By Lindsay Li, Purpose Jobs
The greater Ann Arbor region’s tech scene is building momentum on every front, from advanced manufacturing to the frontiers of AI and quantum computing. Across Washtenaw County, innovative companies are making their mark in cybersecurity, life sciences, energy technology, and more, attracting investment, creating jobs, and bringing new technologies to market.
What connects them is a drive to turn bold ideas into real-world impact, whether that’s strengthening cybersecurity, improving healthcare, developing cleaner energy solutions, or advancing American-made technologies. Many are coming off major funding rounds, expanding operations, launching new products, and growing their teams. Together, these companies demonstrate the depth and diversity of innovation happening in our own backyard — and why the greater Ann Arbor region continues to be a place where ambitious ideas can take root, grow, and compete on a global stage.
Adrenaline Interactive
Ad-tech startup Adrenaline Interactive places brands directly inside popular video games like Fortnite and Roblox, with product placements that feel native to gameplay instead of interrupting it. Adrenaline’s approach works like product placement in movies, except players can interact with it — and advertisers get sales attribution. In one campaign, the company temporarily gave Fortnite avatars acne to promote a skincare brand. To clear their skin and earn an in-game speed boost, players had to find and use virtual soap placed around the map.
This past April, Adrenaline won the $1M grand prize at the 2026 PitchMI Championship, beating out 375 applicants from across the state.
Censys
Censys is a cybersecurity and internet intelligence company that maintains one of the most comprehensive real-time maps of the world’s public internet infrastructure. The map gives security teams and the AI tools they rely on the outside view they need to stop automated attacks. Censys began in 2015 as a University of Michigan research project before launching commercially. Today it is trusted by more than 300,000 security practitioners, and its customers include organizations representing over half the Fortune 500, as well as governments and critical infrastructure operators.
In March 2026, the company announced $70 million in new funding: a $40 million Series D led by Morgan Stanley Expansion Capital, with Decibel, Greylock, GV, and Intel Capital participating, plus $30 million in debt financing. Censys will use the funding to build AI-driven security tools on its newly launched internet intelligence platform. Censys is hiring across engineering and cybersecurity, with several roles available remotely.
Culturewell
Culturewell is bringing data and analytics to one of healthcare’s most persistent challenges: preventing healthcare-associated infections. The Ann Arbor startup develops testing and analytics tools that help healthcare facilities understand their cleaning performance and identify where improvements are needed.
Culturewell nearly tripled its revenue last year and also completed a funding round. Its focus on turning environmental and cleaning data into actionable information gives healthcare facilities another tool for improving infection-prevention practices, while its growth makes it one to watch in Michigan’s expanding health-tech ecosystem.
Heat2Power
Heat2Power is developing a way to turn one of industry’s biggest wasted resources — high-temperature heat — into electricity. The University of Michigan spinout is commercializing patented thermophotovoltaic technology designed to convert heat directly into electrical power.
The company raised $3 million in 2025, according to Ann Arbor SPARK, and is hiring for device engineering and semiconductor roles as it works to advance the technology. University of Michigan researchers report customer interest already exceeds what the company can currently serve, giving Heat2Power an early indication of demand as it works toward commercialization.
EGI Battery
EGI Battery designs and manufactures high-performance lithium-ion batteries for the technologies that are increasingly defining the future, including drones, aerospace systems, robotics, and critical infrastructure. Led by founder and CEO Tom McGuckin, EGI is building a U.S.-based supply chain so that mission-critical batteries can be designed and made at home.
The company’s cells use silicon-enhanced and graphite anodes and can be custom-formatted to fit each client’s system. In March 2026, the company closed a $10 million seed round led by TSV Capital, with support from several U.S. family offices. Days later, it announced its first American battery manufacturing campus on North Zeeb Road in Ann Arbor. The campus will scale in phases toward 40 MWh of production capacity. EGI Battery is hiring technical talent in Ann Arbor, with open roles supporting lithium-ion battery development, prototyping, and manufacturing.
