Synthetic biology unicorn announces new Houston HQ

moving in

Solugen is moving its HQ into Phoenix Tower. Photo courtesy of Parkway

Houston-based Solugen has announced an HQ move. But don't worry. This unicorn chemicals company is just moving down the street.

Parkway Property Investments LLC announced today that Solugen is relocating its Houston corporate headquarters to Greenway Plaza. The biotech company, recently ranked as one of the most innovative businesses in the world, signed a multi-year lease in Phoenix Tower. The building is one of 11 Class A buildings on the 52-acre mixed-use campus.

The space's buildout is expected to be completed in the second quarter, according to a news release, with Solugen moving in after that.

The venture-backed biotech startup, which produces high-performance chemicals through the use of bio-based feedstock and metal catalyst technologies, signed a multi-year lease in Phoenix Tower. The property is one of eleven Class A buildings on the landmark, 52-acre mixed-use campus, which is strategically located between Downtown and Uptown. Buildout of the space is expected to be completed in the second quarter.

“Innovative companies like Solugen are choosing to outsource the design-build process for office interiors to Parkway," says Eric Siegrist, Parkway’s managing director of leasing, in the release. "With several floors of ‘Ready Right Away’ suites fully-deployed, we happily take on this process to reduce the time and energy expended by an incoming tenant, resulting in expedited occupancy.”

Solugen was represented by Nick Terry, managing partner of Rifle Real Estate. Parkway’s senior director of leasing, JP Hutcheson, negotiated on behalf of Parkway.

Founded in 2016, Solugen’s process converts corn syrup into industrial chemicals, cutting down on carbon emissions generated by traditional production of chemicals. Carbon dioxide from chemical production is one of the biggest contributors to industrial greenhouse gas emissions. In September, the company raised a $357 million series C funding round and claimed its unicorn status.

Solugen joins several tech companies already housed in Greenway Plaza, including FlightAware, ThoughtTrace, Detechtion Technologies, and Buildforce.

Phoenix Tower has 627,320 square feet of space across 34 floors. Photo courtesy of Parkway


Greenway Plaza, which has recently renovated to introduce new spaces like The Hub, has a few more tech companies calling the office park home. Courtesy of Parkway Property Investments

3 tech companies ink deals in Greenway Plaza

Moving in

Three technology companies have executed new leases in Greenway Plaza. The leases represent over 20,000 square feet of space.

One of the companies has already moved in to the 52-acre Greenway Plaza, which is managed by Parkway Property Investments, LLC., while the others have move-in dates throughout the year.

"With renovations at Greenway 8 and 12 now complete, we're seeing broad-based interest from a variety of sectors drawn to an engaging, multi-faceted environment centered around convenience and collaboration with easy ingress and egress, a pedestrian-oriented layout, plus extensive and growing campus amenities such as the upcoming 80,000-square-foot Life Time Athletic club," says Parkway's COO, Mike Fransen, in a release.

Houston-based ThoughtTrace, Inc. is expected to move into its 4,358-square-foot space in Phoenix Tower the first quarter of 2019. The software-as-a-service startup uses artificial intelligence to make data entry and other tasks more efficient for oil and gas companies. The office will be the company's headquarters, and has regional sales offices in Dallas/Fort Worth, Denver, Oklahoma City, and Pennsylvania. Allie Hubbard, Brandi McDonald, and Christina Ott with Limestone Commercial brokered the deal on behalf of ThoughtTrace, while Rima Soroka and JP Hutcheson represented Parkway.

DMC, Inc., based in Chicago, is moving its Houston office from the Upper Kirby area to Greenway Plaza. The cross-industry software and engineering services company plans to set up 6,403-square-foot space in 8 Greenway Plaza in the third quarter of this year. DMC was represented by William Padon of CBRE and Parkway by Rima Soroka and JP Hutcheson.

Industrial Internet of Things platform, Detechtion Technologies, relocated its headquarters last month to a 12,000-square-foot space at 8 Greenway Plaza. Amanda Nebel and Eric Siegrist represented Parkway in the deal, while Detechtion Technologies was represented by Joshua Brown and Evan Roland of Newmark Knight Frank.

In addition to the three new tenants, the office park saw a few lease renewals from tech tenants including 30,000 square feet of new leases for NextSeed, Joule Processing, SkillGigs, and Marker Therapeutics, as well as an 8,000-square-foot renewal by a commercial operations enterprise software provider, according to the release.

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New accelerator for sports, health AI startups to launch at the Ion

The Collectiv Foundation and Rice University have established a sports, health and wellness startup accelerator at the Ion District’s Collectiv, a sports-focused venture capital platform.

The AI Native Dual-Use Sports, Health & Wellness Accelerator, scheduled to formally launch in March, will back early-stage startups developing AI for the sports, health and wellness markets. Accelerator participants will gain access to a host of opportunities with:

  • Mentors
  • Advisers
  • Pro sports teams and leagues
  • University athletics programs
  • Health care systems
  • Corporate partners
  • VC firms
  • Pilot projects
  • University-based entrepreneurship and business initiatives

Accelerator participants will focus on sports tech verticals inlcuding performance and health, fan experience and media platforms, data and analytics, and infrastructure.

