Lamp Post accelerator
› Focus: Developing 10 early-stage buisnesses in logistics, supply chain and transportation sectors › Location: 6,000-square-foot Lamp Post offices in the Loveman’s building › Dates: Applications now being received through May 8 from those with logistics business ideas from around the world. Program runs July 6 to Oct. 4 in 2016. Similar 12-week programs planned in 2017 and 2018 › Director: Santosh Sankar, former Wells Fargo and Citicorp executive › Funding: About $1 million a year for each of the next three years › Mentors: 50 industry experts, including Access American founders and others from U.S. Xress, Covenant Transport, Kenco Logistics, CBL & Associates Properties and others.
Dynamo investment fund
› Focus: Early stage business investments in logisitcs startups, selected by Lamp Post Group directors › Initial round: Targeted to raise $12 million from a variety of investors, including 10 percent from founding and managing partners › Managing partners: Ted Alling, Barry Large and Allan Davis, founders and former executives behind Access America Transport. › Fundraiser: Lamp Post Group director Weston Wamp › Schedule: First investments should be made from among graduates of first Acccelerator program this fall.
Growing business startups
In Chattanooga, a variety of assistance and investment programs are aiding new business ventures. › The Chattanooga/Hamilton County Business Development Center on the city’s North Shore houses more than 60 startup companies and is the largest business incubator in Tennessee, hatching more than 500 businesses since its start in 1989. The incubator, which is run by the Chattanooga Area Chamber of Commerce, also houses the Tennessee Small Business Development Center. › The Company Lab, which relocated last year to the Edney Building in downtown Chattanooga, operates two accelerator programs each year for 10-12 businesses each session, along with a summertime Gig Tank for about a dozen startups from around the country, 48-hour launches to help entrepreneurs quickly start their buisnesses, and other business assistance programs. › Lamp Post Group has invested in and mentored about 20 companies from its Loveman’s Building offices, including Bellhops, Fancy Rhino, Ambition, Steam Logistics and Reliance Partners, among others. The privately funded incubator helps mentor and invest in startups. › The Chattanooga Renaissance Fund was started in 2011 with an initial $3 million of capital to invest in startup businesses in Chattanooga. › The Jump Fund, a $2.4 million angel fund started in Chattanooga, is the first women-owned, women-business investment fund of its kind on the Southeast. › Mayor Andy Berke created an Innovation District last year in downtown Chattanooga, with a hub in the Edney Building, to foster more tech and other startup businesses with interactive support and job tax credits.
The founders of Access America Transport announced Monday the formation of both an accelerator program to find and grow young, innovative logistics companies and a $12 million fund to invest in the most successful of those new ventures.
The accelerator will be housed at Lamp Post Group’s 6,000-square-foot space in the Loveman’s Building on Market Street downtown, and the program is currently on the hunt for 10 teams to participate in the three-month program, which will run from July 6 to October 4.