New Metro Nashville/Davidson County Mayor Freddie O’Connell took his oath of office Monday morning in a private ceremony at the Metro Courthouse.

A public event titled Nashville Coming Together, a daylong celebration including a Celebration of City Services, transit treks, food trucks and live musical entertainment, will take place Saturday.

At 11:30 a.m., O’Connell will join Vice Mayor Angie Henderson and the Metro Council for an inauguration celebration at Public Square Park.

“(Former) Mayor Cooper and his administration have been incredibly helpful, and this private swearing in is the most efficient way to execute a handoff between the two administrations,” O’Connell said of the decision to do a private swearing in before the inauguration. “This will allow us to get a team in place ahead of the first Metro Council meeting Oct. 3, and I look forward to celebrating with Nashvillians Saturday.”

There will be a series of meetup locations across the city for Nashvillians to unite on a transit trek to the inauguration. After the ceremony, the new mayor will greet Nashvillians at the historic courthouse.

Greater Nashville Litter Cleanup next weekend

Sign-ups are now live for the Greater Nashville Litter Cleanup, a countywide litter cleanup taking place next weekend Oct. 7-8.

The weekend event is being coordinated by nonprofit Tennessee Environmental Council, in partnership with Metro Water Services and other area nonprofits, and supported by national conservation nonprofit Leave No Trace and the Airbnb Community Fund.

“We want to clean up Nashville’s streets and streams together,” says Allyson Davenport, the event coordinator. “Our goal is to have one cleanup event in each of Nashville’s 35 Metro Council Districts, and to remove at least 15,000 pounds of litter in two days,” says Davenport. “We hope people will go online today and sign up to host or join a cleanup in their area.”

Volunteers can see a map of all sites and sign up at tectn.org/cleanups. The deadline to register is Oct. 1. TEC will contact registered hosts and volunteers with more details after they sign up.

Cleanups are currently scheduled at the following sites: Richland Creek, West Park, Cooper Creek, Cooper Road, Fair Park, Percy Priest Lake, Hamilton Creek Recreation Area, Stones River, Heartland Park, Hartman Park, Whites Creek, Browns Creek, Browns Creek Park, Whites Greenway, Percy Priest Lake Park, McCabe Park Greenway, Bell Road, Ezell Road Park, West Park, Whitfield Park, Sevenmile Creek, Little Harpeth River and Harpeth River.

LaunchTN awards $4.5M to 30 small businesses

Launch Tennessee announced $4.5 million in funding to 30 innovative companies advancing their research and business development efforts in Tennessee.

The investments were made through LaunchTN’s SBIR/STTR Matching Fund program for fiscal year 2024.

This year’s achievements reflect the steady growth and maturation of Tennessee’s SBIR/STTR ecosystem. For the second year in a row, Tennessee has received more than 60 applications and $12.5 million in demand for the program, positioning the state as a hub for technology innovation and entrepreneurship.

“The continued growth and consistent demand for the SBIR/STTR Matching Fund program signifies its importance to our entrepreneurial community, and we are excited to witness the long-lasting impact it will have on Tennessee’s innovation landscape,” LaunchTN Innovation Manager Charles Layne says.

Since the SBIR/STTR Matching Fund was created in 2017, SBIR/STTR grants received by Tennessee companies have grown from $13 million in 2016 to $35 million in 2022, demonstrating the program’s consistent contribution to Tennessee’s technology sector.

Middle Tennessee companies confirmed to receive LaunchTN matching funds include AgriCapture; Amalgamated Vision, LLC; Finally Skincare; HeroWear, LLC; Innerworld; MetaMorph Inc.; PreTeL, Inc.; Silvis Materials and Statheros LLC.

Arts & Business Council to run Artober Nashville

In conjunction with the transition of NowPlayingNashville.com to Visit Music City from the Community Foundation of Middle Tennessee, the Arts & Business Council of Greater Nashville is assuming management of the long-standing Artober Nashville celebration.

Introduced in 2011, the celebration has showcased a diverse array of local artists, festivals, performances, galleries, museums and more. ABC has opted to skip the 2023 event and concentrate on planning and executing the 2024 event.

Information: ABCNashville.org

Music Health Alliance benefit set for Oct. 4

Celebrated Nashville restaurant Adele’s will host the Music Health Alliance Benefit Dinner and Auction Oct. 4, kicking off the nonprofit’s monthlong annual #HealTheMusicDay campaign.

The evening will include a cocktail reception, seated farm-to-table dinner, silent and live auction, and an intimate live performance by country music star Gary Allan. Tickets are available to purchase for $250 per person via Tock.

