Stories of Technology, Innovation, & Entrepreneurship in the Southeast

Today’s Question: As you reflect back on 2024, what surprised you the most in terms of positive developments and what occurred that you were not expecting?

1. Brandon Bruce, Managing Partner, Market Square Ventures: The biggest positive development for Market Square Ventures in 2024 was launching a new fund here in Knoxville and investing in nine start-ups.
2. Eric Dobson, Managing Partner at Community Equity Partners and Sheltowee Venture Fund II: Deal flow did not slow down despite a tragically bad environment for raising capital. Our portfolio continued to mature, and many have moved into the position to exit in 2025. I was happy to see the 121 Tech Hub building open and fill to capacity seemingly overnight. And we were invited into a potential IPO (Initial Public Offering) deal that should mature in the next 60 days. What we are learning about “small cap” IPO’s we expect to apply here in the future.
3. Tony Lettich, Managing Director of The Angel Roundtable: The speed of the proliferation of artificial intelligence (AI) deployment throughout the technology sector and across all industry sector applications has significantly exceeded our expectations despite our anticipation of high levels of interest and the ultimate adaptation due to its potential. This momentum has been particularly surprising due to the high costs of HPC / machine learning / AI training, potential shortages of AI skilled / trained developers, and a potential lack of electrical power and microchips to support this development in the intermediate to long term. This has resulted in investors needing to be much more discriminating as they conduct their diligence on technology factors, as the complexity of the startup technology environment has become significantly more complex.
4. Travis Manasco, MD, Principal, Solas BioVentures: The reopening of the IPO window provided a much-needed boost to the biotech industry. Strong data is being rewarded in the public markets, and well-positioned private companies now have viable opportunities to go public. The rise in private biotech acquisitions also signals that strategic buyers remain actively engaged in pursuing deals. With a closed IPO window, private funding or acquisition were often the only pathways for advancement, making this shift a welcome change for the industry. The nomination of Robert F. Kennedy Jr. for Secretary of Health and Human Services was unexpected. While we at Solas strongly support initiatives promoting healthy lifestyles and the vision of “making America healthy again,” his past anti-vaccine rhetoric raises concerns about his perspective on the biotech sector. In contrast, the nomination of Dr. Marty Makary to lead the FDA (Food and Drug Administration) is a highly encouraging development. Dr. Makary is an insightful, principled leader, and his book, The Price We Pay: What Broke American Health Care – and How to Fix It, should be required reading for anyone invested in improving healthcare.
5. Grady Vanderhoofven, Founder and Chief Executive Officer at Three Roots Capital: While many people will debate whether the developments were positive or negative, from my perspective, one of the most surprising developments was how the Presidential campaign and election played out, and the spillover effects on the Congressional elections. I did not foresee that process evolving the way it did. The results of that process and the outcome of the election will be hugely consequential from an economic perspective and from a political perspective. I just came back from a multi-day trip to DC, and I am 100 percent confident that the legislative and policy priorities of the incoming Congress and Administration are different than what they might have been had the election played out differently than it did.
6. Ken Woody, President, Innova Memphis: The biggest surprise for me this year has been the bank credit tightening, purportedly due to regulators’ concerns on bank’s being overleveraged due to higher risk loans post-pandemic. We have multiple companies who have lines of credit with banks, and they are now being told the terms are changing, or their notes are being called. It puts a lot of pressure on companies and investors.

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