CivStart Names 11 Startups for GovTech Summit

CivStart has selected 11 startups to pitch at State of GovTech 2026, its seventh annual national govtech summit in Montgomery County, Maryland. The event takes place September 9-10 at the Silver Spring Civic Building and is expected to draw more than 200 attendees. The selected companies will pitch live to judges from local government, county technology leadership, and the govtech investment community. Registration is free for government employees.

Eleven Companies Selected

The cohort covers public-sector tools for permitting, public safety, emergency management, grant administration, constituent services, and civic infrastructure finance. The companies come from locations across the United States, while Labrynth operates across the United States, Australia, the European Union, and the United Kingdom.

Appellate, based in Bentonville, Arkansas, offers a system of record for police towing and vehicle custody. Washington, D.C.-based Ayla provides public-sector recruiting on a live government labor-market data engine, while CODICE offers a no-code platform for permitting, licensing, and inspections.

Westminster, Maryland-based Gostly provides a real-time command center for urban infrastructure. Grantwell, from Los Angeles, offers AI grant management across the full lifecycle, and Wake Forest, North Carolina-based Green Stream Technologies provides flood and weather early warning systems.

The remaining cohort includes Seattle-based Govstream, which provides AI-driven permitting intake; Labrynth, which offers AI-native regulatory intelligence for permitting; and ManyBond, which provides crowdfinancing for community-supported local investment.

Also selected are Readyly, a Connecticut company offering agentic AI to resolve resident inquiries across every channel, and Bellevue, Washington-based Samora AI, which provides multilingual voice AI for citizen information lines.

Judging Panel

The judging panel includes Hillary Orr, Deputy Director of Transportation for the City of Alexandria, Virginia; Rita Reynolds, Director of Public Sector at CAI; Thao Hill, Co-Founder and CEO of Govinity; Tom Spenger, CEO of SOVRA; and Eyal Feder-Levy, CEO of Zencity.

Each startup will pitch on the main stage during the two-day summit.

Working Session Agenda

The summit agenda centers on working sessions rather than passive programming. Attendees will draft AI use policies, run live cybersecurity breach simulations, and bring unresolved problems from their jurisdictions to work through with peers.

CivStart expects attendees to be split roughly evenly between public-sector leaders and entrepreneurs, investors, and industry practitioners serving government. The Silver Spring Civic Building sits directly on the Washington Metro.

September Event Details

State of GovTech 2026 runs September 9-10 in Silver Spring, Maryland. Government employees can register at no cost, and the full agenda is available through the event website.