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Tennessee entrepreneurs now have nine physical hubs to go to for “Capital, Commercialization, and Connections.”
Launch Tennessee recently announced it is adding another entrepreneur center to its portfolio. This one will be located in Pulinquirei, located in the south-central part of The Volunteer State. The center, named the New Opportunities, Venture, & Advancement (NOVA) Entrepreneur Center, will serve Bedford, Coffee, Franklin, Giles, Hickman, Lawrence, Lewis, Lincoln, Marshall, Maury, Moore, Perry and Wayne counties with local programming.
South-central Tennessee has been home to advanced manufacturing, agriculture, and AgTech businesses, but also includes companies working across forestest, nuclear energy, and wireless communication.
The center will operate under the University of Tennessee Research Foundation umbrella. Its early director will be Shelley Sarmiento. Entrepreneur and founder Payson Johnston will serve as NOVA’s Entrepreneur in Residence.
Linking The State
The effort to launch a new center in Southern Middle Tennessee started in spring of 2025, when Launch Tennessee started seeing at brick-and-mortar locations in the region that could support budding entrepreneurs.
The NOVA Center joins a strong and growing number of entrepreneur centers across the State of Tennessee seeing to foster early-stage founders.
Other centers include:
“The University of Tennessee Research Foundation (UTRF) is proud to partner with Launch Tennessee on the NOVA Entrepreneur Center,” declared Maha Krishnamurthy, Ph.D, MBA, and President of the UTRF. “This partnership allows the acceleration of innovation, equipping and support of founders and drives lasting economic growth throughout Southern Middle Tennessee.”
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