Abby Trotter, executive director of Life Science Tennessee. This Friday, Feb. 18, is the deadline to apply for Life Science Tennessee's Venture Forum pitch competition, with a $10,000 cash prize.
Hall Strategies
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.
- Built Technologies, Nashville's newest unicorn, issued a recap of its record-breaking 2021. The company raised $213 million from new and pre-existing investors, at a $1.5 billion valuation. Built doubled headcount to 330 employees, "and expects to continue on that pace in 2022," the company said in a press release. Built also brought on executives Bob Van Nortwick as president, Bob Elliott as chief revenue officer, as well as vice presidents for sales, finance, marketing and other spots.
- On the topic of new executives: Zerv Inc., which capped a $15 million Series A last fall, announced four new executives: Dmytro Kryvko as senior vice president of software engineering; Mike Hilberman as chief financial officer; Charlie McCann as director of strategy and development; and Kyle Tooke as vice president of sales.
- The Greater Nashville Technology Council added 11 board members at its last meeting. See the list here. One of the first things they'll do: Decide on a successor for CEO Brian Moyer, who announced that he would step down in the first half of this year.
- This Friday, Feb. 18, is the deadline to apply for Life Science Tennessee's Venture Forum pitch competition, with a $10,000 cash prize. More information here.
- Dell Technologies (NYSE: DELL) named Jamaal Oldham the co-director of its Nashville operation. He'll work alongside fellow co-site director Shoshanna Samuels.
- Green Hills-based i3 Verticals Inc. (Nasdaq: IIIV) set a quarterly revenue record in the first quarter of its fiscal year, hitting the $73.9 million mark. The company posted a net loss of $3.7 million, 22% more than the same quarter in the prior year.
- Comcast is accepting applications from women-owned small businesses, as well as those from "racially and ethnically diverse small business owners," for its Comcast RISE program of grants as well as marketing and technology services. Business owners also can apply for the Comcast RISE Investment Fund. More information here.
- Earlier this month, online coding school CodeX Academy began accepting all types of crypto for payment, including Bitcoin, Ether, Dogecoin and Litecoin. CEO and founder Phil Henry said the school decided to begin accepting crypto because while some students may not have the cash to pay for coding school, many have crypto investments that can cover the costs.
Tech talk
"With over 300 days of sunshine and more than 200 parks, we are proud to call The Mile High City our new home away from home."
• A spokeswoman for health-tech company Lumary explained its decision to choose Denver as its U.S. hub, over other finalists Nashville and Tampa, Florida. "We found Denver to be one of the most wellness-focused and tech-driven hubs in the [United] States," the spokeswoman said.
