An aerial of the Hamilton Place area.

Sola Salon Studios to open near Hamilton Place

Sola Salon Studios will enter the Chattanooga market this fall with a new studio in the Hamilton Corner shopping center near Hamilton Place mall.

The 6,200-square-foot store will be located between Salsarita's and J Jill on Gunbarrel Road and will be the sixth location in Tennessee for the nationwide chain. Sola stylists customize their studio, create their own schedule, set their own prices, and sell retail to create a larger profit margin.

"We couldn't be more proud of our product and look forward to introducing this superior concept to the independent-minded salon professionals in our market," said Sola Salon Studios franchisee Glenn Bone.

Swiftwing invests in Knoxville firm

Chattanooga-based Swiftwing Ventures has made its first public startup investment, helping Knoxville-based Survature raise $686,000 in so-called "seed round" financing.

Survature, founded in 2013 and led by CEO Jian Haung, is a recent entrant to the estimated $4 billion online survey industry. The company uses interactive designs and proprietary algorithms to overcome the public's weariness with online surveys. Ben Brown, CEO of SwiftWing, said the investment should help Survature scale their operations "and attack this market." SwiftWing is a joint venture between retired mall executive John Foy and management guru Paul Cummings.