Houston oil and gas giant premieres new startup incubator and names first participant

new to hou

Houston-based oil field service company, Halliburton, has introduced its new startup incubator. Getty Images

Not intending to be left out of the energy transition, a Houston-based, multinational oil and gas services company has announced its new incubator for startups to advance cleaner, affordable energy.

Halliburton Company has introduced Halliburton Labs this week and named Houston-based Nanotech Inc., which uses nanotechnology for thermal insulation and fireproofing, as its first participant. Nanotech — along with future entrepreneurs and academics — will have access to the Halliburton facilities, the company's experts, and its network.

"Halliburton Labs reflects our commitment to the science and continued evolution of sustainable, reliable energy," says Jeff Miller, chairman, president, and CEO at Halliburton, in a news release. "We firmly believe that oil and gas will remain an affordable and reliable energy resource for decades to come. At the same time, we recognize the importance of developing alternative energy sources. We are excited to help advance solutions that have the potential for a long term, meaningful impact and that align well with our sustainability objectives."

The program will be based out of Halliburton's North Houston headquarters and will be led by executive director, Scott Gale. The primary focus of the incubator is to help advance and scale the participating startups, which includes developing and advancing products, securing financing and customers, and more.

Startups that will be considered for the program must be past the proof-of-concept phase, and a formal application process will roll out in September. According to the release, additional startup participants will be announced in the next few months. Meanwhile, Nanotech has already moved into the new lab at Halliburton.

"We also couldn't be more pleased to have Nanotech, Inc. as the first participant of Halliburton Labs," says Miller in the release. "Nanotech delivers technology that will change the way we think about energy conservation and fire safety across many sectors."

Nanotech's Nano Shield products can protect from fire damage as well as improve energy efficiency. Mike Francis, CEO and co-founder, launched Nanotech in 2019.

"We are incredibly excited to have been selected as an anchor for Halliburton Labs and help drive meaningful change and innovation in the energy sector," says Francis, in the release. "Access to Halliburton Labs' resources and world-class facilities will help accelerate our growth and deliver our transformative line of products. Through this collaboration, we intend to fundamentally shift the fireproofing and thermal insulation markets towards more effective and environmentally friendly solutions."

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The Cannon hosted a B2B pitch night, and all three companies have a mission to change the world. Courtesy of The Cannon

3 Houston entrepreneurs changing the world with their B2B startups

On purpose

I think it's safe to say that most B2B startups don't have sustainability or a mission-driven purpose at the core of their business model. In fact, it's probably safe to say that about any for-profit company of any size.

Three Houston entrepreneurs pitched their companies at The Cannon's recent B2B pitch night, and they all have something in common: They're not normal B2B startups. Each company has a mission to change the way we're doing something — from hiring to construction — in a way that's better for the world.

Natalie Goodman, founder and CEO IncentiFind

Courtesy of IncentiFind

Natalie Goodman realized there was a disconnect between builders and green incentives the government provides.

"The government is strapped — they have all this money that they want to give away, but not the (marketing) money to get the word out," Goodman told InnovationMap last month. "That's where IncentiFind stepped in."

IncentiFind is a portal for green incentives and works in three steps. First, you do a search for green incentives in your area — this part is completely free to the commercial developer or home owner. Next, the user might opt to pay IncentiFind to find the exact incentives for the project and submits the applications for the project. The final step is a promise of a 10 times return on investment.

A million green projects are completed in the United States each year, and IncentiFind is getting in front of that by forming partnerships with lenders, commercial developers, architects, etc., Goodman says to the crowd. Read more about IncentiFind here.

Jeff Miller, CEO of Potentia

Courtesy of The Cannon

The facts and figures are pretty startling. One-in-40 school-age children are on the autism spectrum and one-in-five college-educated autistic individuals don't have a job when they graduate, Jeff Miller says during his pitch at The Cannon. Miller, who has a long career in staffing around the world, founded his company Potentia to help correct this growing employment problem.

