Innovation Report 2022 by Innovate Mississippi

D R I V I N G M I S S I S S I P P I ’ S E C O N O M Y T H R O U G H T E C H N O LO G Y A N D I N N OVAT I O N 2 0 2 2 // A P U B L I C AT I O N O F I N N OVAT E M I S S I S S I P P I

TECHNOLOGY INNOVATION IS EVERYWHERE Mississippians can future-proof our economy by nurturing the startup ecosystem while embracing the state’s existing resources.

Empowering changemakers When each of us succeeds, we all succeed. So, we empower nonprofits, humanitarian organizations, and social entrepreneurs around the world with technology to help them accelerate their missions and create greater collective impact. Microsoft.com/nonprofits

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Mississippi is home to four exceptional research universities, each laser focused on advancing innovative technology across industry while cultivating the workforce of tomorrow – a workforce of brilliant minds ready to develop the high-tech products that will improve lives and strengthen communities around the world, today and for generations to come.

SEE WHERE MIGHTY MISSISSIPPI CAN TAKE YOU. Visit MISSISSIPPI.ORG to learn more.

From start-up to scale-up We’re helping Mississippi grow and protect its ideas.

At Jones Walker LLP, our team of intellectual property attorneys work with Mississippi’s entrepreneurs to establish and protect their intellectual property assets. From patents to trademarks to copyrights, we will navigate you through the evolving IP challenges you may face. Our local IP attorneys have the track record to deliver creative, high quality legal representation to start ups and Fortune® 500 companies alike. W. Whitaker Rayner Partner T: 601.949.4724

wrayner@joneswalker.com

Andrew S. Harris Partner T: 601.949.4816

aharris@joneswalker.com

joneswalker.com

EVERYTHING STARTS WITH THE GLIMMER OF AN IDEA. HOW DO YOU GET THAT GLIMMER BURNING BRIGHT? You need people who can turn the traditional way of thinking on its noggin. People with a vision that’s truly transformational. People with a spark of imagination and then some. It’s time to celebrate this state’s innovators, creative thinkers, and genuine visionaries. Let’s keep the ﬁre going strong. mwb.com   

CONTENT

ACCELERATE CONFERENCE • PG 68 Founder of Startup Genome J.F. Gauthier was the keynote speaker at this year’s conference.

TONY JEFF PRESIDENT & CEO JANET PARKER MANAGING EDITOR TODD STAUFFER CONTENT DIRECTOR ELLIE TURNER CREATIVE DIRECTOR 121 NORTH STATE STREET THIRD FLOOR, SUITE 500 JACKSON, MS 39201 601-960-3610 INNOVATE.MS CONNECT: @INNOVATEMS

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ECOSHED • PG 53 A one-of-a-kind shared workspace and event center. It is eco-friendly and designed with sustainability in mind.

ENTREPRENEURIAL DEVELOPMENT TIME TOUCH TAKE

A solution making sight-impaired individuals more selfsufficient when it comes to administering medication.

CAMPUSKNOT / MYSET / DEALIO STAYCOOL BRANDS / GROWINLOCAL MOONSHINE MISSISSIPPI / BLOOMBRIDGE TRIBLY / CONNECTVNA / PRIMP THE SKIN CONSULT / AI CONTROL TECHNOLOGIES / RAK APP / METAGAMES ROCKETING SYSTEMS / LYNK HEALTH SHOVEL SOLUTIONS / VERTECORE

INNOVATION ECOSYSTEM SOUTH MS ANGEL FUND

A $1 million fund focusing at least 50 percent of their deals in the state’s Hattiesburg and Gulf Coast region.

ECOSHED / RECORD YEAR FOR SEED FUND AWARDS / COBUILDERS MISSISSIPPI CODING ACADEMIES WOMEN AND MINORITY ENTREPRENEURIAL DEVELOPMENT PROGRAM / OCEAN AERO CORELOGIC ACQUIRES NEXT GEAR SOLUTIONS V-QUAD / JACKSONTECH DISTRICT

EVENTS ACCELERATE: 22ND ANNUAL CONFERENCE ON TECHNOLOGY INNOVATION

Marking a return of in-person sessions, we were thrilled to have two days of quality programming on November 9-10, 2021.

CONNECT / NEXT UP STUDENT PITCH COMPETITION / COMPANY & INVESTOR SPOTLIGHT

LETTER FROM THE PRESIDENT Even with the starts and stops from the on-going pandemic in 2021, the Mississippi startup community continued to grow and even prosper. We have also discovered that the pandemic opened a whole new world of startups in Mississippi as many entrepreneurs who had been thinking about startup ideas for a while or had been working them as a “side hustle”, examined their priorities and decided to jump full-force into the startup world. Our new comfort with Zoom and remote connectivity have made the distances around our state smaller than ever before. Minority and women-led firms saw another banner year through Innovate Mississippi’s launch of the second Minority and Women Entrepreneurial Development cohort; and startups of all kinds continued to see a favorable funding environment and opportunities for growth. We announced the CoBuilders Accelerator as a foundation upon which we will grow resources and startups all over the state going forward, and 2021 was significant because we were able to build the regional partnerships that are the foundation for that program. The year also saw significant progress on the South Mississippi Angel Fund, our third regional member-managed investor fund. The Mississippi Coding Academies, who were spun-out into an independent not-for-profit organization in 2020, continued to expand locations and increase their impact. We can’t know what 2022 will bring, but it’s clear that we have learned to deal with any challenges ahead of us and will keep the innovation ecosystem growing. On behalf of Innovate Mississippi’s staff and Board of Directors, I hope this issue of Innovation Report inspires you through the breadth and energy of Mississippi’s startups in these unusual times. I also hope it moves you to get involved, whether as a mentor, a sponsor, an investor, or an entrepreneur yourself. I know that with your help we can make the next year a banner year for innovation and help make a better Mississippi.

TONY JEFF PRESIDENT & CEO INNOVATE MISSISSIPPI I N N OVAT E . M S

The Bean Path is a 501(c) (3) non-profit organization based in Jackson, MS with a mission to sow technical expertise in order to grow networks and fertilize communities.

Our initiatives include: • Tech Office Hours every month. • Engineering & coding workshops for youth. • Scholarships/grants for students & community organizations. 8

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thebeanpath.org @thebeanpath info@thebeanpath.org

2021 SPONSORS The Accelerator Advantage Business Systems Ai Control Technologies Inc. Ambetter from Magnolia Health AT&T Atmos Energy The Beanpath BKD CPA’s & Advisors Bradley Bruce Deer, Entrepreneur in Residence The Business Growers Capitol Resources LLC CDFL Architects & Engineers The Citizens Bank Connect Software Development Cornerstone Government Affairs C Spire David Pharr Law Entergy Fuse.Cloud Gener8tor Grantham Poole, PLLC Greater Jackson Chamber Alliance Harrison County Development Commission Hayes Dent Public Strategies Higher Purpose Co. Insight Park Jackson State University Jan & Lawrence Farrington JFP Digital Services Jones Walker LLP KDL Solutions, LLC Lexcela, LLC Lobaki, Inc. Madison County Business League & Foundation Madison County Economic Development Authority Matthews, Cutrer and Lindsay, PA The Meeting Place Microsoft Mississippi Band of Choctaw Indians Mississippi Development Authority Mississippi Economic Council Mississippi Economic Development Council Mississippi Enterprise for Technology Mississippi Gulf Coast Chamber of Commerce, Inc.

Mississippi Polymer Institute Mississippi State University, Center for Entrepreneurship & Outreach Moonshine mTrade Multicraft International MWB Office Evolution (Flowood) Oxford Lafayette County Economic Development Foundation Philter Studio Pileum Corporation Renasant Bank RJ Young Sanderson Farms Shamrck The Skin Consult Sparklight Advertising Sparklight Business Services Staycool Brands Sun & Co Think Webstore Trilogy Trustmark Bank University of Mississippi University of Southern Mississippi University of Southern Mississippi, School of Computing Sciences & Computer Engineering Upton Technologies Wade, Inc. (IntelliFarms) The Westin, Jackson Wilson Day, Raymond James Financial Services, Inc. Zavation Medical Products, LLC

Thanks to the support of our many partners, Innovate Mississippi is making a solid and meaningful impact on Mississippi’s workforce and economy. Want to join our mission and be part of the innovation transformation? Contact Janet Parker at jparker@innovate.ms or 601-960-3611.

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INNOVATE MISSISSIPPI

IMPACT Accelerate Early-Stage Innovation and Technology Startups

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Connect the Dots • Mentors • Service Providers • Investors

Reduce Brain-Drain and Grow the Innovation Ecosystem

Since Inception: over

over

Total New Startups

High-Paying Jobs Created by Innovate Mississippi Supported Startups

1580 2900 over

191.2M 1800

Total Private Investment Raised

52.8M

State Cost Per Job

Direct Investment Support in 84 Startups

Return on State Dollars

Past 48 Months:

310

New Startups

10.3M Private Investment Raised

Newly Formed Angel Funds - Private, For-Profit Funds Seeking to Invest in Mississippi Startups

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HOW MISSISSIPPI CAN CREATE JOBS THROUGH STARTUPS (even in its traditional industries)

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Technology innovation is everywhere. That includes Mississippi’s “traditional” economic sectors such as agriculture, coastal fisheries, energy, healthcare and space. And technology innovation will only accelerate productivity, efficiency, and effectiveness in those industry sectors. “A lot of people say ‘I don’t do technology, I do real estate’ or ‘I do construction,’” said Tony Jeff, CEO of Innovate Mississippi. “But the best startups come from problems that are close to home - that bug somebody to the point they want to fix them.” These days, those startups generally use technology—an app, sensor, automation or artificial intelligence— regardless of the challenge they seek to solve or the industry affected. “You won’t recognize farming in 15 years,” said Cade Moody, agriculture technology specialist at Wade, Inc., pointing to their company’s Intellifarm team of technology specialists, who cover everything from self-driving

GPS-enabled machines to artificial intelligence technology that can recognize weeds and spray herbicides safely. “Data and the ability to collect data off your machines is absolutely vital.” “We’re really excited to unveil IntelliFarm to our customers,” said Wade Litton, CEO of Wade Incorporated, “Everything is driven by data, and we want our farmers to feel confident leveraging all the tools at their disposal to ensure their operation is the best it can be.” For instance, Moody notes that by pairing self-driving technology and geospatial data: “not only are you able to collect data and assign it to a specific point inside a field, but you’re also able to drive equipment to treat separate parts of the same fields differently,” he said. Technologically aware farming equipment can plant seeds, spray chemicals and harvest with incredible accuracy and efficiency. And that’s just agriculture. The

same sort of innovations are necessary (and happening) in other traditional Mississippi business sectors. The technological advances may be inevitable, but whether Mississippi imports that technology from elsewhere—or grows the firms that create that technology here in the state—could make a massive difference in how much that technological change grows Mississippi’s economy. Mississippi’s entrepreneurial ecosystem can help create the high-growth technology firms and knowledge-worker jobs that could remake the state’s wage base, entrepreneurial ecosystem and quality of life. That’s why Mississippi’s universities, government research institutions, Innovate Mississippi, Mississippi Development Authority, and the rest of the entrepreneurial ecosystem are cultivating small technology firms with big ideas, helping them take root here in the Magnolia State.

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What It Takes: Getting Organized “Between 600 and 700 startups.” That’s what J.F. Gautier, president of Startup Genome, says a region needs to see in its entrepreneurial ecosystem before those startups have a tangible impact on that region. In this case, he’s talking about the state of Mississippi and how it can use best practices from around the world—ranging from big cities to small countries—that have created job growth, income growth and quality of life by focusing their resources on the startup economy. In studies by the Kauffman Foundation, National Bureau of Economic Research, Heartland Forward and others, we find that the bulk of net job growth comes from young firms—those under five years old. In this respect, Mississippi feels the one-two punch of its “brain drain” challenge— young college graduates leaving the state in high numbers seeking fulfilling career opportunities—and a historical focus on landing “smoke stacks” in traditional industry sectors to create jobs. In the past several years, however, institutions in the state have been crafting a more organized startup ecosystem. The state’s research-intensive universities, for instance, are driving awareness that there are potential high-growth technology and intellectual property gains to be realized in those traditional sectors: agriculture, fisheries, healthcare, energy and others. “We joke about competing in sports,” said Jeremy Clay, director of the Office of Technology Management at Mississippi State University. “From a technology transfer perspective, and in terms of promoting entrepreneurship in the state, we are all on the same team.” Clay points out that MSU is a land-grant institution that traditionally offers extension services that get technical resources to Mississippi’s traditional industries. That connection makes them a natural fit for agriculture and energy startups, for instance, while other universities in the state have more healthcare, biotechnology, or ocean

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technology resources. MSU offers an impressive model to encourage student and faculty entrepreneurship in its MSU Entrepreneurship and Outreach Center. The E-Center serves as not only an educational tool for teaching the ins and outs of startup entrepreneurship, but it also provides access to outside mentorship and a platform for angel investment that has taken off in the past decade. “I just saw closing documents on a deal for a student startup that is going to be a half-million-dollar investment,” said Eric Hill, director of the MSU E-Center. “If you’d told me that five years ago, I would have laughed. Now I think all the indicators point to more growth, especially because the partners like each other and work together.” Allyson Best, director of technology management at the University of Mississippi, sings from the same songbook. “What’s unique is the ability for the research-intensive campuses to work together and to create efficiencies in the space,” Best said. “Take fisheries or marine technology. If I have someone in that space, I’m just a text or phone call away from (Dr.) Brian (Cuevas) at University of Southern Mississippi to make that connection.” “Mississippi is unique in its ability to have our four research universities all be on the same page,” said Joe Donovan, director of the Office of Technology, Innovation and Entrepreneurship at Mississippi Development Authority. “We’re going to do what no one else has done and turn an entire state into a technology-driven ecosystem.” The challenge, says Donovan, is that not enough Mississippians are aware of the state’s success in entrepreneurial growth. And they also need to know about the resources Mississippi is marshaling to help more startups succeed. “There’s an internal branding problem. Not only do we not tell the rest of the world about us, but the average Mississippian doesn’t think of this as a technology state,” Donovan said.

