Technology startups in Mississippi getting traction in the market and with investors

“Technology permeates every industry and every profession and is changing how jobs are done, even for those who don’t think they are ‘in technology’,” Jeff said. “Knowledge economy jobs are better paying and more attractive to many workers and they are critical to a balanced economic development strategy. That’s not to say that they should be the only focus, but a focus on knowledge economy jobs should be an important part of any economic development strategy.”

Knowledge economy jobs are also the types of jobs that stem the “brain drain” problem, with many of Mississippi’s college graduates leaving the state for good jobs. Jeff said many Mississippi natives, even those who left the state immediately after college, could be attracted back if good career opportunities were available to them.

Today’s employees, especially Millennials and Gen Z workers, expect to be able to balance work and lifestyle. Jeff said knowledge economy jobs allow workers to quit at 4 p.m. to spend time with their families and then finish their work from 8-10 p.m. when the kids are asleep.

“That’s just not possible with many other types of jobs and not having enough of those types of opportunities hurts Mississippi’s ability to grow,” Jeff said.

The pandemic initially had negative effects on many different kinds of businesses, and certainly made it more challenging for startup companies. But Jeff said after an initial lockdown for a couple of months, the startup scene in Mississippi has really picked up.

“We are at record levels of companies pitching to investors and getting traction in the market and with investors,” Jeff said in late 2021. “We’ve always had a lot of companies working with us that are ‘side hustles’ where the entrepreneur has a main job and is working on this on the side. Many of these folks have reassessed their main jobs and their lives overall and that has many of them now focusing on their big idea and trying to make it work. The fact that markets are up, and money is flowing now, too, has helped on the investor side as well.”

Innovate Mississippi held its first in-person conference since the pandemic in early November 2021. In 2020, the conference was all virtual because of the pandemic.

“We hosted the Accelerate Conference in 2020 as a 100 percent virtual event,” said Janet Parker, director of business development and marketing for Innovate Mississippi. “While good content is achievable using this platform, it was difficult to recreate the networking component in a meaningful way.”

The 2021 conference broke records for attendance. They had to close registration when they went over capacity for the Westin Jackson at 400 attendees.

“It’s really the perfect size crowd for the robust networking that has become a cornerstone of this event,” Parker said. “I know everyone was very excited to be back in-person.”

Jeff said big focus of their conference was on the fact that from agriculture to marine science, and everything in between, technology is affecting the way we all do our jobs.

“Another reason for the importance of technology is that technology startups have shown to be incredible wealth and economic development engines not only in Silicon Valley, but also in nearly every region that has any concentration of these companies,” Jeff said. “With everyone working remotely and with remote connectivity not being a hurdle for most startups, Mississippi is as well positioned as anywhere to grow our technology startups into big companies. Success stories like Bomgar, FNC, Next Gear Solutions and others show how that is possible in Mississippi.”

While that was the first in-person conference since the pandemic began, Innovate Mississippi has been hosting another event, CONNECT, in-person – a networking event for anyone interested or involved in the entrepreneurial ecosystem, which takes place on the first Thursday of each month at Cultivation Food Hall.

The entrepreneurial ecosystem includes a lot of startups that are not focused on technology, but the really high-growth and scalable entrepreneurial ventures are almost all centered around technology.

“That’s simply because technology allows for increasing margins with scalability a lot better than service or product-oriented companies,” Jeff said. “These companies need up-front funding to develop their technologies, though, so angel investors, development shops and other support organizations have to be in the ecosystem or companies can’t grow effectively. No matter whether a company is a technology-centered startup or not, any new company has to utilize technology in their operations to get better efficiency and compete with others in the market. For that reason, having technology support companies in Mississippi is just as important as having lawyers, accountants, and other service providers that growing companies need.”

The growth of innovation-based companies was already accelerating in the economy. Jeff said the pandemic made remote work more accessible, making people comfortable with remote meetings via video conferencing.

“Mississippi is a big state and it’s hard to do face-to-face meetings across the state,” Jeff said. “But now that everyone is used to–and sometimes prefer–video conferencing, we’ve been able to be a lot more efficient as we work with folks from all corners of Mississippi.”

Innovate Mississippi recently announced the launch of Mississippi’s first-ever statewide accelerator, called “CoBuilders: A Partnership-Driven Accelerator”. CoBuilders is equipping seven regional partners to identify, develop and support the best startups in their area who will compete in pitch competitions for the opportunity to be invited to join the 12-week cohort beginning in the spring of 2022. Companies invited to participate in the cohort will receive a seed fund to help with initial startup costs, at a minimum of $6,000/company.

For more information about Innovate Mississippi and how the organization helps to accelerate startups, visit www.innovate.ms, and join the newsletter mailing list to receive monthly updates on innovative activities going on around the state.