Bunker Labs – a 501(c)(3) non-profit – is a national network of veteran entrepreneurs dedicated to helping new veteran entrepreneurs start their own business. We are committed to seeing that every entrepreneur in the veteran community has the network, tools, and resources they need to start their own business.

25% of transitioning service members want to start a business and they need places inside their community where they can connect with the people, resources, and support they need to start and grow their businesses. We’re here for them!

The University of Tennessee Research Park at Cherokee Farm in Knoxville, Tennessee, is the Southeast’s only research and development park where the resources of a major research university and a leading national laboratory are combined with globally recognized researchers expressly for the benefit of tenants. The campus offers tenant access to the research capabilities at UT and Oak Ridge National Laboratory. Located on 188 acres on the banks of the Tennessee River, the campus has 77 developable acres and includes 16 building sites that support approximately 1.6 million square feet of development. Parcels are available for immediate development, and research suite leasing is underway.

The Tennessee Valley Authority is a corporate agency of the United States that provides electricity for business customers and local power distributors serving 9 million people in parts of seven southeastern states. TVA receives no taxpayer funding, deriving virtually all of its revenues from sales of electricity. In addition to operating and investing its revenues in its electric system, TVA provides flood control, navigation and land management for the Tennessee River system and assists local power companies and state and local governments with economic development and job creation.

The University of Tennessee Anderson Center for Entrepreneurship & Innovation (ACEI) is a university-based resource for entrepreneurship across the region and the state of Tennessee. The center works to foster an entrepreneurial culture at the university and across the state by developing student skills, providing experiential learning opportunities, conducting meaningful entrepreneurial research, and connecting students with mentors and resources that enable them to successfully start and grow new businesses.

ACEI also works externally with regional partners in Knoxville, government partners in Nashville, and colleagues across the state for both “for profit” and “social cause” organizations.

The Knoxville Entrepreneur Center (KEC) provides access to a regionally recognized company development program, an involved network of dedicated capital sources, successful local mentors, and world-class training.  The KEC connects entrepreneurs with mentors and the resources necessary to start their businesses. It inspires, encourages, and enables entrepreneurs by adding value to their business ideas. The KEC is a place where entrepreneurs come daily to move their business ideas to a higher level.

Pershing Yoakley & Associates provides timely insight and delivers comprehensive support in accounting, consulting, and management. The company has a proven track record of unsurpassed performance in healthcare, finance and business practice. PYA has been built with an unyielding commitment to integrity at all levels, objective research and reporting, creative problem solving and an attention to clients that starts at the executive level and filters through the entire organization.

PYA launched Teknovation.biz in 2012 as a vehicle to allow East Tennesseans to spotlight and celebrate “all things” related to technology, innovation and entrepreneurship in East Tennessee. It is intended to help create more awareness of our region’s assets and help drive technology, innovation and entrepreneurial job growth.

Launch Tennessee (LaunchTN) is a public-private partnership focused on supporting the development of high-growth companies in Tennessee. Its ultimate goal is to make Tennessee the No. 1 place in the Southeast to start and grow a business.

LaunchTN supports entrepreneurship by providing resources, mentorship and connections for entrepreneurs, plus helping entrepreneurs obtain funding and connecting inventors with entrepreneurs and investors. The organization assists entrepreneurs with raising capital and focuses on outreach, hosting events that bring together entrepreneurs, mentors, researchers and investors from across the state and country and serving as the marketing arm for entrepreneurship in Tennessee.