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Startups Already Happening in Mississippi’s Backyard The pages of this magazine offer a variety of startup companies pitching technology-driven solutions for traditional industries. Shovel Systems targets construction sites and mineral rights; ConnectVNA automates the management of oil and gas wells; Rak seeks to help automate ordering parts for automotive repair shops. Some of the broadest-based traditional economic sectors in Mississippi are agriculture, energy, healthcare, fisheries, ocean sciences and aerospace, particularly around Stennis Space Center. Each has university and government-research support, from healthcare-focused resources at Jackson State University and the University of Mississippi to agriculture and student entrepreneurship at Mississippi State University, to the University of Southern Mississippi’s Gulf Coast campus and resources for “blue” tech and aquaculture. Davis Pace, CEO of the Mississippi Enterprise for Technology, notes that his organization can lease office space and offer a support ecosystem at Stennis Space Center inexpensively to startups interested in accessing Stennis’ resources. He points out that there are federal research labs and contractors all over the state ranging from NASA to the Naval Research Lab to the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to contractors like Lockheed Martin, General Dynamics and Raytheon. “This type of economic development is the million-dollar question for the state,” Pace said. “At some point, we have to move forward—that means putting a plan together, understanding the players, understanding the assets and reaching a consensus on how to move forward.” MDA’s Donovan agrees. “Getting together as a statewide group, we found out we have a lot more assets than we ever thought we had; there’s a lot of synergy in what we do and minimal crossover,” Donovan said. Donovan says that working with Startup Genome allows Mississippi’s economic development officials to discover best practices and network globally with others. Referencing the state’s “branding problem,” he points to the new Mighty Mississippi campaign that serves as the theme for MDA’s website relaunch. “I just spent 45 minutes on the phone with a big data company that wants to locate a large data center here,” said Donovan. “The word is getting out that we’re a technology state.”

Taking the Next Steps Mississippi Development Authority became a member of Startup Genome on behalf of the state, giving them access to a world of resources, best practices and, sometimes, shortcuts. MDA has also been a convening force for higher education, research institutions, state and federal resources and industry to write more songs for the songbook. “You won’t see regular meetings in many states like you see with MDA, the universities, even industry,” said Dr. Almesha Campbell, assistant vice president for research and economic development at Jackson State University. “We have

those relationships, and we’re working on a solid framework for talking about building Mississippi’s knowledge-based economy.” JSU offers expertise and experience with the National Science Foundation’s I-Corp program and the National Institutes of General Medical Sciences EnRICH program, which focus on science-heavy startup opportunities, some of which route to the federal SBIR/STTR (“America’s Seed Fund”) programs for funding. At JSU, Dr. Campbell has been integral in opening the Center for Innovation in 2019 and the SBA-backed Women’s Business Center in 2022 at the urban HBCU. She says that the WBC gives an underserved community the opportunity to engage with entrepreneurial concepts, access to subject matter experts and, ultimately, a pathway to capital for business ideas that have traction. Even more simply, though, it’s an opportunity for women who live in JSU’s neighborhood in an underserved part of Jackson to come in and talk to an expert about their business idea and how they might make it work. Identifying and organizing these regional efforts to encourage startup businesses is another step that’s critical to building out a startup ecosystem. Innovate Mississippi, working with partners across the state, created the CoBuilders initiative (see page 56) to pull together regional partners to help offer entrepreneurial resources and uncover promising startups all over the state. CoBuilders will hold startup competitions in different parts of Mississippi starting in 2022, bringing the winners together for a statewide accelerator and further funding opportunities. Gauthier also warns that it doesn’t happen overnight, which is why he talks about the need for hundreds of startups. He points to Waterloo, Ontario, a small Canadian city about the size of the Jackson Metro area, where recessions wiped out the existing business community in the 1980s and 90s. Waterloo decided to focus intensely on technology entrepreneurship. The Accelerator Centre, launched in 2006, is Canada’s largest private business accelerator. The University of Waterloo, founded expressly for the study of math and science, is one of the premier computer science institutions in the world. The results, says Gauthier, is that Waterloo now boasts 1,000 startups and 25,000 high-paying jobs, ultimately creating 125,000 total jobs from that growth. The region is a small, dense area of technology, talent and investment. It’s home to Research in Motion (makers of Blackberry devices), regional offices of Google and SAP and fast-growing startups like ApplyBoard, Intellijoint Surgical and Arctic Wolf. “This has become the number one engine of economic growth and activities in the region,” he told a crowd at Accelerate 2021 in Jackson. “How did they do it? They created a big engine that creates startups.” That engine, says Donovan, is the model he’d like to replicate in Mississippi. “If it took Austin 20 years to become ‘Austin,” then I’d like it to take ten years here,” he said. “We believe we have the right people in the right positions at the right time.”

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ENTREPRENEURIAL DEVELOPMENT Mississippi founders are developing products and launching businesses that will soon employ our residents and impact our lives. In these pages, you’ll find stories about some of Mississippi’s most successful startups in 2021.

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2021 SEED FUND

recipient

TIME TOUCH TAKE A solution making sight-impaired individuals more self-sufficient when it comes to administering medication.

“Who is it?” the man said from his hospital bed. “Ronnie, you’re looking right at me,” Dr. Barbara Coatney replied. She was confused. After her nephew called from Atlanta, she checked in on her brother-in-law. Her sister had passed away some years back. Ronnie was back in the hospital, not keeping up with his medications. “I’m blind, Barbara.” Coatney was shocked; she had no idea Ronnie couldn’t see anymore. A social worker told her Ronnie was in there often because he couldn’t keep track of his medication correctly. When Coatney got him home, she found pills all over the floor of his apartment. “They drop between my fingers,” he told her. “And when [the pharmacies] put them in the little containers for me, when I pour them out, they still fall on the floor.” Dr. Coatney, whose master’s and Ph.D. degrees are in special education and education administration, said that “we special education teachers try to work things out.” That’s where she got the idea for her invention—a pill organizer for the sightimpaired. After a caregiver loads the device once per week, a timer and raised dots help the patient self-administer accurate dosages at the correct time of day. “I started writing up my notes and looking at [Ronnie’s] progress over time,” Coatney said. “And it turned out that was the key—blind people need to be able to take their medicine and be self-sufficient.” Coatney says she drafted a 12-page report but put it on the shelf—until COVID hit. With the pandemic in full force, she decided to revisit the idea, sending it to Robert Thompson, assistant director at the Mississippi Polymer Institute at the University of Southern Mississippi. Thompson encouraged her to move ahead with the invention, connecting her with George Hardin, an engineer in Hattiesburg. And he referred her to Innovate Mississippi. “[Innovate Mississippi] started meeting with me and that

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started the ball rolling. We had a lot of ZOOM meetings— they kept me motivated,” Coatney said. “When you’re doing something like this, you can hit a brick wall ... but then when you meet with them—they keep you going.” She said that Tony Jeff and Tasha Bibb helped her scope her prototype, pull together a presentation on her invention, and prepare to pitch the Mississippi Seed Fund. They also invited her to participate in 2021’s Women and Minority Entrepreneurial Development Program, an intensive virtual accelerator to get products and services to market from women and minorityowned startups. As part of the accelerator, she’s focused on customer interaction and data. Customer interest in her invention already shows promise. In a matter of days, she’s received 63 responses to a customer survey she created for the accelerator. Dr. Coatney received a $10,000 proof-of-concept award from the Mississippi Seed Fund, which she says she’ll use to get her prototype in shape for real-world beta testing and evaluation. Once the prototype works, she says the next steps are to find the angel funding to help her get the product on the market. “I’m a senior, and I have all of these friends on these regimes of medications,” she said. “I think just having something to remind them to take their meds—that’s the number one [survey response.] I’m at 80-something percent asking for something that will remind them when to take their medicine.” Her advice for other inventors and entrepreneurs? Find mentors like Innovate Mississippi—and listen. “I’m not a business major. I’m an educator. I wrote grants, which is similar, but being open to other people’s opinions is the most valuable thing,” she said. “Just because you invented it doesn’t mean you know everything!” Contact at timetouchmedicationsystem@gmail.com.

CAMPUSKNOT “We are ready to scale,” CEO Rahul Gopal said about his company CampusKnot as he looks at 2022 and beyond. “We’ve figured out a go-to-market strategy; we have a proven product; we have happy customers. We have a unique product in the space that we’re playing in.” Part of getting to this point, Gopal says, has been trimming back some of their ambitions—in 2021, the company wound down its development services, which had been a revenue source for them, but fell outside of their core mission. He credits the addition of seasoned investors and mentors Mike Morgan, Huey Ngo, and Sam Khwaja to help bring a laser-like focus on CampusKnot’s strategy. CampusKnot is a “participation tool” for college and K-12 classrooms, bringing a familiar social media paradigm to the classroom. A feed-based timeline, discussion tools, quizzes, rewards and other features are all under the control of the teachers or professors, who also gain analytics access to learn more about which students are engaging and which may need some additional attention. Professors sign up for the software and

MYSET

2021 SEED FUND recipient

assign its use to their classes; students pay a small fee to use the platform for a semester or year. The Starkville-based company has use cases for in-person, hybrid and remote instruction, and they make a point of working with major Learning Management System (LMS) tools, not supplanting them. In late 2021, CampusKnot received a $475,000 grant of COVID-19 relief funds from the State of Mississippi to provide their platform and technology to K-12 classrooms in the state. Gopal says that’ll create jobs as well, as they’re recruiting now to fill positions thanks to that grant. Also in 2021, CampusKnot received a $100K Mississippi Seed Fund growth award to help as they honed their development and marketing efforts. CampusKnot intends to seek another angelfunding round in 2022, which will allow the company to add to its sales and marketing team and significantly add to the teachers and professors who use the product. Contact the team at www.campusknot.com.

2021 SEED FUND recipient

It’s been said throughout the years that Mississippi is the birthplace of American music, so it’s perhaps appropriate that it’s also the birthplace of mySet, a musician-inspired app and online resource for artists and their fans. Two things happen often in live music venues: fans request songs and listeners tip the musicians. It’s those two tasks that mySet seeks to make more digitally convenient for patrons, musicians, and venues. Founders Sam Miller and Logan Martin started working on mySet while students at Mississippi State University in 2017. Martin’s idea for the app came to him while visiting several New Orleans music spots. He saw a better way to connect audiences with musicians in a fun, rewarding, and modernized way. Martin approached Miller with the idea and they spent 2018 and 2019 brainstorming how to get the ball rolling. As 2020 dawned, musicians took a pretty direct hit during the COVID-19 pandemic. Knowing the “show must go on,” musicians resorted to online streaming. mySet, originally designed to augment in-person experiences, became a great tool for those performing online as well. It was then that the company began seeing steady growth. “Musicians are always looking for the next tip. A lot of those gigs don’t pay very well so they rely on tips, song requests, and crowd interaction to pay the bills. While there are services like Venmo and Paypal out there, those are more like a transaction,” Miller said. “They’re not fun. There’s no uniqueness to it. So we fit this mold of allowing artists to interact with people in the

audience by creating an experience.” Musicians get started by downloading the app. They receive a QR code and a profile. At shows, online or in-person, fans scan the code to visit the artist’s profile. (Fans don’t need the app, just an internet browser.) At that point, the fans can see a list of songs the artist plays, collectively pay to hear those songs played live, outbid other listeners to hear their song first, tip artists, join their fan club, and buy merchandise. mySet has raised nearly half a million dollars in angel funding from the Bulldog Angel Network. The company has also received both $10,000 and $100,000 awards from the Mississippi Seed Fund since working with Innovate Mississippi. The past few years have been spent researching, building, launching, and evolving the platform. mySet has surpassed 1,500 artists and paid out over $400,000 since launching on the app stores. It is important to the founders that the musicians come first. Therefore, it is completely free for them to use. Artists keep 100% of the money they earn while the company’s revenue is based on the processing fees. “Our plan this year is to use that revenue as traction to expand and take it to the next level,” said Miller. “ In 2022, he says, they’re focused on steady growth. mySet is online at www.mysetmusic.com and their app can be downloaded on the App Store for iPhone users or Google Play for Android.

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2021 SEED FUND

recipient

A text messaging system notifying its users of dining deals and discounts in their areas.

Cameron Maddox said he and his fiance, taking a break from college studies, were eating tacos on “$2 Taco Day” at a restaurant in Starkville, when they got to wondering what other area eateries offer similar deals. After some time on Google, they learned that there wasn’t an easy way to find discounts around town. Soon after, the COVID-19 pandemic hit, and many restaurants shut down or curtailed their services. Maddox said he shelved the project until around September 2020, when he ran into Jake Cox at the MSU Center for Entrepreneurship and Outreach (the E-Center). Cox had a similar idea for surfacing dining deals, and Maddox liked his thoughts about marketing such a platform. So, they got busy again with the business plan and, from October to December, grew to nearly 2,000 users in Starkville, Memphis, Tenn., and Tuscaloosa, Ala. As participants in the E-Center’s VentureCatalyst program, the Dealio team raised $7,500 to grow their company. Switching from a web-focused strategy to a text-messaging approach, Maddox says their competitive advantage is the ability to quickly launch in new communities and scale the number of deals they’re able to promote to their users. Revenue comes from a tiered membership system—premium users learn about more deals. In early 2021, at E-Center Director Eric Hill’s encouragement,

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the team turned to Innovate Mississippi and the Mississippi Seed Fund to raise more money. Maddox said that CEO Tony Jeff and the rest of the Innovate Mississippi team helped them professionalize their presentation, offered suggestions for better communicating their deal proposition, and even helped them with a one-page deal sheet. The Mississippi Seed Fund offered a $10,000 proof-of-concept award to Dealio last spring. “$10,000 is a lot of money. Adding that to what we were able to get through the E-Center, it’s hugely helpful.” Cox said they’ve taken things slowly as COVID has surged up and down in 2021, focusing on building relationships with restaurants in Tuscaloosa, Starkville and Memphis. In 2022, the plan is to put more money into marketing and expand their user base. Cox said they feel they’ve cracked the code on when and how to advertise events, offers and discounts from restaurants and venues. “We learned that people enjoy happy hour deals and events at bars and restaurants. And they like emojis and novelty, “ Cox said. “For one event, we sent [a series of messages]; we got a whole lot more people. There must have been 500 people at this event—it was pretty cool to see.” Contact the team at www.dealiotexts.com.

