Ranking It

Co-founder of Houston hypersonic engine co. lands on Inc. 500 list

Sassie Duggleby is on Inc.'s Female Founders 500 list for 2025. Courtesy photo

Five Houston female founders have been recognized by Inc. Magazine for their innovation, including Sassie Duggleby, the CEO and co-founder of groundbreaking space tech and engine company Venus Aerospace.

The women were named to Inc.'s Female Founders 500 list, which features female entrepreneurs based in the U.S. The group attracted approximately $9 billion in 2024 revenue and $10.6 billion in funding, according to Inc.

“Female founders know what struggle is, but they’re also experts of improvisation, adaptability, and creativity. The women featured on this year’s list exemplify these qualities," Diana Ransom, Inc. executive editor said in a release. "Through times of uncertainty, their unwavering dedication and steadfast leadership are not only inspiring but vital to driving progress.”

Venus Aerospace is the Houston-based company that is developing reusable hypersonic technology that it hopes "will revolutionize and redefine the boundaries of aviation, defense, and beyond." The company won the in the Deep Tech Business category in the 2024 Houston Innovation Awards. Duggleby also serves on the Texas Space Commission board of directors.

Duggleby is joined by four other Houston founders:

  • Stephanie Murphy, CEO and executive chairman of Aegis Aerospace, which provides space services, spaceflight product development, and engineering services. Murphy also serves on the Texas Aerospace Research and Space Economy Consortium Executive Committee.
  • Emily Cisek, founder of The Postage, now known as Paige, a comprehensive life planning and succession software platform for families and small businesses. The company won the Female-Owned Business category in the 2023 Houston Innovation Awards.
  • Margo Jordan, founder of adolescent mental health startup Enrichly, which uses AI-driven self-esteem development and behavioral insights to boost student performance.
  • Nina Magon, founder of Nina Magon Studio / Nina Magon Consumer Products, a residential and commercial interior design company.
"While I don't know many of the ladies on this list, I do know they're some of the most tenacious role models in entrepreneurship. I'm beyond honored to be included among them," Duggleby said in a LinkedIn post.
Twenty-eight Texas female founders made this list, including Kendra Scott and Allison Ellsworth, co-founder of Poppi, and many others.

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A version of this story first appeared on our sister site, InnovationMap.com.

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A View From HETI

Houston's data center scene has received its latest bullish forecast. Photo via serverfarmllc.com

The Houston market could more than double its data center capacity by the end of 2028, a new report indicates.

The report, published by commercial real estate services provider CBRE, says greater demand for data center capacity in the Houston area is being fueled by energy companies, along with large-scale cloud services and AI-driven tenants.

In the second half of 2025, the Houston market had 154 megawatts of data center capacity, which was on par with capacity in the second half of 2024. Another 28.5 megawatts of capacity was under construction during that period.

“Multiple providers are advancing new builds and redevelopments, including significant power upgrades to recently purchased buildings, underscoring long-term confidence even as the market works through elevated vacancy and uneven absorption,” CBRE says of Houston’s data center presence.

One project alone promises to significantly boost the Houston market’s data center capacity. Data center developer Serverfarm plans to use part of a $3 billion credit facility to build a 250-acre, AI-ready data center campus near Houston with a potential capacity of more than 500 megawatts. The Houston campus and two other Serverfarm projects are already leased to unidentified tenants, according to CoStar.

A 60-megawatt, AI-ready Serverfarm data center is under construction in Houston. The $137 million, 438,000-square-foot project, located near the former headquarters of computer manufacturer Compaq, is supposed to be completed in the third quarter of 2027.

Data Center Map identifies 59 data centers in the Houston area managed by 36 operators, including DataBank, Data Foundry, Digital Realty, IBM, Logix Fiber Networks, Lumen and TRG Datacenters. That compares with more than 180 data centers in Dallas-Fort Worth, more than 50 in the San Antonio area and 40 in the Austin area.

Texas is home to more than 400 data centers, according to Data Center Map.

In November, Google said it’s investing $40 billion to build AI data centers in West Texas and the Texas Panhandle.

“This is a Texas-sized investment in the future of our great state,” Gov. Greg Abbott said when Google’s commitment was announced. “Texas is the epicenter of AI development, where companies can pair innovation with expanding energy. Google's $40 billion investment makes Texas Google's largest investment in any state in the country and supports energy efficiency and workforce development in our state.”

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