Lobaki, Inc. and Painted Desert Montessori Academy in Buckeye, Ariz., announce the installation of Lobaki’s Immersive Institute: a proprietary offering from the company that provides a turnkey hardware and software solution for live immersive education in Virtual Reality, or VR. PD Virtual Academy, or PDVA, will be rolled out to…
The U.S. Small Business Administration, or SBA, is supporting a new program to help women and minority entrepreneurs with SBIR grants. Federal SBIR grants are almost the only grants available for small businesses, and while Mississippi businesses are generally underserved in receiving these grants, women and minority-owned businesses are particularly…
Innovate Mississippi, with support from the W.K. Kellogg Foundation, announces the Minority and Women Entrepreneur Development Program. Minority and women founders will be invited to join a network of peers to participate in programs that further entrepreneurial education, provide mentor connections, and offer general development assistance. Beginning on July 21st,…
Dr. Michele Morgan says it's fitting that her product, The MaxBit, appeared this month on The Today Show as a product offered under the Hammacher Schlemmer banner. After all, the 172-year-old catalog company gave The Maxbit its first "win" back in 2004. "When all I had was the prototype, and…
Eric Hill, executive director of the Center for Entrepreneur and Outreach at Mississippi State University, published a noteworthy piece on Medium this week, where he had a ton to say about the potential that he's seeing in Mississippi's entrepreneurial ecosystem—and what it'll take to make our state the best in…
Dr. Bill Rayburn, CEO and Chairman of mTrade based in Oxford, Miss., is the new chairman of the board at Innovate Mississippi. Rayburn brings laser-focused experience and expertise as a successful founder, CEO and investor to Innovate Mississippi’s leadership. Prior to co-founding mTrade, Rayburn co-founded FNC, which he led from…
We at Innovate Mississippi were thrilled to be mentioned in a Clarion-Ledger guest column by Dr. Rhea Williams-Bishop, the W. K. Kellogg Foundation's director of programming for New Orleans and Mississippi. Titled "Closing the digital divide in Jackson crucial for students, businesses," Williams-Bishop writes about how historical disparities, particularly for…
Brennen Hodge pitched a startup, called COVIDx, for the national Startup Weekend, this year held virtually and focused on COVID-19 solutions. He won third place in the competition. Brennen Hodge had seen a February research study that showed scientists predicting whether someone had the flu using data from Fitbit devices.…
WTVA ran a story this week about Starkville-based CampusKnot, which offers virtual classroom tools for teachers and professors. CampusKnot is an Innovate Mississippi client as well as a success story for the Mississippi State University Entrepreneur Center, or E-Center. CampusKnot is a software-as-a-service offering that allows college professors and teachers…
As McLaughlin, PC recently explained in a blog entry, the Mississippi Senate has passed S.B. 2772, which allocates $300 million for small business relief in Mississippi. The bill, called the 2020 COVID-19 Mississippi Business Assistance Act, will give an immediate $2,000 grant to businesses such as barbershops and salons, daycare…