Southeast Tech News From The Week Of September 29-October 3, 2025
A busy week across the Southeast, with funding news coming from Georgia, Tennessee, Florida, Alabama, and North Carolina. Let’s dive into the headlines you need to know
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A busy week across the Southeast, with funding news coming from Georgia, Tennessee, Florida, Alabama, and North Carolina. Let’s dive into the headlines you need to know:
Funding News
- Plantd (Durham, North Carolina): Sustainable building material that launched in 2021 - $22 million Series B funding round
- AdPipe (Atlanta, Georgia): $12 million Series A
- iGenie (Roswell, Georgia): AI-powered consumer review startup - $7.5 million Series A from Silicon Road Ventures, Vine Stone Ventures, Mudita Venture Partners
- Mamaya Health (Nashville, Tennessee) - $3 million Series A from lead investor Florida-based LFE Capital
- Tie (Miami, Florida): Analytics - $10 million Series A
- HashtEX (Miami, Florida): $30,000 pre-seed
- Louisiana Growth Fund: A growth fund is an initiative of Louisiana Innovation, announced the first four companies to receive funding. Those startups include:
Acquisition News
Alpharetta, Georgia-based Priority (NASDAQ: PRTH) announced the successful closing of the acquisition of certain assets of DMSJV, LLC (“Dealer Merchant Services” or ”DMS”). A portion of the acquisition consideration was financed with a $35 million increase to the Company’s $1.0 billion broadly syndicated term loan. Details here.
Accelerator News
5 startups (Atlas, Derapi, Qubit Engineering, Ship It Pro, and Zeus Robotics) will join Co.Lab's fall cohort in Chattanooga
In Other News
Launch Tennessee announced another partner Entrepreneur Center is opening in the state, this time in the Southern Middle part of Tennessee. Get to know more about the NOVA Center here.Liv Labs, Inc., a consumer health and wellness startup, announced that it has been chosen as a Fast Company 2025 Innovation by Design Awards honoree in the Product Design category for Pippa, its new pelvic floor fitness product for women.Startup Atlanta, which is hosting The Atlanta Startup Awards next week, will present its highest honor, the Lifetime Achievement Award, to visionary entrepreneur and investor Christopher Klaus.
A.J. Piplica, aerospace entrepreneur and technologist, and founder and CEO of Hermeus, will serve as the keynote speaker for the Avant South in Atlanta.
Religion of Sports (ROS), the award-winning media company founded by Tom Brady, Michael Strahan, and Gotham Chopra, announced today that it has negotiated the exclusive rights to develop a television game show based on Immaculate Grid, the wildly popular online sports trivia game from Sports Reference that has roots in Atlanta.
What Else To Read
From Innovate Carolina at UNC: Turning Pads into Powerful Diagnostic Tools: How UNC Student Nandini Kanthi is Advancing Women’s Health InnovationFrom Rough Draft Atlanta: Sharing the wealth of AI
People To Know
1. Atlanta-based Dogwood Ventures announced it has tapped Joe Uhl as a Venture Partner. Uhl previously worked as the VP of Engineering, Chief Architect at Mailchimp.
- North Carolina's Digital.AI, the only AI-powered software delivery platform for the enterprise, announced the appointment of Randall Robinson as Chief Financial Officer (CFO). Full details on the news here.
- Greenville, South Carolina-based Abundance Capital, a nonprofit venture philanthropy platform, has named Kate Dabbs the organization’s first chief community officer.
4. The Russell Innovation Center for Entrepreneurs (RICE) announced that eight of its Stakeholders have been selected to pitch their products at Walmart’s annual Open Call on October 7–8, 2025 in Bentonville, Arkansas. The Open Call is part of Walmart’s commitment to invest $350 billion in products made, grown, or assembled in the U.S. by 2030. Each year, Walmart searches nationwide for entrepreneurs ready to scale their products for distribution in Walmart stores, on Walmart.com, and in its shopping centers.Founders selected include:Jon Avery - Rocket Sports-1Antione & Toby Davenport - Aromex AirAsia Martin Ingram - No Label Candle CompanyKristin Dunning - Gently SoapBrian Reynolds - Just for TeensMelissa Scott - Loc Em Up ProductsSway Jones - Sway Art
A Look Ahead...
Upcoming Deadlines
- Hudson Alpha AgTech Accelerator (Huntsville) - Oct 8
- The Siggie Awards nominations (Atlanta) - Oct 17
- Emory Entrepreneur Awards - Oct 31
- Chief AI and Data Officer Certificate Program - Dec 5
- Center for MedTech Excellence (Atlanta) - rolling
