By Tom Ballard, Chief Alliance Officer, PYA A little more than two years ago, we posted this article on teknovation.biz where Michael Garrabrant said, “We can see a light at the end of the tunnel, but we still have a lot of work to do.” Fast forward a little more…

Three Northeast Tennessee organizations made a major declaration yesterday for a region frequently referred to as the Appalachian Highlands. The Sync Space Entrepreneur Center, East Tennessee State University’s Research Corporation, and TSG Innovation Group have announced a campaign called “Aim High in the Appalachian Highlands” that is focused on branding…

A start-up focused on bringing more dignity to foster children and another than is creating “beautiful home goods out of 100 percent recycled materials” captured first place in their respective categories in yesterday’s “Pitch for Good” event. Organized and hosted by the Nashville Entrepreneur Center (NEC) with support from Dell…

The University of California (UC) Berkeley has announced the launch of the Life Sciences Entrepreneurship Center (LSEC), making it the latest addition to the school’s innovation and entrepreneurship ecosystem. Made possible by a gift from an alumni couple along with a donation from a UC Berkeley Professor and his wife, the…

This is probably good news for those early stage start-ups that are typically found in much of Tennessee. In a recent article in Crunchbase News, the author notes that firms that usually invest in growth equity are now competing with more traditional venture funds by investing more money into start-ups…

“The worst kind of start-up isn’t the one that fails, it’s the one that stagnates. In start-up and small business, if you’re not growing, you’re dying. Maybe not today, maybe not tomorrow, but probably when you least expect it.” Those words and the lessons he’s learned over the years, including…

Crunchbase data indicate that Black start-up entrepreneurs are smashing venture funding records this year. In the first half of 2021, Black founders raised nearly $1.8 billion, a more than four-fold increase over capital raised in the same time period last year. According to Crunchbase’s calculations, Black Founders raised $400 million in the first six months of…

By Tom Ballard, Chief Alliance Officer, PYA The five collaborators that organized and supported the 2021 edition of the “AgLaunch Virtual Bootcamp” brought the curtain down on the program at an event on Tuesday night where most of the seven participating companies touched on a recurring theme – sustainability and…

Tennessee ranked #15 in WalletHub’s latest analysis of best states in which to start a business. According to the report, the Volunteer State placed #7 in terms of business environment which was weighted at 50 percent of the total points awarded. The other two categories each accounted for 25 percent…

Venture-backed start-ups are buying other start-ups at the fastest pace in at least a decade, according to Crunchbase as detailed in this article. Since the beginning of the year, there have been at least 530 acquisitions of venture-backed U.S.-based companies by other private companies. Per Crunchbase data, 268 of those acquisitions…