The Michigan State University Research Foundation and Michigan Economic Development Corporation have selected 20 Michigan startups to advance to the semifinals of the 2026-27 PitchMI competition, giving founders the opportunity to compete for a combined $2 million in prize funding while receiving startup development and coaching support.
Hundreds of founders from across Michigan applied for the competition. The selected companies span defense and aerospace, artificial intelligence and software, advanced manufacturing and materials, and healthcare and life sciences.
Five companies will pitch at each of four industry-specific semifinal events in Grand Rapids, Kalamazoo, Marquette and Detroit.
The winner of each semifinal will receive $250,000 and advance to the statewide PitchMI Championship in spring 2027, where an additional $1 million will be awarded. This creates a potential $2 million in total competition funding across the four semifinal prizes and statewide championship.
The Defense & Aerospace semifinal will take place in Grand Rapids on September 15 and will feature Controlled Light of Ann Arbor, Common Vector Robotics of Detroit, Ketchel Axle Systems of Southfield, Modal Motors of Farmington Hills and Neumo of Birmingham.
The AI & Software semifinal will take place in Kalamazoo on September 22 and include Bridgecare Technologies of Lansing, ConStrat AI of Detroit, Helios Core AI of Novi, MimoLabs of Detroit and Motmot of Detroit.
The Advanced Manufacturing, Materials & Outdoors semifinal is scheduled for Marquette on September 24, with Averra Systems of Canton, Fen X Custom of Grawn, GAIA Predictive of Detroit, Omegacool of Ann Arbor and Post Rock of Pleasant Ridge competing.
The Healthcare & Life Sciences semifinal will be held in Detroit on October 1 and feature Authsnap of Marquette, Ollivate of Detroit, PathwaysGI of Ann Arbor, Signal Bioscience of Ann Arbor and TruVue of Kalamazoo.
Beyond the funding opportunity, all 20 semifinalists will participate in a two-week intensive development program designed to strengthen both the founders and their businesses.
Participants will receive support across positioning and branding, hiring, go-to-market strategy, fundraising, financial planning and influencer marketing. The MSU Research Foundation will also provide dedicated pitch and Q&A coaching.
PitchMI is a partnership between the MSU Research Foundation and MEDC designed to connect promising Michigan entrepreneurs with capital, visibility, relationships and other resources that can help accelerate company development.
All four semifinal events will be free and open to the public, allowing investors, entrepreneurs, business leaders, researchers, students and community members to watch the companies pitch and connect with participants in Michigan’s startup ecosystem.
KEY QUOTES:
“Michigan founders are expanding the frontier of possibility, and the Michigan Economic Development Corporation is putting a rocket boost of attention and resources behind them. Twenty incredibly promising founders will take the PitchMI stage this fall, and I can’t wait to see what all of them create with the visibility and capital we provide.”
Alison Todak, Vice President of Entrepreneurship and Innovation at the Michigan Economic Development Corporation
“Michigan is full of talented founders building ambitious companies. Our job is to make sure they leave PitchMI with something that moves their company forward. This competition gives the MSU Research Foundation and our partners a way to rally around that talent and create more opportunities for founders to succeed here.”
Pete Martin, Director of Portfolio Management at the MSU Research Foundation
