A Blount County-area entrepreneur has been selected for The Works, the Knoxville Entrepreneur Center’s premier startup accelerator for early-stage tech companies poised for rapid growth.
Raymond Decker, founder of Raina Ventures, is one of six companies chosen for this year’s cohort, which runs nine weeks starting July 13 and concludes with a Sept. 9 demo day. Decker is paired with lead mentor Chris Van Beke, senior vice president of strategy at SOVRA.
” Programs like The Works help experienced founders turn hard-won lessons into something useful for the people coming behind them,” Marcus Blair, a long-time The Works participant explained.
Decker, 40, who moved to Tennessee from Arizona a few years ago and lives in Greenback, said he heard about the program almost by accident — he attended a pitch event hosted by the 121 Tech Hub as an observer, got to talking with KEC staff who were there, and applied on their recommendation.
Raina, Decker’s company, verifies claims in fast-moving digital content — deepfakes, viral videos, breaking news — and issues what he calls an auditable “verdict” rather than a probability score. The idea grew out of a personal experience: Decker said his now 21-year-old son was wrongly flagged for allegedly using AI on a school entrance exam, which pushed him to start building AI-detection software.
He said he soon realized the more useful question wasn’t whether content was AI-generated, but whether it could be substantiated.
“Raina doesn’t just score media. We adjudicate it. We take a piece of content, verify the specific claims it makes, and produce a signed, auditable verdict you can stand behind,” Decker said.
The company’s name carries a family imprint. Decker said he struggled for weeks to land on a name before his wife suggested naming it after his mother, whose middle name is Raina. His wife also designed the company’s logo and digital branding. Decker said her support has extended into the accelerator itself — she has rearranged her own work schedule to help handle school pickups and family logistics while he balances the nine-week program with his full-time job, with his parents also pitching in to help.
His first design partner is the Nevada Secretary of State’s office, which is testing the tool ahead of the 2026 election cycle. Decker, a longtime Salesforce solution architect, said Raina has no paying customers yet but is working toward its first contracts.
He said his goal by demo day is landing seed investment that would let him leave his day job and focus on Raina full time.
For more information about Raina Ventures, go to > rainaventure.com
