Tennessee State Capitol
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See Correction/Clarification at end of article
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.
- On April 20, Gov. Bill Lee signed legislation to allow the creation of decentralized autonomous organizations, or DAOs, as a type of limited liability company in Tennessee. The tech community lobbied for the bipartisan legislation, as the Nashville Post explains. "Think of a DAO as a corporation but instead of voting shareholders, it uses blockchain to automate decisions on behalf of its users according to a predetermined set of rules," writes Ron Shultis of the Beacon Center of Tennessee. "By pioneering such a new business structure, Tennessee can be a hub for new jobs, investment, and economic growth in our state, similar to how Delaware became the hub for traditional LLCs or South Dakota for credit card companies. … Even if DAOs are nothing more than an interesting experiment that fails to materialize anything substantive, creating a forward-thinking regulatory environment can signal to investors and innovators that Tennessee is the place to be and invest."
- Wond'ry, which is Vanderbilt University's Center for Innovation and Design, christened a new incubator this month as the university bolsters Wond'ry with more personnel. Wond'ry now has 15 full-time people, a jolt from its former headcount (three full-time and two part-time), with several positions opening this summer, said a university spokeswoman. That new incubator is named Launch, for pre-seed and seed-stage startups affiliated with Vanderbilt or another local college. Here's a list of the inaugural class.
- Information from Seattle-based PitchBook, which provides data and research on venture capital investments and other business deals, indicates that Metropolis — the parking-tech startup that bought Nashville's Premier Parking last month — has pursued a Series B round of funding. Metropolis is treating Nashville as a "second headquarters," so expect to see a healthy amount of that any new funding spent in Music City.
- Nominations are open through May 2 for two award categories for the Nashville Entrepreneur Center's NEXT Awards — Entrepreneur of 2022 and Emerging Entrepreneur of 2022. Click here for more.
- Hack for the Community is back. During the two-day event, volunteers from the tech community help local nonprofits solve their tech problems over a two-day hackathon. It's happening April 28-29 at the Nashville Software School.
Tech talk
"Let me be clear: The cities and regions able to grow their tech workforce the fastest will thrive. Those who don't will struggle. It's that simple." (outgoing Tech Council CEO Brian Moyer, speaking at the organization's annual meeting)
"Now it's the time to go big." (incoming CEO Elise Cambournac, speaking at the same meeting)
Correction/Clarification
The item on Metropolis has been updated based on information provided by the company.
The item on Metropolis has been updated based on information provided by the company.
