fresh funding

Houston tech hub secures $40M to meet rising data center needs

ViVa Center — located at the old Compaq headquarters — received $40 million in C-PACE financing to revitalize its facility. Rendering courtesy of ViVa Center

A technology hub in Houston has fresh funding to drive tech advancement and data center growth.

Texas’ Commercial Property Assessed Clean Energy (C-PACE) program Lone Star PACE has arranged $40 million in C-PACE financing for the revitalization of ViVa Center in Houston to help support the development of data centers that revolve around the growth of AI.

“At ViVa Center, our commitment to technological innovation and forward-thinking design drives the integration of state-of-the-art building systems,” Freddy Vaca, president of VivaVerse Solutions said in a news release.

The facility is a turnkey data center that caters to hyper-scale users in cloud computing and AI.

VivaVerse Solutions’ ViVa Center is a 2.3-million-square-foot technology hub that was once Compaq headquarters, and also once owned by Hewlett-Packard Enterprise. The ViVa Center will offer 250 megawatts of power, a dedicated chilled water plant and a natural gas pipeline for energy generation with the new development. In addition, improvements will include LED lighting, advanced HVAC systems, energy-efficient windows, and high-efficiency plumbing upgrades.

“We are thrilled to have partnered with VivaVerse Solutions on this much-needed project,” Lee McCormick, president of Lone Star PACE said in a news release. “Demand for data center infrastructure has exploded amid a rise in data consumption and technological innovation, and it’s exciting to see C-PACE play a role in meeting that need.”

C-PACE gives access to property owners to long-term financing for energy and water conservation systems at commercial buildings at lower costs. The property owners can use C-PACE to finance building retrofits, recapitalizations , or new construction. Nuveen Green Capital served as a capital provider for the project. The project involves retrofitting an existing building with Phase 1 being scheduled for completion this fall.

“We are proud to expand our partnership with Lone Star PACE by providing $40 million in C-PACE capital to VivaVerse Solutions for the deep retrofit of their data center,” Sean Ribble, senior director of originations at Nuveen Green Capital, said in a news release. “ In a capital-constrained market, more owners and developers are recognizing the value of C-PACE as a flexible, cost-efficient financing solution for commercial real estate projects of all asset classes. We look forward to supporting many more C-PACE deals across Texas as the platform continues its expansion as a more mainstream financing option.”

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This article originally ran on InnovationMap.

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A View From HETI

Cemvita has named a new leader in Brazil. Photo via cemvita.com

Houston industrial biotech company Cemvita has announced two strategic moves to advance its operations in Brazil.

The company, which utilizes synthetic biology to transform carbon emissions into valuable bio-based chemicals, acquired a complementary technology that expands its IP and execution of scale-up capacity, according to a news release. The acquisition will bring additional synthetic biology toolsets that Cemvita believes will assist with compressing and commercializing timelines.

The company also appointed Luciano Zamberlan as vice president of operations based in Brazil.

Zamberlan will lead operational execution, site readiness and early commissioning activities in Brazil. He brings more than 20 years of experience in biotechnology to the role. He recently served as director of engineering at Raízen, Brazil’s largest ethanol producer and the world’s largest producer of sugarcane ethanol. At Raízen, he coordinated the implementation of four greenfield plants and oversaw operational teams and process optimization for second-generation ethanol (E2G) and biogas.

“I am very pleased to join Cemvita, a company at the forefront of transforming waste into valuable, sustainable resources,” Zamberlan said in the release. “My expertise in scaling-up innovation, coupled with my experience in structuring and commissioning greenfield industrial operations, is perfectly aligned with Cemvita's mission and I'm eager to bring my energy and drive to accelerate Cemvita's industrial performance and contribute for a circular future.”

Cemvita expanded to Brazil in January to help capitalize on the country’s progressive regulatory framework, including Brazil’s Fuel of the Future Law, enacted in 2024. The law mandates an increase in the biodiesel content of diesel fuel, starting from 15 percent in March and increasing to 20 percent by 2030. It also requires the adoption of Sustainable Aviation Fuel (SAF) and for domestic flights to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 1 percent starting in 2027, growing to 10 percent reduction by 2037.

“These steps enable us to augment Brazil’s longstanding bioindustrial ecosystem with next-generation capabilities, reducing early commercialization risk and expanding optionality for future product platforms,” Marcio Silva, CTO of Cemvita, said in the news release. “Together, they strengthen our ability to move from proof-of-concept to industrial reality.”

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