On June 26, the Mississippi Center for Innovation & Technology (MCITy), in partnership with Mississippi State University and Innovate Mississippi, welcomed entrepreneurs and community builders to the Dawg Tank Startup Pitch Event in Vicksburg—a showcase of homegrown innovation aimed at transforming lives and industries.
In the Technology category, Vertical TakeOff won first place with its AI-driven literacy platform. The platform supports students struggling with foundational reading skills, including dyslexia. It offers real-time phoneme feedback, adaptive student dashboards, and teacher tools grounded in evidence-based practices.
Second place went to Clarus Labs, whose mobile response platform slashes testing times in the meat and pet food industries to under 10 minutes, removing the need for trained chemists and opening new research capabilities.
SimpleScript earned third place by helping pharmacy customers save time and money through a price-comparison tool that identifies the best prescription deals across discount cards and pharmacy locations.
In the Main Street category, JKL Hair & Skin Care took First Place for its dermatologist-formulated solutions for African American families seeking safe, effective hair, beard, and skin care products.
SmartSipp, from Bread and Butter Shoppe, secured second with a beverage line rooted in Southern tradition. It offers nutritious takes on classics like sweet tea and lemonade for more mature palates.
Following the pitches, Connect Vicksburg invited guests to explore Mississippi’s innovation landscape with interactive resource booths, guided tours of the MCITy facility, and local flavor from Key City Brewery and caterers. The evening buzzed with networking and shared excitement over the state’s future in entrepreneurship and technology.
From tech breakthroughs to community-focused products, Dawg Tank highlighted the talent and tenacity of Mississippi’s entrepreneurial ecosystem—and its growing capacity for statewide impact.
This project is being supported, in whole or in part, by federal award number SSBCI-21034-0003, which the U.S. Department of the Treasury awarded to the Mississippi Development Authority (MDA).
