Celebrating Innovation in Oxford: Announcing the Winners of ‘Business Pitch 2025’

Innovate Mississippi was delighted to partner again with the Oxford‑Lafayette County Economic Development Foundation, the University of Mississippi, and the Mississippi Small Business Development Center Network for the fifth annual Oxford Pitch Competition, held Thursday, June 12, at the Oxford Conference Center. And we thank the Oxford Eagle for once again covering the event and celebrating the winners.

This year’s competition brought together ten startups across two tracks: the High Growth track for tech and innovation startups and the Main Street track designed for small businesses. Each finalist received expert coaching and feedback leading up to pitch day, with support from UM’s entrepreneurship ecosystem and our statewide partner network.

This regional event is one of eight key qualifiers that support high-growth technology startups entering Innovate Mississippi’s statewide CoBuilders accelerator this fall. Main Street businesses in the Oxford area competed in the Small Business track for cash prizes and access to resources from the Mississippi SBDC Network.

Automatic AI, LLC, founded by Julien Bourgeois and Andrew Bradford, took first place on the High Growth track with their AI‑driven smartwatch platform for athletic performance (tracking over 1.7 million basketball rep attempts monthly). Fluoriq LLC, led by Dr. David Colby, earned second place with his non‑invasive endocannabinoid testing technology presentation. Both teams have secured advancement to the CoBuilders 2025 statewide accelerator cohort.

On the Small Business track, we congratulate Rebel Check, led by Dylan Adcox, for taking first place with their accredited home‑watch service tailored to Oxford-area homeowners, and Arc Counseling & Sports Performance, founded by Dr. Josie Nicholson, for earning second place with mental performance training programs for student-athletes.

First-place teams received $7,500 in seed funding prizes; runners-up received $3,000.

We were honored by inspiring words from keynote speaker Allen Kurr, Vice President of the Oxford‑Lafayette County EDF, who praised the “innovative community spirit and collaboration it takes to grow a successful business.” Witnessing the energy and passion of local entrepreneurs as they take the stage with their big ideas is inspiring, and supporting them with resources and connections is rewarding.

We thank all of our partners for making this possible, and we encourage you to check out the staff report by the Oxford Eagle.

This project is being supported, in whole or in part, by federal award number SSBCI-21034-0003 awarded to Mississippi Development Authority (MDA) by the U.S. Department of the Treasury.