Startups + VC
The Ohio-raised CEO behind the startup is raising a $1 million pre-seed round as passive-cooling earbuds enter early manufacturing. Maritime evaluations are next, along with an expanded controlled study with Reykjavik University after initial human feasibility testing in Iceland.
Advanced Manufacturing
Flexible production systems will support hybrid, gasoline and electric vehicles. The project and upgrades to existing facilities are expected to create 2,390 jobs, with assembly operations targeted to begin in 2029.
Startups + VC
Backed by private funds managed by The O.H.I.O. Fund, the company helps manufacturers find vulnerable code inside vehicles, medical devices and industrial equipment as AI-driven threats increase pressure to understand what software their products contain.
Annual recurring revenue grew 17-fold over 18 months as the Columbus startup added industrial deployments. Customers include HII, Lockheed Martin and Saronic, while a $600 million performance-based shipbuilding agreement and plans to reach 400 employees by year-end underscore its growth.
The defense technology company is building the workforce behind a planned 5 million-square-foot manufacturing hub, with commitments to create 4,000 Ohio jobs by 2035. The expansion comes as the company prepares to add an ALTIUS 600 drone production line alongside existing Fury aircraft operations.
A statewide coalition is moving quickly to turn aerospace expertise, defense infrastructure and higher-education partnerships into a formal bid for a proposed federal academy intended to develop the nation’s next generation of space leaders.
Fueled by logistics dominance and aggressive site development, the state’s rise reflects years of coordinated economic strategy. Major investments in semiconductors, energy, and AI infrastructure are accelerating its position as a national hub for industrial-scale innovation.
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Founder Matt Simmons, a former SpaceX engineer, built the tool after learning a local landscaping owner woke at 4 a.m. daily to check the forecast at every job site. Plans start at $50 a month for five locations, with a hail model for roofers expected in the next few months.
New self-serve kiosks began rolling out in October, and all 12,000 clerk terminals will be in place by a spring 2027 go-live. The vendor is paid a percentage of sales, and it will manage the system from a facility it set up and staffed in Glenwillow, Ohio.
As StartupCincy Week marks its 10th year, founding CEO Jeff Weedman and former fund leaders look back at the model. Current CEO J.B. Kropp now oversees 52 local companies, with pilots and contracts at corporations such as Fifth Third and JobsOhio partnerships for talent and incentives.
Annual recurring revenue grew 17-fold over 18 months as the Columbus startup added industrial deployments. Customers include HII, Lockheed Martin and Saronic, while a $600 million performance-based shipbuilding agreement and plans to reach 400 employees by year-end underscore its growth.
A Meta-sponsored Honor Flight highlights the company’s push to donate 130,000 pairs of AI glasses to blind veterans nationwide, pairing tools that read text and describe surroundings with hands-on training to help recipients build confidence and independence in their everyday lives.
Ohio organizations announced hires, promotions and board appointments this fall across higher education, startup support, IT services and advanced manufacturing. The roundup includes a new CIO for the state’s highest court, two executive promotions at Visual Edge IT and a strategy chief at Dexa.
Billion-dollar investments. New jobs in physical AI. Air Force researchers on campus. From Bayer and Anduril to Google and OpenAI, companies are investing in Ohio’s businesses, talent and communities. Here’s a look at the people, projects and ideas moving the state’s innovation economy forward.
Wright State is now hosting the Air Force Research Laboratory’s AI autonomy team, a digital transformation unit and Air Force Institute of Technology programs, the latest step in a partnership that already put more than 60 Air Force researchers on campus.
After 15 years on the provider side at Cincinnati Bell, CBTS and CenterGrid, Kelsey will lead the IT consulting firm’s client-facing team, strengthen existing client relationships and work to introduce more businesses to provider-neutral technology advice across the region.
The AI welding company now employs more than 300 people. Its CEO, a machine learning engineer who joined in March, and the executive who has built its team since 2020 explain why they build physical AI in Ohio and what daily life in Columbus adds to the work.
Grants totaling $75,000 let 125 high school students train on new welding equipment without leaving campus and keep a free K-3 afterschool science program running. A separate $30,000 sponsorship paid for Thanksgiving meal kits for district families last fall.
The startup earned $10,000 to advance technology that helps surgeons plan fracture repairs using medical imaging and physics-based simulation. It joined four other finalists developing innovations in space research, workforce training, surgical care, and facility maintenance at the competition.
