As our readers and subscribers know, the focus of this newsletter is to report on the evolving and growing technology ecosystem across Montana. But I'm always pleasantly surprised to find household names that are based here in Montana. From Gibson guitars to the company that delivers your FICO score. The September roundup is a nice balance between old-school household names and exciting developments on the technology side across the Montana ecosystem. Enjoy !
Sverica Capital makes a growth investment in Bozeman's Atrium
Sverica Capital Management, a private equity firm, made a strategic growth investment in Atrium, a Bozeman-based AI-native consulting and data transformation partner for Salesforce and Snowflake founded in 2018. Co-founder and CEO Chris Heineken continues to lead the company, and Sverica's Jordan Richards and Matt Johnson join Atrium's board. The investment amount was not disclosed. (September 9) Read more
AirJoule acquires BitSink, a data center cooling and power infrastructure maker
AirJoule Technologies (Nasdaq: AIRJ) of Ronan acquired BitSink, a U.S. designer and manufacturer of cooling, electrical distribution and racking infrastructure for AI and high-performance computing data centers. Upfront consideration was $18 million in cash and $9 million in AIRJ common stock, with an earnout of up to $40 million in stock tied to revenue milestones over the three calendar years following closing. BitSink had cumulative revenue of approximately $11 million across 2024 and 2025 and $15 million in near-term purchase orders. It manufactures in Spartanburg, South Carolina, and is expanding to a 65,000-square-foot facility in Chesnee, South Carolina. (September 14) Read more
TogetherMade of Whitefish reports $450,000 sold in a Form D filing
TogetherMade, PBC, a Delaware public benefit corporation with its principal place of business in Whitefish, reported $450,000 sold of an $850,000 Rule 506(b) offering in a Form D filed with the SEC on September 15, leaving $400,000 to be sold. The filing lists five investors, a first sale date of September 1 and a $5,000 minimum investment, and is signed by Katheryn Grider as president. (September 15) SEC filing
Montana Renewables re-scopes its MaxSAF expansion and takes its final DOE draw
Calumet (Nasdaq: CLMT) announced a revised MaxSAF expansion at its Montana Renewables subsidiary in Great Falls, targeting approximately 200 million gallons of annual sustainable aviation fuel production and 17,000 barrels per day of total product sales by year-end 2028. Remaining project capital is $137 million, against the $1.2 billion contemplated in the original Phase 2 plan, by redeploying a hydrotreater, hydrogen plant and naphtha splitter from the adjacent Calumet Montana Refining facility under a long-term lease. Montana Renewables and the U.S. Department of Energy amended the January 2025 Loan Guarantee Agreement, cutting remaining Phase 2 funding from up to $658 million to a single final draw of $34 million, with the balance funded from Montana Renewables earnings. Montana Renewables currently produces at a 60-million-gallon annual SAF run rate. Calumet Montana Refining stays in service producing asphalt and retains all employees. (September 1) Read more
Montana Renewables received that final $34 million draw under the amended loan guarantee two weeks later. (September 14) Read more
Montana State opens the $53 million Gianforte Hall
Montana State University held the grand opening of Gianforte Hall on September 10. The three-story building is the new home of the Gianforte School of Computing, part of MSU's Norm Asbjornson College of Engineering, and also houses College of Arts and Architecture programs in film and photography and music technology, including a film studio and a music recording studio. The Gianforte Family Foundation donated $50 million toward the building; total cost is estimated at $53 million. (September 11) Read more
Montana Tech wins a $6 million NSF award for critical-mineral recovery research
Montana Tech received a four-year, $6 million National Science Foundation award with the University of Alaska Anchorage, the University of Alaska Fairbanks and the University of Wyoming to develop AI-enabled microbial methods for recovering rare earth elements from coal refuse. Montana Tech's portion is $1.3 million, with Dr. Robin Bullock (Environmental Engineering) as principal investigator and Dr. Courtney Young (Metallurgical and Materials Engineering) as co-principal investigator. The award is one of eight sharing $39.9 million under NSF's Focused EPSCoR Collaborations program and runs September 1, 2026 through August 31, 2030. (September 15) Read more
Separately, Montana Tech was named a subrecipient of the U.S. Department of Energy's Mine of the Future grant, which funds the university's work on new extraction methods including in-situ leaching. Assistant Secretary of Energy Audrey Robertson and the DOE Office of Critical Minerals and Energy Innovation toured Montana Tech's Underground Mine Education Center on September 11. (September 16) Read more
Montana Tech adds nuclear energy programs
Montana Technological University is launching an undergraduate certificate in Nuclear Energy and a Master of Science in Nuclear Energy, approved by the Montana Board of Regents in March 2026, with first enrollment planned for fall 2027. Hands-on training will run through simulations or Montana Tech's partnership with Idaho National Laboratory in Idaho Falls. Lance Energy Chair Bob Morris cited Montana electricity demand rising 20% over the next decade and the Colstrip power plant reaching the financial end of its life in 2042. (September 2) Read more
Quiq launches Voice Assist
