Integrated Biometric Technology, LLC officials announced today that the company will establish new operations and locate its corporate headquarters in Franklin.

IBT, which specializes in biometric technologies for identity authentication, identity management and criminal history background checks through the FBI, will create 142 new jobs and invest $2.3 million in Williamson County, the company says.

IBT was originally founded in 1999 as an alternative to the traditional fingerprinting methods. After 9/11, IBT partnered with the U.S. Department of Homeland Security to implement biometric enrollment and state criminal history checks, the company says.

Twenty years later, IBT is focused on bringing the next evolution of biometric enrollment technology to the public with reliable, easy-to-use biometric enrollment, while working to develop new enrollment delivery models for consumer market and government marketplace.

Vi-Jon to expand in Rutherford County

Vi-Jon has announced it will expand operations in Smyrna, investing $45 million and creating 64 new jobs in Rutherford County.

The company produces personal care products including mouthwash, soap, hand sanitizer, first aid, baby care and hair care. In addition, Vi-Jon markets and manufactures the second largest national brand of hand sanitizer under the Germ-X label.

Vi-Jon will expand at 1 Swan Dr. in Smyrna, where the company currently employs more than 600 people.

With more than 140 years of collective R&D experience, Vi-Jon is the nation’s oldest private label manufacturer in the health and beauty sector. Between its Tennessee and Missouri operations, Vi-Jon has the capacity to manufacture more than 3 million bottles of products daily.

Over the last five years, TNECD has supported more than 25 economic development projects in Rutherford County, resulting in 3,100 job commitments and $545 million in capital investment.

Motto Mortgage opens office in Hendersonville

Motto Mortgage, a mortgage brokerage franchise, is now open in Hendersonville.

Established by Justin Tucker, with more than 20 years’ experience in mortgage lending, Motto Mortgage Lakeside is a customer-first, full-service mortgage brokerage.

Nelson Keen will serve as the operations manager and senior loan originator for the office. With 20 years of mortgage experience, Nelson Keen is a mortgage expert and takes great satisfaction helping homebuyers achieve the “American dream” of homeownership.

California health company teams with HealthTrust

Nashville’s HealthTrust, a group purchasing organization and performance improvement partner for health care, and El Camino Health have signed an agreement for GPO and ancillary services.

El Camino will join HealthTrust’s member roster in the fourth quarter of 2021.

In support of El Camino Health’s strategic supply chain priorities, HealthTrust will deliver Day One value-enhancing contracting and analytical capabilities for clinical and non-clinical supplies and services, purchased services, pharmacy, construction and food services.

Ranked among the top U.S. hospitals for outstanding patient experience by Healthgrades, and for high performance in clinical outcomes, operational efficiency, patient experience and financial health by Fortune/IBM Watson, El Camino Health is an integrated health care system composed of two not-for-profit acute care hospitals in Los Gatos and Mountain View, California, and urgent care, multispecialty care and primary care locations across Santa Clara County.

United Healthcare donates $300,000 in Tennessee

UnitedHealthcare, a UnitedHealth Group company, is awarding $300,000 in Empowering Health grants to four community-based organizations in Tennessee.

The goal is to expand access to care and address the social determinants of health for uninsured individuals and underserved communities.

In total, UnitedHealthcare is donating $11.4 million through Empowering Health grants across 18 states and the District of Columbia. The grants will assist individuals and families experiencing challenges from food insecurity, social isolation and behavioral health issues, and support local health promotion and health literacy efforts.

Grant recipients in Tennessee include:

• Second Harvest Food Bank of Middle Tennessee, $125,000 for a food pantry safety net clinic in collaboration with Neighborhood Health to support food pantries at eight clinics in the Nashville area.

• Chattanooga Area Food Bank, $70,000 for refrigeration infrastructure in support of a new pilot program to strategically place food lockers in high-need areas where individuals can access them at any time.

• Second Harvest Food Bank of Northeast Tennessee, $70,000 to support product sourcing for the Food to Encourage program, which distributes lean meats, fresh produce, low-sodium canned fruits and vegetables and dairy products to people in need of food assistance in Northeast Tennessee.

• YMCA of Memphis & the Mid-South, $35,000 to purchase refrigeration for the Y on the Fly program to allow delivery of fresh produce and dairy products to rural and underserved areas in and around Memphis.

Pet supply company to open facility in Mt. Juliet

Chewy, Inc. is bringing a new regional e-commerce fulfillment center in Wilson County, creating 1,200 new jobs.

