Market Square Ventures announces a myriad of new investments into East Tennessee companies
The five new portfolio companies are all seeing significant momentum.
Market Square Ventures (MSV), Knoxville’s newest venture fund, supporting early-stage companies positioned for growth, has announced five new investments. This brings the VC firm’s portfolio up to sixteen companies.
Brandon Bruce and John Bruck, the Co-Founders and two of the five General Partners, shared their excitement for the latest round of investments, some of which teknovation.biz readers will be familiar with.
Blank Beauty
After months of consideration and momentum, MSV joined an investment in Blank Beauty, which is based in Knoxville. The MSV investment joins an overprescribed Series A raise for Blank Beauty. Other investors include Epson, RPM, and Knoxville’s own Three Roots Capital LLC.
Blank Beauty is transforming the beauty industry, starting with nail polish. The company is already running pilots with several Walmart stores with their robot called “Huey,” and will be ramping up e-commerce with the arrival of a new “Dolly” robot this summer.
The founder, Charles Brandon, relocated with his team from Memphis, in large part to be closer to Ben Nibali’s team at APTUS DesignWorks. They worked together to develop Huey.
“Their team is moving fast, and their energy is contagious,” Bruce shared. “We’re excited to be in on this one.”
Read the latest article about Blank Beauty’s Series A.
MenuData
Chattanooga-based MenuData has created a trend discovery and innovation platform for the food industry. Their goal is to help clients stay ahead in the world of food and beverage trends. By leveraging AI, they are helping clients discover flavors, innovate their menus, and bring in new customers in real time.
Several name-brand restaurants have already jumped on board to take advantage of MenuData’s proprietary dataset of menu and ingredient trends that power its AI model.
MenuData is also a Brickyard portfolio company. The Founder and Chief Executive Officer is Sunny Khamkar.
Green Llama
Green Llama is based in Johnson City, and they produce earth-conscious, safe, and effective dishwasher tablets, laundry powder, and all-purpose cleaning solutions.
The founders, Kay Baker and Dr. Matt Keasey, have an impressive combination scientific expertise and go-to-market grit that has led to impressive early market traction. 250 stores already carry Green Llama products, including the online Good Store, founded by Hank and John Green.
Even the Green Llama’s shipping model reflects its sustainability mission. Liquid cleaning solutions are mostly water, which makes them heavy and inefficient to ship. By eliminating water from the product until it reaches the consumer, Green Llama slashes its emissions—and its costs.
Read the latest article about Green Llama.
Adele Health
Nashville-based Adele Health has invented a proprietary all-in-one glucose monitor with key advantages over incumbent devices. Patients with diabetes need an all-in-one platform that tests glucose, A1c, ketones, and more. The Founder, Mark Norton comes with great hardware/software experience at Apple and is currently working toward FDA approval of his device.
Whitecoat
MSV also invested in Nashville-based Whitecoat, which makes a one-stop clinical education hub for nursing schools and medical schools. From rotation management to competency tracking, Whitecoat has built out a complete platform that has already gotten the attention of big schools.
They have empowered students to quickly and easily gather the feedback they need while on clinical rotation without burdening preceptors and clinical instructors (C.I.s) with countless assessment requests in their inboxes. Instructors can now offer entrustment-based feedback in the moment with just a few simple clicks, right from their phone, all without logging in!
The company is founded by Liam Woodard.
Read the latest article about Whitecoat.
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