Southeast Startup News From The Week Of September 8-12, 2025
That's a wrap on another week. These are the headlines you need to know as you head into the weekend
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That's a wrap on another week. Here are the headlines you need to know as you head into the weekend:
Funding News
* One of the largest startups building inside Atlanta Tech Village just landed $29 million in new funding. Rainforest, which provides embedded payment options for software companies and works as a challenger to FinTech giant Stripe, is fresh off announcing its $29 million Series B funding from a mix of West Coast and Southeast investors. More details here.
* Sarasota, Florida-based TENEX.AI, raised a $27 million Series A
* Miami-based Palm Tree Crew, raised a $20 million Series A, per Crunchbase
* Raleigh-based Swab-Bot raised a $300k seed round, per Crunchbase.
* Atlanta-based logistics company SynXGlobal raised a $10 million venture round, per Crunchbase.
* In Nashville, Folx Table captured the $10,000 cash prize, and Spikey won the audience favorite award and in-kind services valued at up to $5,000 from The Operations Guide during the 3686 Pitch Competition held Tuesday at Cannery Hall in downtown Nashville.
Accelerator News
The RevTech Labs Accelerator welcomed its 23rd cohort for their fall accelerator program based out of Charlotte, North Carolina. The hybrid program includes 11 top fintech and insurtech startups. 55% have a Traditionally Underrepresented (TURF) Founder. Selected startups include:
Aries Fraud Solutions - Boerne, TX
Clox AI - San Francisco, CA
Drip7 - Spokane, WA
Eleos Life - New York, NY
GoodTrust - San Francisco, CA
GuideAI - Los Angeles, CA
Rake ML - Miami, FL
SnapRefund - Philadelphia, PA
Sonar - Charlotte, NC
Spatial Risk Systems - New York, NY
Standard Information - New York, NY
Also up in North Carolina, Launch Powered by KPMG Accelerator launched its second cohort. Meet the companies here.
CREATE-X, the accelerator program at Georgia Tech, today announced that it has received the 2025 ABET Innovation Award from the Accreditation Board for Engineering and Technology (ABET).
Top Hypepotamus Stories
The list of 86 companies selected for Venture Atlanta 2025 is here!
In Other News
More autonomous vehicles are coming to the streets of Atlanta, with Lyft announcing a new fleet of self-driving cars. More details on Bloomberg here.
Atlanta-based Relay Payments announced a new partnership with Circle K, bringing its secure digital payment solution to more than 500 truck-accessible Circle K locations across the country.
People To Know
Atlanta-based Fulcrum Equity Partners announced that former CTO of Salesloft Scott Mitchell has joined the firm as a Venture Partner. More details here.
Atlanta-based Chris Johnson, Barclay Keith, and Managing Partner Alex Han have launched a new FinTech-focused venture studio, called Brightlane Labs.
Launch Fayette welcomed David Conti and Karen Rands as Entrepreneurs-in Residence. With extensive careers and expertise, they are eager to share their knowledge and support our community of entrepreneurs.
Upcoming Deadlines
- The Hatchery Incubator at Emory University - Sept 12
- Startup Runway Applications (Atlanta) - Sept 30
- Scott Gale Award (Gulf Coast region) - Oct 1
- 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
