Technology Nashville scheduled for next week
The Nashville Technology Council will hold its annual conference next Wednesday from 8 a.m. to 1 p.m. at the Nashville Convention Center. Last year the event drew a crowd of more than 350, and the NTC expects an even bigger turnout this year.
Featured speakers at the event include Harry Jacobson of TriStar Technology Ventures, SESAC's Hunter Williams and John Doulis, assistant profesor of biomedical informatics for Vanderbilt University. The event will also feature an IT exposition with the latest technology products and services from more than 25 Middle Tennessee companies.
TNInvestco-backed startup partners with Aegis Health
Nashville technology startup Goba LLC has landed a partnership deal with Aegis Health Group.
Through the deal, Aegis' hospital clients will have access to Goba's mobile application, which allows users to bring people together for healthy activities by using their smart phones, texting or the Web. Aegis' clients will be able to encourage healthy activities among their own employees and those of local employers by using this tool.
“Goba’s partnership with Aegis Health Group offers hospitals the opportunity to engage consumers and increase loyalty through technology that is convenient, immediate, friendly and effective,” said Goba CEO John Dayani. “Aegis has a long history of providing progressive business development strategies to hospitals. Goba’s mobile platform is a logical technological addition to their already innovative solutions.”
Goba is partially funded by TNInvestco TriStar Technology Ventures.
Harry Jacobson discusses new investment funds
TNInvestcos find out-of-state deals
TNInvestco-funded company adds to scientific advisory board
VenX Medical, a West End-based company marketing spider vein treatments, has added an Arizona-based industry expert to its scientific advisory board.After maintaining a private general surgical practice for 23 years, he and his wife established the Morrison Vein Institute where he has concentrated on the care and treatment of venous disorders. Dr. Morrison has become involved in all aspects of vein care, including duplex scanning, visual sclerotherapy, laser/pulsed light therapy, ultrasound-guided sclerotherapy, ambulatory phlebectomy and endovenous thermal and chemical ablation (radiofrequency, lasers of various wavelengths and foamed sclerosants). He is Immediate Past President of the American College of Phlebology, Chairman of the Board of the American College of Phlebology Foundation and Vice President of the International Union of Phlebology.SEE ALSO: TNInvestco funds local medical device firm
'Group think' among local VCs?
It was perhaps the most compelling question posed by moderator Nancy Falls to a panel of health care venture capitalists yesterday at an event sponsored by the Nashville Health Care Council and Nashville Capital Network. The Tatum managing partner — having heard one panelist’s anecdote about an entrepreneur’s off-handed comments getting cycled quickly through the local venture capital community — asked whether Nashville’s close-knit nature could create a group think environment that would make it difficult for an entrepreneur to secure funding if one or two VCs first turned him down. Of course, the unanimous response was “no.” Local panelists Grant Jackson of Council Ventures, Hal Andrews of The Martin Cos. and Harry Jacobson of TriStar Technology Ventures all agreed that group think isn’t a real danger for any VC firm that's really doing its job. If one company turns down an idea, that creates an opportunity for another VC, Jackson said, not only a chance to see something in the deal that others haven’t, but also to get a better valuation. Andrews explained that the differences among local companies' expertise and investment strategies mean that when one VC turns down a deal, it may be because it's simply better suited for another firm, and that local firms often refer deals back and forth. Jacobson was most succinct: “I think there’s a finite risk in that. Any finance group that’s using group think is not going to have a next fund.”
