Mississippi lags behind other states in tech sector jobs. But Innovate Mississippi believes it might have a solution. 

The nonprofit is providing funding and training to Mississippi tech startups through a 12-week accelerator. The hope is to help companies and workers stay and grow in Mississippi.

Last week, I talked with founders that are part of this year’s cohort. They’re in early stages of development and will pitch their ideas to potential investors in November. 

The companies include software to analyze oral reading skills, an artificial intelligence-powered smart watch app to track basketball workouts and a platform to help find the best price for prescription drugs. 

So far, nobody has said that Mississippi is poised to be the next Silicon Valley. But they are excited about the opportunity to grow the tech sector here and the support available through colleges and organizations like Innovate. 

“ I think there’s a huge startup potential in Mississippi that’s untapped. There’s a lot of great ideas,” said Ricky Romanek, one of the founders of the accelerator.

Email me at marketplace@mississippitoday.org.

Other news

• China imported a record amount of soybeans in September. But the world’s largest soybean purchaser has not bought any American soybeans this year as a result of ongoing trade wars. “This is the worst economic situation for the Mississippi Delta since the early 1980s,” according to an article from The Clarion Ledger. President Trump has considered giving billions of dollars in aid to row-crop farmers but the current federal government shutdown has delayed talks. Soybean futures dropped as President Trump threatened additional tariffs on China.
• The Mississippi State Fair brought in $35 million last year and state officials hoped it would bring in more this year. In 2023, attendance was over half a million, by far the city’s largest event but attendance was down this year. Tourism is the state’s fourth largest industry, and brought in over $1 billion in tax revenue for the state in 2023.
• The Mississippi Legislature will review how to spend millions of dollars in economic development money for the counties along the Coast. “The funding has produced only a few projects that promise the kind of transformative economic impact the business community envisioned,” according to The Sun Herald.

• Elon Musk’s xAI bought a disused energy plant in DeSoto County to power its data center across the border in Memphis. The Mississippi Department of Environmental Quality approved xAI’s temporary use of portable natural gas turbines at the former Duke Energy plant for up to a year. Because the turbines are temporary and portable, they are exempt from permitting requirements under Mississippi codes. However, in a letter to the company, MDEQ “implored” xAI to minimize pollutants citing ongoing air quality issues in the area. 

READ MORE: Mississippi unemployment hovers at ‘no-hire, no-fire’ rate