STAYCOOL BRANDS Whether we are joggers, golfers, sports spectators or waste collectors, we all have something in common: We spend a significant amount of time in the often blistering sun, particularly here in the Deep South, as Mississippians can attest. StayCool Brands Founder and President Earl Washington enjoys his morning walks, but after decades of lifting his cap in hopes of catching a passing breeze to cool his brow, he decided to find a better way to stay refreshed during even the warmest of summer months. In 2017, Washington and his team developed the StayCool Cap, a device that, in its current iteration, houses a motorized fan and battery pack within the bladder that drapes down its wearer’s neck. The fan directs air against the neck and along the top of the user’s head to replicate a cooling breeze and boasts a battery life of 14 hours. “Our mission is to manufacture a product that meets or exceeds the customers’ expectations on a consistent basis,” Washington says. “We want to keep the client as comfortable and as safe as possible while they’re outdoors.” Since the company’s founding, StayCool products have become available both online and at physical retailers like Walmart, Seabrook Paint Company in Ridgeland and Jackson, local shoerepair stores and beyond. Levitt-Safety, a leading supplier of fireand life-safety solutions in Canada, has begun selling StayCool Caps, putting the brand on an international footing. Washington has also recently met with potential clients from Saudi Arabia, who are interested in distributing the product in their country. StayCool has been able to grow their line and marketing with the help of a $100,000 Growth award from the Mississippi Seed

2021 SEED FUND recipient

Fund they received in 2021. Washington regularly identifies new markets for his company’s products. In November of 2021, for example, the entrepreneur attended an event held at Vicksburg High School, where he met a band director who enthused about how her students would greatly benefit from the StayCool Caps, as the hat could keep the marching-band musicians from dehydrating on the field during warm-weather practice. In the months since then, StayCool Brands has supplied Vicksburg High School and a number of schools in the Mississippi Delta with the company’s trademarked cap. Washington’s team is finishing its final touches on the brand’s hard-hat model, designed for construction workers. The product has met the targeted specs, with the hard hat being lightweight and possessing a battery to keep wearers cool for seven-to-eight hours per charge. The hard hat should release this quarter. This year, StayCool Brands is accomplishing one of its longtime goals—providing a means to employ more Mississippians. “When we first started on the StayCool Cap, the goal was to have a product that was made here in Mississippi that would be able to help and service those who wanted extra work, to provide jobs and opportunities for them,” Washington says. “I’m proud to announce … that we are going to be able to do a 100% production from now forward right here in this great state of Mississippi.” StayCool Caps come in five colors: green, blue, pink, khaki and camouflage. Additional bladders can be bought in the same color options and attached to existing caps here www.staycoolbrands.com.

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ALSO JOIN US FOR Contact Janet Parker at 601-960-3611 or jparker@innovate.ms for more details and to be a sponsor.

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FIRST THURSDAYS - CULTIVATION FOOD HALL

GROWINLOCAL GrowinLocal started when its co-founders, Richard Kostal and Barry Delcambre, decided to connect food producers and consumers via an online app. They designed the app to fill a gap in the marketplace that’s somewhere between sharing your garden with neighbors and setting up a stand at the local farmers’ market. In essence, their belief is there’s a place in the gig economy for agriculture. After self-funding the launch and distribution of their software for iOS and Android, GrowinLocal applied for and received a $10,000 “proof-of-concept” award in 2021 from the Mississippi Seed Fund, which Innovate Mississippi administers. Kostal said that Innovate Mississippi also helped them connect with Mississippi Development Authority’s V-Quad Accelerator, which accepted them for participation in the summer of 2021.

2021 SEED FUND recipient

V-Quad is a U.S. Department of Energy-funded initiative to seed and accelerate agriculture and energy startups in Mississippi. The GrowinLocal founders say they’re thankful for all the help from Innovate Mississippi so far and that they’re taking the “proof-of-concept” part of their Mississippi Seed Fund award seriously. They know they need to get people using the app and then test the assumptions they have in their business plan. Kostal says they have key performance indicators (KPIs) regarding transaction data, deliveries and customer retention that need some real-world testing. The GrowinLocal app is available in the Apple and Google app stores. Producers interested in reaching customers through the app can contact the team at www.growinlocal.com.

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MOONSHINE MISSISSIPPI Mississippi’s online liquor store for home delivery.

2021 SEED FUND recipient

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The COVID-19 pandemic affected most businesses, startups included, in negative ways. But for Raj Ramarao in Mississippi and Alex Kau in Pennsylvania, the pandemic created a moment of opportunity that might not have happened if people weren’t stuck at home. House Bill 1135, passed by the Mississippi Legislature in early 2021 during the height of COVID-19, changed the law, allowing Mississippi residents of legal drinking age to order direct delivery to their homes from stores that sell beer, liquor, and wine. CEO Ramarao, born in India, immigrated to the United States after he graduated high school. He later attended Duke University where he met co-founder and CFO, Kau. The two remained friends throughout the years and exchanged advice on fundraising strategies, connections with investors, and projects throughout their careers with Fortune 500 companies. After Ramarao left his position within another startup company he co-founded, he saw news of the law change and hit on the idea for Moonshine Mississippi. Considering their history, Kau’s expertise in finance, and common interests in startups, it was a no-brainer when Ramarao presented the idea to Kau. The two meet virtually for their seed-funded joint endeavor but have other team members on the ground in Mississippi. Moonshine officially launched late November 2021 and has paying clients and customers already -- Madison Cellars in Madison, being one of the first. Unlike UberEats and other similar business models within the industry, Ramarao and Kau are launching a more interactive Web and app platform for their customers that they are rolling out during Q1 of 2022. “The two-way interaction comes in when customers review products, search availability of unlisted products and purchasing trends, schedule advance deliveries, and react to pricing behaviors, all from the comfort and convenience of their home—24/7,” Ramarao said. Both founders say that working with Innovate Mississippi has been extremely satisfying. The two say Innovate has been instrumental in helping them secure funding and exposure. In 2021, they received a $100,000 Growth award from the Mississippi Seed Fund to help fund marketing and expansion. “The experience has been amazing. With Innovate Mississippi and just in general, Mississippians that we’ve dealt with have just been amazing,” Kau said. “Their feedback is on target. It’s concise. It’s relevant. They see so many deals. They give us the feedback that really has molded our business to where it is.” The company’s services started just in Madison County but Moonshine is looking to expand into strategically targeted counties in early 2022 with the goal of covering a good portion of the state geographically by the end of the year. With the focus on expanding, while constantly improving their evolving website and app, the two founders continue to work diligently despite the distance. Throughout their time working together, they have gotten to know each other’s families as well. “With the level of commitment required from a startup, it’s no surprise our families have grown closer. We collectively experience the successes and failures together,” Ramarao said. The founders recommend this level of commitment to other aspiring entrepreneurs looking to have their own startup companies in addition to good mentors like those at Innovate. Moonshine Mississippi is online at www.moonshinems.com and their app can be downloaded on the App Store for iPhone users or Google Play for Android.

BLOOMBRIDGE While BloomBridge only started marketing their services in the summer of 2021, they’ve already expanded their reach from seven southern states to all 50 of the United States, reflecting an intense customer reaction to their offering. BloomBridge takes an Uberstyle approach to place flowers at gravesites, making it possible for people who can’t regularly reach their loved ones’ graves to memorialize them with attractive silk flowers. “We just recently had a customer in Cullman, Alabama, who told us how she hadn’t been able to place flowers on her parents’ gravestones in Birmingham, because she’d been unable to travel up there,” said COO Huey Ngo. “She teared up while speaking to our CEO, Kristen Allen, expressing her joy when she found our services online. That is just one of many similar calls we’ve had. That sort of customer response has been extremely validating and motivating for us to bring awareness to more people who can benefit from our services.” When BloomBridge receives an order, the software routes the order to delivery drivers within driving distance of that gravesite. Like Uber or PostMates contractors, the BloomBridge “Runners” can accept the assignment or pass. When a driver accepts,

TRIBLY

BloomBridge ships the flowers to that driver, and they, in turn, place them on the gravesite. The final step is to take a photo to share with the customer, which BloomBridge delivers as proof of a job accomplished. Allen handles day-to-day interaction with clients, flower designs and fulfillment. Allen said she’s proud of how they’ve laid the foundation for the business in creating the entity, identifying processes, building relationships with suppliers, and spending the necessary dollars on infrastructure. Ngo reports that the company’s revenues have doubled each quarter since launch. The company is self-funded thus far, but he says they’ve done a great deal of testing on their marketing mix and plan to start looking toward an angel funding round in Q1 or Q2 2022 in part to boost that marketing budget. “Our plans for 2022? Strictly just growing the business,” said Ngo. He said increasing the advertising spend to build awareness, finding the sweet spot for generating leads from search marketing, and building partnerships with big players in the industry should lead to a prosperous year. Contact the team at www.bloom-bridge.com.

2021 SEED FUND recipient

Tribly started life as Fan Space, a mobile app designed to help fans support the artists and musicians they follow. Founder Seth Power, a musician himself, pivoted Fan Space in 2021 to take advantage of exciting new technology for creators—NFTs (nonfungible tokens) and blockchain. Pivoting to blockchain made his product offering much more cutting-edge. “Music artists want to get involved in the NFT space, but they don’t know how. It’s very intimidating. It’s a technical process,” Power said. Those “web 3.0” technologies aren’t yet day-to-day tools for artists and musicians, so Tribly is designed to make sense of that world for creators and fans. Power says he’s developing Tribly to make the creation of NFTs much easier for the artists while making it clear what the value is for the fan. He emphasizes that buying content and memorabilia in the form of NFTs allows fans to take on a more direct role in an artist’s career. The fan may also make some money when selling the NFT down the road—as will the artist, since blockchain allows the artist to share in the future value created, too. “Not only are they supporting the artist with their purchase, but now they can actually own something of significance attached to that artist’s music and brand. If the artist continues to grow and flourish, the NFTs associated with them will grow in value as

well. It’s a win-win for both parties,” Power said. While Tribly is taking on the wild west of NFTs and blockchain, it puts a lot of structure around those technologies for musicians. The NFT offerings powered by Tribly focus on projects like fundraising to produce an album (competing with “web 2.0” companies such as KickStarter) and expanding on what’s possible around events such as album releases and concerts. Using Tribly will be easy for the fan, who also doesn’t need to know anything about cryptocurrency or blockchain. Tribly will let them buy into an artist’s NFT offering using a credit or debit card and make accessing their NFT easy. Tribly makes money by taking five percent of every transaction—and those transactions can keep happening indefinitely as the NFT is sold and transferred. Power has received $10,000 in seed funding from the Mississippi Seed Fund and hopes to close an angel funding round from the Bulldog Angel Network and The Mississippi Angel Investor Network in early 2022. He says Innovate Mississippi has been helpful through the process, and he’s proud to be based in Jackson, where the initial round of beta-testing musicians will be using Tribly to see how quickly web 3.0 can shake up the music industry. Contact the team at www.triblymusic.com.

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Seeing your business through to its highest potential

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CONNECTVNA A system built to automate and streamline business complexities.

The business of drilling wells for oil and gas exploration— communicating with investors and mineral rights owners, divvying up profits, invoicing for expenses—has defied automation for long enough, according to John Welch, managing partner of ConnectVNA, LLC. Over the past few years, he’s been on a quest to build software to make the business of drilling wells—and similar markets lacking transparent processes—much easier to track. “I have filing cabinets of paper, and it’s all complicated and painful to deal with,” he said about his family’s oil and gas investments. A typical, productive well might cost $1-2 million to drill, with 20-50 investors and rights owners attached to it. And those owners can be multi-generational families, with multiple children and their families all needing information on its production and costs. “So right now, we’re in the process of spinning up ConnectVNA in a big way,” Welch said. “It’s a SAAS product, and it’s recurring revenue, so it has the potential to be valuable.” Connect Technology, the company that Welch has run for the past 15 years, does corporate web development that syncs with Enterprise Resource Planning, or ERP, systems. Coding that connection is often an essential step that allows companies to move from legacy transactions to online business with their customers. Welch’s team developed an application for the oil and gas industry that eventually spun out into ConnectVNA’s product. They built and tested a prototype with a local company involved in John’s family’s wells and then expanded to another partner in Texas. “What we’ve built is a portal environment that’s profile-driven,” Welch said. “What we’re doing is specific to the oil industry, but we’re trying to build a generic platform that can be plugged into other industries.” Welch said the profile-driven nature of the portal means

people see the correct data for their account type. If you’re a small investor in a project, you can see your profits and the costs you need to share in; if you’re managing the project or have a controlling interest, you’ve got more visibility. In both cases, though, all numbers, tracking and paperwork are secure in the cloud. Welch credits Innovate Mississippi’s Tony Jeff and Bruce Dear for invaluable advice. Working with Innovate has helped Welch think through some business questions, such as whether to license the platform to one big player in the oil and gas industry and move on to other sectors. They have also put him in touch with potential investors and mentors. He also thanks Sumesh Aurora, formerly of Innovate and now with the Mississippi Development Authority, for giving him some great advice and for encouraging him to participate in the 2021 V-Quad competition. “We were lucky enough to win the overall prize for that, which was cool,” Welch said. “But it was more than that—it was validation for what we were doing.” Calvin Seymour is a partner with Welch on ConnectVNA; Kevin Hendrix is their lead developer on the ConnectVNA portal. Daniel Williams, Brandon Smith, Eric Morris and Greg Bradley are all sweat-equity partners helping to develop the product. His team plans to continue to roll out new features such as digital-signature tools and faster ways to fulfill payments to and from owners. His goal is for everyone using ConnectVNA to see the benefits of automation. And he’d like to see 100 more operators on the platform in 2022. “When we get there, we’ll be able to continue to grow it and put more money back into [research and development],” he said. He’s also eyeing other industries that could use similar technology to get their records, payments and paperwork automated. Contact the team at www.connectvna.com.

