SYRACUSE — Geopipe — a four-year-old startup founded in New York City — captured the $1 million grand prize in this year’s Genius NY competition.

Geopipe has grown through investment and grants, and with offices across three cities, “it continues to develop deep tech to digitize our analog world,” the office of Gov. Andrew Cuomo announced on Sept. 17.

“We’re grateful for the support of the Genius NY coaches, mentors, and other startups as we’ve accelerated Geopipe beyond our 2020 goals,” Christopher Mitchell, CEO and co-founder of Geopipe, said in a statement. “We’re looking forward to growing our team in Central New York and elsewhere, as we move Geopipe even faster towards our vision of the whole-Earth digital twin. If you are passionate about 3D data, open world gaming, or building intelligence to automatically rebuild the Earth in the digital space, we want to talk to you!” 

Mitchell co-founded the firm with Thomas Dickerson, who served as Geopipe’s chief science officer, per the company’s website. They met in 2002 while teaching themselves programming using graphing calculators.

Geopipe says it is building a “whole-Earth digital twin” by using advanced artificial intelligence (AI) to create “immersive 3D models of the real world.” The company notes that it enables game and simulation developers, automotive and construction professionals, and others to stream “perfect virtual copies of real places into software and experiences.” 

Geopipe’s AI creates lookalike copies of the real world and labels every detail, so the virtual worlds are “readable by machines like self-driving vehicles.” 

The Genius NY competition also had four other finalists. BotsAndUs from the United Kingdom; Droneseed from Seattle, Washington; Eget Liber from Syracuse; and Skyy Network from Australia were each awarded an investment of $500,000. 

New York State has now invested $20 million in Genius NY over four rounds of the competition, Cuomo’s office said. 

Genius NY stands for Growing ENtrepreneurs & Innovators in UpState New York.

The state describes the Genius NY program as the “world’s largest” business competition focused on unmanned systems, cross-connected platforms, and other technology-based sectors. 

About Genius NY 

The year-long, business accelerator awarded a total of $3 million to the five finalist teams at its virtual finals event during which the five teams pitched their business plans to a panel of eight judges. Following the pitches, all five competitors were awarded one of five investments. 

“The Genius NY investments further enable this year’s teams to continue accelerating their growth in Central New York,” said Robert M. Simpson, president and CEO of CenterState CEO.

Genius NY participants are required to operate their business in Central New York for at least one year.

Despite the COVID-19 pandemic, Genius NY has continued to offer programming and resources to current and past participants. Over the last four months, teams have been able to hire local interns, continue to test the market, and even secure follow-on funding. The program — which CenterState CEO’s business incubator administers — also offers incubator space, company resources, programming, and mentoring.