Summary
GENIUS NY Finals Reinforce New York’s Leadership in Autonomy Innovation
Last night’s GENIUS NY Finals highlighted the continued growth of Central New York as a national hub for autonomy, AI, advanced aviation, and intelligent sensing technologies. Congratulations to Flox Intelligence, recipient of the $1 million grand prize, and to Lamarr.AI, Modovolo, SkyfireAI, and Lighthouse Avionics, each awarded $500,000 investments to accelerate growth and expand their presence in the region.
Since launching in 2017, GENIUS NY has attracted more than 45 portfolio companies to Central New York, invested nearly $27 million directly into startups, and helped participating companies raise more than $500 million in follow on funding. Circle Optics, a member of Cohort 2, is proud to continue supporting the region’s growing innovation ecosystem and looks forward to joining the New York Pavilion at XPONENTIAL in Detroit alongside fellow ecosystem partners and technology leaders.
Last night’s GENIUS NY Finals demonstrated once again why Central New York continues to emerge as one of the nation’s leading regions for uncrewed systems, autonomy, AI, and advanced sensing technologies.
Congratulations to Flox Intelligence, recipient of the $1 million grand prize at the 2026 GENIUS NY competition. The company now joins a growing network of startups helping shape the future of aviation, robotics, autonomy, and intelligent infrastructure.
The evening also celebrated four additional exceptional companies. Lamarr.AI, Modovolo, SkyfireAI, and Lighthouse Avionics each received $500,000 investments to continue accelerating their growth and expanding their presence in the region.
What continues to make GENIUS NY unique is that the program is about far more than prize money. It is about building a long term innovation ecosystem where founders, investors, universities, government agencies, technology leaders, and regional organizations work together to help emerging companies scale.
Since launching in 2017, GENIUS NY has attracted more than 45 portfolio companies to Central New York and invested nearly $27 million directly into startups focused on uncrewed systems, autonomy, robotics, and advanced air mobility. Collectively, participating companies have gone on to raise more than $500 million in follow on funding, reinforcing the growing national and international impact of the program.
The success of GENIUS NY is also a reflection of sustained leadership and ecosystem stewardship. Kara Jones, Director of GENIUS NY, continues to play an important role in helping galvanize the region’s innovation community and creating opportunities for founders building next generation technologies.
For Circle Optics, the GENIUS NY program carries personal significance. Circle Optics was part of GENIUS NY Cohort 2 during an earlier stage of the company’s growth journey. Programs like GENIUS NY provided not only visibility and mentorship, but also access to a community that understood the complexity and long horizon often required to build deep technology companies.
Today, Circle Optics continues to advance panoramic imaging and perception infrastructure technologies designed for autonomy, perimeter security, immersive simulation, and defense applications. Looking back, the GENIUS NY experience reinforced something many founders eventually learn: innovation ecosystems matter.
The region’s momentum has been built through sustained collaboration across organizations including CenterState CEO, Empire State Development, GENIUS NY, The Tech Garden, Griffiss Institute, AFWERX, universities, investors, startup founders, and countless ecosystem leaders working together to strengthen New York’s position in advanced aviation and autonomy.
There was also a broader message visible throughout the evening. The future of aviation and intelligent systems is no longer theoretical. It is actively being built through AI enabled platforms, advanced sensing, resilient communications, edge processing, autonomous navigation, and real time situational awareness technologies.
As the ecosystem continues to grow, Circle Optics is also looking forward to joining many of these organizations next week at XPONENTIAL in Detroit, where the company will share the New York Pavilion booth alongside members of the GENIUS NY and broader New York innovation community. Events like XPONENTIAL continue to demonstrate the strength of collaboration across the region and the growing visibility of New York as a center for autonomy, robotics, defense innovation, and advanced imaging technologies.
Applications are now officially open for GENIUS NY Cohort 10, marking nearly a decade of investment in emerging technologies and founder led innovation.
