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Southeast Shoutouts | Pinnacle Financial Partners and gener8tor announce inaugural cohort
Tampa General Hospital is giving its Tampa Medical and Research District a permanent home in Ybor City.
From Atlanta, GA:
gener8tor and Pinnacle Financial Partners have launched the Pinnacle Atlanta Innovation Accelerator, a new 12-week venture-backed program investing $100,000 into each of five metro Atlanta fintech start-ups. The inaugural cohort will receive capital, mentorship, and access to a national network of investors and advisors.
The accelerator is led by newly appointed Managing Director Keena Pierre, a start-up ecosystem builder and operator passionate about democratizing access to capital and opportunity.
The inaugural cohort includes five start-ups, all based in the Metro Atlanta area. They are:
- Billseye – A mobile billing app that lets service professionals instantly charge for client calls by adding a “blue button” to the phone screen.
- Blended – A financial platform that helps divorced and single-parent families automate, track, and settle shared expenses with less conflict and more clarity.
- Guala – A social point-of-sale and merchant wallet that helps micro-sellers accept payments, build customer profiles, and grow their businesses from hustle to scale.
- LUXE AI – An artificial intelligence (AI)-powered personal concierge that helps high-end consumers unlock personalized travel, dining, and lifestyle rewards from their credit cards.
- Pagarva Inc. – A mobile point-of-sale platform helping immigrant-led micro-businesses accept any payment, access instant payouts, and manage taxes all in one multilingual app.
From Tampa, FL:
Tampa Bay Inno reports that Tampa General Hospital (TGH) is giving its Tampa Medical and Research District a permanent home in Ybor City, and bringing some of the region’s top leaders to the table as it moves into its next phase.
According to the article, TGH will open a 32,000-square-foot innovation center at 1205 E. Fifth Ave. in the former Masonite building by the end of the month. The center will house the hospital’s innovation team, the district office, its venture capital arm TGH Ventures, and its analytics and information technology teams.
Tech giant Palantir will also establish its Tampa headquarters in the building.
“It’s meant to be this kind of collaborative, physical space where we might not have signage yet all over the district for placemaking, but this is one focal point where we can bring folks in,” said Jennifer Crabtree, President of the Tampa Medical and Research District (TMRD) and Senior Vice President of Tampa General. She added that the goal is to create a hub for start-ups, researchers and industry partners to collaborate — a move that represents the district’s evolution from conceptual initiative to a visible anchor for healthcare innovation.
From Huntsville, AL:
Huntsville entrepreneur Ruth Young-Loaeza just came away with a $750,000 prize in a competition for start-up businesses recently. She is the Founder of Neet Sheets and impressed the judges so much that she is receiving national attention.
Young-Loaeza started Neet Sheets after making more than 20,000 beds during her 24 years as a housekeeper. She essentially invented a sheet that cuts bed-making time in half. In essence, the sheets have flaps that allow for ease of application and uniformity in fit, which element frees the user from having to move about the bed to ensure an even and smooth fit.
According to an article in Hville Blast, Young-Loaeza completed in the Halobama Pitch Competition in Tuscaloosa, and won first place, which was $250,000. But following the competition, judges Tim Draper and Innovate Alabama each decided to invest an additional $250,000 on top of the $250,000 prize money.
From Orlando, FL:
Orlando Inno reports that Osceola County will soon kick off its latest project at its NeoCity campus. According to the article, County Commission Chair Viviana Janer announced during her October 1 State of Osceola County address that NeoCity will begin construction on a new lab facility for the 500-acre technology park in 2026.
The building will be located across NeoCity Way from NeoCity Academy and serve as a hub for nearby companies to provide semiconductor research.
The State of Florida previously awarded $17.5 million from Governor Ron DeSantis‘ Florida Job Growth Grant Fund for the project. The 30,000-square-foot project — up from 10,000 square feet when first announced — will join Center for Neovation, the OC Building, and NeoCity Academy. The new building comes as NeoCity has drawn more than $500 million in federal, state, and local funding in the last three years.
