Stories of Technology, Innovation, & Entrepreneurship in the Southeast

Mississippi State University’s (MSU) Start-up Summit broadened its scope this year, welcoming student entrepreneurs from across the nation and business owners from 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 Start-up Summit featured two categories:

1. Mississippi Made for businesses in the Magnolia State; and
2. Bulldog Business for any college student with a start-up idea.

At the collegiate level, the competition featured start-ups from MSU, Arkansas, North Carolina, Massachusetts, and throughout the Southeast. More than 75 companies entered and competed during the two-day event held in late April.

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.

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