Innovate Mississippi is pleased to have supported the 2025 MSU Spring Startup Summit—a dynamic showcase of innovation, entrepreneurship, and collaboration. Held on April 24th and 25th, this year’s summit welcomed over 75 startups nationwide and awarded nearly $100,000 in prizes to emerging businesses. We also thank the MSU communications team and Emma McRae of the Columbus Dispatch for their coverage of the two-day summit.
The event featured two main competition tracks: “Mississippi Made,” which highlighted in-state ventures, and “Bulldog Business,” which was open to any college student nationwide with a startup to pitch.
Among the winners was CLARUS Labs, founded by MBA student and doctoral graduate Max Wamsley of Vicksburg. CLARUS Labs secured the $10,000 top prize in the Mississippi Made category for developing cost-effective, rapid, and reliable onsite testing systems for pet food manufacturers. Their innovative test strips and analysis devices measure pet food oxidation levels, addressing a critical need in the industry.
In the Bulldog Business category, Humimic Biosystems, co-founded by University of Arkansas biomedical engineering doctoral student Lexi Applequist, earned the $30,000 top prize. Launched in 2023, Humimic Biosystems produces organ-mimicking Petri dishes that assist pharmaceutical companies in testing drugs before clinical trials, potentially saving significant time and resources.
The summit’s success underscores the importance of fostering an entrepreneurial ecosystem that bridges academia and industry. Nick Pashos, director of MSU’s Center for Entrepreneurship and Outreach (E-Center), emphasized that the goal is to build a larger innovation community by eliminating boundaries between the university and surrounding areas.
To sustain this momentum, the E-Center and Innovate Mississippi have announced a new partnership aimed at strengthening collaboration between the university and the statewide startup community. This initiative will include monthly meetings to connect entrepreneurs, startups, funders and business leaders throughout the region, fostering year-round engagement and support.
Innovate Mississippi is committed to accelerating high-growth startup businesses and supporting initiatives that drive economic development in our state. We’re very proud of the MSU E-Center and the 2025 Spring Startup Summit team for providing a fantastic example of those innovative and collaborative efforts propelling Mississippi’s entrepreneurial ecosystem forward.
MSU Startup Summit Awards:
Mississippi Made
- $10,000 to CLARUS Labs for their in-the-field, real-time testing for food quality.
- $5,000 to Harrington Dynamic for their filter for toxic chemicals and gases in combustion engine exhaust. (Harrington Dynamic also got into the Venturewell E-Team Program.)
- $2,500 to ConnectU’s micro-influencer and small business platform.
Special Consideration (lifestyle/ retail business)
- $5,000 to GulfSpore for their mushroom extract to prevent fungal growth and oxidation of fresh vegetables and fruits.
Bulldog Business
- $30,000 to Humimic Biosystems $30,000, a “lab on a chip” for drug discovery and testing, specializing in heart and spinal cord models.
- $15,000 to Imagine Devices for their all-in-one device monitoring premature infants.
- $5,000 to Enviracell.
Special Honors and Prizes
- $1,000 Future Entrepreneur Award to Imagine Devices
- $2,000 People’s Choice Award to ConnectU
- The top 6 teams won 1-year membership at CoWork
- MBA Consulting Prize ($2,500 value each): GulfSpore and Imagine Devices
- Apothecary Creative Video Prizes ($800 value each) for GulfSpore and Vertical Take Off, which offers AI-enabled reading assistance for dyslexia
- Eva Garland Consulting (free SBIR/STTR consulting services) awarded to Enviracell, Clarus, Humimic and Imagine Devices.
