Since Perseus Defense Inc. moved its headquarters from the Bay Area to Buda, CEO and co-founder Jason Cornelius’ growing 12-person team at the missile defense startup has been embracing their new home by buying cowboy hats and visiting historic dance halls around town.
“Texas is just such a cool place,” Cornelius said. “I don’t know that I would say it’s the pinnacle of what you think of when you think of America, but it’s a very unique aspect of America. I think the startup companies are very intrigued by that culture, and for us, once we got down here, we’ve had a lot of fun getting into it and embracing Texas culture.”
The Austin-area economy is booming again, and companies like Perseus in the defense, aerospace and space industries are a big reason for it. Companies in those industries are increasingly setting up shop in the suburbs, in cities as large as Round Rock and Cedar Park, rural areas in Bastrop and Caldwell counties, and towns as small as Luling, due to the local community support, available land and speed of doing business.
It’s part of the long-awaited culmination of an expectation that started in 2018. That’s when the U.S. Department of Defense announced Austin as the new home of the U.S. Army Futures Command. It, along with accelerators like Capital Factory, was seen as the fuse needed to turn the region into an economic hub for those sectors.
Fast-forward to 2026, and amid global conflicts, record venture capital funding and the artificial intelligence boom, that thesis is being proven. It is also somewhat merging those industries together. Billions of dollars of investment and hundreds of jobs are being created locally. Millions of square feet of industrial space is being built or leased.
And more is on the way.
Read the full story from Austin Business Journal’s Justin Sayers here.
