By Tom Ballard, Chief Alliance Officer, PYA It’s always good news when we can end a week with a report on a local company that has secured investment capital, and it’s even better when the lead investor is a Knoxville-based fund manager. Two parts of the Sheltowee organization – the

By Tom Ballard, Chief Alliance Officer, PYA The Wall Street Journal hosted a three-day series this week under the banner of “The Future of Everything Festival.” As a personal subscriber, I had the opportunity to attend the virtual sessions for free and, while I was not able to watch many

The Tennessee Valley Federal Credit Union (TVFCU) has announced details for its “Fourth Annual Idea Leap Grant” program where small businesses in the Chattanooga area can vie to win a top prize of $21,000. The competition, which totals $58,000 in awards, is open to businesses in TVFCU’s 13-county service area

The headline captured our attention. It read as follows: “How to grow your network before you need to raise money.” As we dug into the post from Atlanta Tech Village and ultimately from Silicon Valley Bank, the message was clear and the advice very succinct. “Raising money for your seed

A new publication from the Kauffman Foundation examines the demographics of today’s entrepreneurs. Among the findings are these: In 2020, about 4 in 10 new entrepreneurs were women, consistent with recent years but reflecting an overall larger gap since 1996. In 2020, more than half of new entrepreneurs were white

Venture Partners at CU Boulder, the technology-commercialization arm of the University of Colorado Boulder, has started a new accelerator to commercialize COVID-19- related research. The “Pandemic Hyper Accelerator for Science and Technology” (PHAST) will work to commercialize diagnostics, environmental sensors, and supply chain innovations, according to an article posted on

(EDITOR’S NOTE: This is the final article in a two-part series that is also part of an ongoing spotlight on some of the Knoxville-Oak Ridge region’s entrepreneurial heroes. This article and the first one in the series focused on Sam Weaver, President and Chief Executive Officer of Proton Power Inc.

Crunchbase Daily reports that global venture funding hit $48 billion in April. While that’s slightly below March’s record-setting level, it’s still the second-highest total ever, per Crunchbase data. Roughly two new unicorns were minted each workday as mega-sized rounds proliferated and big exits bolstered momentum. Click here to read more.

Georgia State University’s Entrepreneurship and Innovation Institute (ENI) was the only entrepreneurship center to take home two awards during the recent annual “International Conference on Business Incubation.” Both recognitions came as a result on ENI’s work supporting underrepresented entrepreneurs. They were: “Entrepreneurship Center of the Year Award” in the sector focused

The District of Columbia and its Economic Partnership (WDCEP) are joining with J&J Innovation to launch a new initiative named the “QuickFire Challenge” focused on the District. The focus is on providing grants to start-ups working to address chronic health care challenges faced in underserved DC communities. According to this