Launch Tennessee announced Thursday the 10 companies chosen to participate in this year’s cohort of The TENN, its unique master accelerator program for graduates of Tennessee’s nine startup accelerators. Feetz, a startup based in Chattanooga that just graduated from GIGTANK, is one of the companies. The TENN is sponsored by UBS, a global financial services firm with a presence across Tennessee, including the recently opened UBS Business Solutions Center Nashville.
The companies selected for The TENN’s 2014 cohort are:
AgSmarts, NW TN Entrepreneur Center – NextFarm (Martin): AgSmarts is a precision agriculture company that automates existing agricultural irrigation systems with their universal retrofit solution to optimize crop yield and minimize costs.
Closeup.fm, Knoxville Entrepreneur Center – MediaWorks (Knoxville): Closeup.fm is a touring marketplace for independent bands, singers and songwriters.
eDivv, Start Co. (Memphis): eDivv is a unique marketplace where you can negotiate, barter and trade your beauty sample products.
EndoInSight, ZeroTo510 (Nashville): By providing clinicians with access to a low-cost and disposable CO2 insufflation system, EndoInSight seeks to save lives by enabling widespread adoption of less-painful colonoscopy.
Feetz, CO.LAB - GIGTANK (Chattanooga): Feetz provides custom fit footwear through their SizeMe 3D printed footwear technology.
FiveWorx, Knoxville Entrepreneur Center (Knoxville): Fiveworx leverages its proprietary platform and big data analytics to deliver a highly personalized list of energy efficiency actions for consumers.
GraphStory, Start Co. (Memphis): Graph Story offers businesses a simple and affordable service to use the power of graph databases in order to see data in real time and reveal new insights into their current data.
Healthcare MarketMaker, Nashville Entrepreneur Center - Jumpstart Foundry (Nashville): Healthcare MarketMaker is a cloud-based marketplace that empowers buyers and sellers of medical and dental practices.
Play-Tag, Start Co. (Memphis): Play-Tag is smart, wireless technology for the 21st century dog owner.
Stony Creek Colors, NW TN Entrepreneur Center – NextFarm (Nashville): Stony Creek Colors seeks to deliver the most reliable and sustainable plant based colorants to the textile industry worldwide.
"We look forward to working with this diverse group of early-stage companies,” said Charlie Brock, CEO of Launch Tennessee. “I am confident the founders of these companies have the drive and resourcefulness necessary to take maximum advantage of the learning and networking opportunities they will receive during The TENN program.”
The program will begin Oct. 23 with an event during which the entrepreneurs will meet their master mentors, with whom they will be working closely throughout the program. The program will include training in The Rockefeller Habits, a business management system, and learning days on key business topics, such as marketing, financial management and operations. They will also travel throughout Tennessee to meet executives at top corporations during a weeklong roadshow and fly to California and New York for networking trips. The program will conclude with a demo day in spring 2015.
Entrepreneurship is one of two philanthropic focus areas for UBS, the presenting sponsor of The TENN for the next two years. Through the firm's signature program, Elevating Entrepreneurs, as well as through strategic partnerships with national nonprofit organizations, UBS Community Affairs & Corporate Responsibility, Americas is committed to providing access to advice and opportunities to spur entrepreneurial growth and job creation.