AUSTIN, Texas, Sept. 22, 2026 /PRNewswire/ — Sparx Engineering – a Greater Houston-based consultancy that for over 15 years has distinguished itself in bringing innovative technologies to market across highly specialized engineering fields – announced that it has opened its third branch of operations in Austin this week. Located in a 3,117-square foot office in the Springdale General community, the lease is well situated at 1023 Springdale, Bldg 12B. in East Austin. Sparx Engineering was represented by Aquila Commercial Noah Yetley.

The addition of the Austin office provides the expanding team of driven and skilled engineering talents space to foster the firm’s electrical, mechanical, software and chemical services – four core components of Sparx Engineering’s business. An initial team led by Steven Block P.E. and Tyler Chaney P.E., is anticipated to become a staff of 10 by next year.

“Our continued growth reflects Sparx Engineering’s commitment to meeting the evolving needs of our clients,” said Paul Hoopingarner, co-founder of Sparx Engineering. “Our focus remains on building a world-class engineering organization that attracts exceptional talent, embraces emerging technologies, and helps clients solve the engineering challenges that are most critical to their success. With offices in Houston, Dallas, and Austin, we are strengthening our presence across Texas and enhancing our ability to serve clients nationwide.”

Dedicated to making things work better, faster and more efficiently, Sparx Engineering was founded in 2009 with a single client and a commitment to delivering innovative engineering solutions. Today, the firm boasts a team of 50 professionals across fields such as aerospace, biomedical, robotics, software and automation while helping a varied portfolio of clients (from startups to Fortune 500 companies) identify creative solutions to highly technical engineering challenges. Whether it’s improving a sophisticated avionics circuit board or designing medical devices, Sparx harnesses broad engineering disciplines to find paths for companies to enjoy better productivity and profitably.

Sparx Engineering opened its first satellite office in Dallas in 2023 as part of a broader growth strategy aimed at expanding its reach and strengthening client support. The Austin office marks the next chapter in that growth, providing greater access to engineering talent and positioning the firm closer to many of the region’s leading technology and innovation companies. The expansion underscores Sparx’s commitment to delivering exceptional engineering solutions throughout Texas and beyond.

“Austin is one of the nation’s leading centers for technology, advanced manufacturing, and product innovation,” said David Headley, co-founder of Sparx Engineering. “Establishing a presence in this dynamic market allows us to work more closely with the startups, entrepreneurs, and established companies developing the next generation of products and technologies. By bringing our multidisciplinary engineering expertise closer to these innovators, we can help accelerate development, reduce time to market, and turn great ideas into successful products.”

About Sparx Engineering
Sparx Engineering is a Texas-based technology company that is “engineering a better way of engineering.” The company provides short- or long-term customized access to a cross-functional team of engineers with expertise in a variety of areas, including software development, electronics design, chemical products and services, biomedical technology, automation, mechanical design, industrial design, and product management. The company manages projects of all sizes from start to finish and provides unique opportunities for their employees to work across multiple industries to grow their technical skills. To learn more about Sparx Engineering, please visit www.sparxeng.com.

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SOURCE Sparx Engineering

Strategic alliance provides TGS clients direct access to non-bank loan solutions while integrating TGS’s independent verification, grading, and secure vaulting into Luxury Asset Capital’s lending ecosystem.

DENVER and LOS ANGELES, Sept. 22, 2026 /PRNewswire/ — Luxury Asset Capital, the nation’s leading provider of confidential non-bank loans backed by luxury assets, and Timepiece Grading Specialists (TGS), the premier independent third-party watch verification and condition grading service, today announced a comprehensive strategic partnership.

The collaboration creates a direct bridge between TGS’s growing community of watch collectors and Luxury Asset Capital’s full suite of luxury lending brands, including Borro, Beverly Loan Company, New York Loan Company, and Palm Beach Loan Company. Collectors who already utilize TGS to grade and evaluate their watches can now seamlessly leverage those authenticated timepieces to access capital in as little as 24 hours.

