TODAY's 9: Galata | Objective | Fufild | Enhanced | Brim | Banc3 | XOEye | TymbreIQ | RDDT

STRATEGIC HUNTING: Nashville-based Galata Acquisition Corp. II (Nasdaq:LATAU), a blank check company, began trading Sept. 19 and three days later announced closing of its IPO (gross proceeds $172.5MM). Though inevitably industry-agnostic at the outset, Galata has affirmed its interest in targeting Energy, Fintech, Real Estate, and Technology sectors. The Company’s management team is led by Chairman and Chief Investment Officer Daniel Freifeld;, who is also founder and principal of Callaway Capital Management in Nashville; CEO Craig Perry;  President/COO William Weir; and, CFO Powers Spencer. Other directors: Ret. U.S. Army Lt. Gen. and former U.S. Ambassador to NATO Douglas Lute, Agostina Nieves and Andy Abell. BTIG LLC was sole book-running manager of the IPO. (BTIG numbers among its clientele Harrow Inc. of Nashville and Brightspring Health Services of  Louisville. CIO Freifeld led an earlier Galata I (GLTA) acquisition of Marti Technologies Inc., a mobility and transportation company based in Turkey. That, plus multi-lingual Freifeld's prior role in the U.S. Department of State suggest deal-scouting for Galata II may not be CONUS-only. 

► FRANKLIN-born Objective Health Inc., which integrates clinical trials into the practices of physicians and deploys proprietary technology to identify and recruit patients for clinical trials, recently reported raising $47.2MM in equity growth capital from six investors, including some global players. Investors apparently still include Frist Cressey Ventures, Vitruvian Partners, BIP Ventures and, possibly, NueCura Partners (Angels). The Oct. 8 filing shows CEO Steve Clemons--who succeeded Colleen Hoke at an earlier stage last year--and four other executives, plus four directors, including Senior Independent Director Kumar Muthalagappan OBE of London, where he also leads The KM Foundation. The current Objective executive team is here. VNC estimates Objective's capital raised since its inception in 2019 as just-north of $70M. Its earliest professional backers including NueCura Partners. (NueCura says on its website: "Nuecura Partners has paused new investing, however it is still actively monitoring its current portfolio..." NueCura, originally led by Don Lazas MD, played a distinctly important role in Nashville's health ventures maturation and there are surely attractive lanes for a Next Act in a city still short of healthtech investors.)

► FOUNDER DANIEL 'DAN' HETRICK, Interim President John Powenski (a former Asurion HR exec) and their team just made their first SEC filing for Nashville-based Fufild Inc., a fintech, paytech and HRtech company. They're seeking $2M in equity investment and have nearly $700K-in, now. They says it is "helping businesses unlock longer retention, effortless recruiting, engagement, and magnetic culture breakthroughs that pay raises can’t buy." Hetrick offers attractive logic about the proven effectiveness of a "Care First" approach to employee relationship-building, with an eloquent-yet-telegraphic review (scroll down for the Fufild team) of the historic stages of employer-worker relations, in the course of laying-out smoothly the workings of their platform. The company's CTO is Joel Legg, a CORE 10 veteran.

Steve Kemmerling

► ALT_BI: Enhanced Compliance Solutions Inc., a vintage 2017 regulatory-tech-oriented business led by Nashville-based CEO and Director Steven Kemmerling, filed Oct. 13 regarding its raise of $500K (equity) from one investor, bringing the targeted value of his three filings to-date to about $5.2MM (debt or equity). Kemmerling says via LinkedIn he leads development of "innovative data and business intelligence solutions that empower institutions to manage risk and seize opportunities in highly regulated and emerging industries such as cannabis and cryptocurrency." The company offers "solutions that help institutions manage risk and monetize opportunity in emerging, opaque, highly-regulated industries (e.g., cannabis, crypto, etc.)" Enhanced is publisher of CRB Monitor. CRB: cannabis-related businesses. Kemmerling this week announced the company's acquisition of Gibraltar-flagged VASPnet from XReg Consulting, apparently heavying-up his virtual assete service provider (VASP) and crypto foundation.

► MEDTECH: LED BY Daniel Fabbri PhD and Christine Micheel PhD at Vanderbilt University Medical Center, early-stage Brim Analytics this week announced its ARPA-H funding has been extended, bringing the total for his team's work to nearly $4MM, including previous awards. The funds help expand use of the Brim-VUMC Democratized AI-Guided Chart Abstraction Platform (DAGCAP) between now and EOY 2027. VUMC release. VNC coverage of Fabbri.