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PRIMP

A service that assures your beauty regimen never misses a beat.

What do you do when you’re out of town, need a blowout, and want to book a beauty appointment quickly on the go? Well, if you are founders and University of Mississippi alumni Alli Bridgers and Kirk Milam, then your answer is “use Primp.” Primp is a web-based subscription service where you can manage your beauty budget, book appointments, and earn rewards all in one place. On the flip side of that, it is also a great service for salons. The subscription allows salons to connect with a new audience, both local and those passing through, while streamlining the appointment-booking process and transactions. Bridgers had the idea after she graduated, when her dad encouraged her to begin tracking her monthly expenses. She discovered she was spending way more money on beauty appointments each month than expected. Around this time Bridgers also began traveling for work and wedding commitments. It was then she realized the convenience a service like Primp could offer. In unfamiliar towns, she needed to know where to go, see reviews, book an appointment, and pay for the services with her beauty budget quickly and efficiently—without calling every shop in town. Milam, who is a lawyer and long-time friend of Bridger’s father, joked that his longest professional relationship is with his hairstylist. So naturally, he saw the potential benefit for consumers, salons, and shareholders. Primp provides a technical upgrade for the beauty industry similar to ordering food or transportation through an app. The website allows customers to pick a monthly beauty budget, book services, and pay for them while earning “Primp points.” The points are used like cash-back rewards for more beauty services. For parents with college students, it is easy to add to your child’s spending account as needed. Since the COVID-19 pandemic, Primp has had its fair share

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of challenges. As the beauty industry took an initial hit during lockdowns, the project was briefly put on hold. The pause provided some clarity for the founders, though. Instead of raising funds and coming out of the gate with a mobile app, they decided to beta test the concept first. Timetoprimp.com is up, running, accepting clients, and has paying subscribers. The website launched last spring and the founders say their customer bases, both clients and salons, have given them great feedback. In the meantime, Bridgers and Milam remain a small company while they raise funds for the software development phase. The software will book customers in real-time instead of there being a 24-hour window for appointment confirmations. Ultimately it gives salon owners and customers the ability to save time and money with its accessibility, convenience, and streamlined processes. “People don’t think about it but it does take time to stop what you’re doing, pull up the phone number, get on the phone, sit on hold while the front desk people take care of the people right there in front of them, and then book your appointment,” Milam said. Bridgers agreed. “Time is precious,” she said. “You could be doing so many other things with it.” In 2022, Primp plans to focus on partnering with salons while raising money to build out the tech side, aiming to be fully funded in 2022. They are early in the review process for seed funding and are cash positive. “We want to build something in Mississippi that will grow into a bigger company all across the country, obviously. But it’s important to us to have these Mississippi roots,” said Bridgers. You can book your appointment and start earning rewards at www.timetoprimp.com.

Connect + Collaborate Whether you’re hosting a seminar, conference or intimate professional gathering, The Westin Jackson offers more than 12,000 square feet of flexible meeting space, as well as a dedicated planning team, revitalizing food and beverage breaks and thoughtful amenities that ensure that attendees can be at their best. To book your stay or for more information on planning your event with Westin, visit westinjackson.com or call 601.968.8200.

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THE SKIN CONSULT Making personalized, expert skincare easy and accessible. 32

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Sajani Barot

“Where beauty meets science.” This tagline encapsulates the mission that Sajani Barot, founder and CEO of The Skin Consult, has sought to bring to life since launching in 2020. Through the company’s online platform, consumers can schedule virtual consultations with skincare experts, who give those customers data-driven recommendations for reputable products to fulfill their skincare needs. Barot’s science background propelled her to create this digital marketplace. Graduating in 2009 from Drake University in Iowa with both a Pharm.D. and an MBA, she joined the pharmaceutical industry, retaining several roles within the field of medical affairs. She educates others about medical products, assists in the pre-launch and post-launch of FDA-approved drugs, and facilitates clinical trials, among other responsibilities. Moving to the Jackson, Miss., area about a decade ago after getting married and starting a family, Barot entered her skincare journey when she began experiencing significant breakouts, which she attributed to stress and adjusting to a new climate. “I was not very confident in my own skin, so I tried to find a solution by going to a dermatologist, going to a couple of spas in town and buying so many (skincare) products, and I was still not seeing the results,” Barot says. “I didn’t have any one person that I could really trust to know they’re giving me good advice, someone to give me that concierge care I needed at the time.” With pharmaceuticals, Barot observed that medicines are highly regulated and doctors recommend products based on scientific data. Wondering why that evidence-based approach isn’t used as often in skincare, another field wherein chemicals interact with the human body, the entrepreneur started doing her own research. She became more and more versed in the industry, identifying the products’ ingredients and delving into the clinical studies behind them.

Blogging about skincare and science on social media, Barot developed a following of people who resonated with her posts. Friends would ask her for advice on what products may work specifically for them, inspiring Barot to build what would ultimately become The Skin Consult. Once the pandemic reached Mississippi in March 2020, Barot decided to use the web app she began developing in December 2019 to create a marketplace of estheticians and licensed skincare professionals. With the shutdowns, many professionals in the field had fewer opportunities to make a living, some even sitting at home without regular work. Through the service, though, the professionals who sign onto the program gain access to a database of TSC-approved products and can use the algorithm to schedule paid consultations. The Skin Consult vets skincare brands, curating a range of products. Barot and her team evaluate products based on safety and efficacy, cost value, sensory elements, scientific credibility and other criteria. When available, they look at clinical data, confer with doctors and chemists, and often test the products themselves. “Typically the products that we have been working with are the ones that are sold through doctor’s offices,” Barot says. “We also have other, smaller brands that have been created by chemists or dermatologists that are reputable products, even if not mainstream.” Providers create profiles in the system showcasing their credentials, specialties, portfolios, before-and-after pictures, reviews and more. When a customer first creates an account, they can complete a quiz that informs the algorithm of their skin type and needs so that the program can appropriately generate a series of available providers. The customer can then elect to book a virtual appointment with whomever they select. The service even shows who is available for consultation within 24 hours. The customer goes to their user dashboard and clicks the Start Consultation button to begin video chatting with their chosen provider at the appointment time. After each consultation, customers can add the products specially curated for them to their carts and check out, and The Skin Consult will ship the items directly to the users. Returning account holders can find their recommended skin regimens by going to their user dashboard. They can also follow up with providers to ask further questions or book another appointment. Presently, The Skin Consult has registered providers from across the United States, including Mississippi, California, Pennsylvania, Florida, Texas, Louisiana and more. The company has also registered a provider in Canada, a first step toward moving to a larger international marketplace. For 2022, The Skin Consult plans its second phase: offering customers the opportunity to schedule in-person consultations with local TSC-registered providers. Barot and her team are actively recruiting Mississippi estheticians, dermatologists, and other skincare experts to register with The Skin Consult, most notably in college towns such as Jackson, Oxford, Starkville, and so on. “We’re hoping that people see value in something innovative here in the state of Mississippi,” Barot concluded. To book your consultation or start shopping visit www.theskinconsult.com.

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AI CONTROL TECHNOLOGIES After fits and starts throughout the pandemic, Ai Control Technologies (AiCT) is now full steam ahead with its solution to help automate and grow shellfish farming off the Gulf Coast of Mississippi. In March of 2021, the University of Southern Mississippi (USM) received a Mississippi Department of Marine Resources GOMASA grant of $300,000 for a joint project with AiCT. In November last year, USM and AiCT demonstrated a proof-ofconcept unit to a group of Deer Island oyster farmers. AiCT, now with separate investor funds, plans to deploy a second prototype unit and test it with the Biloxi Oyster Company for initial realworld trials. “Our goal is to build an innovative unit, test it, and if it works, we’ll build ten more,” said CEO Chris Webb. “We’ll deploy and test those for 2-6 months and do a major investment round toward the end of next year.” The core technology that AiCT employs allows aquaculture farmers to automate control of the platforms or cages they use to grow shellfish. Instead of getting in a boat, riding out to the

cage, raising it, lowering it, turning it—all of these tasks can be automated using sensors, hardware and software. AiCT also has a $320,000 grant from the USDA National Institute of Food and Agriculture to produce a similar platform technology for growing mussels. AiCT will build the platform in Diamondhead, Mississippi. Webb expects this new approach to appeal to farmers in New England and Washington State and, perhaps, on the Gulf Coast. Webb credits Innovate Mississippi for helping with business planning and giving AiCT exposure through conferences and one-on-one meetings. The company has qualified for $200,000 in loans from the Mississippi Seed Fund. He also credits resources such as the State of Mississippi, USM and Innovate Mississippi for making his move from Florida (and, previously, Switzerland) to Mississippi the right decision. “I must be the only one who has come here from Switzerland,” Webb said. “I’m the opposite of brain drain. Mississippi is a unique shellfish and aquaculture innovation ecosystem—and a wonderful place to be.” Contact the team at www.ai-ctec.com.

2021 SEED FUND recipient

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RAK APP Here’s one thing Mississippi native Ben Hubbard learned during his time in Silicon Valley: If you can find an industry whose transactions haven’t been taken over by the Internet yet, it’s worth a good look. That’s what he did when he met cofounders and brothers Joey and Josh Brock, who run a successful business in the automotive parts industry. “Josh had the idea that there should be an easy to use app to order parts. Joey liked the idea and added it should be more than a barcode scanner and should read a (vehicle identification number),” Hubbard recalls. “You read the VIN, it just shows you the part that fits, and the mechanic orders the part for delivery.” As of now, that whole industry still operates almost entirely by phone. “It’s shop mechanics picking up the phone and asking, ‘Do you have it in stock? When can you get it here?’,’” Hubbard said. If the first call doesn’t get them the answer they want, they hang up and dial again. As low-tech as that might be, nearly every mechanic has a smartphone, so the distributor who offers an app to make ordering parts easier will have a competitive advantage, says Hubbard. That’s what Rak App does. Its patent-pending computer-vision technology makes sure the correct car model is selected, and then the app checks the distributor’s stock to make sure the part is available. If it’s available, the mechanic can order the correct part with a few finger swipes. The after-market car parts industry is massive, as you might imagine. But the household names you see on neon signs—Autozone, NAPA, O’Reilly—represent a drop in the bucket compared to the network of local repair shops and the distributors that deliver their parts. According to Hubbard, the “replacement parts” market where Rak App operates—selling parts directly to independent mechanics—is worth $383 billion in the U.S. alone. The fact that a phone call is still required in so many of those transactions

An app to order automotive parts disrupts the after market car parts industry

means a technology solution only needs a sliver of the market to adopt its tools, and it’s already a multi-million dollar company. While he and his partners initially thought they’d launch as an Amazon-style platform for the entire market, they are pivoting to building white-labeled apps for distributors who see the unique competitive advantage an app can create. The result, they hope, will be some early adopters who ultimately drive the entire industry in their direction. Getting an app in the hands of mechanics also allows the Rak App team to reach out to parts manufacturers, who in turn use the app to build a relationship with mechanics. The manufacturer can steer mechanics toward their solutions with marketing materials, specs, instructions and other collateral to encourage them to consider their brand. Hubbard said CEO Tony Jeff and the team at Innovate Mississippi have been very helpful in helping him get in front of potential seed-level investors. The company is currently in a platform phase, with some beta revenue but working on a pipeline for the pivot. They’re self-funded thus far but expect angel and seed rounds to close in 2022. “2022 is the ‘build-our-brand’ year. Once we get a few deals, it’ll set the stage for us actually to grow in 2023 and ‘24,” Hubbard said, noting that they’re in beta testing now with a few potential clients. “One of them, a gentleman in his 60s, doesn’t use much technology, but he’s got an iPhone. We’ve converted him over to the app,” Hubbard said, noting that when the app was down for a few days for updates, they got a call from this man. They told him the app would be down for maintenance for a while longer. “Then I’m going fishing,” he told Hubbard. “The next day, I got some pictures from the lake,” Hubbard laughed. Contact the team at www.therakapp.com. I N N OVAT E . M S

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METAGAMES The name of the game in entrepreneurship is “pivot.” When Meta Games CEO Ryan Gilbrech realized that the “Slayers for Hire” PC title his team had developed was getting great reviews in the marketplace—but not enough customer dollars were flowing in—he started to ask why. “’Slayers’ was my first ever experience making a game,” Gilbrech said. “I still have a lot planned for ‘Slayers,’ and I wholly believe in its potential, but, for now, we need to focus on what seems to be a golden opportunity for us.” Gilbrech notes that there’s been a shift in the”fighting game” genre that Slayers inhabits. Recently, the big, successful games tend to have name-brand characters from Marvel, Dreamworks and Nickelodeon. He says that signing a big brand and developing the game with their intellectual property (IP) is the 2022 strategy for Meta Games. “It’s honestly pretty hard to make a game that feels as good as

ours,” Gilbrech said. “Our game engine is really robust—we can add characters easily and make crazy new game [modifications]. Our online gameplay is world-class. It’s the cutting edge of how a fighting game should feel online.” So how do you sign big IP to your game engine? You get them to play it. ‘Slayers,’ as a fully developed title using the Meta Games engine, is the perfect demo platform. Gilbrech says he has already signed up for in-person conferences in 2022, which will allow him to show a complete game as, essentially, a playable demo as part of the pitch. “We’re not the first game studio to try to do this; it’s very commonly successful,” he said. “These deals get made, and I know where they get made.” Play now on Discord.com or Steampowered.com. Contact the team at www.metagames.studio.

