The Southern Startup Report is a bi-weekly publication with curated news and information to support the southern startup ecosystem.
South Carolina just landed a first: YOUnifiedAI is the state's first-ever pick for TechCrunch's Startup Battlefield 200. It's one of several milestones this issue, alongside a $125 million raise in Miami and a record crowd at Atlanta Tech Week. Here's what's new since our last issue.
The Southern Startup Report is a bi-weekly publication with curated news and information to support the southern startup ecosystem.
Southern Startup News
September 18, 2026
Louisiana
New Orleans' Idea Village has opened applications for VILLAGEx 2027, its flagship accelerator for Gulf South founders positioned to raise $1 million or more, with applications open through November 6. Down in Lafayette, StateChain Summit '26 lands at the LITE Center September 30 through October 1, headlined by Chris Meaux, the Waitr Holdings founder who scaled that company to a $308 million exit and a Nasdaq listing worth more than $1 billion; the speaker lineup also includes DaCoda Bartels of FlyGuys, Destin Ortego of Opportunity Machine (serving as the summit's Official Accelerator After-Hours Network Host), John Foval of Nurik and Josh Fleig of LA.IO. And back in New Orleans, Tulane Innovation Institute is following up Open Season with Open MIC Night, its Medical Innovation Challenge pitch competition, on October 20 at Rosy's Jazz Hall.
Alabama
Alabama Launchpad, a program of the Economic Development Partnership of Alabama, named 10 finalists for its Cycle 2 2026 competition, who will compete for a combined $175,000 split across a $100,000 life sciences track and a $75,000 technology track. The field spans the state, from a Birmingham startup using AI-powered cameras to monitor dairy cow health around the clock to a Dothan biotech developing immunotherapies for pancreatic cancer and glioblastoma, two of the deadliest cancers. Finalists will spend the coming weeks working with a bench of Launch Advisors before closed-door investor meetings on November 5 (technology) and November 12 (life sciences).
Arkansas
Northwest Arkansas keeps the accelerator pipeline moving. The Venture Center hosts ALTA Demo Day on September 23 at The Record in Bentonville, where the fourth cohort of the Arkansas Lithium Technology Accelerator takes the stage to pitch investors, entrepreneurs and community leaders after months refining their businesses within the state's growing lithium and advanced-tech ecosystem.
Florida
Miami's fintech and healthtech engines kept humming. Split Pay raised $125 million across back-to-back Series A and Series B rounds led by Khosla Ventures, with Thrive Capital and PayPal co-founder Max Levchin also participating, after the company said it grew 70x over the past year; Split Pay lets renters and mortgage holders pay big bills in full on the due date while it floats up to 50% for 30 days. And DermaSensor, the Miami health-tech company behind an AI-powered handheld skin cancer detection device, raised more than $5 million (a $4 million Series B extension plus a Wefunder community round open to physicians and patients) as it expands U.S. partnerships with Henry Schein and the Department of Veterans Affairs.
Georgia
Atlanta Tech Week returned for its fourth year in August, and organizers say it drew a record crowd. More than 2,700 people registered for the opening-day programming at Atlanta Tech Park in Peachtree Corners alone, a new high for the venue, before the week rolled through Downtown, Buckhead, and Midtown's Tech Square with more than 250 events total. Produced by Render Group and supported by RenderATL, the week brought founders, investors, and corporate innovators together across the metro, with Georgia Tech and startup incubator ATDC anchoring the closing day's deep-tech and venture programming.
Mississippi
CoBuilders alum Altude has been accepted into Creative Destruction Lab's 2026/27 CDL-Montreal Web3 program at HEC Montréal, Innovate Mississippi announced. CDL has run more than 4,000 ventures through its programs, with alumni generating more than CAD $64 billion in equity value; the Web3 stream is an 11-month track for companies building blockchain applications and decentralized infrastructure. Altude is building self-custodial stablecoin infrastructure for payment applications serving cash-heavy and unbanked customers, and will spend the next year working alongside founders, technologists and investors in Montreal.
North Carolina
The Network for Entrepreneurs in Wilmington hosted its fourth annual Investor Buzz-In, the largest in NEW's 11-year history, drawing founders and investors from 19 states to Cape Fear Community College. Panels dug into AI's effect on how fast founders can build, and Wilmington-based RCOAST used the event to announce it closed a $945,000 pre-seed round to help mitigate coastal erosion. The North Carolina Technology Association named its finalists for the 2026 NC TECH Awards this month, the state's only statewide tech awards program, ahead of its November 16 gala at the Sheraton Imperial in Research Triangle Park.
South Carolina
YOUnifiedAI became the first South Carolina-based company ever selected for TechCrunch's Startup Battlefield 200, a list of the most promising startups worldwide, and will pitch at TechCrunch Disrupt in San Francisco this October. Founded by Eugina Jordan, a 24-year telecom veteran credited with creating the Open RAN market category and holder of a dozen-plus patents in 5G, Open RAN and AI, the company built a platform that unifies the scattered tools small business owners rely on daily (think QuickBooks, HubSpot, email) into a single conversational AI interface, so founders can simply ask their business how it's doing instead of hopping between tabs. YOUnifiedAI was chosen from thousands of applicants worldwide, a milestone for the state's growing startup ecosystem.
Tennessee
Knoxville Entrepreneur Center wrapped its ninth week of The WORKS accelerator with a Demo Day at The Square Room, where six founders pitched five-minute rounds: VeriQual (income verification for non-W2 borrowers), Equipment Locker (QR-linked equipment knowledge platform), VAC Score (evidence scoring for hospital value analysis committees), Raina Ventures (real-time content verification for newsrooms and election authorities), Green Routine (energy cost and tariff intelligence) and DhyanaTech (mobile-first ERP for precast concrete manufacturers).