Stories of Technology, Innovation, & Entrepreneurship in the Southeast

Knoxville Business News Tennessee Mountain Scenery Background
July 29, 2024 | Tom Ballard

Southeast Shoutouts | Dig South and Harbor Entrepreneur Center hosting two events in Charleston in late September

Tampa Bay Wave Inc. has announced the selection of 15 innovative companies for the inaugural 2024 HealthTech|X Accelerator.

From Charleston, SC:

Dig South and the Harbor Entrepreneur Center (HEC) are partnering to host Launchfest on the afternoon of September 27,  followed by HEC’s Founders’ Ball.

The 2 to 5:30 p.m. EDT Launchfest is free to attend, but is capped at 500 participants. It will include:

  • Pitch Battle: Watch entrepreneurs pitch their groundbreaking ideas in a Shark Tank-style competition, with $5000 in prizes up for grabs.
  • Exhibitors & Demonstrations: Discover innovative products and services from local businesses.
  • Workshops: Participate in business and marketing workshops designed to help your venture succeed.
  • Food Trucks & Cash Bar: Enjoy delicious food and refreshing beverages.
  • Live Music & Games: Experience live entertainment and fun activities throughout the afternoon.

At 5:30 p.m., the festivities shift to the separately ticketed Founders’ Ball that will celebrate the achievements of the Lowcountry’s business community with a night of food, beverages, live entertainment, and surprises. The “Entrepreneur of the Year” award will also be presented.

From Huntsville, AL:

Five Huntsville-based companies have been selected to participate in Huntsville’s gBETA start-up accelerator program.

A’SHI SKINCheckMySpotHappi PappiIntrinsic Methods and iXpressGenes were selected to participate in the program, powered by national venture capital firm gener8tor, which supports start-ups, workers, employers, artists, and musicians across race, place, and gender. The gBETA Huntsville program is a seven-week accelerator designed to help start-ups secure investment opportunities. Participants receive intensive coaching and access to gener8tor’s extensive network of mentors, customers, corporate partners, and investors.

Selected through a competitive recruitment process, these five companies were chosen for their growth potential and investor readiness.

From Wilmington, NC:

Lumos Technologies Inc., an innovative small business data analytics company delivering actionable insights, advisory services, and artificial intelligence (AI)-driven technologies with safety and soundness in mind, has announced a multimillion dollar seed round.

Backed by expert financial literacy, Lumos provides financial institutions with standardized and automated metrics, powerful credit decisioning models, and efficient processes with rich, curated data and decades of financial institution literacy at the heart of it all.

With a mission to increase small businesses’ access to capital, Lumos provides products and services to financial institutions that improve lending efficiency and portfolio risk management while minimizing risk with predictive credit performance models.

The infusion of fresh seed capital brings additional strategic shareholders to the Lumos team, allows Lumos to expand its market presence, and will accelerate the evolution and development of its products.

From Tampa, FL:

Tampa Bay Wave Inc. has announced the selection of 15 innovative companies for the inaugural 2024 HealthTech|X Accelerator. The initiative is made possible through a generous grant from the U.S. Economic Development Administration (EDA) and partial sponsorship from The Florida High Tech Corridor, USF Research & Innovation, the national law firm Foley & Lardner, and Levo Health.

Additional support is provided by Thoropass and RevStar. The accelerator is also a collaborative effort with the University of South Florida (USF) Health Center for Advanced Medical Learning and Simulation (CAMLS).

Three of the 15 participants are from other countries, while a dozen are from the U.S. They include military veterans from both the Army and the Air Force, alumni from MiT, Stanford, University of Pennsylvania, Northwestern, University of California Berkeley, Georgia Tech, West Point, Notre Dame, Florida International University, Florida State, and USF as well as alumni from Y Combinator and Techstars and innovation programs at Google and Nvidia.

From Durham, NC:

Triangle Inno reports that an AI-powered healthcare firm in Durham is one of just five start-up companies nationwide selected for an underrepresented founders cohort.

CliniSpan Health has received a $100,000 investment from gener8tor and Allianz Life as part of their Minneapolis-St. Paul (MSP) Equity Accelerator program. The company, which offers a software platform for social media influencers to help people of color and underserved groups access clinical studies, will now participate in an intensive 12-week program with other minority-led start-ups.

The MSP Equity Accelerator program will include one-on-one coaching, mentorship-driven programming and connections to the gener8tor network of mentors and investors, according to a press release. There were 312 applicants nationwide, with just five selected based on their investor readiness, growth potential and strategic alignment with the Minnesota market — where the two investors are based.

From Orlando, FL:

It was just a year ago that David Adelson, then Chief Innovation Officer with the Orlando Economic Partnership, stepped away from that role to launch Innovate Orlando. The goal was to transform the city into a global tech hub.

Now, 12 months later, he has announced that he will retire from the position after his successor is named. Adelson first made his mark in the tech sector from 2008 to 2020 as a Founder and C-level leader at Intelity, a global guest experience and Software-as-a-Service management platform for the hospitality industry.



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