Concurrently, Luxury Asset Capital will integrate TGS as an independent, unbiased third-party to verify watch authenticity, grade physical condition, and assess movement health across its collateral portfolio. Because TGS does not buy or sell timepieces, their evaluations provide absolute impartiality. Additionally, TGS’s state-of-the-art, high-security facility will serve as an expanded vaulting and storage option for luxury watch collateral pledged through Luxury Asset Capital.

“Our clients expect complete transparency and maximum security when leveraging their high-value timepieces,” said Dewey Burke, Founder and CEO of Luxury Asset Capital. “Partnering with TGS gives us an exceptionally qualified, completely unbiased partner to verify and condition-grade luxury watches. Furthermore, utilizing TGS’s world-class facilities as an additional vaulting option gives our borrowers added peace of mind while opening up our financing solutions to TGS’s network of collectors.”

“Our mission at TGS is to empower collectors and bring a much needed level of transparency to the secondary watch market,” said Fred Savage, Founder of Timepiece Grading Specialists. “Through this partnership, collectors who rely on TGS for independent grading can now seamlessly unlock liquidity from their collections through Luxury Asset Capital’s industry-leading lending platforms—all while knowing their timepieces remain verified, documented, and safely vaulted.”

Key pillars of the partnership include:

Direct Capital Access for TGS Clients: Watch owners with TGS-graded timepieces gain streamlined access to flexible asset-backed financing across Luxury Asset Capital’s nationwide suite of brands.Independent Third-Party Verification: Luxury Asset Capital will utilize TGS master watchmakers to provide an additional layer of expert verification of authenticity, movement integrity, and condition grade.Expanded Secure Vaulting: TGS’s high-security facility will operate as an additional specialized vaulting option for luxury watch collateral during loan terms.

For more information about non-bank luxury loan solutions, visit luxuryassetcapital.com. To learn more about third-party watch verification, grading, and vaulting, visit timepiecegrading.com.

About Luxury Asset Capital

Luxury Asset Capital® is the leading provider of confidential non-bank loans that use borrowers’ luxury assets as collateral. Serving clients nationwide through its online platform Borro and brick-and-mortar locations including Beverly Loan Company, New York Loan Company, and Palm Beach Loan Company, the company provides short-term capital funded in as little as 24 hours. Luxury Asset Capital’s brands have financed over $1 billion in loans backed by luxury watches, fine jewelry, high-value art, classic cars, and other prestige assets.

About Timepiece Grading Specialists (TGS)

Timepiece Grading Specialists (TGS) is the world’s first third-party watch verification and condition grading service. Operating completely independent of watch transactions, TGS delivers unbiased, expert evaluations led by over 40 master watchmakers in a secure, state-of-the-art facility. Backed by a distinguished Board of Advisors across horology, collecting, and authentication, TGS exists to empower collectors, democratize watch knowledge, and set the standard for third-party watch evaluation.

Erin Wilson
erin@luxuryassetcapital.com

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SOURCE Luxury Asset Capital

The survey of 1,001 U.S. insurance agents finds financial risk and operational burden are equally significant obstacles to greater independence.

SCOTTSDALE, Ariz., Sept. 22, 2026 /PRNewswire-PRWeb/ — Darkhorse Insurance Brokers, an agency ownership platform for insurance professionals, today released the 2026 Darkhorse Index of Insurance Agent Independence, a new recurring benchmark measuring how U.S. insurance agents view income, autonomy, agency ownership and the future of the industry. The first Index registered a score of 66.2 out of 100, establishing a national baseline for tracking changes in agent sentiment over time.

The national survey, conducted by Morning Consult on behalf of Darkhorse, reveals a notable gap between agents’ interest in greater independence and their readiness to pursue it. Over half of non-owner agents say they are likely to explore greater independence or agency ownership if the right platform, support system, and resources exist. Among the 427 respondents who rated themselves likely to explore greater independence or agency ownership, 85% selected a timeframe of one to five years when asked when they would most likely act if they pursued such a move.