“Houston is quickly becoming one of the most important innovation hubs at the intersection of sports, health, and AI,” Ashley DeWalt, co-founder and managing partner of The Collectiv and founder of The Collectiv Foundation, said in a news release.

“By launching this platform with Rice University in the Ion District,” he added, “we are building a category-defining acceleration engine that gives founders access to world-class research, global sports properties, hospital systems, and venture capital. This is about turning sports-validated technology into globally scalable companies at a moment when the world’s attention is converging on Houston ahead of the 2026 World Cup.”

The Collectiv accelerator will draw on expertise from organizations such as the Rice-Houston Methodist Center for Human Performance, Rice Brain Institute, Rice Gateway Project and the Texas Medical Center.

“The combination of Rice University’s research leadership, Houston’s unmatched health ecosystem, and The Collectiv’s operator-driven investment platform creates a powerful acceleration engine,” Blair Garrou, co-founder and managing partner of the Mercury Fund VC firm and a senior adviser for The Collectiv, added in the release.

Additional details on programming, partners and application timelines are expected to be announced in the coming weeks.

4 Houston-area schools excel with best online degree programs in U.S.

Top of the Class

Four Houston-area universities have earned well-deserved recognition in U.S. News & World Report's just-released rankings of the Best Online Programs for 2026.

The annual rankings offer insight into the best American universities for students seeking a flexible and affordable way to attain a higher education. In the 2026 edition, U.S. News analyzed nearly 1,850 online programs for bachelor's degrees and seven master's degree disciplines: MBA, business (non-MBA), criminal justice, education, engineering, information technology, and nursing.

Many of these local schools are also high achievers in U.S. News' separate rankings of the best grad schools.

Rice University tied with Texas A&M University in College Station for the No. 3 best online master's in information technology program in the U.S., and its online MBA program ranked No. 21 nationally.

The online master's in nursing program at The University of Texas Medical Branch in Galveston was the highest performing master's nursing degree in Texas, and it ranked No. 19 nationally.

Three different programs at The University of Houston were ranked among the top 100 nationwide:
  • No. 18 – Best online master's in education
  • No. 59 – Best online master's in business (non-MBA)
  • No. 89 – Best online bachelor's program
The University of Houston's Clear Lake campus ranked No. 65 nationally for its online master's in education program.

"Online education continues to be a vital path for professionals, parents, and service members seeking to advance their careers and broaden their knowledge with necessary flexibility," said U.S. News education managing editor LaMont Jones in a press release. "The 2026 Best Online Programs rankings are an essential tool for prospective students, providing rigorous, independent analysis to help them choose a high-quality program that aligns with their personal and professional goals."

A little farther outside Houston, two more universities – Sam Houston State University in Huntsville and Texas A&M University in College Station – stood out for their online degree programs.

Sam Houston State University

  • No. 5 – Best online master's in criminal justice
  • No. 30 – Best online master's in information technology
  • No. 36 – Best online master's in education
  • No. 77 – Best online bachelor's program
  • No. 96 – Best online master's in business (non-MBA)
Texas A&M University
  • No. 3 – Best online master's in information technology (tied with Rice)
  • No. 3 – Best online master's in business (non-MBA)
  • No. 8 – Best online master's in education
  • No. 9 – Best online master's in engineering
  • No. 11 – Best online bachelor's program
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This article originally appeared on CultureMap.com.

Houston wearable biosensing company closes $13M pre-IPO round

fresh funding

Wellysis, a Seoul, South Korea-headquartered wearable biosensing company with its U.S. subsidiary based in Houston, has closed a $13.5 million pre-IPO funding round and plans to expand its Texas operations.

The round was led by Korea Investment Partners, Kyobo Life Insurance, Kyobo Securities, Kolon Investment and a co-general partner fund backed by SBI Investment and Samsung Securities, according to a news release.

Wellysis reports that the latest round brings its total capital raised to about $30 million. The company is working toward a Korea Securities Dealers Automated Quotations listing in Q4 2026 or Q1 2027.

Wellysis is known for its continuous ECG/EKG monitor with AI reporting. Its lightweight and waterproof S-Patch cardiac monitor is designed for extended testing periods of up to 14 days on a single battery charge.

The company says that the funding will go toward commercializing the next generation of the S-Patch, known as the S-Patch MX, which will be able to capture more than 30 biometric signals, including ECG, temperature and body composition.

Wellysis also reports that it will use the funding to expand its Houston-based operations, specifically in its commercial, clinical and customer success teams.

Additionally, the company plans to accelerate the product development of two other biometric products:

  • CardioAI, an AI-powered diagnostic software platform designed to support clinical interpretation, workflow efficiency and scalable cardiac analysis
  • BioArmour, a non-medical biometric monitoring solution for the sports, public safety and defense sectors

“This pre-IPO round validates both our technology and our readiness to scale globally,” Young Juhn, CEO of Wellysis, said in the release. “With FDA-cleared solutions, expanding U.S. operations, and a strong AI roadmap, Wellysis is positioned to redefine how cardiac data is captured, interpreted, and acted upon across healthcare systems worldwide.”

Wellysis was founded in 2019 as a spinoff of Samsung. Its S-Patch runs off of a Samsung Smart Health Processor. The company's U.S. subsidiary, Wellysis USA Inc., was established in Houston in 2023 and was a resident of JLABS@TMC.

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