Brynn Plummer is vice president of equity, inclusion and community at the Nashville Entrepreneur Center. Plummer runs the center's Twende accelerator.
Brynn Plummer
Nashville's tech scene is about to radically change with the arrival of Oracle and as Amazon and other firms fill their downtown hubs. But there's plenty of action right now. Tech Bytes is a twice-monthly roundup highlighting news on startups, capital raises and other activity in the region's tech sector.
- The Nashville Entrepreneur Center celebrated the fact that Tennessee's current state budget includes $450,000 to expand its Twende program statewide. Twende is a year-long accelerator for Black and brown owners of tech startups and "tech-enabled businesses." Twende has helped 32 entrepreneurs since the Entrepreneur Center created the program two years ago. With the new funding, the EC hopes to assist 200 business owners across the state in the next year. For more info, or to apply, click here.
- Speaking of the EC: Mitsubishi Motors just ended a year-long program there, in which five entrepreneurs received access to some of its North American executives and business partners. (Mitsubishi moved its North American headquarters to Franklin in 2019). One of the five received a free six-month lease on a 2022 Eclipse Cross as the winner of the "Small Batch - Big Ideas" project: Mel Taylor, founder and CEO of Splitsecnd. Taylor created a portable device that plugs into a vehicle's standard 12V outlet. It can provide real-time location tracking, detect if a crash has happened, and automatically connect with a 24/7 emergency call center.
Mel Taylor, founder and CEO of Nashville-based splitsecnd, drove away with a six-month lease on a 2022 Mitsubishi Eclipse Cross as a result of winning a year-long program at the Nashville Entrepreneur Center.
Mitsubishi Motors North America
- Franklin's Enexor BioEnergy LLC won a grant to provide advanced testing for high-temperature ceramic filters, partnering with RevV, which involves Oak Ridge National Laboratory, the University of Tennessee - Knoxville, and the state of Tennessee. Enexor hopes the partnership will shorten the time to commercialize those filters in its renewable energy systems.
- Ryan Stanton is joining the Tennessee Valley Authority to oversee the power utility's "EV Evolution Initiative," focused on accelerating the shift to electric vehicles and electric-vehicle technology. The move comes as all three automakers in Tennessee either make those vehicles now or are investing billions of dollars to do so. Stanton previously ran electric vehicle initiatives for the state Department of Environment and Conservation, and before that, worked at Franklin-based Schneider Electric.
- Today is the last day to nominate a person or company for one of the Greater Nashville Technology Council's annual awards. More info here.
- Through Oct. 18, the Tennessee Valley Authority is accepting applications for its science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) classroom grants. More info here.
Tech talk
"The amount of capital out there now is unbelievable. Even in stealth mode on LinkedIn, every other day I'd get a message from an investor saying 'What are you working on? Let's talk.' "
- Yoav Grossman, co-founder of Nashville-based Spinach. The startup raised $2.75 million in pre-seed funding from investors such as Zoom and others in Silicon Valley.
