Lee Jestings, founder and CEO of Enexor BioEnergy LLC in Franklin.
Martin B. Cherry | Nashville Business Journal
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, acquisitions and other activity in the region's tech sector.
- Franklin-based Enexor BioEnergy LLC is heading to Asia. Silicon Valley investor Plug and Play Tech Center chose Enexor for its Energy and Sustainability Accelerator. As a result, Enexor will be launching pilot programs with corporations across Asia. Enexor's mobile units turn plastics and almost any kind of organic waste into renewable energy. This is the latest of several accelerator programs to select Enexor this year. The comany also landed a $10 million Series A investment this year and topped 10,000 companies to win the United Nations World Tourism Sustainable Development Goals startup competition.
- Brentwood-based Celero Commerce has acquired Florida-based Everest Payment Solutions, a fellow payment-processing company. The deal means Celero now serves more than 45,000 merchants (up 13% from a year ago) and handle annual card payments totaling $18 billion (up almost 30%). Terms were not disclosed. This fall, the company expanded its headquarters office by 20%.
- Green Hills-based investor Mountain Group Partners joined a $4.5 million seed round for Albuquerque-based Circular Genomics. In November, Mountain Group reported the start of a $150 million fund, with $95 million of it raised at the time of its federal regulatory filing.
- Google Fiber debuted a new job board and careers website, listing 15 open positions in Nashville.
- A bit of additional news about on-site fuel and car-care startup Yoshi Inc. beyond our Dec. 20 story: Through General Motors, one of its investors, Yoshi will "explore mobile vehicle care" in Saudi Arabia. Read more here.
Tech talk
"Having worked in multiple American organizations, this is atypical, and it's fantastic."
Brook Joyce, vice president and head of U.S. commercialization, Lumary
• Joyce was speaking about the culture at the Australian health-tech company, which is eyeing Nashville as an option for its U.S. home, an expansion involving 120 jobs.
