TechBuzz

Pactive co-founders Evan Jensen (left) and Carter Ferguson pose at a Utah gym following the launch of their gamified workout-tracking app. Photo: Evan Jensen Provo, Utah — July 16, 2026 After years of using traditional workout apps, Evan Jensen realized something: nearly all of them were good at recording workouts, but few gave users much reason to return the next day. Like millions of gym-goers, Jensen had tried the familiar routine. Log the exercises. Record the sets and reps.

LoanPro's leadership team — CEO Rhett Roberts, CTO César Olea, and Chief Product Officer Colin Terry (left to right) — pause for a portrait on the Bonneville Salt Flats during LoanPro's annual Salt Flats Summit, the company's invite-only executive forum that drew more than 200 industry leaders last year. Photo: LoanPro Farmington, Utah — July 15, 2026 As lenders race to bolt AI agents onto servicing and collections, LoanPro's approach is less about the chatbot and more about the guardrail.

Sandy, Utah — July 14, 2026 Utah entrepreneur Ryan Smith has made another high-profile venture bet. Halo Fund, the investment firm Smith co-founded with Accel partner Ryan Sweeney, has led a $70 million funding round for San Francisco fintech Flex, pushing the AI-native private banking company to a $1.2 billion valuation just six months after its previous financing. The deal underscores Smith's growing influence beyond Utah's startup ecosystem.

Tyler Small, Senior Director of the Kahlert Applied AI Institute at the June 2026 UVU + HITLAB Hackathon Orem, Utah — July 14, 2026 Utah Valley University's Digital Transformation division launched the UVU AI Gateway on July 1, a centralized platform giving every UVU employee secure access to ChatGPT, Claude, Gemini, and locally hosted open-source models in one place.

Tim Harris, CEO of SoloTruth, speaking at a Finance and Accounting expo Sandy, Utah — July 13, 2026 Every big company has ghosts on its books — forklifts that were scrapped years ago but are still being depreciated, laptops that walked out the door but are still insured, machinery that exists somewhere but nobody can say exactly where. Tim Harris, CEO and co-founder of Sandy-based SoloTruth, has built a business around hunting them down alongside co-founder Cam Cope.

Attendees of Utah's Third Quantum Roundtable, June 29, 2026, at Kiln Lehi. Back row, from left: Chris Fox, Greg Jones, Orly Alter, Craig Miller, George Rudolph, Alex Galda, Rep. Dave Shallenberger, Jefferson Moss, Ryan Camacho, Rex Stock, Aaron Starks, AJ Rasmusson, and David Wiese. Front row, from left: Sumit Parashar, Max Stitzer, Angela Smith, Pearl Sandick, Dolly Chitta, Pania Newell, and Greg Nielson.

Shootaring Canyon Mill, 48 miles south of Hanksville in Garfield County, Utah. Photo: Anfield Energy Near La Sal, Utah — July 10, 2026 Utah's uranium industry isn't simply making a comeback. It is rebuilding an ecosystem that largely disappeared for more than two decades.

Pattern Engineers Ryan Shaw, Gavin Ritchie, and Jason Wells led a hands-on, builder-focused walk through of Pattern's agentic plaform, Pi, at the Agent Showcase, a community event co-hosted by AWS Utah, Codebase, and Pattern on July 9, 2026 at Pattern's headquarters in Lehi, Utah.

Sandy, Utah — July 8, 2026 Five years ago, PassiveLogic Co-Founder and CEO Troy Harvey was trying to persuade skeptical investors that buildings could someday operate like autonomous robots. The vision was ambitious, but difficult to explain at a time when artificial intelligence was still largely associated with software. Today, the Salt Lake City company is entering a markedly different chapter.

Amy Poll Butler, VP of People Operations at Awardco, in the company's Lindon office. "We walk the walk, we talk the talk," Poll Butler said of the company's approach to recognition. Photo by Juan Escudero, UVU Kahlert Applied AI Institute Lindon, Utah — July 8, 2026 Amy Poll Butler spends her days making sure other people feel seen. Sitting down to talk about her own recent recognition, she admitted the spotlight isn't exactly her comfort zone.