All proceeds will directly benefit Music Health Alliance and members of the music community in need of healthcare-related support and resources.

The Adele’s event will celebrate MHA’s 10-year anniversary and its commitment to raise funds to support music industry professionals and their critical health care needs.

Music Health Alliance’s mission is to provide the music industry with free, confidential health care advocacy and access to critical lifesaving health care and mental health resources. Over the last decade, the nonprofit organization has served more than 20,000 music industry workers, providing over 3,900 counseling and psychiatric sessions and saving over $120M in health care costs.

More than 40 items will be available for guests to bid on through both a silent and live auction including luxury tropical resort getaways, a Les Paul Custom guitar, diamond jewelry, and exclusive artist and concert experiences.

Visit www.exploretock.com and search “Heal The Music Benefit Dinner” to purchase tickets. Information, visit www.adelesrestaurant.com or follow @adelesrestaurant and @musichealthalliance on Instagram.

TDH honored for age-friendly policies

The Tennessee Department of Health has received national recognition for its efforts to advance age-friendly, public health policies and practices statewide in communities and health systems.

Trust for America’s Health is designating TDH as an Advanced Age Friendly Public Health System, for its leadership and commitment to the health and well-being of the older adults.

The CDC is also awarding TDH another five years of grant funding through the Building Our Largest Dementia Infrastructure for Alzheimer’s Act (BOLD) to continue TDH’s efforts and programs in risk reduction, early diagnosis, and treatment for Tennesseans with Alzheimer’s.

“Our collaboration with many aging sector partners and stakeholders, such as AARP-TN, the Alzheimer’s Association- Tennessee Chapter, Alzheimer’s Tennessee, and TennCare is proving very successful as we advance efforts for the health and well-being of older Tennesseans,” says health commissioner Ralph Alvarado, M.D., FACP.

“We’re excited to continue our important work that’s helping older Tennesseans, and those facing an Alzheimer’s diagnosis, along with their caregivers, access opportunities and resources to live their best lives.”

TFAH’s acknowledgment means TDH is making healthy aging a core public health issue in its health programs and services statewide. The AFPHS framework outlines roles public health is fulfilling in addressing challenges and opportunities for an aging population across multiple sectors, such as community and home-based services, workplaces, and in education and research.

Genus AI picks up $11M in seed round funding

Genus AI, a generative AI platform for D2C and e-commerce brands, announced it has secured over $6 million in a seed round extension, bringing the company’s total seed funding to $11 million.

New investors include one of the leading U.S. social media platforms; Aleph Group Inc. an ecosystem of global digital experts and technology-driven solutions that enables the growth of digital marketing and strategic angel investors such as Kazuki Ohta, co-founder & CEO of Treasure Data, Magnus Lundin, founder of Heep Agency, Tomas Slimas, co-founder of Oberlo (acquired by Shopify) and others.

This funding has allowed Genus AI to become one of the leaders in supporting direct to consumer and e-commerce brands with generative AI solutions to increase growth across social channels such as Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, X and Pinterest.

Previously the company received funding from leading Venture Capital and Angel investors in Europe and the U.S. such as Picus Capital, Transamerica Ventures, Maschmeyer Group Ventures, HDI and others.

The firm plans to invest into GTM infrastructure as well as incorporating additional integrations and features within the platform building upon the company’s current lead as a first mover in the generative ad space for e-commerce use cases.

The Genus AI platform recently announced product catalog feed generation capabilities for Facebook, Instagram, Pinterest, X and TikTok in addition to copy, video and audience generation already developed since the company’s conception in 2017.

Survey: Bank leaders rethinking digital

Bank Director, the leading information resource for directors and officers of financial institutions nationwide, released the results of its 2023 Technology Survey, sponsored by the technology services provider Jack Henry.

The findings reveal that many bank leaders are reevaluating their strategic priorities in an increasingly digital landscape, but they may be missing an opportunity to better serve small businesses.

Over 80% of survey respondents say their bank offers small business clients digital capabilities including mobile deposits (93%) and payments (84%), but less than half of those respondents offer digital deposit account opening, digital loan applications, accounts payable/receivable and other valuable services.

Banks that fail to provide small businesses with additional digital offerings could risk losing those customers to fintech competitors.

“We’ve long seen nonbank competitors – companies like Block, through its Square platform and even Amazon.com – nibbling away at the small business space,” says Emily McCormick, vice president of editorial & research at Bank Director. “Understanding how to effectively serve that customer, both in person and via technology, could be critical to stopping that attrition.”

The threat isn’t limited to small businesses, either. The survey reports bank leaders also expressed rising concerns about the threat of digital neobanks such as Chime that have demonstrated success in growing deposits from a younger client base.