Stories of Technology, Innovation, & Entrepreneurship in the Southeast

Event organizer, General Partner of Market Square Ventures (MSV) and 121 Tech Hub co-founder Brandon Bruce opened the pitch event with a simple exercise: raise your hand if you’re from Knoxville. A lot of hands went up. He then asked the crowd to raise their hand if they were from Tennessee. Still plenty of hands. Finally, he asked for a show of hands on who had traveled from outside the state. Hands still went up across the room. It was a moment that signaled this event had long been craved, both by locals and those nearby.

Before the founders took the stage to pitch, Bruce credited the partners who made this first-of-its-kind event in Knoxville possible: 121 Tech Hub, Innovation Crossroads at Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL), LaunchTN, MSV, One Knoxville SC, CGI, Knoxville Entrepreneur Center (KEC), PYA Accountants & Advisors and the Tennessee Advanced Energy Business Council (TAEBC).

Lights, cameras, pitch!

Bruce then opened up the floor to a total of 17 founders to pitch their ventures. Each founder had three minutes to win over MSV.

• Vamo Delivery | Claire Larsen | Chattanooga: Larsen is solving cold-chain last-mile logistics with a network of trusted local drivers. Vamo handles deliveries for meal prep, frozen goods, agriculture, pharma and e-commerce, promising to cut shipping costs by 50%. The company is projecting $5 million in gross revenue and is raising a $500,000 seed round.
• EVRCool | Josh Roby | Knoxville: A recent double winner at the PYA Ballard Innovation Award, EVRCool builds industrial chiller technology. Launched in 2023, the company has reached $2.6 million in revenue and is closing a $3.5 million round with $3.2 million already committed. Later this year, the company kicks off its second-generation technology and IP initiatives, with medical imaging as a newly targeted market. Roby had a line for the crowd: if you’re going to invest in AI today, invest here first to support AI sustainably.
• Daily Crunch | Laura Orley | Nashville: Orley is bringing a patented crunch to the $15 billion healthy snacks market. Daily Crunch almonds achieve a chip-like texture through a proprietary process, landing squarely in the high-protein snack trend. The company is raising a $2.5 million round, with $1.7 million committed and a June close targeted.
• Whitecoat Technologies | Liam Woodard | Franklin: Founded in 2022, Whitecoat is building a one-stop clinical education hub under the tagline “Known Learner to Known Hire.” The company signed its first client in 2025, is projecting $1 million in revenue this year and is raising a $2.5 million Series A.

• Voltwing Energy | Don DeRosa | Knoxville: A subsidiary of Eonix Energy, Voltwing is working on battery chemistry for defense and commercial use. DeRosa grounded his pitch in a striking comparison: Ukraine produces more drones in a single day than the U.S. manufactures in a month. Just 14 days into this new product line, the company is raising a $1.5 million seed round and has already secured a $1.7 million Department of Defense contract.
• Shappi | Karla Valdivieso | Chattanooga: Building out of the Brickyard, Valdivieso is tackling cross-border e-commerce for Latin America, specifically Ecuador, Colombia, Chile and Peru. Shappi provides free U.S. locker addresses, QA-checks packages and connects purchases to a verified traveler network of more than 3,000 flight attendants and pilots who deliver goods on their existing trips, bypassing customs and import taxes. An estimated $28 billion moves through suitcases annually. The company is raising a $2.5 million seed round.
• B Roll Bank | Jonathan Halley | Knoxville: Halley knows wasted footage firsthand as the founder of Big Slate Media. B Roll Bank is a digital asset manager built for production companies, turning unused shoot footage into searchable, monetized assets. A new AI-powered search feature allows fully brand-customized, on-premise search across proprietary data. Clayton Homes is a signed client, a distribution partner launches in October and the company is raising a pre-seed round.
• Scaled Atomics, Inc. | Richard Lawson | Oak Ridge: Lawson, who has a military background, saw firsthand that soldiers die defending fuel supply lines. His company’s MN-350 is a deployable small modular reactor (SMR) built for the Department of Defense, using TRISO fuel developed locally with University of Tennessee and Oak Ridge talent. Civil applications, including backup power for hospitals, are also on the roadmap.

• Aquafer Technologies | Marton Krivan | Knoxville: The team is developing next-generation filtration technology to remove PFAS from water. The company is raising a $1.2 million seed round. Krivan’s pitch closed with a goal: make East Tennessee the national leader in this technology.
• Shift Thermal | Mitchell Ishmael | Oak Ridge: Founded in 2017, Shift Thermal makes thermal energy storage assets for HVAC systems. With 100 gigawatts of data center growth projected by 2030, the company sees significant market opportunity ahead and is positioned for a technology exit.
• Caddis Technologies | Kendall Byrd | Ohio: The company participated in the 2025 Spark Cleantech Accelerator. Byrd’s aquatic drone provides real-time monitoring, prevention and treatment for algae toxins in a $14.4 billion market. The company is raising a $1.5 million round, and by the time he pitched, had already gone under contract to hit that target.
• CE Tools | Dan Lemcke | Pulaski: A recent third-place-winner at the 2026 PYA Ballard Innovation Award, CE Tools makes contractor-engineered tools for the skilled trades. For every tradesperson who exits the field, the industry needs two to three replacements, and the knowledge gap that creates is not sustainable. Products are already on Amazon and at Ace Hardware to streamline contractors’ day-to-day activities, but the big news is a newly signed deal with O’Reilly Auto Parts placing products in 6,500 stores, which will take monthly revenue to what the company previously achieved in an entire year.

• VeriQual | Bryan Crosby | Knoxville: Crosby is building a new standard for verifying self-employed income, addressing a persistent gap in financial services for gig workers and independent contractors. His platform assists both borrowers and lenders speed up a manual process.
• ApexAI | Maged Shoman | Knoxville: Shoman’s AI assistant helps users with navigation, discovery, reading and description for the 2.2 billion people worldwide with visual impairments. His inspiration was personal: a vision-impaired family member.
• TeachCraft | Joel Smith | Maryville: Smith built an AI-powered, project-based learning platform for K-12 students. He has signed customers across seven states and Australia, with student scores improving 20-40%. He is raising a $500,000 seed round and has a lead investor committed.
• EndoLimb Orthoplastic Solutions | Dustin Crouch | Knoxville: Crouch is developing the first skin-covered prosthetic designed to restore full thumb function. Loss of a thumb equals a 40% loss of hand function, and existing prosthetics and surgeries have not fully solved that. The device has been validated in animal and two cadaver studies. The company is targeting a $2 million seed round in 2027, with specialty hand clinic partnerships to follow.
• TerraSYNC | Wesley Pitts | Knoxville: Another recent PYA Ballard Innovation Award placer, TerraSYNC is automating grounds maintenance by connecting equipment to a software platform. The company is on track for $700,000 in revenue this year and is raising a $900,000 to $1.5 million seed round.

Who won?

With this many strong pitches, MSV’s investment decision is still to come. Bruce said his team plans to take in time to fully enjoy the energy from the evening and then deliberate and make their awards. But he was confident MSV would invest at least $100,000, possibly more, to multiple companies given the caliber of what they saw. We will have more on their picks as that news develops.

Read more about LEEP Demo Day here.

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