WHAT'S NEXT?! Montana — October 2026

CoBuild Montana held its first CoBuild Summit October 20–22 at the University of Montana in Missoula, a three-day gathering of founders, investors, educators, cooperative leaders and community builders. As part of the summit, the UM College of Business hosted the Startup World Cup Montana Regional on October 21, the first time the global competition organized by Pegasus Tech Ventures has been held in Montana. The regional drew applications from 31 startups in seven states and four countries, another indication that Montana is attracting attention as a place to start companies. Viz Ai Technology of Kalispell took first place among ten finalists and advanced to the Startup World Cup Grand Finale in San Francisco, November 4–6. (October 21) Read more

October brought a $4.3 billion U.S. Air Force contract to a tribally owned St. Ignatius company, a second U.S. Army order for a Bozeman defense software firm, a photonic packaging facility opening in Bozeman, and a manufacturing groundbreaking in Hamilton. Here is what happened.

Reveal Technology Inc. of Bozeman received a $9.5 million purchase order from the U.S. Army under its existing GSA IDIQ contract. The second delivery order expands deployment of its Farsight 3D-mapping platform to additional infantry brigades, following fielding with the 82nd Airborne Division and integration with the Army's Nett Warrior system. Farsight converts live video into 3D terrain models on edge and mobile devices without connectivity. Garrett Smith is CEO. (October 7) Read more

The company then released Farsight 2.0, which adds a global world model that pulls imagery from all available sources, including imagery crossing command and control networks, into one continuously updated terrain picture. The update is delivered across Reveal's existing Farsight user base, and newly fielded units receive it at initial installation. (October 12) Read more

Reveal also named Matthew Mejía chief financial officer, effective immediately. Mejía previously held senior posts at Meridian Space, Sierra Space and Aerion Supersonic. (October 8) Read more

28 Wishes sells ice cream in Los Angeles. Below 70°F, sales fall about 20%. The weather is out of their hands. Rent isn't.

So the owners started putting about $20 a day into Kalshi weather markets, taking the cold side. The days that keep customers away now pay something back.

This is hedging. Big companies have done it for decades, buying protection against bad weather, fuel spikes and rising rates. It used to take a broker, a trading desk, and an order size no corner shop could meet.

Kalshi opens it up. Contracts on weather, fuel prices, inflation, tariffs and regulation, starting at a few dollars. Take a position on the outcome that would hurt you. If it hits, the payout softens it. If it doesn't, the contract expires and the good month was the point.

See how other owners are doing it at Kalshi.com/hedging

S&K Aerospace, LLC of St. Ignatius was awarded the U.S. Air Force Parts and Repair Ordering System 7 (PROS 7) contract, a $4.3 billion single-award IDIQ contract supporting Foreign Military Sales customers. The contract provides for a maximum 10-year ordering period (a one-year base period and nine one-year options) followed by a three-year closeout. S&K Aerospace previously held PROS IV and PROS V. It is a subsidiary of S&K Technologies, Inc., an enterprise owned by the Confederated Salish and Kootenai Tribes. Tony Amadeo is President of S&K Aerospace; Chad Cottet is CEO of S&K Technologies. (October 5) Read more

Univision Computers, a Missoula-based managed IT, cloud and cybersecurity provider founded in 1989, acquired Green Up IT, Inc., a Helena IT firm founded in 2008. The transaction closed October 1. Green Up IT founder and president David Kantorowicz joins Univision as Account Executive for the Helena market. The combined company serves more than 700 client organizations and employs over 50 people in Montana. (October 5) Read more

Vero Broadband, LLC (Vero Fiber), a subsidiary of VFN Holdings, Inc., completed its merger with Montana Sky Networks, Inc. (MontanaSky), a broadband provider founded in 1993 with offices in Kalispell and Libby. The combined organization plans to continue expanding fiber infrastructure across the Flathead Valley and Northwest Montana. Sunita Krishna is CEO of Vero Fiber and Ryan Bowman is CEO of MontanaSky. The release did not disclose financial terms. (October 1) Read more

