Healthy revenue

Disruptive Houston business lands on Inc.'s new list of fastest-growing U.S. companies

Feras Moussa Ben Suttles Disrupt Equity Sylvester Turner

Disrupt Equity's Feras Moussa and Ben Suttles (left to right) with Mayor Sylvester Turner.

Photo courtesy of Disrupt Equity

As a firm offering passive income opportunities through real estate syndications, Houston’s Disrupt Equity has been riding a red-hot trend.

Word has caught on, as the West Houston firm has just landed on Inc. magazine’s new list of the country’s 5,000 fastest-growing private companies. As the (surprisingly) sole Houston company to break the top 200 in the report, Disrupt charted an impressive 2,975 percent growth rate between 2018 and 2021.

The firm pushes complete multifamily real estate investment offerings that are earmarked as able to achieve and even exceed projections, clearly a safe haven in one of the biggest — and hottest — real estate markets in the entire nation.

Disrupt claims an impressive ROI for clients: The company boasts a "proven track record with over a dozen full cycle exits averaging over 36 percent annualized return to investors," director of investor relations, Tarek Moussa, tells CultureMap.

"We could not be more ecstatic to hear that Disrupt Equity has been announced as the fastest-growing company in Houston by Inc 5,000," said Feras Moussa, Disrupt's managing partner, in a statement. "We could not be more proud of the incredible growth of our organization and the returns we have been able to achieve for our investors. We believe success in real estate, especially in today's economic environment, comes from being a great operator and having a strong team behind you. We believe this has been a large contributor to our success and helps us to continue to provide incredible passive real estate investment opportunities to our investors. We look forward to continuing the growth next year."

Speaking of real estate, another Houston firm performed well. Construction Concepts, which specializes in commercial design and build in Houston and Austin, ranked No. 497 overall, with 1,251 percent growth over three years.

In all, 468 Texas-based companies made this year’s Inc. 5000. Dallas-Fort Worth firms performed especially well:

No. 13 StaffDNA, Plano, 19,699 percent growth rate
No. 17 Blue Hammer Roofing, Dallas, 15,911 percent growth rate
No. 116 TimelyMD, Fort Worth, 3,852 percent growth rate
No. 142 Curis Functional Health, Farmers Branch, 3,380 percent growth rate
No. 148 SmartLight Analytics, Plano, 3,317 percent growth rate
No. 168 Digital Thrive, Dallas, 3,056 percent growth rate
No. 172 Forester Haynie, Dallas, 2,984 percent growth rate

Here are the other Texas companies appearing in the state’s top 20:

No. 60 AdOutreach, Austin, 6,052 percent growth rate
No. 62 Webforce, Austin, 6,009 percent growth rate
No. 117 Homestead Brands, Austin, 3,839 percent growth rate
No. 174 Disrupt Equity, Houston, 2,975 percent growth rate
No. 188 24HourNurse Staffing, Pittsburg, 2,801 percent growth rate
No. 201, Everly Health, Austin, 2,643 percent growth rate
No. 209, Texas Solar Integrated, San Antonio, 2,559 percent growth rate
No. 212, Apple Blvd Boutique, Frisco, 2,555 percent growth rate
No. 285 Element 26, Austin, 1,948 percent growth rate
No. 312 Boostlingo, Austin, 1,820 percent growth rate
No. 317 Cover Desk, Austin, 1,800 percent growth rate
No. 325 Canopy Management, Austin, 1,758 percent growth rate
No. 497 Construction Concepts, Houston, 1,251 percent growth rate

"The accomplishment of building one of the fastest-growing companies in the U.S., in light of recent economic roadblocks, cannot be overstated," says Scott Omelianuk, editor in chief of Inc. "Inc. is thrilled to honor the companies that have established themselves through innovation, hard work, and rising to the challenges of today."

Steven Devadanam contributed to this article.

rankings lists

educational excellence

2 Houston universities named top colleges for 2027 by Princeton Review

Rice University/Facebook

It's back-to-school time for the Rice Owls.

