Unclaimed Baggage marks 50th anniversary with a 50-state road tour
After half a century of picking up lost items from road trips, Unclaimed Baggage is celebrating its anniversary by taking the company’s story on the road. The Scottsboro institution, which offers customers a chance to find bargains from baggage lost in transit, is planning to celebrate its 50th anniversary with a nationwide “50 Years 50 States Road Tour.” In addition, Unclaimed Baggage will debut a new e-commerce platform and a new website in March. – AL.com
Seven new companies chosen for Innovation Depot’s Velocity Accelerator
Innovation Depot has chosen seven startups for its 2020 Velocity Accelerator cohort. The seven were chosen from more than 130 companies around the world, with three based in Alabama and others from Nashville, Pittsburgh, Indianapolis and Montreal. The program, now in its fourth year, recruits tech companies to Alabama and gives them access to $50,000 in capital, along with resources and mentoring in order to grow their operations quickly. The companies chosen are Chip, DownTime, Gainvest, Leadhr, Leveld, Stroll and Vendrix. – AL.com
AFF invests in Linq, a new way to share business information
Alabama Futures Fund recently placed an investment in Birmingham-based Linq LLC. Linq seeks to disrupt the traditional networking platforms currently on the market ranging from electronic business card apps and platforms like LinkedIn. Founded in 2019 by Elliott Potter, Jared Mattsson and Patrick Sullivan, Linq doesn’t require users to sign up for a service, download an app or visit a website to share or receive other Linq cards. – Street Insider
Lawmakers do annual consideration of removing sales tax on food
State Senator Clyde Chambliss says he wants to look at removing the state’s tax on groceries this upcoming legislative session. In previous years, there have been similar pieces of legislation. Right now, Alabamians pay a 4% tax on groceries plus other local taxes. “The grocery tax is a tax on a basic necessity of life, it’s a tax on survival,” Chris Sanders with the nonprofit Alabama Arise said. – WIAT
NASA finally rolls out completed core of its massive new rocket
NASA on Wednesday rolled out the completed core section of its massive new rocket, the Space Launch System, which is designed to take people into deep space. The core stage, manufactured at NASA’s Michoud Assembly Facility in New Orleans, Louisiana, is now heading to Mississippi where it will undergo key testing before it can launch for the first time. The Space Launch System, or SLS, is a critical part of NASA’s Artemis program, an initiative to return humans to the surface of the Moon by 2024. – The Verge
Tesla gets big order from the competition: Daimler/BMW’s app
Daimler and BMW, through their joint-venture Free Now, a mobility ride-hailing app in Europe, is ordering 60 Tesla vehicles in order to expand their electric vehicle offering in Germany. Free Now used to be known as “MyTaxi” and is a simple taxi-hailing app used in Europe. Daimler purchased it in 2014. Last year, the German automaker entered into a surprise joint-venture partnership with rival BMW, and they invested over $1 billion in the company. – Electrek