ROCKETING SYSTEMS As 2022 turned the corner, Rocketing Systems announced that its flagship Buzzbassador app had notched $5 million in influencer-generated sales tracked through the platform. Buzzbassador helps Shopify-based merchants manage their brand ambassador relationships by automating tasks such as accepting applications, generating discount codes and monitoring sales. Over 66,000 brand ambassadors have registered to work with brands via Buzzbassador, and nearly 3,000 merchants have registered on the platform since it launched. In Q4 of 2021, the Rocketing Systems team changed their pricing structure, moving from one-price-fits-all to new Enterprise plans. Shelby Baldwin, chief operating officer and co-founder, said the new pricing enables Rocketing Systems to serve more established e-commerce brands. CEO Calvin Waddy said 2022 would see Buzzbassador’s development plans focused on two significant new features: Campaigns and Ambassador Discovery. Campaigns will enable brands to drive engagement by tasking their ambassadors with gamified missions, like creating content, meeting a sales goal,

or posting on social media. The team is designing Ambassador Discovery to help brands connect with new ambassadors or influencers who might help promote and sell their products. “Most brands come to us with an existing Ambassador program. But the ones that may want to find the perfect influencer for them ... we’re starting to build out that Ambassador Discovery tool,” Waddy said. Baldwin notes that their other initiative focuses on generating more content to help their customers and potential customers see the value in Buzzbassador and generate ideas for working with influencers. “This year, we’re focused on hiring, product and content,” she said. “We’ll offer more value-added webinars, Youtube videos, and other content to drive value for successful merchants.” Waddy says after a $100,000 Mississippi Seed Fund award to help them shore up development and grow this past year, the company is planning a $300,000 angel-funding round early in the year to help them bring on new developers and expand their user base. Contact the team at www.buzzbassador.com.

2021 SEED FUND recipient

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CALLING ALL ANGELS

Connecting Investors to Mississippi’s High-Growth Startups

MISSISSIPPI’SHIGH-GROWTH HIGH-GROWTHstartups startupsseek seekinvestment investment MISSISSIPPI’S

through Innovate Mississippi Mississippi Angel through Innovate Mississippi andand the the Mississippi Angel

Investor Network. Whether an investor Investor Network. Whether an investor wantswants to seeto a see a

pitch and make decisions or participate pitch and make theirtheir own own decisions or participate in local in

or regional investment funds that willthe manage orlocal regional investment funds that will manage deal the deal closing, investors across Mississippi have the closing, investors across Mississippi have the opportunity opportunity to get in on the ground floor with the state’s to get in on the ground floor with the state’s fastestfastest-growing companies. There are also many growing companies. There are also many opportunities to opportunities to invest alongside investors with a wide invest alongside investors with a wide range of industry range of industry and investor experiences. Pitch and investor experiences. Pitch meetings occur across meetings occur across Mississippi—including Jackson, Mississippi - including Jackson, Oxford, Tupelo and the Gulf Oxford, Tupelo and the Gulf Coast. Coast.

Investors who areare unable to do leg work can still Investors who unable to all dothis all this leg work canreap still the benefit of the Angel Network investingby in investing one of the in reap the benefit of the Angelby Network newly formed, member-managed, The Innovate Mississippi’s Angelprivate Fund.Angel The Funds. fund fuels

funds fuel Mississippi’s latest crop of entrepreneurs and Mississippi’s latest crop of entrepreneurs and provides

investors with vetted, reliable opportunities. provide investors with vetted, reliable opportunities.

If you are an accredited investor, we invite you to join

If you are an accredited investor, we invite you to join the Mississippi Angel Investor Network to interact with with investors,gain gain access access toto quality deals and grow investors, quality deals and grow Misissippi’s innovation economy. Mississippi’s innovation economy. the Mississippi Angel Investor Network to interact

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For more information, contact:

LINDSEY BENEFIELD TONY JEFF 601-960-3610 601-960-3610 TJEFF@INNOVATE.MS LBENEFIELD@INNOVATE.MS

WWW.INNOVATE.MS

LYNK HEALTH

Specializing in creating custom telehealth systems for pharmacies and hospitals.

Lynk Health began as Telehealth One, specializing in creating custom telehealth systems for pharmacies and hospitals. Their first big win was with Fred’s. Telehealth One built a system that allowed customers to walk into the store, consult a physician over the screen, and fill prescriptions all in one visit at one place. They offered a similar service to understaffed hospitals. Telehealth One was doing quite well, working with private investors and seeing revenue growth. Thanks to the COVID-19 pandemic, 2020 was the year that would normalize telehealth for many. Shutdowns not only interrupted life as we know it but also revealed the importance of taking care of mental health in general. At that point, the team saw an opportunity to expand and focus their offering, starting with nursing homes. It became more evident that the aging population inside these residences was not receiving, in particular, mental and behavioral healthcare. “We were kind of tinkering for a long time, and through our tinkering, there was this underlying theme,” said CEO Will Moon. “There is a huge issue with mental and behavioral healthcare – not just patients who need it but with providers out there who can give access. There’s just not enough people to provide care.” Moon and the Lynk Health team set out to help a forgotten demographic. The company saw that nursing home providers needed the software to facilitate gaps in employment; they also required serious help getting behavioral and mental healthcare into their centers. “In 2020, especially with the ramp-up with what we saw with the nursing homes, all the residents that got infected with COVID, the high number of death rates, the way that they were locking down, no one could get in to take care of the patients,” Moon said. “The patients or residents didn’t have any solutions,

and they were isolated, depressed, and cut off from their families. The facilities were understaffed, and everyone was just trying to keep the thing going.” Nursing home residents are treated for all their external and physical ailments, but what about mental health? Moon and a team of medical and software professionals—COO Tracy Rhinewalt, DNP, FNP-BC, CAO Dennis Watts, Ph.D., and CTO Jay Taylor—are determined to give them the attention and accessibility they deserve. Their software allows them to see patients anywhere an internet connection exists. Lynk Health also aims to raise awareness and push mental and behavioral wellness standards. Working with the assisted-care providers, they often try to limit the number of prescriptions their patients take, potentially improving their lives. Lynk Health can help assisted-care providers virtually by evaluating and then creating custom treatment plans for their residents at no extra cost to the facility. “We come in, and we get the patients off those medications,” Moon said. “We do therapy with them. We manage their other antidepressants and other medications they might take related to mental health.” With proper treatment and fewer medications, residents trip and fall less and are more cognitively aware. It helps facilities tremendously, but more importantly, it improves residents’ overall quality of life. Moon says he was close to his grandparents growing up and said it contributes to his love for helping senior citizens now. With a conviction to impact patients’ mental health and with the technology to reach residents anywhere, they see the promise of financial growth and positive results for their patients. Contact the team at www.lynk.health.

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SHOVEL SOLUTIONS Simplifying the ticket process of dirt work connecting contractors, drivers and pits.

Back in 2018, two college kids—who were supposed to be studying for finals—mapped out Shovel Solutions instead. Ben Street, chief of operations, and AJ Davidson, chief product officer, came up with the company idea when Street told Davidson stories of a dirt pit his family owns. A developer cheated Street’s family, taking the dirt “without paying a penny,” he said. Job sites they contacted insisted his family prove ownership—which they couldn’t do after the fact. The two students saw a hole in the industry that needed to be filled. Both founders graduated from the University of Mississippi. Street brings the knowledge from the agricultural side of things while Davidson brings the technical know-how. By combining Street’s family experience with miners and Davidson’s interest in building products, they created a digital marketplace platform that handles accounting, logistics, and tracking which makes things easier for those who work with dirt. “Everything that we live in, everything we work in or look at—if it’s on Earth, it requires a prerequisite process of laying a stable pad of mineral to make sure it doesn’t fall later,” said Davidson. They both explain that because minerals can’t be labeled, it’s difficult to prove ownership of those minerals if the process is not handled properly. This results in businesses and landowners losing money. The company has already pivoted once in the way they offer their service. Initially, they discussed developing specific sensors that would help measure and manage mineral resources. But they discovered quickly that they could be just as efficient with a

cloud-based product that uses GPS coordinates. The result is an app, called Shovel, which is available for iOS or Android. The app is designed to simplify the ticket process of dirt work. It connects contractors, drivers, and pits so that they are able to perform at maximum capacity and efficiency. “The main goal is helping people. When you help people, good things happen,” said Street. So say goodbye to the hole-punch system and hello to the streamlined process of the Shovel app. Instead of dump trucks losing money to route and payment conflicts, they can operate efficiently through the app’s GPS capability and get paid electronically all in one place. Although they have five competitors they keep an eye on, they explain that their competition is focused on mid-sized to heavy construction projects. In their opinion, smaller-scale projects offer a niche they can serve. “We feel we have the opportunity to give them something they’ve been needing for a while,” said Davidson. Street’s neighbor referred him to Innovate Mississippi after learning about the startup. Although the duo works with a private investor currently, they are in review for a $100,000 Mississippi Seed Fund award. They’re ready for the world to see all the work they’ve put in these past three years. “2022 is our make-it year. We have to execute, not do anything too radical, and adjust as the waves hit,” said Street. Shovel is online at www.theshovelapp.com and their app can be downloaded on the App Store for iPhone users or Google Play for Android.

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Touching lives. Powering the future. At Entergy, the communities we serve are the communities we call home. That’s why we stay active and involved – because we know our responsibility reaches beyond the power grid. So, we invest in education and industry, while developing new solutions to power tomorrow. As a community, our successes fuel each other. We’re all on a circuit. And together, we power life. entergy.com

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VERTECORE Paul Leake was one of an estimated 100 million Americans— and 1.7 billion people worldwide—who experience some form of back pain on any given day. The Mississippi native sustained an injury during a training exercise at Fort Rucker, Ala., while working as a Mississippi Army National Guard specialist that left him with chronic back pain. Doctors proposed that he should undergo spinal surgery, but Leake declined. For a long time, Leake sought alternative solutions to soothe the pain when a friend facing similar circumstances, Paul Montalvo, recommended he try decompression therapy. Leake traveled to the Texas Back Institute, where physicians strapped him to a computer-controlled table that stretches patients out. Leake felt immediate relief; however, neither the VA nor private insurance would cover the costs, and traveling to a location that provided those services was inconvenient in the long term. “By the time I made it back home, the benefits were largely negated,” he remembers. With his engineering background, Leake hypothesized that he

A wearable device that relieves back pain without relying on opiods or surgery.

could invent a device that would allow patients to decompress at home. Five years and many iterations later, he and his team developed the VerteCore Lift. This wearable device relieves back pain without the user needing to rely on opioids or surgery, which it accomplishes by effectively decompressing the wearer’s intervertebral disc through reverse traction. The portability of the Lift helps VerteCore’s device stand out from other traction devices currently being used in different physiotherapy and chiropractic clinics, as patients can conveniently and cost-effectively receive decompression therapy wherever and whenever they need it. Being mobile while decompressing increases circulation into the intervertebral discs, facilitating natural healing. “Our bodies have an amazing proclivity to heal themselves given the right tools and circumstances,” Leake, founder and CEO of VerteCore Technologies, says. “That’s part of what our device does: It gives the patient a tool to facilitate their body’s natural healing process.”

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“ It’s a developing relationship, but we’re confident it’s going to be a long-term one.” While physicians perform around 1.4 million back surgeries each year, that leaves between 20 and 30 million potential surgical candidates waiting for their turns. For the conditions that decompression therapy can remedy, the Lift serves as a triage tool that allows orthopedic surgeons, neurosurgeons, and primary-care physicians to more efficiently identify which candidates require surgery and which ones can benefit from more conservative therapy. Leake formally founded VerteCore Technologies with Montalvo in 2015, and they took the Lift’s then-current version to the Texas Back Institute to receive physicians’ feedback. “They said we needed to run—not walk—to the nearest patent attorney’s office because we didn’t realize what we had on our hands,” he recalls. VerteCore received an invitation to participate in Texas Medical Center’s Accelerator program, which connects emerging digital-health and medical-device startups with mentors, service providers and corporate partners who seek to improve healthcare systems. Through TMCx, telecom giant AT&T took notice of Vertecore. The two formed a collaborative agreement where AT&T Foundry helped Vertecore integrate further technological advancements into the Vertecore Lift. The advanced technology allows physicians to remotely monitor patients’ usage of their Lifts to ensure that the device is operating correctly and is actively helping the wearer progress through their recommended therapy regimen. Clinicians can also adjust the patient’s treatment protocol in real-time to give patients continued optimized treatment. This telehealth feature has become especially helpful during the COVID-19 pandemic, as patients can receive remote care involving their physician. Over the last year, the Center for Advancing Innovation approached VerteCore because the CAI saw promise in using Lift technology to help the many truck drivers, forklift 46

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operators, warehouse workers, and others who may experience back pain while on the job. CAI subsequently named VerteCore as one of the program’s winners. The company relocated to Natchez, Miss., in 2021 when the City of Natchez established an economic development plan that created incentives for companies to move into the area. Leake, who went to school in Natchez, knew the time had come to return home. Since arriving in Mississippi, VerteCore has connected with Innovate Mississippi, which has already begun helping the company work toward its goals for 2022. “It’s a developing relationship,” Leake says, “but we’re confident it’s going to be a long-term one that’s beneficial to VerteCore, to Innovate Mississippi, to the state, and ultimately to the patients that we help through our product.” Firstly, VerteCore is repatriating its manufacturing process. Initially, beta and test models were produced in South Korea and China. However, COVID-19 challenges created a supplychain crisis that catalyzed VerteCore’s decision to move manufacturing, assembly and distribution to the United States, preferably in Mississippi. Secondly, Innovate Mississippi is helping VerteCore fundraise so that the company can put the final pieces of the puzzle in place and get their product into the hands of those who need it—be they patients, caregivers or treating physicians. VerteCore attended Innovate Mississippi’s annual Accelerate Conference in November 2021, which put the company in talks with potential vendors, and the Lift already has FDA approval. “We’ve been really fortunate and very blessed through this process,” Leake says. “A lot of our success so far has just been a demonstration of determination and sheer will because we know we’ve got a great product that can help a lot of people.” Contact the team at www.vertecore.com.