PHIX opened a photonic integrated circuit (PIC) packaging and assembly facility in Bozeman. The facility is part of the Integrated Photonics Ecosystem, a project led by the Montana Photonics & Quantum Alliance and funded by the U.S. Economic Development Administration's Tech Hubs program. It complements testing and development facilities at Montana State University and product-development support from PhotonIQ. (October 9) Read more

Tonix Pharmaceuticals broke ground October 8 on a manufacturing facility on 44 acres of Targeted Economic Development District land in Hamilton. Founder Seth Lederman said the lead product to be made there is TNX-4800, a prophylactic against Lyme disease. Tonix says the building will take a few years to complete. (October 8) Read more

Bozeman-based Bridger Photonics launched Bridger Benchmarking, a product delivered inside its Bridger Command platform that compares a U.S. oil and gas production operator's measured methane emissions against comparable peers in its basin or region at the equipment, site and company level, with metrics updated monthly. Ben Little is CEO. (October 7) Read more

Montana State University received a $3 million NASA grant for a project led by MSU's BOREALIS lab in which 40 undergraduate teams from community colleges and universities will measure wildfire smoke and other pollutants using high-altitude balloons and drones. Students in the BOREALIS lab designed the drones, electronics and data-collection systems the teams will use. The University of Montana is one of eight regional team leads. Proposals open in January 2027, and the teams will collect measurements during four coordinated campaigns in 2028. (October 19) Read more

The National Institute of Standards and Technology awarded nearly $840,000 to the Montana Manufacturing Extension Center, housed in MSU's Norm Asbjornson College of Engineering. NIST could renew the award annually over the next four years for total funding of $4.2 million. MMEC helps Montana manufacturers adopt technologies including AI, robotics and 3D printing. (October 21) Read more

Montana State University received two donations totaling $1 million to fund an endowed professorship of optics and photonics in the Norm Asbjornson College of Engineering. SPIE, the international society for optics and photonics, donated $500,000, matched by a $500,000 bequest to the MSU Alumni Foundation. (October 13) Read more

FieldSim, tractor drive-path optimization software developed at Idaho National Laboratory, is being developed as a commercial product by entrepreneurs Joe Entelisano and Waku Ken-Opurum in partnership with Montana State University's precision agriculture program. MSU tested the software in July on farm equipment at Lutz Farm, a 600-acre research test bed near Bozeman. The entrepreneurs connected with the Headwaters Tech Hub, received a $19,000 U.S. Economic Development Administration grant, and plan to onboard first customers of about five to 10 Montana farms by the end of the year. (October 5) Read more

AIFluency, a Montana AI education and integration company led by founder and CEO Cody Rose, built a tool on Anthropic's Claude that turns transcripts from Code Girls United's AI Academy into lesson-plan drafts for teachers in rural and reservation communities. Code Girls United serves about 1,000 girls at 49 locations across the state. NBC Montana reports that Anthropic recently named AIFluency a Select partner in its Claude Partner Network. (October 16) Read more

Puget Sound Energy announced a groundbreaking for the 130-megawatt Battle Butte Solar Project on 1,400 acres near Rapelje in Stillwater County. The project is expected to add about 250 construction jobs, with construction starting this fall and completion anticipated in mid-2028. PSE's 248 MW Beaver Creek Wind Project is nearby. (October 15) Read more

Bozeman founders Adam Lamb and Dan Barnes appeared on ABC's Shark Tank with the Bye Bye Button, a key-fob-sized device paired with a smartphone app that triggers a fake incoming call. The founders said a TikTok post put them on the show's radar. The outcome of the episode was not reported. (October 13) Read more

Frontier Angels is a private investor network based in Montana. Members review curated, pre-screened early-stage technology companies, attend quarterly pitch nights across five chapters in Bozeman, Missoula, Kalispell, Billings and Helena, and co-invest through the network's syndicate. Membership is open to accredited investors.

Graham Conran / Managing Director / Frontier Angels