvirus (EEHV), the deadliest disease among young elephants. In partnership with the Houston Zoo, Ling’s lab at the Baylor College of Medicine has set up a research program that focuses on diagnosing and treating EEHV, and on coming up with a vaccine to protect elephants against the disease. Ling and the BCMe are members of the North American EEHV Advisory Group.

Colossal operates research labs Dallas, Boston and Melbourne, Australia.

“Colossal is the leading company working at the intersection of AI, computational biology, and genetic engineering for both de-extinction and species preservation,” Walter, CEO of TWG Globa, said in a news release. “Colossal has assembled a world-class team that has already driven, in a short period of time, significant technology innovations and impact in advancing conservation, which is a core value of TWG Global.”

Well-known genetics researcher George Church, co-founder of Colossal, calls the startup “a revolutionary genetics company making science fiction into science fact.”

“We are creating the technology to build de-extinction science and scale conservation biology,” he added, “particularly for endangered and at-risk species.”

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