Founded in 2011 and dually headquartered in Dania Beach, Florida, and Boston, Chewy offers a broad selection of more than 2,000 of the best and most trusted brands, including pet products, supplies and prescriptions.

The new facility will be located at Couchville Pike and Maddox Road in Mt. Juliet, and is projected to open in fall 2022.

Wilson County continues to attract companies in the transportation, distribution and logistics sector. Since 2020, more than 80% of new jobs committed in Wilson County have come from projects in this industry. Wilson County is within 650 miles of 50% of the U.S. population and a one-day trucking distance to 75%of U.S. markets.

Over the last five years, TNECD has supported more than 15 economic development projects in the Wilson County, resulting in 2,500 job commitments and roughly $750 million in capital investment.

Kinloch plans Texas expansion

Kinloch Partners, headquartered in Nashville, has completed the purchase of multiple lots in Royce City, Texas, on the Eastern part of the Dallas Metroplex.

The company plans a Build-to-Rent subdivision, providing affordable Single Family Rental homes to this growing region.

Kinloch plans to aggressively expand its holdings in the Dallas area, with multiple Build-to-Rent projects totaling 500 newly SFR homes in the next 18 months. The homes will range from 2,000 to 2,500 square feet and will be priced from $200,000 to $300,000. Rent will be under $2,000 per month.

Build-to-Rent subdivisions are an emerging trend in real estate development, attracting investors from Wall Street hedge funds, pension funds and international entrepreneurs. There are more than 72 million millennials born between 1981 and 1996 in the United States. Many are coming into peak family raising years, would like to purchase a home, but are often saddled with high student loan debt. This makes home ownership challenging and is sparking a rise in Build-to-Rent.

Kinloch Partners is a pioneer in Build-to-Rent and its portfolio of homes across the Southeast and soon to be Texas provide an excellent example of how the concept works.

XSOLIS partnering with Humana

XSOLIS, a health care company headquartered in Nashville, has announced a partnership with Humana.

The collaboration will offer real-time, predictive analytics platform for utilization review processes between Humana and participating providers.

Alongside and in collaboration with participating XSOLIS client health systems, Humana will be adopting Precision Utilization Management, a process by which XSOLIS analytics identify and stratify a subset of member cases for “touchless” status determinations for medical inpatient treatment. These touchless determinations ensure that clinicians at both hospital and health plan have more time to focus on the person, not the process, ensuring appropriate care is matched with the right coverage, each time.

XSOLIS’ SaaS platform, CORTEX, extracts data directly from the hospital electronic medical record and analyzes the full clinical picture for each patient throughout their hospital stay. CORTEX is available online and on-demand to staff at both hospital and insurer and provides a complete, analytics-driven view of patients.

Gopuff Kitchen coming to Nashville

Gopuff is bringing a service, Gopuff Kitchen, to Nashville.

Gopuff offers made-to-order hot and fresh food to customers alongside everyday essentials. Gopuff’s mobile kitchen facilities are within or adjacent to its micro-fulfillment centers, enabling customers to order breakfast, lunch, dinner, and late-night food and drink alongside any other essentials all in a single order, delivered in minutes, for a flat fee of $1.95.

Nashville to host electric vehicle pilot program

Arcimoto, Inc., makers of electric vehicles for everyday commuters and fleets, will enter into a joint pilot program with Tennessee Clean Fuels and Drive Electric Tennessee to test the FUV and Deliverator in key cities across the state.

Over the course of the 30-day pilot program beginning Aug. 16, Arcimoto vehicles will be tested by state and local governments in key cities including Memphis, Nashville, Knoxville and Chattanooga.

Several organizations are already hosting programs to promote transportation electrification, including the Middle-West and East Tennessee Clean Fuels Coalitions, known collectively as Tennessee Clean Fuels. These U.S. DOE designated Clean Cities Coalitions offer fleet engagement and technical assistance programs to promote the adoption of alternative fuels and advanced vehicle technologies.

Along with these Coalitions is Drive Electric Tennessee, a consortium of Tennessee stakeholders – including state agencies, utilities, local governments, universities, research institutions, electric vehicle manufacturers, businesses and advocacy groups – who have worked together on the development of a shared vision for electric transportation in the state. The consortium’s goal is to increase EV adoption in Tennessee from approximately 13,800 EV in June 2021 to 200,000 vehicles by 2028.