Space Florida, an aerospace company with a long-running partnership with the Israel Innovation Authority, announced the winners of its second annual Takeoff: Northwest Florida Pitch Day, an event designed to connect high-potential startups and researchers with investors.

The competition awarded Apellix first place and $20,000 for its drone-based industrial robotics platform. National Energy USA and Swarm Dynamics were named runners-up, each receiving $7,500.

Aimed at “accelerating their path to commercialization and scaling groundbreaking technologies,” the event “reaffirmed Florida’s position as a national leader in technology, investment and entrepreneurship,” said Morley Stone, CEO of the Florida Institute of Human & Machine Cognition, which hosted the pitch day in its Pensacola offices.

“We look forward to seeing the innovative solutions that emerge from the current call for proposals, which concludes in February,” Alayna Curry, director of public relations for Space Florida, told JNS.

Though the initiative is exclusively for state-based companies, “we continue to foster collaboration with Israeli aerospace and deep-tech startups,” she said.

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