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    a big splash

    Hot Houston summer lagoon spot makes a splash with NFT membership

    John Egan, InnovationMap
    Apr 14, 2022 | 10:11 am
    Lagoonfest Texas crystal lagoon texas city
    Each NFT pass to Lago Mar Crystal Lagoon is available for $170 to $210.
    Photo courtesy of Lagoonfest Texas

    One of the most hyped — and most baffling — tech innovations on the planet is making waves in Texas City.

    The Lago Mar Crystal Lagoon waterpark says it’s now selling season passes based on NFT technology. NFT stands for non-fungible token.

    “At a basic level, an NFT is a digital asset that links ownership to unique physical or digital items, such as works of art, real estate, music, or videos,” the Insider website explains. “NFTs can be considered modern-day collectibles. They’re bought and sold online, and represent a digital proof of ownership of any given item. NFTs are securely recorded on a blockchain — the same technology behind cryptocurrencies — which ensures the asset is one-of-a-kind.”

    The Lago Mar lagoon, a 12-acre waterpark that opened in 2020, says its NFT-based season pass may be the first anywhere to enable admission into an attraction. The park’s traditional and NFT season passes provide unlimited access to the lagoon, which hosts annual events like Lagoonfest Texas. The lagoon anchors a planned 100-acre, mixed-use entertainment district.

    Uri Man, CEO of The Lagoon Development Co., which developed the Lago Mar venue, says the NFT pass offers perks that a regular pass doesn’t. For example, the NFT pass lets you enjoy special activities at the state’s largest crystal lagoon, such as setting sail with a professional captain or going kayaking.

    “This payment option is buzzing around the event and attractions community, with entertainment and crypto experts theorizing how places like Disney World might be able to offer NFT entry and experiences,” Man says in a news release. “We’re not just talking about it, though — we’re doing it, and we are the first in the world, as far as I know.”

    Each NFT pass is available for $170 to $210. Passes can be purchased with several types of cryptocurrency.

    The Lago Mar lagoon’s NFT partner is OpenSea, an NFT marketplace. OpenSea’s investors include Dallas Mavericks owner and Shark Tank investor Mark Cuban, Austin entrepreneur and author Tim Ferriss, and NBA star and former University of Texas basketball standout Kevin Durant.

    It's possible that NFT passes someday could pop up at Lagoon Development’s other waterparks. It already operates a crystal lagoon in Humble, is building another one in Iowa Colony, and expects to break ground soon on lagoons in Cypress, Katy, and Splendora.

    To say that NFTs are exploding in popularity in the Houston area and elsewhere is a massive understatement. One study shows NFT sales hit $17.7 billion in 2021, up from $82.5 million in 2020, according to the Axios news website. Investment bank Jefferies predicts the value of the global NFT market will exceed $35 billion in 2022 and $80 billion in 2025, the CoinDesk news website reports.

    The Texas City lagoon is just one of many businesses being captivated by the growing allure of NFTs. For instance, speculation continues to swirl that Disney’s theme parks will eventually adopt NFT season passes.

    Furthermore, the NBA’s Dallas Mavericks may turn to NFTs for ticketing, and Southern California’s annual Coachella music festival is selling lifetime passes as NFTs.

    “NFT tickets have the ability to not only take ticketing technology to the next level, but to also enable direct relationships between the seller and the buyer, and the performer and the fan — creating a connection that begins as soon as the NFT ticket is purchased, and continuing long after the event has ended,” the Better Marketing blog points out.

    ---

    This story originally ran on our sister site InnovationMap.

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    an auspicious debut

    AI-powered Houston real estate startup ranks in top 10 of Inc. 5000

    John Egan, InnovationMap
    Aug 21, 2026 | 9:15 am
    Epique Realty
    Epique Realty/Facebook
    Epique Realty is America's 7th fastest growing private company

    Houston-based Epique Realty has ridden the AI wave to rank among the Inc. 5000’s 10 fastest-growing private companies.

    With three-year revenue growth of 23,210 percent, the AI-powered real estate brokerage appears at No. 7 on this year’s Inc. 5000 list. The 2026 list ranks private companies based on percentage revenue growth from 2022 to 2025.

    Epique, founded in 2021, also ranks as the No. 1 fastest-growing company in Houston, No. 1 fastest-growing real estate company in the U.S., and No. 2 fastest-growing company in Texas.

