Stories of Technology, Innovation, & Entrepreneurship in the Southeast

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October 11, 2021 | Tom Ballard

Upcoming “Startup Week CHA” tops our “News & Notes”

“Startup Week CHA” 2021 will kick-off at 12 noon next Monday with a fireside chat at Waterhouse Pavilion at Miller Plaza. It will be a conversation with James Chapman, a Serial Entrepreneur who spent years contributing to the Chattanooga ecosystem before taking his talents to Detroit. He’s the Founder and Chief Executive Officer of Plain Sight, a social app that allows users to make the right business connections at events and workspaces. Plain Sight was recently featured as Apple’s App of the Day. Chapman spent the bulk of his career providing access to capital and networking opportunities. In 2015, he partnered with former Chattanooga nonprofit Causeway to launch an evening workspace for side-hustlers, called Workaholics. Later, he moved to start “Detroit Demo Day,” which has now provided more than $5 million in funding to small businesses throughout the City of Detroit. The full agenda for the week and a link to registration can be found here.

Here are new items from the region or about items that should be of interest.

  • Audrey Depelteau, Director of the East Tennessee State University Innovation Lab, has been selected to participate in the 2021-22 class of the Appalachian Leadership Institute (ALI) of the Appalachian Regional Commission (ARC). As an ALI Fellow, she will participate in an extensive, nine-month series of skill-building seminars featuring regional experts, peer-to-peer learning and case study analysis. The program begins virtually in October and culminates with the Class of 2021-22’s graduation in July 2022. ALI is a comprehensive regional leadership training program developed by ARC in partnership with the University of Tennessee, Knoxville and its Howard H. Baker Jr. Center for Public Policy; Tuskegee University; and Collective Impact. More information about ALI can be found here.
  • Two Nashville companies have announced capital rasises. Thyme Care, a provider of oncology care management solutions, has raised $22 million in funding. The round was led by Andreessen Horowitz, AlleyCorp, and Frist Cressey Ventures with participation from Casdin Capital and Bessemer. The company intends to use the funds to accelerate development of its technology and advance partnerships with oncologists, health plans, employers, and risk-based entities. And, Ambition, a leader in sales coaching and gamification, secured $15.5m in Series B funding. The round was led by Primus Capital, and the company intends to use the funds to continue to expand operations, its development efforts and its business reach.
  • Nth Cycle, the metal processing and recycling technology company that was a participant in Cohort 2 if the “Innovation Crossroads” program operated by Oak Ridge National Laboratory, has announced that Edward Meir, a commodities analyst and President of the Commodity Research Group in Connecticut, will join its Board of Directors.
  • Well, it’s not in our region, but the event is of interest to start-ups in our area. Applications for the 2021 “SXSW Pitch” event, set for March 12 and 13 at the Hilton Austin Downtown in Austin, are now open. Information about eligibility requirements and important deadlines can be found here. The pitch event is part of the South By Southwest conference that runs March 11-20.

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