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INNOVATION ECOSYSTEM Innovate Mississippi promotes an environment in which entrepreneurs and innovators can thrive statewide. We are grateful to our many partners who support entrepreneurship in their neck of the woods. Here’s a report on many of their exciting accomplishments.

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SOUTH MISSISSIPPI ANGEL FUND After a few years of planning, South Mississippi Angel Fund I, a member-managed fund, is looking toward putting together its first deals in 2022. The $1 million fund will focus at least 50 percent of their deals in the state’s Hattiesburg and Gulf Coast region. “This is an important economic development tool that’s good for the region,” Innovate Mississippi CEO Tony Jeff said. “The investors participate in the fund to make a return, but they also have an impact on growing companies in the region.” Innovate Mississippi helped organize the South Mississippi Angel Fund, building on models it has helped implement in North Mississippi and Central Mississippi. “Innovate Mississippi already manages the statewide Mississippi Angel Investor Network, with over 300 investors interested in funding startups,” said Jeff. “Having a local angel fund gives investors another choice in how to invest and helps bring in less experienced investors to lean on the expertise of others.” The Securities and Exchange Commission requires that only accredited investors participate in angel funds such as the South Mississippi Angel Fund. So, Innovate Mississippi is working through the leadership group and the Mississippi Angel Investor Network to find other accredited investors in the region. The fund will likely begin inviting entrepreneur pitches early in Summer 2022. “This is a great opportunity for Hattiesburg and the Gulf Coast, where we see a lot of technology and high-growth startups forming,” said Dave Dennis, a founding member of the Fund and President of Specialty Contractors & Associates in Gulfport. “From polymers in Hattiesburg to blue tech on the Coast and space travel around Stennis Space Center, we’ve got a lot of great ideas we can help get off the ground in South Mississippi.” For more information on the South Mississippi Angel Fund, reach out to Innovate Mississippi’s Lindsey Benefield at LBenefield@innovate.ms or 601-960-3655. I N N OVAT E . M S

Women’s Business Center The Women’s Business Center at Jackson State University offers support with:

• Business Coaching • Small Business Contracting • Access to Capital • Technology Development • And More… For more information about the Women’s Business Center, email wbc@jsums.edu or call 601.979.4186.

Women’s Business Center www.jsums.edu/wbc

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Funded in part through a Cooperative Agreement with the U.S. Small Business Administration

ECOSHED In 2016, Travis Crabtree and Salam Rida bought an abandoned 1960s-built warehouse. Crabtree, an urban design and landscape architect, and Rida, an architectural designer, met in graduate school at The University of Michigan. The two found the property in Mississippi and moved south to repurpose the building as a project for their design company, Carbon Office. Ecoshed, in Jackson, is a one-of-a-kind shared workspace and event center. It is eco-friendly and designed with sustainability in mind. The center uses its industrial design, natural lighting, and plant materials to create a relaxing and uniquely charged environment. During the week, it makes for a great workspace. On weeknights and weekends, it doubles as an art and music venue. Members can book the indoor Atrium or outdoor Courtyard area for large events or shared workspace. The Colab consists of ten private studios, a conference room, a kitchenette, and a workspace with wireless business-class printers. Outside they have a 2,500-square-foot lawn alongside their 12,000 squarefoot farming area. Food-focused entrepreneurs have a shared commercial kitchen space with cold storage included. There is a beautifully designed and earthy three-person boutique salon on the premises. Ecoshed has a 1,000-square-foot stylish event space called

The Flamingo for smaller gatherings. The space is operated by Ahmad and Saddi Thompson. Every month it hosts the JXN Flea with over 20 vendors. With each membership, members have access to unlimited drip coffee in the self-serve cafe and use of the kitchenette, business areas, tools, and services. Space is abundant on this eco-friendly property. Carbon Office, their design company, focused on green infrastructure in its design. Ecoshed uses urban farming, water recycling, and passive energy systems to help reduce its ecological footprint while striving to create a “zero-waste” property. After years of hard work and anticipation, Ecoshed opened its doors in May 2021 with several private investors already on board. “The pandemic has really kind of changed the way people work, which has been good from a co-working point of view. A lot of people who were traditionally in office spaces now work from home and are now also able to work at places like Ecoshed because they don’t always necessarily want to work at home. They want to be in a space where they can actually interact with and see other people,” said Rida. “We are excited to continue to invest in the building and to grow.” To learn more about renting spaces and memberships at the Ecoshed, you can visit www.ecoshedjxn.com.

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RECORD YEAR FOR SEED FUND AWARDS The Mississippi Seed Fund awarded funds to 11 startup companies totaling $650,000 in 2021, which beat out 2018 for the best year in the Mississippi Seed Fund’s history. In that year, ten companies received $510,000. “Innovate Mississippi’s mission is to work with these founders, help them with their business plan and get them in a good spot with their financials,” said Lindsey Benefield, investment manager for Innovate Mississippi. “That’s when we can invite them to pitch the Seed Fund board, and we were excited that a lot of our companies got to that point last year.” The Mississippi Seed Fund has two types of awards, both of which are essentially loans that require no collateral, no personal guarantees and offer a threeyear zero-interest, zero-payment window. The Proof-of-Concept Award is a $10,000 loan that the startup can use to create a prototype, build a minimum viable product or otherwise start the marketing and customer discovery process to test their idea. Tribly, DaisNotes, GrowinLocal, Dealio and Coatney Consultants all received Proof of Concept awards in 2021. The Growth Award is a $100,000 convertible note requiring a $50,000 investor match and a $50,000

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in-kind match from the founders. CampusKnot, StayCool Brands, mySet, Rocketing Systems, Ai Control Technologies and Moonshine LLC received Growth Awards. “Most of our Seed Fund awardees are looking to raise between $200,000 and $500,000, so getting the Growth Award can give them credibility to go out and complete an angel round,” said Benefield. Benefield notes that Innovate Mississippi has been working hard with local startups to get them to this point while working with investors around the state to build more interest in angel investing for high-growth startups. But it’s also been a hot time in Mississippi for business startups in general. The Magnolia State led the nation with 163% growth in business applications year-over-year from Jan. 2020 to Jan. 2021, according to VisualCapital.com using U.S. Census data. “One of our top goals is to see more capital available for technology startups in the state of Mississippi, and it’s gratifying to see the results of working toward that goal,” said Innovate Mississippi CEO Tony Jeff. “Of course, we want to see a lot more companies getting a lot more funding, but it’s good to be on the right path.”

DRIVING MISSISSIPPI’S ECONOMY THROUGH TECHNOLOGY AND INNOVATION

MISSISSIPPI WOMEN IN STEM

LIGHTING THE WAY Mississippi’s Light Festival isn’t just fun and games. See how one woman is using the event to shine a light on something much bigger.

In a field where America desperately needs talented individuals to create and fill jobs, these Mississippi women are stepping up in a big way.

DEVELOPING TOMORROW’S LEADERS TODAY

Learn how Mississippi innovators are majorly shifting the economic landscape.

A PUBLICATION OF INNOVATE MISSISSIPPI

THE MISSISSIPPI CODING ACADEMIES For those who don’t plan to attend college, this Code MS initiative could provide a viable alternative that is feeding the national job market. Could this be the beginning of the “Silicon South”?

D R I V I N G M I S S I S S I P P I ’ S E C O N O M Y T H R O U G H T E C H N O LO G Y A N D I N N OVAT I O N 2 0 2 1 // A P U B L I C AT I O N O F I N N OVAT E M I S S I S S I P P I

D R I V I N G M I S S I S S I P P I ’ S E C O N O M Y T H R O U G H T E C H N O LO G Y A N D I N N OVAT I O N 2 0 2 2 // A P U B L I C AT I O N O F I N N OVAT E M I S S I S S I P P I

TECHNOLOGY INNOVATION IS EVERYWHERE Mississippians can future-proof our economy by nurturing the startup ecosystem while embracing the state’s existing resources.

SUPPORTING YOUNG FIRMS

WOMEN & MINORITY ENTREPRENEURIAL DEVELOPMENT I N T H E I S S U E : B L O O M B R I D G E // L I V E M U S I C N E T W O R K // J A C K S O N T E C H D I S T R I C T

Audience Business Professionals // Higher Education // Public Policy Leaders // Higher Income

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COBUILDERS: A PARTNERSHIP DRIVEN ACCELERATOR Kicking off in 2022 is a brand-new initiative from Innovate Mississippi and partners around the state: CoBuilders, a partnership-driven accelerator. This effort to help launch startup companies in different parts of Mississippi has been over a year in development, intending to accelerate over two dozen startup companies from all regions starting this spring. “The partners are all very excited about this,” said Tony Jeff, CEO of Innovate Mississippi. “What we’re doing is building resources and sharing best practices to make this work well across the regions.” Startup companies will participate in one of seven regional pitch competitions this spring, where three startups will move on from each. The winning startups will then be invited to participate in the 12-week statewide CoBuilders accelerator, with a mix of in-person and virtual learning. They’ll also get an initial seed funding award of at least $7,000 and be partnered with regional mentors to help them through the 12-weeks and beyond. The curriculum for CoBuilders takes the participating entrepreneurs through proof-of-concept, feasibility and development phases, leading to company launch and, hopefully, growth. Along the way, they do the research and crunch the numbers to determine whether there’s likely to be demand for their solution and whether they can make money when they deliver it. At the accelerator’s finale, each startup will pitch again at Pitch Day in the last week of July 2022. This time, their pitches will be for an audience of investors, mentors, service providers and the general public. Companies with a promising prototype, strong team and solid pitch could find themselves on the road to product development and testing the marketplace with seed and/or angel funding from the state’s network of investors and investment funds. “The pitches don’t have to be perfect at first. We’ve recorded a video for mentors and companies they can use to prepare,” Jeff said. “Each regional partner will make the decision on which companies participate from their region and will support each company throughout the entire process.”

The pitch competitions are hosted by: • Higher Purpose Co. (Clarksdate and Delta region with a focus exclusively on Black-owned companies) • Jackson State University and The Bean Path (focused on early-stage companies in the Jackson metro area) • The Meeting Place (focused on companies with early-stage products on the Mississippi Gulf Coast) • Mississippi Polymer Institute at University of Southern Mississippi (focused on early-stage companies, with preference for materials-based products, although all in the Hattiesburg area are welcome to apply) • Mississippi State University E-Center (Starkville/Golden Triangle with a focus on startup companies with a connection to MSU) • Oxford/Lafayette County Economic Development Foundation in collaboration with University of Mississippi (focused on early-stage companies in the Oxford region) • The Small Business Development Center in collaboration with Hinds Community College (focused on early-stage companies in the Vicksburg area) CoBuilders is excited to have Microsoft as the title sponsor, bringing their significant resources and expertise in technology entrepreneurship to this effort. “We’re honored to partner with Innovate Mississippi, as this collaboration will bring tools, access, and resources to our entrepreneurial ecosystem, generating value and stimulating innovation throughout the state of Mississippi,” said Microsoft TechSpark Manager JJ Townsend. Potential entrepreneurs can visit www.cobuilders.ms, where Innovate Mississippi will update resources, calendars and other information on an ongoing basis. To apply for a startup competition in your region, visit www.cobuilders.ms/apply/.

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MISSISSIPPI CODING ACADEMIES Over 50 Mississippians are on their 11-month, tuition-free journey to becoming junior coders at the Mississippi Coding Academies via four different locations in the state. New locations in South Jackson, Biloxi and the Golden Triangle (Starkville, Columbus and West Point) area supplement the original campus location in downtown Jackson next to Innovate Mississippi. “In our first four years, the Coding Academies have graduated over 100 full-stack junior coders,” said Mike Forster, board president for MCA. “With the support of the W. K. Kellogg Foundation, USDA, Mississippi Development Authority and many others, we’re now poised to nearly double that impact in this next academic year alone.” The South Jackson campus was added for the 2021-22 cohort, enabling the Jackson-area instructors to scale up from a class of about 20 in the previous year. MCA Board member Willie Jones is CEO and President of Dependable Source Corp., which provided the large, high-tech space in order to expand MCA’s capacity and reach more underserved young people in South Jackson and Hinds County. The University of Southern Mississippi directly supports the new Gulf Coast campus, which is already gaining interest from employers in the region. “We’re excited to get this off the ground in the 2021-22 academic year,” said Dr. Sarah Lee, MCA board member and director of USM’s School of Computing Sciences and Computer Engineering. The Gulf Coast campus of the Mississippi Coding Academies follows the same 11-month, full-time schedule

that other MCA campuses employ to immerse the coders in a real-world environment and get them ready for the job market. The program is tuition-free for the coders, and recent high-school graduates are welcome, as are those who have had some college—or even mid-career professionals. Coders on the Gulf Coast will learn from the full-stack coding curriculum employed at other MCA campuses, with one addition. Dr. Lee says they plan to add a cybersecurity module to successfully prepare coders to complete a CompTIA Security+ certification. “Cybersecurity certification will add to the employment options for our coders,” Dr. Lee said. “We’ve gotten very favorable feedback from companies and public-sector employers on the Coast.” The Golden Triangle campus has relocated to the Communiversity at Golden Triangle Global Industrial Aerospace Park, making it easier to access from Starkville, Columbus, and surrounding towns. Students are studying the coding language C# and learning the fundamentals of coding—creating variables, building statements, crafting functions and managing strings. To apply to the Mississippi Coding Academies, individuals don’t have to have prior coding experience, although interest in math, gaming, and problem-solving is encouraged, as is a willingness to commit to the 11-month program. Those who complete the program graduate as junior full-stack coders with a salary potential of $40,000 or more in their first year. More information is available at https://www.mscoding. org and students may apply at www.mscoding.org/apply/ online.

