MSU Spring Startup Summit awards $100K to emerging businesses
Contact: Mary Pollitz
STARKVILLE, Miss.—Mississippi State University’s Startup Summit broadened its scope this year, welcoming student entrepreneurs from across the nation and business owners throughout Mississippi—awarding nearly $100,000 in prizes to innovative, new enterprises.
Nick Pashos, director of MSU’s Center for Entrepreneurship and Outreach in the College of Business, said the event fosters the broader entrepreneurial community and creates a support system for emerging business owners.
“We opened the summit to a wider audience to build a larger ecosystem of innovation, competition and resources,” he said. “This was to spur this entrepreneurial hub of Mississippi and eliminate boundaries between the university and surrounding communities.”
The spring Startup Summit featured two categories: Mississippi Made for businesses in the Magnolia State and Bulldog Business for any college student with a startup idea. At the collegiate level, the competition featured startups from MSU, Arkansas, North Carolina, Massachusetts and throughout the Southeast. More than 75 companies entered and competed during the two-day event April 24-25.
In the Mississippi Made category, the $10,000 prize went to CLARUS Labs, founded by MSU MBA student and doctoral graduate Max Wamsley of Vicksburg. CLARUS Labs develops cost-effective, rapid and reliable onsite testing systems for pet food manufacturers. Its innovative test strips and analysis device measure pet food oxidation levels.
In the Bulldog Business category, Humimic Biosystems won the $30,000 top prize. Co-founder Lexi Applequist, a biomedical engineering doctoral student at the University of Arkansas, launched the company in 2023 to produce organ-mimicking Petri dishes that help pharmaceutical companies test drugs before clinical trials, saving significant time and money.
Also recently, the E-Center and MSU’s Office of Technology Management hosted the second Launchpad Summit at MCITy in Vicksburg this month. MCITy is the university’s Sen. Thad Cochran Mississippi Center for Information and Technology that enhances technology transfer and entrepreneurial programs in the area. Similar to the Startup Summit, the event brings together entrepreneurs, researchers, funders and supporters to connect resources for emerging business owners.
Building off these events, Pashos announced a new partnership between theMSU E-Center and non-profit Innovate Mississippi. The partnership’s goal is to strengthen the collaboration between the university and the business community with monthly meetings—connecting entrepreneurs, startups and business leaders throughout the area.
“We want to help keep this momentum from the summit going year-round,” Pashos said.
Although housed within the College of Business, Mississippi State’s E-Center serves as a launchpad for entrepreneurs across campus and throughout the state, helping them plan, develop, and grow successful companies through mentorship, workshops, conferences, competitions and more. For more information visit www.ecenter.msstate.edu.
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