Genius NY program selects semifinalists as 8th round of accelerator continues

SYRACUSE, N.Y. — CenterState CEO announces 14 companies have been named semifinalists for the 8th cohort of the Genius NY program at the Syracuse Tech Garden. Genius NY is short for Growing ENtrepreneurs & Innovators in UpState New York. It is described as the world’s largest accelerator focused on uncrewed aerial systems (UAS) and advanced air mobility (AAM) technologies. The semifinalists will now compete to see which five are selected for the one-year program at the Tech Garden. A team of 50 evaluators reviewed 80 applications for semifinalist selection. More than half of the companies in the applicant pool were from outside of the U.S., and most applicants identified as being in the “validation” phase. Of the 14 semifinalists selected from that pool, eight are international teams and three identified as minority and women-owned business enterprises. Two teams are from New York state. Finalists will be announced in early July. In August, the five finalists will arrive in Central New York to begin the program. Finalists will compete for the grand prize at Innovation Night this fall, where they’ll pitch to a panel of judges and the audience. Each team will have five minutes to make the case for their product. The winner will receive a $1 million investment, and the four remaining teams will each receive a $500,000 investment. “The pool of applicants we receive for the Genius NY program becomes more impressive and competitive each year. More than half of the selected semi-finalists are in the commercialization phase, and the others are well on their next step. Additionally, around half of the semi-finalist teams are focused on defense applications or detect and avoid technology, complimenting the regional ecosystem of defense manufacturers and initiatives,” Kara Jones, director of Genius NY, said in the announcement. “The advisors will now make the tough decisions on which companies will be our five finalists this year. I’m looking forward to another year of the Genius NY program during this exciting time in Central New York.” Semifinalists

• Aerialoop — Medellin, Colombia
• Angel Aerial —Cleves, Ohio
• Aviant — Oslo, Norway
• Avol — New York City (Brooklyn)
• Crover — Edinburgh, Scotland
• FlightOps — Ra’anana, Israel
• FloFleet — Milan, Italy
• Flyhound — New York City
• Hellenic Drones — Dafni, Greece
• INVOLI — Lausanne, Switzerland
• OSCP Motion — Montreal, Quebec
• Revolute Robotics — Scottsdale, Arizona
• Ultraview AI — Austin, Texas
• Uniform Sierra Aerospace — West Lafayette, Indiana