Companies are selected and supported by Regional Partners as listed below
Study Placer
Founder: Brandon Cooper
Location: Starkville, Miss.
CoBuilders Supporting Partner: MSU Center for Entrepreneurship and Outreach
Study Placer is a mobile app that imports assignments from LMS platforms like Canvas and automatically splits and schedules them into a prioritized plan. It removes the need for manual entry or task planning by using a combination of user-provided data and assignment data, combined with heuristic-based machine learning and LLM integration. I’m starting with students due to their high need and data accessibility, but the underlying framework can support business, professional, and personal workloads. The assignment scheduling logic uses a combination of algorithmic rules, heuristic-based ML, and LLMs to adapt to user behavior and preferences. Natural language processing will allow students to manage tasks using natural phrases like “Move my biology homework to Tuesday.” The market is primed for Study Placer, student overload and calendar fatigue are growing, and on-device ML models combined with LLMs have matured to the point where personalized scheduling can be done flexibly.
Vertical Take-Off (VTO) Reading
Founders: Leta Palmiter, Ben Stassa
Location: Vicksburg, Miss.
CoBuilders Supporting Partner: MSU Entrepreneurship Center Vicksburg
Vertical Take-Off Reading is an AI-powered literacy and speech therapy platform that provides individualized decodable reading practice to help learners of all ages—especially those with dyslexia, other learning disabilities, or speech sound disorders—build accuracy, fluency, pronunciation, and confidence. Grounded in the science of reading, it delivers real-time, phoneme-level feedback aligned to each student’s current phonics skills, while giving teachers, therapists, and speech-language pathologists actionable data on words read, accuracy, pronunciation, days practiced, and areas of struggle. With just five minutes a day, students engage in “perfect practice” that reinforces classroom instruction, supports lasting reading and speech success, and bridges the gap when teachers or therapists can’t work daily with every child and parents are ill-equipped to guide struggling readers or speakers. Accessible from any device, it’s designed to support—not replace—structured literacy and speech intervention. Our mission is to empower educators, families, and communities to close the literacy and communication gap—one learner at a time.
Automatic AI
Founder: Julien Bourgeois
Location: Oxford, Miss.
CoBuilders Supporting Partner: Oxford/Lafayette County Economic Development Foundation
Automatic is the world’s first AI-driven sports tech on smart watches. Unless they are on an elite team, athletes often lack access to high-end training. Our first product leverages advanced AI on Apple Watches (most widely adopted wearable) to track basketball workouts. 50K installs, 2M shots taken, and post-revenue, Automatic delivers real-time basketball analytics as effortlessly as Apple tracks daily steps. Launched in May 2025, our B2B application addresses vast needs for college programs, allowing coaches to monitor players’ workloads outside of team activities. Expanding further, our trade-secret algorithms can apply to other markets like golf, pickleball, and even physical therapy.
ClaimTra
Founder: Ricky Romanek
Location: Jackson, Miss.
CoBuilders Supporting Partners: The BeanPath and Higher Purpose Hub
Claimtra is a next-generation insurance claims analytics platform designed for hospitals and clinics. We combine AI-driven insights with clear, concise data to simplify the complexity of denied and underpaid claims. Our platform goes beyond analytics by offering workflow solutions that empower teams to efficiently recover revenue. Easy to use and intuitive, Claimtra ensures providers and staff can focus less on paperwork and more on patient care. By helping hospitals and clinics recover more of what they’ve earned, we not only increase revenue but also enable better resources for improving patient outcomes.
SimpleScript
Founders: Alex Bucklew, Johnathan McAdory, Allen Mixon, Thomas Black
Location: Louisville, Miss.
CoBuilders Supporting Partner: MSU Entrepreneurship Center Vicksburg
As prescription costs continue to rise, SimpleScript seeks to make prescription medications more affordable to everyone with their patent pending drug discount card aggregator. Any customer can use SimpleScript’s free online platform to find the cheapest digital discount cards for the most accessible locations in their area.
MagnoliaEd
Founders: Fan Zhang and Sugam Panthi
Location: Hattiesburg, Miss.
CoBuilders Supporting Partner: Mississippi Polymer Institute
MagnoliaEd provides a suite of AI tools, including a 24/7 AI tutor bot, advanced analytics, and personalized learning solutions. We work directly with educators to gather course-specific materials, process that information, and train our AI to respond in ways that reflect each class’s unique content and expectations. Our AI tutor delivers instant, tailored support to students anytime they need it, helping them overcome challenges quickly and effectively. This reduces repetitive questions for educators, allowing them to focus on deeper, more impactful teaching, while also giving them summaries of frequently asked questions to better understand student needs. We maintain a secure, compliant platform that upholds academic integrity, adheres to regulations, and drives improved learning outcomes.
Altude
Founders: Andrew Mocol, Sunny Singh
Location: Biloxi, Miss.
CoBuilders Supporting Partner:Gulf Coast Business Council
Altude is the next generation of Web3 infrastructure, built to make blockchain accessible for everyone. Our platform helps businesses unlock the power of blockchain in their apps without fees, friction, or the burden of managing crypto. We remove the complexity of gas fees and wallets while still preserving full control and security for users. With a seamless, click-of-a-button experience, Altude makes it possible for any business to deliver blockchain-powered features without overwhelming their customers. By focusing on simplicity and performance, we’re helping accelerate adoption and bringing the next wave of users to Web3.
