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    Travel Smart

    New app takes the stress out of travel with all details in one easy-to-find place

    Rachael Abrams
    Dec 1, 2014 | 12:23 pm

    Frantic travelers can relieve some of the stress that connecting flights, rental cars and hotel reservations can induce with travel app Traxo, which is designed to help users manage every aspect of getting from point A to point B. It’s like having a personal assistant in your pocket.

    Traxo originally was created in 2010 by Andres Fabris, a University of Texas and Harvard Business School alum, as a tool to match users’ trips with any overlapping travels by friends or family members. But he quickly saw it evolve into a more serious travel organizer.

    “We’re the one-stop shop to manage all those important details, so you can travel organized, relax and focus on enjoying your trip,” says Traxo founder Andres Fabris.

    “Because the travel market is so fragmented — people book flights, hotels, car rental, ground transportation, restaurant reservations and activities across many different travel sites — it’s becoming harder and harder to keep track of all those details,” Fabris says. “Traxo simplifies all that; we’re the one-stop shop to manage all those important details, so you can travel organized, relax and focus on enjoying your trip.”

    Traxo, available for free on iPhone and Android, aggregates travel accounts, enabling users to effortlessly organize hotel, flight and car reservations. Even in the booking phase, the Dallas-based app guides users to hotels that are recommended based on their unique preferences.

    “We take into account your preferred location, hotel brands, star ratings and price points,” Fabris says. “We also show TripAdvisor destination information, including reviews of restaurants and top activities, integrated directly within your Traxo itinerary.”

    Fabris explains that the app recognizes every step of your trip. For example, when you land at the airport and turn on your phone, the Traxo app automatically displays your car rental confirmations and membership numbers. When you’re in your car, Traxo provides directions to your hotel. All of your mileage and loyalty points are updated and displayed for easy access.

    In addition to updating itineraries automatically, Traxo makes it easy to share travel plans and changes with friends and family. You can also access your account from the website as well as the app.

    Changes this year have included contextually aware mobile apps and flight status updates. A new website is on the immediate horizon — “same great features but we’ve completely redesigned the experience to make it even more intuitive,” says Fabris, who adds that Traxo will continue to evolve to make users’ trips even more streamlined.

    “If we’ve done our job right, future versions of Traxo will even be able to magically anticipate your intent.”

    Traxo organizes all aspects of your travel plans.

    Traxo travel app
    Courtesy photo
    Traxo organizes all aspects of your travel plans.
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    news/innovation
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    innovation starts here

    Houston soars onto new list of 10 best large U.S. cities for startups

    Amber Heckler
    Dec 16, 2025 | 4:30 pm
    Houston
    Photo by Jan Bolz on Unsplash
    Houston may be the next city infiltrated by "tech bros" in 2026.

    Houston's favorable economic climate is enticing new opportunities for entrepreneurship and growth, and now the city is being hailed as the 7th-best U.S. city for starting a new business.

    The recognition comes in CommercialCafe's recent "Best Cities for Startups" report, published December 10. The study analyzed large U.S. cities across two population categories – cities with more than 1 million residents and cities with populations between 500,000 and 1 million residents. The report analyzed relevant metrics such as office or coworking costs, Kickstarter funding success, startup density, and survival rates, among others.

    Across the biggest U.S. cities with over a million residents, Phoenix, Arizona landed on top as the No. 1 best place to start a new business.

    The report's findings revealed 10.6 percent of all businesses in Houston are startups that have been active for less than a year. These new businesses have a survival rate of 64.5 percent, meaning just under two-thirds of all startups in the city will still be running up to five years after they were first established.

    Over the last five years, the number of new businesses established in Houston has grown nearly 15 percent. CommercialCafe said new businesses in cities with high startup growth rates tend to "attract top talent" which can eventually lead to securing "vital funding for expansion."

    Independent professionals – also known as freelancers – are another crucial resource for new businesses that may need "specialized services" for a fixed amount of time, the report said. Houston's freelance workforce has grown about 9 percent from 2019-2023, and the analysis found there were 97,295 freelancers working in Houston in 2023, compared to 89,528 in 2019.

    "Generally, cities in the South and Southwest have experienced strong growth during the surveyed period, in contrast to California cities like Los Angeles and San Diego, where the share of freelancers and gig workers has either stagnated or slightly declined," the report said.

    Houston boasts the second-cheapest office space rent nationally, the report additionally found. The average asking price for a 1,000-square-foot workspace (for five employees) in the city added up to $27,124 annually. For startups that want greater flexibility for their workers, the annual cost for a coworking space for the same number of employees in Houston came out to $13,200, which is the fourth-most affordable rate in the U.S.

    Other Texas cities with attractive economic environments for startups
    CommercialCafe also revealed that Texas as a whole is one of the strongest states for starting a new business. Other than Houston, San Antonio (No. 2), Dallas (No. 3), and Fort Worth (No. 4) were also recognized among the top 10 best places to start a business in the category of U.S. cities with more than a million residents.

    Austin topped a separate ranking of best cities to start a business with 500,000 to 1 million residents.

    "Specifically, the Texas capital was the frontrunner for indicators that looked at the overall share of startups within the local economy, as well as growth rates in five years (2019 to 2023)," the report said. "On top of that, Austin also topped the rankings for its percentage of college-educated residents and its consulting firms, which provide vital support for burgeoning enterprises."

    The top 10 best cities to start a new business are:

    • No. 1 – Phoenix, Arizona
    • No. 2 – San Antonio, Texas
    • No. 3 – Dallas, Texas
    • No. 4 – Fort Worth, Texas
    • No. 5 – Jacksonville, Florida
    • No. 6 – San Diego, California
    • No. 7 – Houston, Texas
    • No. 8 – Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
    • No. 9 – Chicago, Illinois
    • No. 10 – Los Angeles, California
    businesseconomyentrepreneursinnovationnew businessesrankingsstartupshouston
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