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WOMEN & MINORITY ENTREPRENEURIAL DEVELOPMENT PROGAM In the second year of the Women and Minority Entrepreneurial Development Program, Innovate Mississippi grew the cohort to 18 startup companies, putting their founders through a 12-week educational sprint. The program, funded by the W. K. Kellogg Foundation, seeks to introduce people from historically underserved communities to early-stage capital, professional mentors and entrepreneurial education. “Mississippi is a state with one of the highest minority populations. The impact of minority entrepreneurship can be significant by providing resources to help this demographic become more active in entrepreneurship,” said Tasha Bibb, director of entrepreneurial development at Innovate Mississippi. Bibb notes that nationally, minority ownership of small businesses took a severe hit at the height of COVID-19, according to the Federal Reserve Bank of New York. In the spring of 2020 alone, Black-owned small companies fell 41 percent. During the 12 weeks of the program, startup CEOs learn to create and test their product, determine their value proposition and conduct customer research to help prove whether they’re genuinely addressing a significant problem that merits a business. They then craft a financial and marketing plan and build a pitch deck to pull together all the information they learned and to gain feedback. Throughout the process, mentors and guest speakers from the entrepreneurial ecosystem visited the virtual cohort to discuss legal, financial, marketing, product and other startup issues and challenges. “There’s always some little pointer that they say and... the lightbulb comes on,” said Dr. Barbara Coatney, the founder of Time Touch Take, a product for helping seniors and the sight-impaired stay on top of their medication schedules. Her company has also successfully applied to the Mississippi Seed Fund, and she pitched during the Company & Investor Spotlight during the 2021 Accelerate conference. “They just helped me stay on track.” While the COVID-19 pandemic limited most of

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this summer’s interactions to ZOOM, the loosening of restrictions made it possible for some of the founders to get together in person. At the August 2021 CONNECT networking event that Innovate Mississippi held at Cultivation Food Hall in Jackson, members of the cohort met one another—and professional mentors—in a casual setting to continue discussing their businesses. “The connections to resources is something that I really, really wanted to make sure we brought in, “ said Bibb, referencing both the mentors and organizations such as Mississippi Development Authority (MDA) and Small Business Development Centers (SBDC). “I like to see them go ahead and establish those relationships and make those connections. Graduates from the program are eligible for a $2,500-$5,000 loan from the LaunchFund, interestfree for the first two years. Innovate Mississippi designed the loan to help eligible startups “launch” by creating a prototype, protecting intellectual property or continuing their market research. If a founder is successful in that first phase, they can then apply to the Mississippi Seed Fund. Likewise, Innovate Mississippi can introduce them to one of Mississippi’s regional angel funds. Bibb said it’s been rewarding to work with the Kellogg Foundation and many partners and mentors within the state. MDA’s Minority Development Division, SBDC, The Bean Path, Precipice, IP, Grantham Poole, The Mabus Agency, INNODE, Attorney Anne Turner and Attorney Dellwyn Smith all helped out during those 12 weeks and after. “I think one of the most rewarding feelings for entrepreneurs is to know the basics of building a business,” Bibb said. “Things like customer discovery, forecasting revenue or communicating your value proposition. One of our members has secured a major partner, another is almost finished with an initial prototype and one has received funding through the Mississippi Seed Fund.”

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OCEAN AERO Ocean Aero develops and manufactures high-tech, autonomous vehicles for nautical observation and data collection. Its signature ocean drone is the Triton, which possesses the stealth and avoidance capabilities of underwater travel while also recharging power and traveling on the surface. The Triton is wind- and solar-powered using a uniquely deployed sail for surface operations and stored battery power to travel underwater. This flexibility gives it defense, research and commercial applications. Ocean Aero began manufacturing the Triton in Gulfport, Miss. in 2021, moving its manufacturing operation from San Diego, Calif. “We’re very proud of our recent technical achievements and growing customer support and look forward to continuing to innovate with all of our constituents into the future. Along with our partners at the University of Southern Mississippi,

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the growing Gulf Blue ecosystem, and the Port of Gulfport, we are building a world-class collaboration of leaders,” said Ocean Aero CEO Kevin Decker. He also thanked Governor Tate Reeves and Senators Cindy Hyde-Smith and Roger Wicker. The project created 40 new jobs on the Coast in 2021 and represents a corporate investment of 4.65 million dollars. The Mississippi Development Authority assisted in the costs of moving the manufacturing equipment and training employees. “I remain firmly focused on the development of our maritime industry and blue economy and am glad to welcome Ocean Aero to the Gulf Coast,” said Governor Reeves. “Every day, invaluable research is conducted in the waters off of the Mississippi Gulf Coast, helping grow our blue economy while providing exciting, high-tech jobs for many in our state.”

CORELOGIC ACQUIRES NEXT GEAR SOLUTIONS Leading up to its 2021 acquisition, Oxford-based Next Gear Solutions has specialized in workflow technology for property insurance carriers and the contractors that they work with to mitigate insurance claims in homes and businesses all over North America. Since insurance carriers care deeply about settling claims quickly and getting people back to pre-loss condition, Next Gear has focused on developing software solutions to help drive efficiency for carriers, contractors, and homeowners throughout the claims process. By using Next Gear’s software—SettleAssist, DASH and MICA—claims handling is brought into the digital age, allowing contractors and insurance companies to collaborate in real time, settling claims with more accuracy and fewer demands on their staff and suppliers. The ultimate goal is a better experience for the homeowner who has been hit with a property loss, while driving down the administrative costs associated with settling a claim. Their precision data tools and their interaction between property owners and insurance carriers made them a fit for acquisition by CoreLogic. The California-based software company focuses on solutions in the global real estate industry, offering a suite of solutions that center on gathering and disseminating accurate data about real property. “The combination of CoreLogic and Next Gear introduces a compelling alternative to the status quo,” said Garret Gray, founder and CEO of Next Gear Solutions and now president of CoreLogic’s Protect division. “CoreLogic is the gold standard on data around property. The Protect division’s role is to figure out

how to take this technology, data and innovation, and dream up ways to improve the lives of property owners and protect those properties from risk.” “The entire CoreLogic team is excited to join forces with Garret and the Next Gear team as we expand our range of innovative best-in-class solutions for the restoration industry, insurance carriers and other market participants that collectively help millions of people to protect and restore the homes they love,” said Frank Martell, president and CEO of CoreLogic in September 2021. The acquisition of Next Gear was the second Oxford-based company that CoreLogic has purchased; in 2015, CoreLogic bought FNC for $475 million. FNC’s software collects and shares data about real estate valuations on which banks and other lenders rely. That makes it easier for real estate professionals to trust the accuracy of the valuation of properties when they’re offering mortgages against. Although the exact amount CoreLogic paid for Next Gear Solutions isn’t public, local sources indicate the acquisition will create another huge infusion of capital into the community, creating a significant impact for the region and the state. “This is great for the local community and the Protect division is committed to staying and investing in Oxford,” Garret said. “In my opinion, to have innovation you need to have diversity. The work of the City of Oxford, Oxford-Lafayette County EDF and the Chamber to encourage creativity and celebrate all different types of people is fostering some really change-driven companies.”

V-QUAD The V-Quad Incubator Network—a startup accelerator and competition hosted by the Mississippi Development Authority and funded by a U.S. Department of Energy grant—will enter its second year in 2022. In 2021, a cohort of 10 companies (specializing in agriculture and energy) competed in two rounds for funding. Five of them won an initial $5,000 each and, after attending a 10-week virtual accelerator program, three startups split a $25,000 prize. V-Quad’s outside judges awarded $10,000 to Jackson-based ConnectVNA, a company creating a digital workflow tool for helping oil and gas companies manage their relationships with owners, vendors and stakeholders. Thus far, the program has awarded $50,000 in venture development grants. “V-Quad helped us at Connect refocus on our core value proposition and drove home the point for me that we need to be constantly listening to potential clients,” ConnectVNA Managing Partner John Welch told Mississippi Development Authority. The two runner-up companies received $7,500 in prize money. Magna Gold Oil of Meridian pitched its patented process for recycling asphalt roofing shingles into an environment-friendly, low-sulfur bunker fuel. A team of scientists from Mississippi State University took the other $7,500 for their work on producing biomass-based graphene nanomaterials from sustainable byproducts of the timber industry. Dr. Sumesh Arora, director of MDA’s Energy and Natural Resources Division, oversees the V-Quad program and says he’s excited about the success so far. Mississippi’s four research

universities, the Institute of Higher Learning, Innovate Mississippi and the Mississippi Small Business Development Center are V-Quad’s supporting partners. “Something valuable that came out of the first cohort is the opportunity for mapping what I call the ‘density of the innovation ecosystem’ that we’re helping with the V-Quad,” he said. “We made 30 or more new connections with these companies—some in the state and some out of the state. These are interactions coming out organically from this process.” Inclusive innovation is a key tenet of the V-Quad, Arora said, and over half the teams had participants from minority or rural entrepreneurs. In 2022, the program changes somewhat, with a $100,000 budget going to companies seeking technical assistance for their startups. Companies will compete for vouchers in two tiers ($10,000 or $25,000) they can redeem with Mississippi’s universities for technical help and support from the university’s scientists, engineers and research labs. “Most of these companies, when they’re working on new technologies, get to the point where they either don’t have the equipment or don’t have the technical know-how to do it themselves,” Arora said. “We can connect them with somebody in, say, the chemistry department at Jackson State University or Ole Miss, and maybe they can help them with that.” For more information on the V-Quad program, visit www.mississippi.org/entrepreneurship/vquad/ on the Mississippi Development Authority’s website.

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JACKSON TECH DISTRICT With a technology startup exit and a successful non-profit startup in her portfolio, Jackson-native Dr. Nashlie Sephus has turned to real estate investment and development—with a twist. Sephus, who works on high-level artificial intelligence solutions for Amazon out of an Atlanta office, bought 14 acres in downtown Jackson as part of a plan to give a leg up to technologists and creatives in her hometown. Her goal is to break ground in 2022 on what will ultimately be the mixed-use, live-work-play Jackson Tech District. “We have four pillars we’re focusing on: STEAM, innovation, economic development and opportunity,” Sephus said. “We’re really honing in on how we can reduce the ‘brain drain’ by providing innovative opportunities.” Sephus feels the ‘brain drain’ argument personally, as she left the state after getting an undergraduate degree in engineering from Mississippi State University, eventually working in Atlanta and New York. She’d like to see more opportunities for educated young Mississippians to stay in the state and find success. The Jackson Tech District plan includes over 700,000 square feet of commercial, residential and mixed-use development. Billed a “city within a city,” the tech district is slated to feature indoor and outdoor event venues, a maker space, robotics lab, creative arts center and photo studio.

Co-working space, residential apartments, restaurants, and a grocery store will round out the offerings. “We’re on target to create 1100 plus jobs and 450 housing units,” she said. “This is all a part of building a Jackson tech ecosystem that can expand and connect people throughout the state. That’s my dream and goal.” The Tech District will be headquarters for The Bean Path, Sephus’ technology non-profit startup that raised $800,000 in 2021 to reach 1,200 people with technical help and training. Her “CTO-to-Go” program helps startup companies in Mississippi get mentorship and direction from a technologist’s point of view, similar to the mentorship they can get in product, finance and marketing from Innovate Mississippi and other organizations in the entrepreneurial ecosystem. Strategic partners for the Jackson Tech District include Amazon, Meta, CSpire, Acer, the City of Jackson, and the team is raising private equity dollars to bring the project to completion. Sephus says she hopes her team will be done with most of the development by 2025. “We have a big culture—art, food, music—and tech is one of those things as well. I think just being able to better showcase to the world what Mississippi has to offer and to unite Mississippians in a fun and innovative way will help drive the economy,” Sephus said.

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EVENTS Innovate Mississippi hosts and promotes several events throughout the year to inspire creativity and connections for entrepreneurs, investors and service providers throughout the state. From the Legislative Open House and Reception to our annual Accelerate conference, here are some highlights from our 2021 calendar.

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ACCELERATE: 22ND ANNUAL CONFERENCE ON TECHNOLOGY INNOVATION In the past decade, over 100 percent of job growth has come from companies less than five years old, said J.F. Gauthier, founder of Startup Genome and keynote speaker for Accelerate 2021. As legacy corporations automate more jobs and streamline their workforces, startup companies create the jobs that fill those gaps and grow the economy. And, when nurtured, startups can create high-paying jobs in cities and states that aren’t traditionally associated with the technology sector. “I tell them, do you want to fly to see your kids in [cities like New York or Atlanta] ... or drive to see your kids?” Gauthier told the crowd of over 400 at the Westin Jackson’s conference center. Cities as diverse as Waterloo in Ontario, Canada and Buffalo, NY, have seen growth in high-paying jobs and a multiplier effect that means tens and sometimes hundreds of thousands of new jobs for their economies. The Accelerate 2021 conference, powered by mTrade, marked a return to in-person sessions, starting with the Company and Investor Spotlight on Tuesday, November 9th. During that afternoon, 11 companies working with Innovate Mississippi pitched audience members, getting feedback from the professionals and investors in the

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audience. In between those startup pitches, investors took the stage to discuss the climate for high-growth investment in Mississippi and what they’re looking for as investors. That evening, the Speaker and Sponsor Reception included an open bar, appetizers, great networking, a traveling jazz quartet featuring Raphael Semmes, and a 360-degree photo booth experience by Amazing Works Photography. On Wednesday, the show began with a breakfast keynote with quick pitches by two companies—Moonshine Mississippi and ConnectVNA—as a sample of the Company and Investor Spotlight. Lieutenant Governor Delbert Hosemann then took the stage to discuss, in part, the extraordinary state and federal infrastructure investment dollars pouring into the state’s coffers. That money will be managed and spent by the Legislature and local governments on roads, water, broadband and other items that will hopefully boost Mississippi’s economic competitiveness and viability into the future. Breakfast finished with Innovate Mississippi CEO Tony Jeff presenting his talk “Only the Paranoid Survive,” focused on how vital it is to focus your startup company on the question: “What is stopping you from being the biggest in the world at what you do?” After breakfast, attendees visited the 21 vendors on Innovation Alley, meeting the event’s sponsors offering services and support for entrepreneurs and growing businesses. At the same time, pre-registered entrepreneurs

got ready for their appointments in our VIP and Mentor Lounge, which was sponsored by Jones Walker, LLC and mTrade. They met with our VIP investors or with legal, finance, marketing, and operations mentors. Next up, the conference split into two different tracks: Big Ideas and Block and Tackle. The Block and Tackle sessions, designed for entrepreneurs and those planning startups, focused on sales and marketing, hiring a technology team, and starting your company with Series A funding in mind. On the Big Ideas track, panel discussions focused on Mississippi universities’ role in the entrepreneurial ecosystem and emerging technology’s effect on traditional Mississippi sectors such as agriculture and fisheries. “You’re not going to recognize a farm in 15 years,” said Cade Moody, technology specialist at Wade, Inc., referencing the extraordinary amount of data and automation that the industry is putting to use. “We have this technology that can identify a weed and discern it from dirt. When it sees that weed, it’s going to spot spray [it]. So you’re talking 70, 80, 90 percent chemical reduction.” Dr. Brian Cuevas, director of the Office of Technology Development at the University of Southern Mississippi, noted the Gulf Coast’s significant investment in “blue tech,” particularly after Hurricane Katrina. Drawing similarities to advances in agriculture, Cuevas mentioned autonomous vehicles that the industry is developing for fisheries and other oceanic purposes, along with a strong interest in data analytics—knowing more about the ocean.