Operational concern is as significant a barrier as financial concern, with each category accounting for 32% of the barriers agents report. The risk of losing current income or stability is the leading individual barrier at 20%. The financial and operational categories reflect Darkhorse’s grouping of individual survey responses.

“Insurance agents are not short on ambition. What many are missing is a support system that helps them navigate the transition to ownership and replace the operational infrastructure they currently rely on,” said Dan Garzella, founder of Darkhorse Insurance Brokers. “The Index gives the industry a clearer picture of what agents want, the barriers they face, and where better infrastructure and support could make ownership more attainable.”

Key Takeaways

Agents are more confident in reaching their professional goals than satisfied with their current agency models: 79% of agents are confident in their ability to achieve their professional goals, but only 66% are satisfied with their current agency model. The gap widens from 13 to 17 points among captive and semi-captive agents.Most agents associate greater structural freedom with greater earning potential: 78% of agents believe they could earn significantly more with greater flexibility over how they operate, grow, and serve clients.Agency owners reported the highest level of satisfaction: 91% of agency owners are satisfied with their current model, compared with 63% of captive and semi-captive agents and 57% of independent non-owner agents.Owners see industrywide obstacles to building meaningful ownership: 59% of agency owners agree that the insurance industry makes meaningful ownership difficult to build – the highest share of any agent segment.Operational burden rivals financial risk: Operational and financial concerns each account for 32% of reported barriers. Operational barriers include running an independent operation, hiring and retaining talent, obtaining back-office support, accessing carriers and implementing technology and systems.Most agents likely to explore greater independence or ownership select a one-to-five year timeframe: 85% of respondents who rated themselves likely to explore greater independence or ownership selected a timeframe of one to five years when asked when they would most likely act if they pursued such a move.

Building a Better Path to Agency Ownership

The findings suggest that ownership remains attractive, but the path to it presents substantial friction. Financial risk and operational complexity emerge as the two broadest categories of concern. Darkhorse is designed to reduce those pain points by providing carrier access, operational infrastructure, onboarding, training, and ongoing agency-success support – reducing the burden of building and operating every component of an independent agency alone.

“The agents who have reached ownership are telling us two things at once: the outcome is worth it, and the process is harder than it should be,” said Garzella. “Our goal is to remove unnecessary operational friction so qualified agents can build something of their own without having to construct every part of the business from scratch.”

The Darkhorse platform supports agents across critical functions that can otherwise make ownership difficult, allowing agency owners to focus more of their time on clients, growth, and long-term enterprise value.

The full 2026 Darkhorse Index of Insurance Agent Independence, including detailed findings and methodology, is available at darkhorseinsurance.com/insurance-agent-independence-index. Insurance professionals interested in evaluating their readiness for agency ownership can visit readiness.darkhorseinsurance.com.

Methodology

The 2026 Darkhorse Index of Insurance Agent Independence is based on a survey conducted by Morning Consult on behalf of Darkhorse Insurance Brokers. The survey was conducted through computer-assisted telephone interviewing from June 17 to July 7, 2026, among 1,001 U.S. insurance agents. Results from the full sample have a margin of error of plus or minus 3.1 percentage points. The sample included 480 captive and semi-captive agents, 347 independent non-owner agents, and 174 independent agency owners. Results are unweighted, and subgroup margins of error are wider.

About Darkhorse Insurance Brokers

Darkhorse Insurance Brokers is an agency ownership platform that helps qualified insurance professionals build, own, and grow independent agencies. Darkhorse combines carrier access, operational infrastructure, onboarding, training, business guidance, and ongoing agency-success support to help owners move forward with greater clarity, confidence, and momentum. Agency owners build and operate under their own brands while benefiting from the resources, guidance, and support of an experienced partner. Learn more at darkhorseinsurance.com.

Media Contact

Shayna Zeigen, Darkhorse Insurance Brokers, 1 619-608-4300, shayna@perceptionprllc.com, https://darkhorseinsurance.com/

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SOURCE Darkhorse Insurance Brokers