Houston boasts impressive presence on annual list of fastest-growing businesses

showing off

The Inc. 5000 list is out — here's how Houston faired this year. Photo by Natalie Harms

One hundred businesses in the Houston area — including the top-ranked company in Texas — have been named to the 2024 Inc. 5000 list of the country’s fastest-growing private companies.

The 2024 Inc. 5000 ranks companies based on their percentage growth in revenue from 2020 to 2023.

Topping the list of Houston-area companies on the list is The Woodlands-based Segment HR, which notched revenue growth of 7,353 percent. That growth rate earned Segment HR the No. 32 spot on the national list and the No. 1 ranking in Texas.

Founded in 2018 by former federal HR specialist Robin Scott, Segment HR specializes in providing HR support for federal agencies. The company employs remote HR specialists in 23 states and the District of Columbia.

Here’s the list of the top 25 Houston-area companies in the 2024 edition of the Inc. 5000, including each company’s headquarters city, growth rate, and national ranking:

Segment HR, The Woodlands, 7,353 percent, No. 32
Dhanani Private Equity Group, Stafford, 3,617 percent, No. 89
Realty.com, Houston 3,052 percent, No. 107
Turtlebox Audio, Houston, 1,913 percent, No. 209
Amundson Group, Houston, 1,306 percent, No. 332
Valiant Business Lending, Houston, 1,286 percent, No. 337
Strategic Office Support, Houston, 1,192 percent, No. 367
10xTravel, Houston, 1,102 percent, No. 401
NOW Insurance, Houston, 797 percent, No. 559
Explore Group, Houston, 796 percent, No. 562
Specialty1 Partners, Houston, 728 percent, No. 631
FINBOA, Houston, 714 percent, No. 650
BroCoTec, Houston, 687 percent, No. 690
Elite Roofing, Houston, 675 percent, No. 706
Patriot Bolt, Humble, 641 percent, No. 757
CT Sounds, Houston, 624 percent, No. 789
Supreme Jewelers, Friendswood, 525 percent, No. 965
Dometik Commercial Construction, Cypress, 477 percent, No. 1,070
Vape City, Houston, 459 percent, No. 1,116
Highlands Construction, Houston, 451 percent, No. 1,132
Houston Tents and Events, Houston, 438 percent, No. 1,171
Goebel Fasteners, Houston, 385 percent, No. 1,340
Field Industries, Houston, 376 percent, No. 1,366
Coverflex Manufacturing, Houston, 365 percent, No. 1,410

“One of the greatest joys of my job is going through the Inc. 5000 list,” says Mike Hofman, editor-in-chief of Inc. magazine. “To see all of the intriguing and surprising ways that companies are transforming sectors, from health care and AI to apparel and pet food, is fascinating for me as a journalist and storyteller.”

Elsewhere in Texas:

Austin-based Maev led the Austin-area pack with a growth rate of 6,734 percent, earning the No. 38 spot on the national list.
Dallas-based Archer Review led the Dallas-area pack with a growth rate of 5,771 percent, earning the No. 46 spot on the national list.
LaVernia-based Begesh led the San Antonio-area pack with a growth rate of 1,111 percent, earning the No. 396 spot on the national list.

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The sweaters may be ugly, but the success of Specialty1's team is gorgeous. Specialty1/Facebook

Houston company boasting 18,000-percent growth scores top spot on coveted Inc. 5000 list

winner, winner

Dozens of Houston-based companies have undergone explosive growth in revenue over the last few years, with one such business landing near the top of the prestigious 2023 Inc. 5000 list.

One Houston-based company, Specialty1 Partners, ranked No. 15 nationally, boasting an unimaginable 18,747 percent growth rate from 2019 to 2022. Founded in 2019 by a group of doctors, Specialty1 Partners is a specialty dental services provider focusing on endodontics, oral surgery, and periodontics.

In a press release celebrating their No. 15 spot, the company says it now has more than 350 specialists across 27 states, and over 220 practices.

"We are honored to be recognized by Inc. 5000 for our 3rd consecutive year," stated Daryl Dudum, founder and co-CEO of Specialty1 Partners. "Our tremendous growth reflects our core mission in serving our dental surgical specialists by providing the clinical autonomy they deserve and the business support they need."