Back-to-school season is has returned in full force, and that means it's time for college rankings. Two Houston universities in particular are being hailed top of the class for 2027.

The high caliber schools — Rice University and University of Houston — earned new acclaim in The Princeton Review's ranking of the "Best 392 Colleges" for 2027.

The Princeton Review's 35th annual "Best Colleges" rankings are determined by a survey of 172,000 current college students that gave "candid feedback" about their schools and their experiences. The flagship guide does not rank the schools overall, but it does rank them across 50 different categories, including best-run colleges, best quality of life, happiest students, best athletic facilities, among others.

In all, 14 Texas institutions were highlighted in the overall list of the 392 best colleges.

Schools don't pay to be included in the guide, but The Princeton Review clarified that schools could pay for a "featured" designation. No Houston university paid to be featured in this year's guide. Trinity University in San Antonio and Southwestern University, a private school in the Austin suburb Georgetown, were the only two Texas schools that paid to be "featured."

Rice and UH have been on a winning streak in separate reports of the best universities worldwide, best graduate schools, and best online degree programs.

In addition to being included in the overall list, Rice was highlighted as one of the Best Value Colleges, Colleges That Create Futures, and it earned high marks in Princeton Review's Mental Health Honor Roll 2026. The home of the Rice Owls also starred in the regional Best Southwest list that contained 41 universities across Arizona, Colorado, New Mexico, Oklahoma, and Texas.

"Rice University stands out as a leading research university where academic diversity and a wide array of interdisciplinary institutes and centers make it easy for students to explore multiple areas of interest," the school's profile says. "At Rice, 'knowledge isn’t siloed — students are constantly crossing disciplines and interests in ways that feel natural rather than exceptional.'"

Rice also earned the following rankings on 14 other lists:

No. 1 – Lots of Race/Class Interaction
No. 3 – Best College Newspaper
No. 9 – Friendliest Students
No. 11 – Best Quality of Life
No. 13 – Great Financial Aid
No. 14 – Top 50 Best Value Private Colleges
No. 17 – Their Students Love These Colleges
No. 18 – Top 20 Best Value Private Colleges Without Aid
No. 18 – Best Student Support and Counseling Services
No. 19 – Best College Dorms
No. 21 – Students Study the Most
No. 24 – Best Campus Food
No. 24 – Best College Radio Station
No. 24 – Best-Run colleges

The University of Houston also appeared in the Best Southwest, Best Value Colleges, and Colleges That Create Futures lists, and it was named a top Green College, which examined schools that "share superb sustainability practices, a strong foundation in sustainability education, and a healthy quality of life for students on campus."

Five more accolades UH earned include:

No. 1 – Top 50 Undergraduate Schools for Entrepreneurship Studies
No. 1 – Top Undergraduate Schools for Entrepreneurship Studies in the Southwest
No. 8 – Most Politically Moderate Students
No. 15 – Financial Aid Not So Great
No. 42 – Top 50 Best Value Public Colleges

In the school's profile, students say they had an overall positive experience thanks to UH's excellent academic offerings and dedicated faculty members.

"Students confirm that 'the research and other academic opportunities... are very accessible to students who seek it out,'" the profile says. "This includes taking advantage of UH’s vast alumni network (more than 325,000 and counting), not to mention its location in the corporate center of Houston, where 'the opportunities that are provided are immense.'"

The 12 other public and private universities in Texas included in The Princeton Review's 2027 guide are:

The University of Texas at Austin
Southwestern University, Georgetown
Baylor University, Waco
Texas A&M University - College Station
Trinity University, San Antonio
Texas State University, San Marcos
Angelo State University, San Angelo
Texas Christian University, Fort Worth
University of Dallas, Irving
Southern Methodist University, Dallas
The University of Texas at Dallas, Richardson
Austin College, Sherman

universities the princeton review rankings houston rice university university of houston