Accelerate 2026 Agenda
Tuesday, November 10
7:30 AM • Registration Opens
8:00-11 AM • Investor breakfast and investor training
Heritage Ballroom AB (Exclusive to Investor Ticket Holders)
Investor Workshop – ACA Training “Board Seats” (9:00-11:00 AM)
Whether you’re an investor taking a board seat or a founder building and managing your board, knowing how to make that relationship work can have a major impact on a company’s success. Led by Elaine Bolle of the Angel Capital Association, this interactive training explores board roles and responsibilities, governance, founder-investor dynamics, strategy, and how to build a board that adds real value as a company grows.
9:00-11:00 AM • MSBDCN Mississippi Business Growth Accelerator Pitch
Legacy Ballroom B+C
11:00 -11:30 AM • IRA Strategy Session
Heritage Ballroom AB
“Beyond Stocks: Putting Your IRA to Work in Startups”
Your IRA can do more than hold stocks and mutual funds. Learn how angel investors can use self-directed retirement accounts to invest in startups and private companies, potentially unlocking tax-advantaged or tax-free growth along the way. The Alto team will break down how it works, when it makes sense, and what investors need to know to put their retirement capital to work beyond the public markets.
Speaker: Kacie Connors, Director of Partnerships, Alto
12-1 pm • Pitch Day Lunch: Meet the Founders
Heritage Ballroom C&D (Private Lunch for Investors & CoBuilders)
Founders and investors connect over lunch between the morning MSBDCN Pitch and the afternoon CoBuilders Pitch. Meet the companies taking the stage, ask questions, and grab a seat next to someone new.
1-5 PM • CoBuilders Pitch Day
Legacy Ballroom C
CoBuilders Pitch Day brings nine Mississippi startups to the stage for a live showcase of companies coming out of the program. Founders will share their products, their traction, and what comes next. Whether you’re an investor, a mentor, or just curious about the state’s startup pipeline, this is the fastest way to see it all in one room.
Startups Pitching:
Numadx
Mississippi-based consumer technology company redefining comfort and mobility through pneumatic (air-based) cushioning. We manufacture and sell tunable shoe inserts that reduce fatigue, relieve foot and joint pain, and improve comfort for people who spend long hours on their feet. Our pneumatic polymer technology — originally developed for NFL helmets and military applications — delivers an underfoot feel and durability that typical foam and gel products can’t match. Like the pressure in a car or bike tire, our inserts can be tuned to match the person: different body types, footwear profiles, or activity levels. Our mission is to keep people moving — building durable, American-made products that let anyone stay comfortable, active, and on their feet longer.
ProSentra
ProSentra builds Acuity, a cybersecurity program operating system that helps security leaders continuously assess, prioritize, execute, and measure their programs. Most organizations still rely on annual assessments and disconnected tools that produce recommendations but struggle to turn them into durable, measurable progress. Acuity is designed to close that gap by connecting current-state understanding, prioritized work, ownership, evidence, and continuous improvement in one system. It meets programs where they are and helps maturity compound over time instead of resetting each year. Built by experienced cybersecurity operators, ProSentra supports CISOs and security teams who need clearer visibility into progress, spend, and outcomes. The company is focused on making cybersecurity programs more executable, measurable, and sustainable.
CardFlow Financial
CardFlow is a financial organization and automation platform that simplifies how consumers manage and repay multiple credit cards. The platform brings balances, due dates, minimum payments, and APRs into one coordinated view. CardFlow analyzes each consumer’s complete credit card profile to recommend a personalized repayment strategy based on their financial priorities. Consumers can select a snowball, avalanche, or custom strategy and make one payment that is distributed across their selected credit cards. This eliminates manual payment calculations and the need to manage multiple issuer portals and apps each month. CardFlow is bringing automated debt repayment technology directly to consumers, making multi-card management more organized, convenient, and actionable.
Sixer
Founder: Shahmir Siddiqui
Regional Partner: Mississippi Polymer Institute
Website: www.sixer-tv.com
North America’s first end-to-end cricket platform, built ground-up for the sport and backed by some of the biggest names in North American cricket. We bring together high-quality live video, fan engagement, and league infrastructure in one free, community-native experience. Serving both fans and leagues, Sixer vertically integrates every layer of the sport, from unparalleled live streaming to modern league management. And with North American cricket’s first fan engagement suite, featuring fantasy, community giveaways, and leaderboards, we’re turning every match into a shared experience. Sixer isn’t just streaming cricket – it’s building the ecosystem around it.