While being No. 1 in Houston, Specialty1 Partners is also the fifth highest-ranked Texas business on the list, and No. 1 in the national dental industry. Austin-based CharterUp, an online marketplace specializing in real-time instant transportation booking, ranked No. 2 nationally and No. 1 in the state.

It's not the first award that Specialty1 Partners is celebrating this year. Dudum and his co-founder and co-CEO, Matthew Hadda, were named regional winners for the 2023 EY Entrepreneurs of the Year awards.

Companies on the 2023 Inc. 5000, released August 15, are ranked by percentage growth in revenue from 2019 to 2022. To qualify for the list, a company must have been founded and generating revenue by March 31, 2019. The company also must have been U.S.-based, privately held, for-profit, and independent as of December 31, 2022. The minimum revenue required for 2019 was $100,000; the minimum for 2022 was $2 million.

In all, 482 Texas-based companies made this year’s list, and 95 of those are Houston-based. The report says eight businesses are newly-founded, 59 are repeat honorees, and more than 9,400 jobs were added thanks to these companies.

The 10 remaining Houston-area businesses ranking among the top 500 include:

No. 81 – Hawthorne Capital, 5,574 percent growth rate
No. 89 – Valiant Capital, 5,223 percent growth rate
No. 162 – Intervene K-12, 3,207 percent growth rate
No. 205 – Mission Driven Meat & Seafood, 2,720 percent growth rate
No. 292 – BODY20, 1,931 percent growth rate
No. 360 – Cobalt Engineering and Inspections, La Marque, 1,588 percent growth rate
No. 383 – Jess Lea Boutique, Magnolia, 1,519 percent growth rate
No. 393 – Gasochem International, 1,469 percent growth rate
No. 441 – Supreme Jewelers, Friendswood, 1,315 percent growth rate
No. 489 – Just Made Foods LLC, 1,198 percent growth rate

Here are the other Texas companies appearing in the state’s top 20 are:

No. 2 – CharterUp, Austin, 111,130 percent growth rate
No. 4 – Green Light Distribution, Coppell, 41,090 percent growth rate
No. 13 – Blue Hammer Roofing, Dallas, 19,510 percent growth rate
No. 14 – eTrueNorth, Mansfield, 19,130 percent growth rate
No. 19 – Publishing.com, Austin, 16,497 percent growth rate
No. 85 – Archer Review, Dallas, 5,378 percent growth rate
No. 90 – Norwood, Austin, 5,189 percent growth rate
No. 104 – 24HourNurse Staffing, Pittsburg, 4,520 percent growth rate
No. 110 – Advantis Medical Staffing, Dallas, 4,302 percent growth rate
No. 112 – CloudServus, Austin, 4,215 percent growth rate
No. 144 – Maveneer, Dallas, 3,630 percent growth rate
No. 145 – Ashland Greene, Dallas, 3,617 percent growth rate
No. 152 – Physical Therapy Biz, Dallas, 3,542 percent growth rate
No. 155 – Curis Functional Health, Dallas, 3,444 percent growth rate
No. 175 – TimelyCare, Fort Worth, 3,015 percent growth rate
No. 180 – LeasePoint Funding Group, Austin, 2,920 percent growth rate

The full list of businesses can be found on inc.com.

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This article originally ran on CultureMap.

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Texas solar power poised to surpass coal for the first time in 2026

Powering Texas

Solar power promises to shine even brighter in Texas this year.

A new forecast from the U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) indicates that for the first time, annual power generation from utility-scale solar will surpass annual power generation from coal across the territory covered by the Electric Reliability Council of Texas (ERCOT).

Solar generation is expected to reach 78 billion kilowatt-hours in 2026 in the ERCOT grid, compared with 60 billion kilowatt-hours for coal, the EIA forecast says. The ERCOT grid supplies power to about 90 percent of Texas, including the Houston area.

“Utility-scale solar generation has been increasing steadily in ERCOT as solar capacity additions help meet rapid electricity demand growth,” the forecast says.

Although natural gas remains the dominant source of electricity generation in ERCOT, accounting for an average 44 percent of electricity generation from 2021 to 2025, solar’s share of the generation mix rose from four percent to 12 percent. During the same period, coal’s share dropped from 19 percent to 13 percent.

EIA predicts about 40 percent of U.S. solar capacity, or 14 billion kilowatt-hours, added in 2026 will come from Texas.

