When Marine Corps veteran and software engineer Andrew Mocol first encountered blockchain technology more than a decade ago, it wasn't as a speculator—it was as a builder searching for better systems. Through years of hands-on development with early blockchain applications, he saw a clear divide: blockchain had the power to…
The idea for Vertical Take-Off was born from a timely opportunity. While participating in a research-to-practice learning group, dyslexia therapist and nonprofit leader Leta Palmiter learned from Kelli Butler of the Barksdale Reading Institute about a U.S. Department of Education grant opportunity supporting the development of technology-driven reading tools. When…
An Interview with Mary Wallace Hannon, Operations and Strategic Communications Manager for the Regions Foundation By Lindsey Benefield, Ecosystem Builder and SSBCI Fund Manager, Innovate Mississippi | Founder & CEO, CoBridge Ventures As the countdown begins for Innovate Mississippi's Accelerate 2025 Conference on November 11-12, Mary Wallace Hannon serves as…
When University of Southern Mississippi Professor Fan Zhang found herself fielding endless student emails for her 100-person online class, she wished for a better way. Working with her undergraduate research assistant Sugam Panthi, a computer science major, the two built an early chatbot prototype that could answer students' questions automatically. The idea proved…
Brandon Cooper, founder and CEO of Study Placer, conceived the idea for his company's signature product based on his own college experiences, turning his challenges with time management into a powerful solution for students. As part of the 2025 CoBuilders accelerator cohort, Cooper is working to bring his vision for…
by Victor Robinson Over the past few years at Innovate Mississippi, I’ve seen firsthand how early-stage investing drives our state’s entrepreneurial growth. Mississippi has the talent and ambition, but even the best ideas struggle without funding. Mississippi’s investment landscape includes individual angel investors, angel funds like the Mississippi Angel Fund, angel…
CEO Tanner McCraney co-founded Rumie as a mobile app focused on helping college students buy, sell, and rent secondhand items on campus. Since its launch, the platform has attracted hundreds of thousands of student users across nearly every college and university in the country. But after a pivot to focus…
With roots in academic research and real-world problem-solving, Onteko is advancing a breakthrough technology that could reshape how farmers deliver agrochemicals to plants. Co-founded by Luis Ponce, a physicist and laser specialist, and Matt Rosenberg, business development lead, Onteko's signature product—Laser Foliar Boost—uses a targeted laser treatment to gently remove…
On July 16th, area Mississippi founders took the stage in Tupelo to compete in the 2025 edition of The Pitch, an annual business competition hosted by the Community Development Foundation. Each finalist delivered their best pitch to a panel of judges, but Brandi Brown and her company, Gulf Spore, rose…
JACKSON, Miss. — [7/15/25] — Mississippi is opening the door to national and regional venture capital funds with the launch of the InvestMS Funds Program, a key component of the state’s $86 million SSBCI strategy to expand access to early-stage capital for Mississippi-based startups. Managed by Innovate Mississippi, the InvestMS program is…