Huntington Analytics and Advantage Valley Launch AI Assistant Pilot for West Virginia Small Businesses
Focus Forward project supported by $10,000 in AWS promotional credits and $5,000 in Claude Worthington Benedum Foundation grant funding
HUNTINGTON, W.Va. July 23, 2026. Huntington Analytics and Advantage Valley, Inc. are partnering to launch a Claude-powered AI executive assistant pilot designed to help West Virginia small-business owners reduce administrative demands and operate more efficiently.
Described as “Minds and Machines applied to Main Street,” the initiative will provide five to eight small businesses in Advantage Valley’s nine-county Charleston–Huntington metro region with access to a Claude-powered AI executive assistant.
The assistant will help participating businesses manage routine tasks such as email organization, calendar coordination, note-taking, invoice drafting, outcome reporting and other day-to-day administrative responsibilities. Businesses representing a variety of industries and stages of growth will be considered for the pilot.
Advantage Valley’s FASTER WV entrepreneurship program is working with Huntington Analytics to identify and select participating businesses from Boone, Cabell, Clay, Jackson, Kanawha, Lincoln, Mason, Putnam and Wayne counties.
The pilot will allow participating entrepreneurs to explore how artificial intelligence can save time, improve organization and help business owners focus more attention on customers, operations and growth.
Huntington Analytics is an innovative West Virginia startup founded by Edward Yo that recently participated in the Summer 2026 cohort of gBETA at Marshall University’s Brad D. Smith Schools of Business iCenter.
The AI executive assistant pilot is supported by $10,000 in Amazon Web Services promotional credits and $5,000 in grant funding from the Claude Worthington Benedum Foundation through the Focus Forward initiative.
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Huntington Analytics was founded in Huntington in January 2026 and develops data and market research tools for the next generation of media and sentiment analysis. Its technology analyzes content across a growing set of psychological dimensions, measuring the emotions and reactions behind the data—not simply the volume of engagement—so creators and media companies can better understand the impact of what they publish.
Advantage Valley, Inc. is a regional economic development organization whose mission is to grow economic opportunity in the Charleston-Huntington Metro Area by increasing investment in the region, leveraging resources, and building collaboration among community stakeholders.