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 recurring roundup highlighting news on startups, capital raises, acquisitions and other activity in the region's tech sector.
- Spinach.io Inc. has raised an additional $1.5 million, mainly from new investors such as Silicon Valley-based Maven Ventures as well as renowned startup accelerator Y Combinator — which accepted Spinach into its winter cohort (and invests in those member companies). The features in the company's app aim to make Zoom meetings more efficient and productive. More on the startup and its prior raise of $2.75 million here.
- Launch Tennessee, whose goal is spurring startups to sprout and flourish statewide, is nearing a new CEO. The Nashville-based job opening drew almost 300 applicants "from all areas of entrepreneurship, including founders, investors and leaders of entrepreneur support organizations," interim CEO Abby Trotter told the Business Journal. LaunchTN's search committee has narrowed the list to four people, who are doing more in-depth interviews with board members and staff in the next few weeks, Trotter said. "We expect to have someone selected soon and serving by March," she said. Here's the backstory on the current vacancy.
- Nashville's Fintop Capital, which backs financial tech startups, has kickstarted a pair of funds with a joint target of raising $250 million, according to federal filings. Fintop's last fund, from 2020, netted $126 million. As announced this month, Fintop joined in a Series B raise for Nashville-based InsurePay.
- The Nashville chapter of Blacks In Technology has created a program to train employees at nonprofit health care institutions about data analytics. The virtual 12-week program is available statewide for free, sponsored by HCA Healthcare Inc. (NYSE: HCA) and Dell Technologies Inc. (NYSE: DELL).
Tech talk
"After 21 years of what I feel like was a semi-startup-level pace, there's something to be said for having a window to reset. … At some point, the 80-hour workweek has to have its end point, if you want to be a good dad."
Tim Estes, founder, Digital Reasoning Inc.
• Estes has left the artificial intelligence company he founded in 2000, now owned by Smarsh Inc., of Portland, Oregon. Digital Reasoning's Franklin office (now under the Smarsh name) remains open and operational.
