Tuesday, June 28, 2011

StartupTN: More will be revealed

The press conference and stakeholder briefing with Gov. Bill Haslam, SAm CEO Scott Case, ECD Commissioner Bill Hagerty and EC and ST CEO Michael Burcham at the Nashville Entrepreneur Center produced a good ration of energy this morning. A brief update on the matter is here. Responses to an RFI, solicited from would-be accelerator grants applicants, is due back to ECD by July 15.

HealthTeacher VC update

HealthTeacher, just a 12-year-old, has now had total financings of about $15MM. They're heavying-up the team, added a new private-equity partner and are ready to take it on the road. Read about here.

Wallace joins Heritage PE firm

Paul Wallace has joined Rock Morphis' Heritage Group. Details here.

Monday, June 27, 2011

BoNY Mellon expands in Nashville

Bank of New York (BoNY) Mellon announced expanding its data center.

Asentinel licensing revenue

Asentinel, the Memphis telecom expense management company, has licensed some more technology. Hereyago.

HCA top workplace?

ComputerWorld says HCA is one of the nation's best IT shops in which to work. You decide.

Y-12 IP licensing

We reported on Venture Incite (Solidus) going after ORNL/Y12 intellectual property for commercialization. Here's another one: Y-12 solvent technology. I'm thinkin' it's stronger'n WD40.

ATT sues spammers

The Atlanta Business Journal reports AT&T is suing spammers. Read it here.

Haslam: Jobs are Job One

The Commercial Appeal's Rick Locker reports on Gov. Bill Haslam's agenda, following his first dance with the General Assembly. Read about it here. Other VNC coverage.

Startup Tennessee draws Gov. Haslam, Startup America CEO Case

Startup Tennessee's launch will be celebrated tomorrow in Nashville, with help from Tennessee Governor Bill Haslam, Startup America CEO Scott Case, and others. It could be just the added ingredient the Tennessee entrepreneurial ecosystem has been needed. Time will tell. More here.

Tuesday, June 21, 2011

Apple exec to HealthTeacher

John Herbold (left), a pivotal player in Apple Inc.'s iCloud product development, has joined Nashville-based HealthTeacher, for a campaign to improve the health of US youth while advancing the 12-year-old company. VNC's story is here.

Monday, June 20, 2011

Ian Rogers: update

TopSpin Media CEO Ian Rogers is in the 2012 class of Nashville's Leadership Music. The frequent Nashville visitor is also taking over a popular online program The Week in Music. Here's an update.

Solidus Venture Incite update

Solidus Co. and its TNInvestco-linked Venture Incite tech-commercialization accelerator are making a splash with their option on superhydrophobic technology from ORNL. It's just the beginning, apparently. Read about it here.

Iridium SmartFuel

George Sibble's Iridium Development SmartFuel app is viewed as a potential winner, but working with Apple requires plenty of runway. Story here.

Tuesday, June 07, 2011

Haslam INCITE incites complaints

State Sen. Randy McNally (R-Oak Ridge) and Nashville tax-revolter Ben Cunningham, speaking in this morning's Tennessean, express concerns regarding Gov. Bill Haslam's INCITE program, through which ECD Commissioner Bill Hagerty hopes to get federal permission to use $30MM in federal funds to support co-investment in early-stage companies. If that permission isn't granted, the money might have to go to banks, instead. That, in turn, would eliminate one leg of the Haslam-Hagerty Incite program, and could jeopardize other parts of the plan, including the funding of incubators in some areas of the state. 'Could be coincidence, but McNally's concerns regarding transparency of the program could be partly a result of partly suppressed complaints in E.TN. about the fact no TNINvestco funds in that region were certified and little TNInvestco money has gone into firms in that territory. As we pointed-out in yesterday's NewsBits, The Knoxville News Sentinel opened further this can o' worms this weekend with a batch of stories. Also, as we reported May 23, Hagerty's agency rethought its release of TNInvestco investment-certification information and plans to release less info.

Monday, June 06, 2011

TN-N'ville Venture News

Our latest VentureNotes and NewsBits features include a couple dozen items on new ventures, a new Angel/VC fund, Venture INCITE, state and regional entrepreneurship and tech-transfer initiatives and more. Read it all here.

Inova roll-up plan

Farsheed Ferdowsi may scoop-up up to $4MM for his Inova venture and rolling-up accounting firms' service bureaus is part of the gameplan. Story here.