GENIUS NY Program Receives Hundreds of Applications for Round 10

GENIUS NY, operated by CenterState CEO and funded by Empire State Development with support from National Grid, received hundreds of applications from uncrewed systems and robotics startups to take part in its tenth round. The Syracuse-based accelerator accepts five finalists each year that compete for a $1 million grand prize.

Applications came from every continent, excluding Antarctica, with 59% of applicants coming from the United States. Additionally, more than half of founders that applied identify as Minority, Women or Veteran owned, demonstrating continued participation from diverse companies and leadership.

This year, more than half of startups applying are in the validation stage. Those in the validation stage are actively refining their technology and exploring the next steps toward commercialization. The second highest segment came from those in the revenue stage. More than a quarter of the companies that applied are already generating revenue through their technology. A third of the applications came from three technology focus areas: mission/flight/fleet management, defense applications, and UAS vehicle/OEM.

GENIUS NY will announce semifinalists for Round 10 of the program in the coming weeks. Those semifinalists will be narrowed down to five teams that will relocate to Central New York for the accelerator starting this fall.

Since 2017, New York State has directly invested $27 million in 45 GENIUS NY teams over the program’s nine rounds. Participating companies have raised more than $500 million in follow-on funding, creating top-quality new jobs in New York state.