    Skyrocketing revenues

    Between 2022 and 2025, the company’s annual revenue skyrocketed from $391,654 to more than $91.2 million. In 2025, the brokerage closed more than 23,000 deals and surpassed $7 billion in total sales, elevating Epique to the country’s 14th-largest real estate brokerage as measured by volume.

    Epique’s network has more than 4,000 agents.

    “To debut in the top 10 of the Inc. 5000 is absolute proof that when you relentlessly put agents first, exponential growth takes care of itself,” co-founder and CEO Joshua Miller said in a news release.

    “We didn’t achieve this by following the industry playbook; we achieved this by burning it,” Miller added. “By fully funding our agents’ success through free health care, proprietary AI, and world-class leads, we’ve built a company where agents can finally thrive.”

    The company’s other co-founders are Chris Miller, chief operating officer and vice president of expansion, and Janice Delci, chief financial officer.

    International expansion

    The Millers and Delci have guided the company’s rapid expansion.

    “Scaling our corporate support team to match [our] hyper-growth while seamlessly expanding across all 50 states and internationally to Canada, Australia, and Mexico takes an incomparable operational infrastructure,” Miller said.

    “We have built an enterprise-grade technology ecosystem that allows us to absorb overhead and empower our agents at lightning speed,” he added. “This ranking validates that our disruptive model is working, and it is completely redefining the global industry standard.”

    Epique launched its platform in 2023, touting itself as the industry’s first AI-powered brokerage. The startup’s platform provides AI tools for real estate agents to improve their marketing, streamline content creation, and boost engagement with clients and prospects.

    Among Epique’s AI tools are:

    • ChatGPT for generation of property descriptions
    • AI-assisted creation of blog posts and agents’ bios
    • Production of Instagram quotes for social media marketing

    “When we started Epique, we wanted to build a company that genuinely cared for its agents’ financial and physical well-being,” Delci says. “To see that vision translate into this level of historic record-breaking growth is a beautiful testament to the true power of radical generosity.”

    Epique and fellow honorees will be recognized Oct. 14-16 at the 2026 Inc. 5000 Conference & Gala in Dallas.

    Other Houston companies in the Inc. 5000

    Here are the six other Houston-area companies that claimed spots in the top 250 on the Inc. 5000 list. Each company name is followed by its ranking, headquarters city, and three-year growth rate.

    • No. 27 Empact Technologies, 8,275 percent
    • No. 60 Action1, 4,512 percent
    • No 75 Signs By G, 3,684 percent
    • No. 79 The ’Pause Life, 3,469 percent (Galveston)
    • No. 110 Turtlebox Audio, 2,576 percent
    • No. 178 Dahnani Private Equity Group, 1,904 percent (Stafford)

    Other Texas companies

    Here’s a breakdown of companies in the Austin, Dallas-Fort Worth, and San Antonio areas that made the top 250 on the Inc. 5000. Again, each company name is followed by its ranking, headquarters city, and three-year growth rate.

    Austin (10 companies)

    • No. 9 Investment Watches, 15,741 percent
    • No. 72 Razor Metrics, 3,856 percent
    • No. 91 Autonomize AI, 2,921 percent
    • No. 102 Choose Your Horizon, 2,719 percent
    • No. 132 Wander Staffing, 2,296 percent
    • No. 144 Everyday Dose, 2,179 percent
    • No. 148 NetRise, 2,118 percent
    • No. 163 Nutrabound Labs, 1,999 percent (Bastrop)
    • No. 179 Steadily, 1,890 percent
    • No. 208 Tiny Health, 1,624 percent

    Dallas-Fort Worth (11 companies)

    • No. 3 Yantran, 258,740 percent (Allen)
    • No. 12 Paek Management Group, 12,520 percent (Irving)
    • No. 82 Elite Robotics and Automation, 3,334 percent (Fort Worth)
    • No. 133 Outamation, 2,291 percent (Southlake)
    • No. 147 Red Creek Solutions, 2,119 percent (Frisco)
    • No. 155 JobTread Software, 2,071 percent (Dallas)
    • No. 164 DAX Eyewear, 1,977 percent (Nevada)
    • No. 186 Optimized Waste Removal, 1,830 percent (Fort Worth)
    • No. 204 Freight Flex, 1,642 percent (Denton)
    • No. 212 Maverick Power, 1,591 percent (McKinney)
    • No. 229 Innovative Life Sciences, 1,494 percent (McKinney)

    San Antonio (one company)

    • No. 118 Hire With Near, 2,421 percent

    ----

    This story was originally published on our sister site, InnovationMap.

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