Startups Shine at 2026 TENWEST Festival

By Tyler McCusker

TENWEST, the largest entrepreneurship and creativity festival in the Southwest, showcased breakthrough companies that highlight the vibrant startup ecosystem of the community.

The event, organized for the past 11 years by Startup Tucson, was held in late March at various venues downtown. It featured more than 60 sessions, a keynote from Entrepreneur magazine Editor-In-Chief Jason Feifer, and the culminating IdeaFunding pitch competition.

“TENWEST is important to give entrepreneurs and creatives a place to come together, but more broadly it’s important to showcase the startup ecosystem in Southern Arizona,” said Liz Pocock, CEO of Startup Tucson. “IdeaFunding in particular is the best of the best in early-stage entrepreneurs.” 

Companies competed throughout the festival on two tracks, “Tech Startup” and “Creative and Community,” with the winning teams gaining the opportunity to pitch for a live audience at the Rialto with major prize money on the line.

The competition narrowed a field of 20 daytime finalists down to six teams for the Main Stage Showcase. Ultimately, CarbeniumTec won the $10,000 Catalyst Award, Intelligent Clinical Systems won the $10,000 Vision Award, and PhytoCentric Solutions was awarded the Tech Launch Arizona $1,000 Liftoff Prize. 

CarbeniumTec is a clean-energy startup developing metal-free, organic batteries for sustainable, long-duration energy storage. 

“CarbeniumTec is really exciting because this is their second or third time applying. They have gone through various stages of the group but never made it to the main stage before,” said Pocock. 

Intelligent Clinical Systems makes standard storage racks at hospitals “smart” by guiding staff to exact medical supplies in seconds using light and voice commands.

Recently, the company launched an online WeFunder campaign for community members and anyone interested to be early-stage investors through crowdfunding. 

PhytoCentric Solutions has developed a way to extend food shelf-life and enhance food safety during transit without relying on synthetic chemicals.

“This was my first time pitching on a big stage in a non-academic setting, and I’m so pleased the judges and audience got it and helped support our company,” said Bibiana Law, founder of PhytoCentric. 

Both CarbeniumTec and PhytoCentric highlight one of the startup superpowers of our region: those born from innovation at the University of Arizona. The companies originated as research projects by their respective faculty founders. By providing these campus spinouts with funding and recognition, TENWEST is helping to build an engine that transitions academic breakthroughs into viable, job-creating companies, boosting our local economy.

“This year was our strongest yet of groups,” said Pocock. “In the past, we’ve had clear frontrunners, but this year, the whole competition got elevated a little bit. Choices were a lot harder for the judges.” 

Pocock added that the interest from companies in Phoenix and the region has grown each year, proving that our Southwest is a nationally competitive home for innovation. 

Another company that pitched was O2Art, which creates algae-powered air purifiers disguised as sleek art tiles for luxury building lobbies, founded by recent high school grads. The company began as a student project at The Gregory School, where they won their schoolwide pitch competition, and went on to TENWEST’s main stage. 

The company Vozariz won the $2,500 Adelante award, a special cash prize for BIPOC founders.  Vozariz is working on speech pathology technology for English-Spanish bilingual children.  

According to Pocock, there’s been a shift post-COVID for events like TENWEST that allow local entrepreneurs to come together.  

“There’s a place outside of formal education and incubators and training programs where people can come together to connect. Moving back to downtown has made it more authentic to Tucson, too,” said Pocock. 

Photo courtesy TENWEST