Spotlight Stories

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…