"We're seeking to help employers build their 21st century workforce at the intersection of technology, leadership, and, most specifically, the autism spectrum," he says.

Potentia is a technology-focused recruitment firm with resources and opportunities for applicants on the Autism spectrum. For Miller, it's personal. His 16-year-old son has autism, and Miller wants a world where his son can have access to employment opportunities around the world.

"I think we're in a position to improve this model here in Houston, and take it to other cities," Miller says. "The reality is this is a challenge that exists in every major city."

Kim Raath, co-founder of Topl

Courtesy of Topl

Sure, blockchain is a major buzzword nowadays, but for Topl co-founder Kim Raath it means having the ability to track the sustainability of a purchase. Topl's technology is able to tell you if your diamond ring came from a war-torn country or if your coffee's farmer was paid fairly.

Raath says she's seen an increased need for sustainable and transparent businesses that can prove their impact, but it's expensive to do that.

"These businesses are spending so much money on trying to prove this impact," Raath says in her pitch at The Cannon. "We have customers spending close to 15 percent in operational expenses just to be able to trace their growth."

The company, founded by three Rice University students, is growing. In May, Raath says they have four new ventures being developed, and by 2020, they want to have 24 live ventures with a monthly revenue of over $30,000.

"At Topl, we are really going to change the world," Raath tells the crowd. "But I can prove it to you." Read more about Topl here.

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6 Houston entrepreneurs land on coveted Inc. Female Founders 500 list

the future is female

Six Houston female entrepreneurs and innovators were named to the 2026 Female Founders 500 list.

The annual list compiled by Inc. Magazine recognizes female founders based in the U.S. who have built businesses that have moved their industries forward. The group collectively generated approximately $12.3 billion in 2025 revenue and $12.2 billion in funding to date, according to Inc. Five Houstonians were named to the list last year.

"Each year, we are increasingly amazed by the extraordinary leaders on our Inc. Female Founders 500 list," Bonny Ghosh, editorial director at Inc., said in a news release. "The honorees on this year's list include innovators in AI, beauty and wellness trendsetters winning devoted fans, and nonprofit leaders making a real impact in their communities. Together, they're showing all of us what trailblazing female leadership looks like."

The Houston founders are:

  • Sassie Duggleby, CEO and co-founder of Houston space tech and engine company Venus Aerospace. Duggleby also serves on the Texas Space Commission board of directors.
  • Stephanie Murphy, CEO and executive chairman of Aegis Aerospace, which provides space services, spaceflight product development, and engineering services. Murphy also serves as chair of the Texas Aerospace Research and Space Economy Consortium Executive Committee.
  • Laureen Meroueh, CEO and founder of Hertha Metals, which has developed a cost-effective and energy-efficient process that converts low-grade iron ore of any format directly into molten steel or high-purity iron in a single step.
  • LaToshia Norwood, managing partner of L'Renee & Associates (LRA), a full-service project management consulting firm.
  • Lauren Rottet, president and founding principal of Rottet Studio, an international architecture and design firm focused on corporate, lifestyle and hospitality projects
  • Nina Magon, founder and CEO of Nina Magon Studio / Nina Magon Consumer Products, a residential and commercial interior design company. She also co-founded KA Residences earlier this year.

"Grateful to be recognized again on the Inc. Female Founders 500," Duggleby said in a LinkedIn post. "The best part of building Venus Aerospace has been working with an incredible team pushing the boundaries of flight—and helping bring more women into aerospace along the way.

Meroueh, whose company emerged from stealth last year, voiced a similar push for bringing more women into the fold.

"We've seen a 7x jump in female-led IPOs over the last decade, from just two in 2014 (less than 1% of all IPOs) to 14 in 2024 (nearly 9% of all IPOs). Progress is happening," Meroueh shared in a LinkedIn post. "Yet, less than 1% of venture funding in hard tech goes to female-founded companies. But as my friend Ana Kraft says, the right man for the job may be a woman."

