Michigan's AI Gaming Bet: Adrenaline Interactive's $1M Win

LANSING, MI – April 08, 2026 – In a high-stakes finale reminiscent of a televised pitch show, Ann Arbor-based startup Adrenaline Interactive secured a $1 million investment, becoming the grand prize winner of the 2026 PitchMI Championship. The event, held at Grewal Hall in Lansing, saw Governor Gretchen Whitmer join the Michigan Economic Development Corporation (MEDC) and the Michigan State University (MSU) Research Foundation in celebrating the culmination of a statewide search for Michigan’s most promising new companies.

Adrenaline Interactive, a firm specializing in artificial intelligence-driven in-game advertising, emerged victorious from a field of four finalists. The win brings the company's total prize money from the PitchMI competition series to $1.375 million, providing a significant capital injection to scale its innovative technology.

“Winning feels surreal. To be honest, I still don't really believe that I won, because the other companies were just so phenomenal,” said Max Albert, the company's founder and CEO. He expressed his gratitude for sharing the stage with the other finalists, adding, “this check is so meaningful to help us bring back advertising dollars to the state of Michigan.”

The New Frontier of Advertising

Adrenaline Interactive is tackling one of modern marketing's most significant challenges: authentically reaching Gen Z. The company's solution lies within the virtual worlds where this generation spends a vast amount of its leisure time.

“Gen Z plays more video games in their free time than any other leisure activity. More than streaming, more than social media,” Albert explained. “Ads in video games today are frustrating to the player: pop up ads and billboard ads that don't stylistically look like they belong.”

His company's platform, Brand Fusion AI, aims to replace these intrusive formats with seamless, dynamic product placements inside popular titles like Fortnite and Roblox. The technology ingests a brand's existing media assets and uses AI to generate in-game elements—from interactive items to environmental textures—that feel native to the game's aesthetic and gameplay. This programmatic approach automates a process that has historically been manual, expensive, and slow, allowing campaigns to launch in weeks instead of months.

The market potential is substantial. The global in-game advertising market was valued at over $11 billion in 2025 and is projected by some analysts to exceed $20 billion by 2030. Adrenaline Interactive's focus on AI-powered, scalable solutions for user-generated content platforms places it at the intersection of several high-growth trends. By providing a real-time analytics dashboard to track engagement and measure return on investment, the platform directly addresses the advertising industry's demand for accountability and performance metrics.

Fueling Michigan's Startup Renaissance

Adrenaline Interactive’s victory is a spotlight moment for a much broader strategy to cultivate a thriving, innovation-driven economy in Michigan. PitchMI, organized by the MEDC and the MSU Research Foundation, is a cornerstone of this effort, designed to provide serious capital and visibility to homegrown startups.

“Michigan is a place where big ideas come to life, and today’s PitchMI Championship is yet another example of how Michigan is creating the jobs of the future,” said Governor Whitmer. “By investing in our homegrown entrepreneurs, we are creating high-tech jobs and ensuring Michigan remains the best place in the world to innovate.”

The 2025-2026 competition cycle, which drew 375 applications from over 100 communities, awarded more than $2.3 million in investment capital. The journey to the finals included four regional events focused on key growth sectors, with winners including Grand Rapids-based BedConnect (Healthcare), Traverse City's Electric Outdoors, Inc. (Cleantech), and Detroit's General Orbit (Mobility & Defense).

This competition is just one piece of a larger support infrastructure. State initiatives like the new $60 million Michigan Innovation Fund aim to provide critical early-stage funding, while a recently enacted R&D tax credit offers further incentives for companies to innovate within the state. These programs have demonstrated remarkable efficacy; according to the MEDC, for every $1 of state investment in entrepreneurship, founders have successfully leveraged approximately $85 from other sources.

“Adrenaline Interactive, and all the PitchMI finalists, represent the kind of companies Michigan wants to elevate and celebrate more: ambitious, high-growth, and built by founders with the talent and drive to scale,” said Ben Marchionna, Chief Innovation Ecosystem Officer at the MEDC.

The Entrepreneur's Journey to a Million-Dollar Check

For CEO Max Albert, the win is a milestone on a journey that began long before he stepped onto the PitchMI stage. An alumnus of the University of Michigan, where he captained the school’s Hearthstone esports team to a national championship, Albert has a deep, personal understanding of the gaming world. He founded Adrenaline Interactive in 2024, building on prior entrepreneurial experience that included creating two successful mobile sports games.

His leadership team reflects a potent mix of industry expertise. Chief Operating Officer Shawn Walter brings experience from his former role as Director of Programmatic Advertising for Nike, while Chief Technology Officer Bryce Miles previously built and sold a software company. This combination of gaming passion, ad-tech knowledge, and proven software development experience provides a strong foundation for the company's ambitious goals.

The path was also paved with support from the very ecosystem that PitchMI celebrates. Adrenaline Interactive previously received backing from the Michigan Rise Pre-seed Fund and eLab, both of which are connected to the MEDC's broader venture capital initiatives. This illustrates the state's model of providing layered support to guide startups from their earliest stages toward significant growth.

As the company prepares to deploy its new capital, the vision remains clear. It's about building the first truly authentic and scalable solution for in-game advertising, transforming a marketing channel from a player annoyance into an integrated part of the experience. All four championship finalists, including Adrenaline Interactive, will become part of the Michigan Rise investment portfolio, ensuring continued support.

“Our goal is to create a seamless pathway for founders to move from early traction to global scale without ever having to leave Michigan,” said David Washburn, CEO of the MSU Research Foundation. The state is betting that with continued investment and support, the next generation of world-changing companies will not only start in Michigan but will choose to grow and thrive there as well.