Clarus Labs
Clarus Labs is a Vicksburg, Mississippi-based technology company developing rapid, quantitative, on-site chemical testing for food and ingredient systems. Its initial product line focuses on oxidation testing, a critical quality problem that can reduce shelf life, damage flavor and odor, and weaken product consistency in meat, pet food, and related products. Clarus combines a compact instrument, consumable testing kits, and software-driven analysis in a workflow being developed to deliver actionable results in under 15 minutes. The platform is designed to reduce dependence on slow centralized laboratories and make routine testing more practical across complex real-world sample types. The company’s initial target customers include antioxidant suppliers and food and pet food research and validation laboratories, with broader expansion planned into ingredient suppliers, manufacturers, and testing laboratories. Over time, Clarus plans to add additional assays to the same instrument-and-kit platform, creating a broader system for accessible on-site chemical analysis.
Beibeaux Sol
Founders: Jennifer Pennick
Regional Partner: MCITy Vicksburg
Website: www.beibeauxsol.com
Founded by Jennifer Jackson Penick, Beibeaux Sol is a Mississippi-based, mission-driven technology company building governance and funding infrastructure for nonprofits and the institutions that support them. Its readiness intelligence platform helps organizations assess operational alignment, organize evidence, and identify gaps. The platform also prepares organizations for funding, compliance, and reporting while reducing avoidable administrative breakdowns. By structuring reliable organizational information, Beibeaux Sol creates a clearer, more accountable path for resources to reach organizations prepared to manage them responsibly. Guided by the principle “Better In, Better Out,” the company is building systems that strengthen readiness, stewardship, and sustainable impact at scale.
Precision Heat Technologies
Founders: Michael Brown and Jacob Daniels
Regional Partner: Oxford Lafayette Incorporated
Precision Heat is a medical device company developing a patent-pending thermoregulatory system that warms patients by targeting the high-density arteriovenous anastomoses in glabrous skin on the palms and soles. Its compact, conductive water-circulating device uses moldable, single-use disposable pads that deliver efficient core body temperature support while leaving the vast majority of the body free for surgical access, monitoring, and procedures. Unlike bulky forced-air systems, the technology reduces infection risk, is highly portable, and offers substantially lower system and disposable costs. The solution addresses a $1 billion patient-warming market spanning more than 40 million annual surgeries, dialysis centers, postpartum care, patient transport services, and patients with neurologic dysfunction. Founded by researchers at the University of Mississippi Medical Center, Precision Heat Technologies aims to set a new standard for safer, more accessible, and cost-effective patient warming across acute and chronic care settings.
Tax Assembly
Tax Assembly is an accounting education technology company that brings real-world accounting practice into the classroom. Students complete interactive accounting, tax, and audit client cases using realistic documents and professional workflows. Instructors can assign cases, track progress, and review student work—all in one platform. Tax Assembly complements existing textbooks by providing active, hands-on learning experiences that help students apply accounting concepts through realistic accounting work. Our mission is to make accounting education more fun, practical, and career-ready.
CodifyAI
Founder: JR Cunningham
Regional Partner: Gulf Coast Business Council
Website: itdreamsmatter.com/codifyai.html
We’re building an AI-powered medical coding copilot that flags coding errors and likely claim denials before claims go out the door. The product is designed for skilled nursing facilities and rural urgent care clinics — settings where experienced billing staff are scarce and a single denied claim can consume weeks of administrative follow-up. Rather than replacing coders, the system works alongside them, surfacing issues in real time and explaining why each one matters so staff build expertise instead of dependence. The company was founded by JR Cunningham, a Mississippi State-trained computer scientist with more than fifteen years in software engineering, including seven years of defense work at Stennis Space Center. The idea came directly from helping a rural clinic in Aberdeen stand up its operations and watching how badly the billing side was underserved. We’re currently lining up our first pilots with post-acute and urgent care providers in Mississippi and California, on an architecture built for the compliance realities of small healthcare organizations. Mississippi is the beachhead and he post-acute market nationally is where this goes.