Twenty-nine Texas female founders made this list, including Amber Venz Box, founder of the Dallas-based LTK shopping platform, and Cheryl Sew Hoy, CEO and founder of Austin-based Tiny Health, a fast-growing at-home microbiome health platform. See the full list of winners here.

NASA clears Artemis moon rocket for April launch with 4 astronauts

3, 2, 1...

NASA has cleared its moon rocket on for an April launch with four astronauts after completing the latest round of repairs.

The 322-foot (98-meter) rocket will roll out of the hangar and back to the pad at Florida's Kennedy Space Center, leading to a launch attempt as early as April 1. It will mark humanity's first trip to the moon in more than 50 years.

The Artemis II crew should have blasted off on a lunar flyaround earlier this year, but fuel leaks and other problems with the Space Launch System rocket interfered.

Although NASA managed to plug the hydrogen fuel leaks at the pad in February, a helium-flow issue forced the space agency to return the rocket to the Vehicle Assembly Building for repairs, bumping the mission to April.

The space agency has only six days at the beginning of April to launch before standing down until April 30 into early May.

"It's a test flight and it is not without risk, but our team and our hardware are ready,” NASA's Lori Glaze told reporters at the end of the two-day flight readiness review.

Glaze and other NASA officials declined to provide the risk probabilities for the upcoming mission.

History has shown that a new rocket has essentially a 50% chance of success, said John Honeycutt, chair of the mission management team.

There's so much gap since the only other SLS flight — more than three years ago without anyone on board — that it's difficult to understand any risk assessment numbers, Honeycutt said.

“It's not the first flight," Glaze said. "But we're also not in a regular cadence. So we definitely have significantly more risk than a flight system that's flying all the time.”

Late last month NASA's new administrator, Jared Isaacman, announced a major overhaul of the Artemis program to speed things up and, by doing so, reduce risk.

Dissatisfied with the slow pace and lengthy gaps between lunar missions, he added an extra practice flight in orbit around Earth for next year. That is now the new Artemis III, with the moon landing by two astronauts shifted to Artemis IV. Isaacman is targeting one and maybe even two lunar landings in 2028.

NASA's Office of Inspector General warned in an audit that the space agency needs to come up with a rescue plan for its lunar crews. Landing near the moon's south pole will be riskier than it was for the Apollo astronauts closer to the equator given the rough polar terrain, according to the report.

The report cited the lunar landers as the top contributor for potential loss of crew during the first few Artemis moon landings. It listed the space agency’s loss-of-crew threshold at 1-in-40 for lunar operations and 1-in-30 for Artemis missions overall.

Contracted by NASA to provide the moon landers for astronauts, Elon Musk's SpaceX and Jeff Bezos' Blue Origin have accelerated work in order to meet the new 2028 target date. The inspector general's office said many technical challenges remain including refueling their landers in orbit around Earth before flying to the moon.

NASA sent 24 astronauts to the moon during Apollo, 12 of whom landed on it. All but one of the moonshots — Apollo 13 — achieved their prime objectives. The program ended with Apollo 17 in 1972.

Kinder leads 19 Houstonians on Forbes' World's Billionaires List 2026

World's Richest 2026

According to Forbes, there has “never been a better time to be a billionaire” than in 2026, and the publication's newest World’s Billionaires List has revealed the 19 Houston billionaires that have risen among the wealthiest worldwide.

Kinder Morgan chairman Richard Kinder surpassed hospitality honcho Tilman Fertitta as the richest billionaire in Houston, ranking No. 232 on the global list with an estimated net worth of $13 billion. His net worth has grown by $2.4 billion since last year.

Fertitta, 68, may not be the richest Houstonian anymore, but his wealth is still on the rise. He ranked 268th on the list with an estimated net worth of $11.7 billion, up from $11.3 billion last year.

Out of the 390 billionaire newbies that made their debut onto the list this year, one of them calls Houston home: restaurateur and commodities trader Ignacio Torras. Torras, 61, is the founder and CEO of global commodities trading company Tricon Energy, and he owns Michelin-starred local restaurant BCN Taste & Tradition and its sister eatery MAD. But that's not all he spends his time doing, according to Forbes.

