Technology
Lansing Startups Attract National Attention With Surgical Robotics, PFAS Solutions
From surgical robotics to PFAS cleanup, a wave of young companies is drawing regional investment and national attention.
How we reported this
Lansing’s technology startup ecosystem is riding a surge of activity that spans medical devices, clean chemicals, and autonomous drones. At least four locally founded companies made the Renaissance Venture Capital Hotlist earlier this year, and a medical-device firm called LaparAssist Inc. just secured funding through the Lansing Regional SmartZone’s Fund Your Acceleration program and LEAP to improve precision in laparoscopic surgery.
The timing matters. Michigan’s venture-capital infrastructure, anchored by bodies like the MSU Research Foundation and the SmartZone network, has been quietly maturing. A wave of capital-including the $4 million PitchMI initiative that will hold its statewide finals in East Lansing next April-is now flowing into early-stage firms that might have been overlooked a few years ago.
Who’s Getting Funded-and Why
LaparAssist, a current SmartZone startup spotlight, is using its latest grant to refine tools that help surgeons operate with higher precision. The company’s work targets a persistent problem: errors in minimally invasive procedures that can lead to longer recovery times. LEAP and the SmartZone’s Fund Your Acceleration Friday program provided the cash.
The Renaissance Venture Capital Hotlist, released this spring, named four other Lansing-based startups: AG3 Labs, which builds autonomous drones; BRCĒ, a maker of performance shoelaces and braces founded by Michigan State University students; Citrimer, a firm that produces carbon-negative chemicals; and Enspired Solutions, which tackles PFAS contamination removal. BRCĒ also won MSU’s Innovation Celebration 2025 Student Startup of the Year award.
These companies represent a diversification beyond the region’s traditional manufacturing and agriculture base. AI and life sciences are increasingly represented in the incubator pipeline: nine new startups joined the MSU Research Foundation’s incubator facilities in East Lansing and Grand Rapids in late 2025.
What Comes Next
“The Lansing region is a launchpad for innovation,” the SmartZone wrote on LinkedIn when announcing the Hotlist, pointing to a startup scene that is no longer flying under the radar. The March 2026 PitchMI finals-part of the 517 Entrepreneurship & Innovation Week in East Lansing-will put several of these companies in front of a statewide audience with access to that $4 million funding pool.
For now, founders and investors are watching how the next cohort of firms matures. The infrastructure-incubator space, local grants, and a growing network of alumni founders-is in place. Whether the region can keep producing startups that scale remains an open question, but the current list of companies suggests the pipeline has momentum.
- Reporting by The Daily Lansing tech desk.