Innovate Mississippi is pleased to announce that Illuminations Literacy Solutions, Inc. (VTO Reading) has successfully closed its nearly $500,000 seed funding round, marking another win for both the startup itself and Mississippi's growing innovation ecosystem. The investment was anchored by the Bulldog Angel Network and InvestMS, alongside private matching investors…
While the Mississippi Gulf Coast is known historically for tourism, fisheries, shipping and defense, that's not the whole story. In recent years, a growing network of entrepreneurs, mentors, and organizations has added another dimension to the Coast’s economy. StartUP Gulf Coast, an initiative of the Gulf Coast Business Council and a partner of…
For Julian Bourgeois, the idea behind Ball AI started long before pitch competitions, fundraising rounds or startup accelerators. As a high school basketball player, Bourgeois spent countless hours shooting in his driveway, searching for a way to measure whether all that work was actually making him better. “I was this…
For entrepreneurs in Northeast Mississippi, the Community Development Foundation (CDF) serves as a hub for business development, mentorship, and entrepreneurial support. Through its management of the Renasant Center for IDEAs business incubator and its longstanding partnership with Innovate Mississippi, CDF helps founders connect with the resources and relationships needed to…
Mississippi’s startup ecosystem has reached a new level of maturity in recent years, and few places demonstrate that more clearly than the Mississippi Polymer Institute (MPI) at the University of Southern Mississippi's Innovation and Commercialization Park in Hattiesburg, Mississippi. As a major partner of Innovate Mississippi, MPI plays a distinctive role in…
We've had five events in five cities so far this year, and founders from across the state are showing up to pitch, compete, and build. The 2026 Innovate Mississippi statewide pitch season is well underway, and the range of ideas that hit the stage this spring tells a compelling story…
When Ernesto Borrego first met Dennis Smith at an American Chemical Society recruiting event, neither could have predicted that their conversation would eventually lead to the founding of a promising Mississippi startup. Borrego had just completed his undergraduate degree in chemistry and was exploring opportunities in industry. Smith, a polymer…
Mississippi State University’s DAWG Tank brought entrepreneurs from across Mississippi to Vicksburg, turning early-stage ideas into real funding opportunities across three tracks—High School, Main Street, and Innovation—stepped up to pitch their ideas, receive feedback, and compete for funding. Modeled as a local take on “Shark Tank,” the event continues to…
David Colby has spent his career building novel chemicals for pharmaceutical and biotech applications. A trained chemist and pharmacist, Colby was developing new solvents for the pharmaceutical and biotech industries when, in 2022, his lab made an unexpected discovery: a new class of solvents with enormous implications for both fields…
Mississippi State University’s Center for Entrepreneurship & Outreach (eCenter) is where many MUS students and East Mississippi founders first begin turning an idea into something workable. Based in Starkville on MSU’s campus (with other resources around town), the program works with students and community entrepreneurs across northeast Mississippi, helping them…