"In 2024 Torras launched a soccer tournament for neurodivergent players called the Genuine Cup," his profile said. "Last year 800 players and 30 teams from around the world played at Rice University stadium."

Torras debuted as No. 2600 on the list with an estimated net worth of $1.5 billion.

Houston-born multi-hyphenate superstar Beyoncé Knowles-Carter also staked a claim among the world's richest people in 2026. She ranked No. 3332 on the list with a net worth of $1 billion, thanks to her "years of music sales, touring and collecting art with her already-billionaire husband Jay-Z (estimated net worth: $2.8 billion)," Forbes said.

"The majority of pop star Beyonce’s net worth comes from her roughly three decades as a solo performer and a member of the girl-group Destiny's Child," her profile said. "She holds the record for the most Grammy wins ever, with 35, and won her first Album of the Year trophy in 2025. She and her billionaire husband Jay-Z purchased a $200 million Malibu mansion in 2023, in what was the most expensive home sale in California history."

Beyoncé also ranks No. 21 in the publication's separate list of The World's Celebrity Billionaires.

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

  • Toyota mega-dealer Dan Friedkin: No. 279; $11.4 billion, up from $7.7 billion
  • Pipeline heir Randa Duncan Williams: tied for No. 323 with an estimated net worth of $10.2 billion, up from $9.3 billion in 2025. Fellow pipeline heirs Dannine Avara and Milane Frantz tied for No. 332 globally. Each has an estimated net worth of $10.1 billion, up from $9.2 billion. Scott Duncan ranks No. 353 with a $9.8 billion estimated net worth, up from $9 billion in 2025.
  • Oil tycoon Jeffery Hildebrand: No. 341; $10 billion, up from $7.7 billion
  • Houston Texans owner Janice McNair and family: No. 528; $7.3 billion, up from $6.2 billion
  • Energy exploration chief exec George Bishop of The Woodlands: No. 908; $4.7 billion, down from $5 billion
  • Westlake Corporation co-owners Albert Chao, James Chao and their families: tied for No. 1074; $4 billion, flat from 2025
  • Hedge fund honcho John Arnold: No. 1504; $2.8 billion, down from $2.9 billion
  • Perry Homes executive chair Kathy Britton: No. 1611; $2.6 billion, flat from 2025
  • Houston Astros owner Jim Crane: No. 1676; $2.5 billion, up from $2.4 billion
  • Former Houston Rockets owner Leslie Alexander: No. 1834; $2.3 billion, up from $1.9 billion
  • Mercedes-Benz mega-dealer Joe Agresti: No. 3185; $1.1 billion, flat from 2025
  • Frontier Airlines chairman William Franke: No. 3332; $1 billion, down from $1.2 billion

Elsewhere in Texas

Austin billionaire Elon Musk was declared the world's richest person for the second consecutive year, and Forbes said his “grip on the top spot is as strong as it’s ever been.”

“Musk became the first person to hit $500 billion in wealth, in October,” Forbes said. “Then $600 billion and $700 billion, within four days in December. Then $800 billion, in February.”

The Tesla, SpaceX, and xAI founder’s current net worth has skyrocketed to $839 billion — a shocking $497 billion more than his 2025 net worth.

In Dallas-Fort Worth, Walmart heiress Alice Walton has maintained her elite status as the world’s richest woman for the third year in a row. Walton is the 14th richest person on the planet with a current net worth of $134 billion, an eye-catching $33 billion higher than her 2025 net worth. She is the first American woman worth $100 billion, and one of only 20 “centi-billionaires” worldwide claiming 12-figure fortunes, also known as the "$100 Billion Club."

Koch Inc. stakeholder Elaine Marshall and her family are the richest Dallas residents, ranking No. 71 globally with an estimated net worth of $30.9 billion. Her net worth has grown by $2.6 billion since last year.

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This article originally appeared on CultureMap.com.

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