Sygaldry Technologies
Sygaldry Technologies is building quantum-accelerated AI servers designed to reduce the cost and energy required to train and run large AI models. Its systems combine multiple types of qubits in a fault-tolerant architecture and are built to run alongside the classical hardware already in data centers.
In April 2026, Sygaldry announced $139 million in funding across two rounds: a $34 million seed led by Initialized Capital and a $105 million Series A led by Breakthrough Energy Ventures. Other investors include Y Combinator, IQT, and the University of Michigan. The company is co-founded by CEO Chad Rigetti, who previously founded Rigetti Computing, along with AI scientist Michael Keiser and Idalia Friedson. Sygaldry moved to the Ann Arbor area in 2025, setting up operations at Domino’s Farms with help from Ann Arbor SPARK on hiring and site selection.
Digital Reference
Digital Reference is building a more transparent and verifiable way for professionals to show what they’ve accomplished. Instead of relying on self-reported resumes or anonymous reviews, professionals on the platform document their accomplishments. Colleagues, clients, and collaborators then verify that work and can add authentic video references.
Over the past year, Digital Reference has gone from early concept to live platform. It has also grown with a lean, praise-led content strategy that turns professional recognition into searchable content, boosting its visibility in traditional and AI-powered search. The company creates opportunities in the Ann Arbor startup ecosystem through internships, research partnerships, and professional spotlights, particularly for students and early-career talent.
Akadeum Life Sciences
Akadeum Life Sciences develops cell-separation technology designed to make biomedical research and clinical workflows more efficient. Its technology uses microscopic buoyancy-activated microbubbles to isolate target cells from complex biological samples, with applications across research, diagnostics, and cell therapy.
The Ann Arbor company has continued to build recognition within Michigan’s life-sciences ecosystem. Ann Arbor SPARK recognized Akadeum as its Entrepreneurial Services Company of the Year, while the company has also received investment through Michigan’s startup funding ecosystem, including the Michigan Rise and Red Cedar Ventures network.
Karman
Karman is an AI company developing technology that helps electric grids and data centers make better use of the power they already have. Its platform combines real-time power monitoring with AI-driven controls to improve energy efficiency and help data centers support more computing without waiting for new power infrastructure.
Formerly known as Utilidata, the company rebranded in September 2026 as demand for AI computing puts increasing pressure on energy infrastructure. Karman’s technology can increase AI computing output by 50% or more using the same available power, and its first commercial deployment is already operating in a data center in Montreal, Canada. In October, Karman announced a partnership with Legrand to bring its technology to data center power distribution products. The company is hiring across AI, engineering, and infrastructure, with a remote-first work environment and an Ann Arbor headquarters.
Rydberg Technologies
Rydberg Technologies is a quantum technology company using the properties of atoms and light to build a new generation of sensing, measurement, and imaging devices. Its technology can detect and measure radio-frequency signals across a remarkably wide range of frequencies, opening up new possibilities for applications in communications, scientific research, and advanced sensing.
The Ann Arbor company develops and manufactures compact quantum devices designed to bring advanced physics out of the lab and into real-world applications. Its Rydberg Field Measurement System uses atoms to measure electromagnetic fields with a level of precision that conventional antenna-based tools can struggle to match. The company is also expanding its work in photonics, with the launch of Rydberg Photonics in Berlin, extending its reach into technologies that support quantum sensing and precision measurement. For people interested in working at the forefront of quantum science, Rydberg offers opportunities across physics, engineering, optics, photonics, and product development.
The momentum behind these companies reflects the strength of the greater Ann Arbor region’s innovation ecosystem — and the opportunities available to businesses ready to grow here. Ann Arbor SPARK works with startups and established companies at every stage, connecting them with the resources, talent, funding opportunities, and expertise they need to succeed. Whether you’re launching a new venture, scaling an emerging technology, or exploring opportunities to expand in the region, connect with Ann Arbor SPARK to see how we can help turn your next big idea into what’s next.
