Spotlights
The Findlay managed service provider launched days before 9/11, when national carriers were skipping over northwest Ohio and the community decided to build its own network. Twenty-five years and six or seven reinventions later, it runs cybersecurity out of a former Defense Department bunker.
Healthcare
The Cleveland company's ARWell PRO beat entries from 42 countries at this year's Games for Change Festival. CEO Lindsay Watson, a physical therapist of 25 years, built it around a problem she kept running into: most patients never do their home exercises.
Startups + VC
The Cincinnati company measures what ChatGPT, Claude and other answer engines say about roughly 100 brands, and co-founder Pete Blackshaw says market share no longer predicts what the models recommend. New capital will fund an industry-by-industry expansion.
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.
AI25, presented by Ohio Tech News and OhioX, recognizes leaders turning artificial intelligence into real-world impact across Ohio — from startups and classrooms to hospitals, public agencies, manufacturing floors, and the capital backing what comes next.
Resilience’s move from San Diego to Blue Ash cements Southwest Ohio as a million‑square‑foot hub for sterile injectables and advanced packaging, tying corporate leadership directly to its expanding West Chester manufacturing network and new high‑skill jobs in the region.
Facing a projected shortage of more than 540,000 skilled workers over the next decade, Ohio is launching a $300 million workforce initiative. The program aims to reach roughly 25,000 Ohioans by providing financial incentives for hybrid work-and-education models in critical industries.
9,801+ smart tech leaders read our weekly newsletter. Why don't you?
Alex “Fro” Frommeyer’s Columbus startup is betting that fixed employer allowances, employee-owned plans, and local care-navigation tools can give small businesses an alternative to escalating health-plan renewals.
The fintech, which says it is on pace to process more than $6 billion annually, plans to use its first major outside funding to add staff, broaden payment-rail integrations and push beyond its real-estate base into additional vertical-software markets.
A new NSF-backed consortium will develop a shared testbed to determine where entanglement-enabled measurement can outperform conventional tools, with Ohio State researchers targeting applications in biomolecular science, radiation detection, and advanced manufacturing.
More than 200 people registered for the first Ohio Tech Night: SF, bringing founders, investors, and operators together as Ohio State expands its Bay Area presence and companies like Upstart and Path Robotics show how the two ecosystems are already increasingly connected.
Led by The O.H.I.O. Fund with backing from Khosla Ventures, the NASA-alumni-led startup will use one of the state's largest-ever seed rounds to accelerate certification and scale Cleveland manufacturing for its waterless acoustic fire suppression systems.
The funding will expand year-round electric-bill aid, raise grants to as much as $500 and broaden eligibility for qualifying AEP Ohio customers. The initiative connects Ohio’s fast-growing data-center footprint with direct support for households facing utility-payment challenges.
The shift from BuckID swipes to QR-code boarding gives eligible Buckeyes one less card to carry and offers a local example of how mobile identity tools are expanding beyond campus buildings into the systems that connect students and workers to the city.
The annual fundraiser backs YBI’s free entrepreneur services, from business counseling and funding access to advanced manufacturing and technology resources. Four regional finalists will pitch live for cash awards before an audience expected to top 750.
Sponsoring the Cleveland event alongside Big Kitty Labs, the Burton D. Morgan Foundation hosts an equity-free graduation event. Beyond founder pitches, the afternoon features a fireside chat with top executives exploring how to build the next billion-dollar business right in Ohio.
The proposal would redevelop part of the former Portsmouth uranium-enrichment complex, pairing a major local grant fund with statewide AI-tool credits for Ohio college students while committing to fund its own grid and water infrastructure.
The proposed transaction would place Joby’s defense aircraft and autonomy programs within Resonant’s Dayton operation, combining its electric propulsion technology with RF sensing, mission systems and low-observability expertise.
Backed by Ohio State’s medical, cancer and pharmacy assets, the new effort will pair AI with clinical and genomic data to speed the path from research to patents, startup formation and clinical trials—an added push for Central Ohio’s life-sciences sector.
