This makes those Beaver Nuggets a lot more cost effective. Image courtesy of TDECU

Buc-ee’s fanatics, rejoice! As consumers cope with skyrocketing prices, those Beaver Nuggets and gas purchases are getting cheaper for certain credit card holders.

A new credit card from Houston-area credit union TDECU offers a five percent discount for in-store and at-the-pump Buc-ee’s purchases made with the card. TDECU says holders of the new Buc-ee’s Platinum Mastercard, featuring the iconic Buc-ee’s logo, can take advantage of the discount at participating Buc-ee’s locations.

“We are thrilled to share the expanded benefit of our Buc-ee’s partnership with our Members, at a time when they need it most,” Isaac Johnson, president and CEO of TDECU, says in a news release. “Buc-ee’s travel centers have become their own must-see destinations, and we are excited to give our Members another reason to stop along their financial journeys.”

TDECU members with other Mastercard or Visa credit cards will continue to receive a 10-cents-a-gallon discount on fuel pumped at Buc-ee’s stores.

Both Buc-ee’s and TDECU are based in Lake Jackson.

Buc-ee’s operates 35 stores in Texas and locations in seven other states. Its stores are known for their massive size, spotless restrooms, and Beaver Nuggets snacks.

TDECU (Texas Dow Employees Credit Union) is the largest credit union in the Houston area. It operates 37 branches in the region.

------

This article originally ran on CultureMap.

Ad Placement 300x100
Ad Placement 300x600

CultureMap Emails are Awesome

Houston named ‘star’ metro for artificial intelligence in new report

eyes on AI

A new report declares Houston one of the country’s 28 “star” hubs for artificial intelligence.

The Houston metro area appears at No. 16 in the Brookings Institution’s ranking of metros that are AI “stars.” The metro areas earned star status based on data from three AI buckets: talent, innovation and adoption. Only two places, the San Francisco Bay Area and Silicon Valley, made Brookings’ “superstar” list.

According to Brookings, the Houston area had 11,369 job postings in 2024 that sought candidates with AI skills, 210 AI startups (based on Crunchbase data from 2014 to 2024), and 113 venture capital deals for AI startups (based on PitchBook data from 2023 to 2024).

A number of developments are boosting Houston’s AI profile, such as:

Brookings also named Texas’s three other major metros as AI stars:

  • No. 11 Austin
  • No. 13 Dallas-Fort Worth
  • No. 40 San Antonio

Brookings said star metros like Houston “are bridging the gap” between the two superstar regions and the rest of the country. In 2025, the 28 star metros made up 46 percent of the country’s metro-area employment but 54 percent of AI job postings. Across the 28 metros, the number of AI job postings soared 139 percent between 2018 and 2025, according to Brookings.

Around the country, dozens of metros fell into three other categories on Brookings’ AI list: “emerging centers” (14 metros), “focused movers” (29 metros) and “nascent adopters” (79 metros).

Innovation Labs @ TMC set to launch for early-stage life science startups

moving in

The Texas Medical Center will launch its new Innovation Labs @ TMC in January 2026 to better support life science startups working within the innovation hub.

The 34,000-square-foot space, located in the TMC Innovation Factory at 2450 Holcombe Blvd., will feature labs and life science offices and will be managed by TMC. The space was previously occupied by Johnson & Johnson's JLABS @TMC, a representative from TMC tells InnovationMap. JLABS will officially vacate the space in January.

TMC shares that the expansion will allow it to "open its doors to a wider range of life science visionaries," including those in the TMC BioBridge program and Innovation Factory residents. It will also allow TMC to better integrate with the Innovation Factory's offerings, such as the TMC Health Tech accelerator, TMC Center for Device Innovation and TMC Venture Fund.

“We have witnessed an incredible demand for life science space, not only at the TMC Innovation Factory, but also on the TMC Helix Park research campus,” William McKeon, president and CEO of the TMC, said in a news release. “Innovation Labs @ TMC enables us to meet this rising demand and continue reshaping how early-stage life science companies grow, connect, and thrive.”

“By bringing together top talent, cutting-edge research, and industry access in one central hub, we can continue to advance Houston’s life science ecosystem," he continued.

The TMC Innovation Factory has hosted 450 early-stage ventures since it launched in 2015. JLABS first opened in the space in 2016 with the goal of helping health care startups commercialize.