Although EIA expects annual solar generation to exceed annual coal generation in 2026, solar surpassed coal in ERCOT on a monthly basis for the first time in March 2025, when solar generation totaled 4.33 billion kilowatt-hours and coal’s totaled 4.16 billion kilowatt-hours. Solar generation continued to exceed that of coal until August of that year.

“In 2026, we estimate that solar exceeded coal for the first time in March, and we forecast generation from solar installations in ERCOT will continue to exceed that from coal until December, when coal generation exceeds solar,” says EIA. “We expect solar generation to exceed that of coal for every month in 2027 except January and December.”

For 2027, EIA forecasts annual solar generation of 99 billion kilowatt-hours in the ERCOT grid, compared with 66 billion kilowatt-hours of annual coal generation.

In April, ERCOT projected almost 368 billion kilowatt-hours of demand in ERCOT’s territory by 2032. ERCOT’s all-time peak demand hit 85.5 billion kilowatt-hours in August 2023.

“Texas is experiencing exceptional growth and development, which is reshaping how large load demand is identified, verified, and incorporated into long-term planning,” ERCOT President and CEO Pablo Vegas said. “As a result of a changing landscape, we believe this forecast to be higher than expected … load growth.”

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This article first appeared on EnergyCapitalHTX.com.

Intuitive Machines strikes $49.3M deal to expand lunar communications network

space deal

Houston-based Intuitive Machines is bulking up its space-to-ground data network with the acquisition of United Kingdom-based Goonhilly Earth Station and its U.S. arm, COMSAT.

The $49.3 million cash-and-stock deal would add 44 antennas to Intuitive Machines’ network. The acquisition is expected to close in the third quarter.

Intuitive Machines, a space infrastructure and services company, designs, builds, and operates spacecraft and data networks for lunar and deep-space missions. Goonhilly operates a satellite Earth station in Cornwall, England.

Intuitive Machines says Goonhilly’s and COMSAT’s civil, commercial, and government customers will complement its current customer base and broaden its reach into related sectors.

“Customers have been clear that they want a single, integrated, and resilient solution for their communications and [position, navigation, and timing] needs as they accelerate missions at an unprecedented pace,” Steve Altemus, co‑founder and CEO of Intuitive Machines, said in a news release.

Kenn Herskind, executive chairman of Goonhilly, says the acquisition “will allow us to scale that capability globally and directly support the next era of lunar exploration. Together, we will be creating a commercial lunar communications network that is interoperable, resilient, and ready to support Artemis and international missions.”

Modular nuclear reactor co. NuScale Power moves into Houston market

New to Hou

The nuclear energy renaissance continues in Texas with an announcement by NuScale Power. The Oregon-based provider of proprietary and innovative advanced small modular reactor (SMR) nuclear technology announced in April it would be opening office space in Houston’s CityCentre.

“Opening this space in Houston underscores our commitment to meeting rising energy demand with safe, scalable nuclear technology,” John Hopkins, NuScale president and CEO, said in a news release. “This move expands our presence in a key market for partners, prospective customers, and stakeholders in addition to positioning us for the future as we focus on the near-term deployment of our industry-leading technology. Texas is leading the way in embracing advanced nuclear for grid resilience and industrial decarbonization, and we’re proud to expand our footprint and capabilities in this important region.”

Interest in nuclear power has been growing in recent years thanks to tensions with oil-rich nations, concerns about man-made climate change from fossil fuels, and the rapidly increasing power needs of data centers. Both Dow and Texas A&M University have announced expanded nuclear power projects in the last year, with an eye of changing the face of Texas’s energy industry through smaller, safer fission reactors.

Enter NuScale, founded in 2007 from technology developed at the University of Oregon. Their modular SMR technology generates 77 megawatts and is one of the only small modular reactors (SMR) to receive design approval from the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC). These advances have led to runaway success for NuScale, whose stock has risen by more than 1,670 percent since the start of 2024.

The new operations campus in CityCentre is expected to facilitate the movement, installation and coordination of NuScale technology into the various energy systems. Typically, SMRs are used for off-grid installations, desalination operations, mining facilities and similar areas that lack infrastructure. However, the modularity means that they can be easily deployed to a variety of areas.

It comes none too soon. ERCOT projects that Texas data centers alone will require 77,965 megawatts by 2030.

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