Bozeman-based Quiq released Voice Assist, extending its AI Assistants from chat, SMS and email to live voice calls. The capability gives a human agent guidance during the call and can itself send customer-facing messages — a tracking link, order details or a voucher — on the same conversation thread while the agent stays on the line. Quiq says customers running these capabilities on digital channels have seen a 20% decrease in human agent conversation time. (September 1) Read more
Land id releases an AI property-insights product
Land id, a property mapping and marketing software company headquartered in Bozeman and Austin, Texas, released The Land id, an AI product that assembles public-record, licensed and user-supplied data on a property and explains it in plain language on a map. It runs on the company's Land id Intelligence engine and is available to Pro and Premium subscribers, with Basic subscribers given access for a limited time. The company reports more than 50,000 paid users. (September 21) Read more
Bridger Aerospace adds satellite wildfire data to IGNIS
Belgrade-based Bridger Aerospace (Nasdaq: BAER) is partnering with OroraTech USA to integrate satellite-based wildfire detection, thermal mapping, fire intensity data and fire spread simulation into Bridger's IGNIS wildfire operations software platform. In a pilot during the Grasshopper Fire near Oregon's Mount Hood, a Bridger fire behavior analyst used an OroraTech satellite-derived fire perimeter as an input to a fire spread prediction model, and the resulting analysis was distributed through IGNIS. OroraTech USA is headquartered in Denver, with its parent company in Germany. (September 3) Read more
CubCloud AI applies to run a Tesla Cybercab fleet in Montana
CubCloud AI, a Missoula company founded in 2025 that owns and operates AI computing infrastructure, has applied to Tesla's fleet operator program, opened September 3, to become Montana's first Tesla Cybercab fleet provider. It would run the service as CubCab, starting with its own team, clients and visitors traveling to and from its Missoula campus, with planned expansion to Billings, Bozeman and Butte. The company states the application is pending Tesla's review and state and federal approvals. (September 9) Read more
FICO Score 10T becomes available to FHA mortgage lenders
FICO (NYSE: FICO), headquartered in Bozeman, said its FICO Score 10T model will be available to FHA-approved mortgage lenders beginning January 1, 2027. The model uses trended credit and rental payment data; FICO states it outperforms competing models by more than 10% on FHA first-time homebuyer mortgages. FICO Score 10T is offered at no cost alongside Classic FICO through the company's Free Access program. (September 11) Read more
Hawthorn Photonics consolidates its brands; AdvR becomes Hawthorn Photonics (US)
Hawthorn Photonics, in a release datelined Bozeman, announced that AdvR products will move to the Covesion brand, which becomes the group's components brand, while Radiantis remains its laser-systems brand. The group's legal entities adopt the Hawthorn Photonics name: AdvR, Inc., the Bozeman photonics company, becomes Hawthorn Photonics (US), Inc., with the UK and Spain entities renamed likewise. The company states manufacturing processes and locations are unchanged. (September 25) Read more
Revolve agrees to acquire a Montana wind project
Revolve Renewable Power Corp. (CSE: REVV) signed definitive agreements dated September 9 to acquire 100% of the 9.6 MW Horseshoe Bend Wind Project in Montana for US$10.48 million. The purchase is funded by US$7.25 million of project-level debt split evenly between Export Development Canada and Vancity Capital Corporation, plus a bridge credit facility with Whitfield Power Solutions. Horseshoe Bend sells electricity under a long-term power purchase agreement; on closing it becomes Revolve's first operating project in the United States. (September 11) Read more
ICYMI — late August
Vision Aerial rolls out its Vulcan drone family. Mobix Labs (Nasdaq: MOBX) reported that Vision Aerial, the Bozeman drone manufacturer it agreed in July to acquire, is advancing the commercial rollout of Vulcan, a family of two NDAA-compliant industrial aircraft: the medium-lift Vulcan SX (payloads to 3 kg, flight times to 65 minutes), progressing through production, and the heavy-lift Vulcan YX (payloads to 10 kg, flight times to 60 minutes), available for preorder. Vision Aerial management estimates revenue growth of approximately 46% in 2026 and approximately 93% in 2027, which the release describes as preliminary, unaudited standalone estimates. The acquisition has not closed and is expected to close in the fourth calendar quarter of 2026, subject to Mobix Labs stockholder approval. (August 31) Read more
Montana Tech runs a tungsten exploration program at the Calvert Mine. Montana Technological University's Department of Geological Engineering signed a sponsored research agreement with Mithril Mining Corp. covering a two-year tungsten exploration program at the Calvert Mine in Beaverhead County, running through May 14, 2028. The work uses drone- and ground-based geophysical surveys, borehole measurements, and 2D and 3D modeling. Graduate student Hunter Brimhall conducts the research under Professor Xiaobing Zhou. (August 28) Read more
MPQA and the Headwaters Tech Hub sign an MOU with the NSF ASCEND Engine. Innosphere, acting on behalf of the NSF-funded ASCEND Engine in Colorado and Wyoming, signed a Memorandum of Understanding with the Bozeman-based Montana Photonics and Quantum Alliance and the Headwaters Tech Hub to build a Mountain West innovation and test-facilities network. The parties intend to cross-refer startups between the two regions, share accelerator support, jointly promote their testbeds, and coordinate funding programs, workforce development and investor engagement. (August 13) Read more
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