Scott Sohr

► SCOTT SOHR of Nashville is listed among 18 officers and directors as director emeritus on Banc3 Holdings Inc.'s Oct. 9 SEC filing on completion of a $5MM debt raise for Memphis-based Banc3 Holdings Inc. Sohr is perhaps best known in the MiddleTN venture community as principal or co-founder of Canary Ventures, Built Technologies, Wellpath (fka Correct Care Solutions), Sky to Street (STS) Ventures and Health Cost Solutions, among other interests. He has also long been active in creating large residential neighborhood developments in Tennessee and Kentucky. Through STS Ventures, he has advised startups in those sectors, as well as in fintech and renewable energy. Banc3 President recently announced that the bank's B3Connect digital platform, which had been set to debut Aug. 25, had been delayed to ensure that both retail/personal banking and business/commercial banking facets have been perfected. Registered in 2015, Banc3 Holdings in 2016 acquired The Farmers Bank, which served northwest Tennessee and southwest Kentucky. Since 2015, the bank's six SEC filings (some equity, some debt) have thus far represented aspirational goals totaling nearly $40MM. Banc3 Holdings Inc. today says on its website, "Our customer-focused approach is guided by our belief in the importance of three key tenets - Talent, Tradition, and Technology." The bank has presence in Memphis, Jackson, Union City and Woodland Mills, Tenn., as well as in Desoto County, Miss., according to its website. Sohr's brother is serial entrepreneur and investor Jim Sohr (related).

Aaron Salow

► NASHVILLE-based XOEye Technologies Inc. announced a strategic partnership with Siemens Company's Brightly Software, to augment Brightly's Asset Essentials solution, on undisclosed terms. XOEye was founded here 12 years ago by Founder CEO Aaron Salow MBA. Today's release referred to XOi as a "data intelligence company for the asset lifecycle," particularly important for maintenance of mission-critical HVAC and other systems." A year ago, XOi joined the ranks of the fastest-growing 500 North American tech firms as ranked by Deloitte. In 2021, XOi forged strategic ties with ServiceTitan. VNC research indicates the company has raised nearly $20MM since inception. Its investors have at times included Kohlberg Kravis Roberts (KKR). Forging a partnership with such majors as Siemens is often a protracted prelude to an exit. In previous comments to VNC, Salow has emphasized his interest in retaining "optionality" in considering organic and inorganic growth, or an exit. XOEye, itself, acquired Bay Area-based Specifx, on undisclosed terms. In 2014, the company merged with Michigan's Pairasight. XOEye and Salow won the Nashville EC's Market Mover slot in the NEXT Awards in 2019. See VNC's previous XOi coverage here.

Tom Mattley

► SMARTER FIRE HOUSES? Mid-TN startup TYMBRE.IQ LLC is being prepared for its emergence from stealth mode by partners in an existing company --Take 2 AV LLC, which was co-founded by Bay Area-based CEO Robert Scharffer and COO/CFO Tom Mattley, who moved with his family five years ago from the Bay Area to Silver Point, near Nashville. Both Scharffer and Mattley were previously aboard Cali-based Audio Visual Design Group Inc., which they exited to Guitar Center in 2017. When installed, the TymbreIQ solution provides data and insights related to firehouse operations, including alarm-response and other operational results, including round-the-clock tracking of firefighters' working conditions and related matters. While TymbreIQ-installed systems require some programming, off-the-shelf system components are widely available, minimizing down-time. TymbreIQ recently filed with the SEC on completion of an initial $35K raise among its partners. TymbreIQ partners are based among California, Tennessee, Texas, and Washington state. Preparations for TymbreIQ's formal rollout are underway (including website debut). TymbreIQ banks with Chase. Its advisors include attorneys with Spaulding McCullough & Tansil; accountants with Sorren (fka Pisenti & Brinker); branding pros at Supervox Agency; and, AV marcom expert Kelly Perkins. A T2AV "Contact" form is available via the content beehive on the T2AV site and messages go to Mattley.

David Connor

► FIVE-year-old Rare Disease Data Trust Inc., based in Brentwood, filed Friday, Oct. 10, on its progress toward a $1MM equity raise, with $750K-in. The company aims to accelerate accurate diagnoses of rare diseases. As Connor puts it on LinkedIn: RDDT is "a first-to-market remote ML/AI powered SaaS solution to healthcare doing predictive reare disease patient analytics [and] working to disrupt the typical 5- to 8-year diagnostic oddyssey of patients within targeted rare disease states, compliantly sponsored by manufacturers." Connor adds that during more than 22 years in the rare-disease space, he led commercialization of eight then-novel ultra-rare disease therapies. VNC research indicates that across seven filings since 2020, the company has raised at least $1.3MM. The outcome of its 2022 Covid-era raise, which bore a $7MM target, has not been confirmed. One source cites a Nashville VC as having participated, but VNC has not confirmed that. RDDT Co-founders are CEO David Connor and COO Kerry Hart. Rhys Williams is chief data science officer. Its CMO is David Slosky MD. CTO is Mark Tumblin. VNC's previous RDDT tracking here. 

. last edited 16 October 2025 1600