5:00 - 6:30 PM • Welcome Reception
Innovation Alley
Live music, drinks, and appetizers. Open to all attendees. Join us to kick off Accelerate MS 2026 and meet the sponsors and speakers behind this year’s conference.
6:30-8:00 PM • Accelerate After Hours
Missy Sippi Rooftop Bar
Accelerate After Hours is where the deal talk keeps going after the sessions end. Built for founders and investors, open to anyone who wants to be in the room. Drinks, conversation, and no agenda.
Wednesday, November 11
7:30 AM • Registration Opens
8 – 9:15 AM • Breakfast & Opening Session: The Blue Delta Jeans Story
Legacy Ballroom AB
Fireside Chat featuring Blue Delta Jeans founders Josh West and Nick Weaver
Moderator: Judd Wilson
9:15 - 9:30 • Coffee and Connect Break
Innovation Alley
9:30- 10:30 AM • Investor Panel
Heritage Ballroom C
Capital in the Southeast: Where Investment Is Going Next
A look at what’s happening across the Southeast investment landscape and what it means for founders and investors in Mississippi. We’ll talk about where capital is flowing, what investors are looking for now, how our regional ecosystems are evolving and where we see opportunities for greater collaboration and investment across state lines.
Panelists: Mackenzie Cruz, Lindsey Cox, Charlie Pond
9:30- 10:30 AM • Breakout Session: Details Coming Soon
Heritage Ballroom D
Capital in the Southeast: Where Investment Is Going Next
A look at what’s happening across the Southeast investment landscape and what it means for founders and investors in Mississippi. We’ll talk about where capital is flowing, what investors are looking for now, how our regional ecosystems are evolving and where we see opportunities for greater collaboration and investment across state lines.
10:30 - 10:45 • Coffee and Connect Break
Innovation Alley
10:45 – 11:45 AM InvestMS Scale-Up Pitch Competition, Powered by Regions Foundation
Heritage Ballroom D
Later-stage founders with real traction take the stage to compete for a grand prize.
MC: Maranda Joiner
Judges: Mary Wallace Hannon, Kwamena Aidoo, Chad Harris, Marcia Hooper
11:45 AM–12 PM • Transition to the Grand Ballroom for Lunch & Keynote
12:00 – 1:30 PM • Luncheon Keynote Presentation
Legacy Ballroom AB
Speaker: Wil Schroter, Founder & CEO at Startups.com
Wil Schroter is the Founder and CEO of Startups.com, where he has helped over a million startups raise $1 billion in funding, attract 23 million customers, and launch countless new ideas.
At age 19, Wil launched one of the first Internet companies, Blue Diesel, an interactive marketing agency that quickly grew to $700 million in billings and was sold with inVentiv in 2002, becoming a $6 billion publicly traded company.
He went on to found 9 companies with 5 successful exits, backed by well-known venture capital funds such as Draper Fisher Jurvetson, Founders Fund, Bessemer Ventures, and Charles River Ventures.
Wil is the host of the popular podcast “Startup Therapy” and has been a contributor for Forbes, Entrepreneur, TechCrunch and The Wall Street Journal.
When Wil isn’t building companies, he’s building furniture – he’s an obsessive carpenter, having designed and built high-end, modern homes and bespoke projects.
1:45 - 2:45 PM • The Next Level: What Really Changes When You Scale
Heritage Ballroom C
Everyone talks about raising the round. This conversation is about what happens next. A candid founder discussion on the realities of scaling: growing revenue, building and managing a team, raising capital, navigating investors and making the hard decisions that come with taking a company to the next level.
Panelists: Monique Villa, Christopher Ewing
1:45 - 2:45 PM • Breakout Session: Details Coming Soon
Heritage Ballroom D
Everyone talks about raising the round. This conversation is about what happens next. A candid founder discussion on the realities of scaling: growing revenue, building and managing a team, raising capital, navigating investors and making the hard decisions that come with taking a company to the next level.
2:45 - 3 PM • Coffee and Connect Break
Innovation Alley
3 - 4 PM • Breakout Session: Details Coming Soon
Heritage Ballroom C
3 - 4 PM • Breakout Session: Details Coming Soon
Heritage Ballroom D
