Industry Association Announces Name Change to Greater Nashville Private Capital Association

Nashville, TN (April 8, 2025)–The region’s new industry association for venture capital, is broadening its mandate to serve a larger community of investors and has changed its name from the Greater Nashville Venture Capital Association to the Greater Nashville Private Capital Association (GNPCA).

“As a new association, it became clear there was untapped potential to serve and support even more economic growth in the market,” said GNPCA Executive Director Judith Byrd, who was hired one year ago to stand up the initiative to drive growth and innovation in Nashville and the wider region. “Widening our scope provides increased opportunity to move our growing private capital market forward as angel, venture and private equity investors collaborate on deals and thrive.”

The association, founded with seed funding from Vanderbilt University, is dedicated to fostering a strong private capital ecosystem in the region, supporting growth, and shaping Middle Tennessee’s economic success.

“There is an increasingly diverse scope of investment activity in Middle Tennessee—including angel investment, venture capital, growth equity, private equity and family office investments—and we are evolving at this early stage of operation to better represent the full spectrum of private capital stakeholders in the ecosystem,” said GNPCA Chair Bruce Evans, Chairman of the Board of Trustees, Vanderbilt University and former co-managing partner, Summit Partners.

The GNPCA will continue to provide valuable networking, education and advocacy efforts to the private investment community under its new name while welcoming a wider array of industry participants.

Stakeholders across the private capital ecosystem are encouraged to engage with the GNPCA and sign up to attend its State of the Market program on April 24, featuring insights into the market from eminent thought leaders: Tennessee Economic Development Commissioner Stuart McWhorter, Cambridge Associates Managing Director Mike Larsen and Raymond James Financial Senior Managing Director Jeff Maxwell.

For more information about the Greater Nashville Private Capital Association and its initiatives, visit gnpca.org