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“ It’s always a collaboration of people with different expertise and many times from different institutions.”

“We know more about Mars than we know about our own oceans. There are a lot of companies out there...inspired to be the ‘Google Earth of the oceans.’” He went on to say that work will also mean vast amounts of data to process down to something useful for decision-making. In the Big Ideas session focused on Mississippi’s universities as resources for entrepreneurship, participants focused on the collaboration and cooperation that has grown in the past few years among the state’s research universities as they seek to specialize and support the state in its startup growth. “It’s always a collaboration of people with different expertise and many times from different institutions,” said Jeremy Clay, director of Mississippi State University’s Office of Technology Management. “Having those shared technologies among the universities and having those kinds of bigger collaborations of research teams ... results in better science and more impactful technologies.” The event culminated in the luncheon keynote, where Gauthier recounted the success in Waterloo, Ontario, a metro area similar to Metro Jackson, Mississippi. With the support of local universities and “air cover” from local government, Waterloo moved from a fading industrial town to a hub of entrepreneurial activity, creating 1,000 startups and 25,000 high-paying technology jobs that had a halo effect of creating another 100,000 jobs within that community. While many moving parts made it happen, he noted that connections ultimately make startups grow. “We quantified that...and you could see rapidly that those startups that are more connected—that live in ecosystems or in groups that help each other—see their revenues grow two times faster,” Gauthier said. Gauthier said similar entrepreneur-driven growth is possible in Mississippi as Startup Genome and the states’ stakeholders get to work. “Together, we will tailor a plan of action that will work.” I N N OVAT E . M S

NEED FUNDING FOR RESEARCH? YOU MAY BE ELIGIBLE FOR MILLIONS OF DOLLARS IN FEDERAL GRANTS. LET US CONNECT YOU TO AMERICA’S SEED FUND!

The Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) and Small Business Technology Transfer (STTR) programs encourage small businesses to engage in federal research and development with the potential for commercialization. In addition, The MS-FAST Program, led by Innovate Mississippi, aims to increase the number of SBIR and STTR proposals and awards for small businesses in Mississippi, with up to $3,000 to cover grant application preparation and research.

VISIT INNOVATE.MS TO LEARN MORE OR CONTACT TASHA BIBB AT TBIBB@INNOVATE.MS/601-960-3610.

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CONNECT With restrictions from the pandemic easing, Innovate Mississippi cautiously brought back the CONNECT monthly networking event live and in-person in 2021. “We launched CONNECT with the idea to continue the networking portion of the Accelerate Conference all year round because of feedback from the community asking for more opportunities for enriching and meaningful business connections,” said Janet Parker, director of business development and marketing for Innovate Mississippi. “We just started telling people in the innovation community to meet up at Cultivation Food Hall in Jackson on the first Thursday of each month, and it’s been a big success—people are making connections while also having a good time,” she said. Innovate Mississippi plans to continue this event throughout 2022, meeting at Cultivation Food Hall in The District at Eastover on the first Thursday of each month from 4:30 - 6:30

p.m. When you arrive, you can sign in and get a name badge, grab a drink or a bite, and meet like-minded entrepreneurs, investors, and mentors. If you don’t know anyone, we will make you feel welcome and introduce you around. Tickets aren’t required—the venue offers a cash bar and plenty of food options. While the focus is networking for entrepreneurs, mentors and investors, CONNECT will occasionally feature “pop-up” presentations and door prizes. In 2021, for instance, special presentations by the Mississippi Coding Academies, Women & Minority Entrepreneurial Development cohort and Bryan Carter of Think Webstore were surprise additions. CONNECT is free to attend; you can register for an upcoming event at www.innovate.ms. Contact Janet Parker at jparker@ innovate.ms if you have any questions and visit www. cultivationfoodhall.com/contact for directions and details about Cultivation Food Hall.

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NEXTUP STUDENT PITCH COMPETITION The Mississippi Entrepreneurship Forum team added a new twist to their programming in 2021, launching the inaugural “NextUp” student startup pitch competition for Mississippi. The goal of the steering committee for MEF, which is organized in part by the McLean Institute for Public Service and Community Engagement at the University of Mississippi, is to encourage student startups from colleges and universities around the state to get together, share notes, and compete for cash prizes. “A lot of universities and college campuses have their own startup competitions,” said Tasha Bibb, director of entrepreneurial development at Innovate Mississippi. “NextUp allows them to compete statewide and learn from one another while building some important relationships.” Students from Mississippi College, Mississippi State University, Delta State University, Holmes Community College and the Mississippi University for Women competed virtually on April 13, 2021, the first day of the 2021 Mississippi Entrepreneurship Forum. From the nine student teams that

competed, Hickman Farms, a team from Mississippi State University, emerged as overall winner for its proprietary feeding device for young cattle. Bibb said the founders, who won $2,500 in the competition, are still working on their company. The $1,500 second-place award went to Studio 274, an idea from Mississippi College students for a classical ballet studio combined with a tea room and yoga/pilates classroom. In third place, another Mississippi College team, AgroCreations, pitched a startup company with a unique twist on landscaping services. They won $1,000. The Mississippi Development Authority sponsored all prizes. “We have a wonderful group of people from all the colleges and universities in Mississippi working together to promote entrepreneurship in our state,” said Dr. J.R. Love, project manager for the Catalyzing Entrepreneurship and Economic Development (CEED) program at the McLean Institute. “The students taking part in the Forum and the NextUp Competition are the next generation of innovators who will take economic

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“ It is especially impressive how this event brings together colleges and universities to promote entrepreneurship.” development in Mississippi to the next level.” In 2022, the MEF planning committee is reaching out to colleges and universities to encourage them, where possible, to use 2022 NextUp as a “championship round” for startup pitch teams that win their college-level startup challenges. Teams will also still be able to apply directly to NextUp and compete for prize money that the MEF committee hopes will be higher this year with more sponsors on board. The Mississippi Entrepreneurship Forum offers students and other entrepreneurs, investors, and stakeholders in the entrepreneurship ecosystem to hear from one another and learn more about what’s going on statewide and network among themselves. “The Mississippi Entrepreneurship Forum provides a vital venue for entrepreneurs, economic developers, innovators and future business owners,” University of Mississippi Chancellor Glenn Boyce said. “It is especially impressive how this event brings together colleges and universities to promote entrepreneurship, inform best practices and discuss community and economic development in Mississippi.” The MEF team will hold the NextUp competition in Vicksburg (hopefully in-person for 2022) at the ERDCWERX innovation center facility in downtown Vicksburg on the first day of the Mississippi Entrepreneurship Forum. The Mississippi Entrepreneurship Forum is sponsored by the University of Mississippi’s McLean Institute for Public Service and Community Engagement. The event is part of the Catalyzing Entrepreneurship and Economic Development (CEED) initiative. The CEED initiative is funded with a generous financial gift from the Robert M. Hearin Support Foundation. Other sponsors include the Mississippi Development Authority, Mississippi State University, University of Southern Mississippi, Delta State University, Jackson State University, Mississippi College, Mississippi University for Women, Millsaps College, Mississippi Valley State University, Alcorn State University, and Belhaven University. For more information, visit www.meforum.olemiss.edu.

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The Voice of Business in Mississippi

The Mississippi Economic Council works to create a robust business climate for all Mississippi companies, no matter the industry or size. We tackle broad issues that affect all Mississippians and shape legislation and initiatives to build a sustainable workforce and the infrastructure our state needs to be economically competitive. Join the more than 11,000 members from 1,000 organizations throughout Mississippi that support MEC. To learn more, go to mec.ms.

MEC Programs

P.O. Box 23276 Jackson, MS 39225-3276

Phone: 601-969-0022

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Where Public Meets Private Coming Together for The Betterment of All

The Madison County Business League & Foundation is a private, stakeholder-based support organization that works with business owners and decision makers to discuss topics that affect economic development. Together, we continue to build upon the economic development infrastructure of Madison County. We recognize and salute the industry and businesses for the contribution they make towards our quality of life.

135 Mississippi Parkway, Canton, MS 39046 | 601.707.3303 madisoncountybusinessleague.com

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COME GROW WITH US! LOCATED IN MISSISSIPPI’S LARGEST MSA (METROPOLITAN STATISTICAL AREA) – JACKSON MADISON COUNTY HAS THE 2ND HIGHEST MILLENNIAL GROWTH IN MISSISSIPPI

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William Rayburn, Ph.D. Chairman

Gerard Gibert Vice Chaiman

Dave Dennis Executive Committee

Co-Founder, Chairman & CEO mTrade Oxford, MS

Founder/CEO Venture Technologies Jackson, MS

President Specialty Contractors & Assoc. Gulfport, MS

Tony Jeff Executive Committee

Richard A. Sun Executive Committee

R. Barry Cannada Private Sector

Greg Cronin Private Sector

President & CEO Innovate Mississippi Jackson, MS

Immediate Past Interim Chair Jackson Director, Mississippi Coding Academies Jackson, MS

Chairman, Business Dept. Butler Snow Ridgeland, MS

Gulf Coast President Citizens Bank Biloxi, MS

Allyson Best Executive Committee

Almesha Campbell, Ph. D. Public Sector

Director, Office of Technology Commercialization University of Mississippi Oxford, MS

Director, Technology Transfer, Commercialization and Research Jackson State University Jackson, MS

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Board of Directors

Jan Farrington Executive Committee

R. Mayo Flynt III Executive Committee

Ashby Foote Executive Committee

Michael H. Forster Executive Committee

Investor Ridgeland, MS

President AT&T Mississippi Jackson, MS

President Vector Money Management Jackson, MS

Investor Retired I.T. Executive Louisville, MS

Mark Henderson Private Sector

Colby Lane Private Sector

Brad McMullan Private Sector

Nashlie Sephus, Ph.D. Private Sector

Cofounder Lazy Magnolia Loglinear Group, LLC Waveland, MS

CEO Veriforce Jackson, MS

President BFAC.com Ridgeland, MS

Applied Science Manager Amazon Web Services Atlanta, GA

Jeremy Clay Public Sector

Brian Cuevas, Ph.D. Public Sector

Rachel DeVaughan, Ph.D. Public Sector

Kim Gallaspy Public Sector

Director, Office of Technology Management Mississippi State University Starkville, MS

Director, Office of Technology Development University of Southern Mississippi Hattiesburg, MS

Deputy Executive Director, Programs // Mississippi Community College Board Jackson, MS

Assistant Commissioner for Government Relations Mississippi Institutions of Higher Learning // Jackson, MS

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COMPANY & INVESTOR SPOTLIGHT 2021’s Company and Investor Spotlight saw a return to normalcy as 11 Mississippi company’s pitched the crowd on their inventions, innovations and investability. From AgTech to Blue Tech—to a straight-up technology campus in downtown Jackson—founders and CEOs were on-hand with their pitch decks and big dreams at the Westin Jackson on November 9, 2021. Both Shovel Solutions and ConnectVNA offered up wares designed around turning dirt more efficiently. The Shovel app helps manage the process of building foundations at construction sites more efficiently, while ConnectVNA streamlines the management of oil and gas leases. AI Control Technologies offers something not entirely different—their technology allows for the automation of coastal fisheries, automatically lifting and turning pots and cages as necessary. Bloomtech seeks to improve the intake process in doctors’ offices and hospitals, making for more efficient and accurate back-end billing. Time Touch Take also improves healthcare outcomes by offering a patented device that helps the elderly and sight-impaired take the correct medications throughout their day. Vertecore continues the medical theme with a new device to cure back pain.

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Other companies that presented at Company and Investor Spotlight included: Tribly, empowering NFT transactions between artists and fans; Primp, offering a rewards-based appointment app for beauty and self-care services; Moonshine, a company gearing up to deliver wine and spirits in Mississippi thanks to a new law; and Glo, an already successful startup in Starkville that keeps pushing into the children’s toy market thanks, in part, to a licensing agreement with Sesame Street. In a special presentation, Dr. Nashlie Sephus told the crowd about her vision for the JXN TECH District, a 14-acre development designed to bring technologists, entrepreneurs and creatives together in a live-work environment in a part of downtown Jackson that traditional businesses have otherwise abandoned. Finally, it wouldn’t be the Company and Investor Spotlight without the investors—this year, Innovate Mississippi’s Lindsey Benefield hosted a panel with Ben Walton, Les Goff and Tony Englese, all three angel investors in Mississippi who work with Innovate Mississippi and the Mississippi Angel Network. We thank everyone who came together in person this year to celebrate entrepreneurship and learn about the diverse startups coming out of the Magnolia State.

When opportunity knocks,

we’ll hold the door open for you. For 10 years, the MSU Center for Entrepreneurship and Outreach has helped students plan, launch, and grow successful local and global companies. Learn how we help students create jobs for themselves, others, and contribute to a thriving Mississippi startup community across Mississippi. Visit us online at ecenter.msstate.edu