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Atlanta

Atlanta’s startup ecosystem is part of the primary commercial hub for the Southeastern United States – a tremendous boon for its entrepreneurs. Sixteen Fortune 500 companies make Atlanta home, including Delta Airlines, UPS, Coca-Cola, and CNN, which provide the ecosystem with talent and avenues for a potential exit. The Centers for Disease Control (CDC) alone employs over 15,000 people and attracts top talent to Atlanta’s healthtech scene. The presence of Georgia Tech, along with dozens of high caliber universities, churn out a combined 200,000 graduates annually, which means that recruiting promising young engineers is realistic. Community anchors like the Atlanta Tech Village, Hypepotamus, Switchyards and ATDC provide ample support to emerging startups, and make it easy for new entrepreneurs to get engaged. Still, some have raised concerns that the startup market in Atlanta is too disjointed and accused the city’s entrepreneurs of ‘batting for singles and doubles, rather than pursuing home-runs.’ And, like other nascent ecosystems, it also suffers from a distinct lack of capital. Nevertheless, the city has a long history of successful exits and excels in enterprise, healthtech, fintech, and sales & marketing innovations.

In This Market

These businesses offer industry expertise and are a source of startup talent and potential customers. They help fuel the local startup community.

Opportunities

Atlanta’s central location is just 2 hours away from 80% of the US market, and Hartsfield-Jackson is the most traveled airport in the world. Access to a large customer base is of great importance to startups.
As one of the country’s fastest growing cities, it has gained over 1 million people since 2000. Atlanta’s population growth is projected to stay positive for the next decade.
As a regional research hub, Atlanta universities spend close to $1.49 billion in annual research expenditures. 200,000 students graduate from universities in Atlanta annually, which provides a great talent pipeline for the tech scene.
With the cost of living factored in, software developers in Atlanta earn the second highest salaries in the country.
The presence of the headquarters of 16 Fortune 500 companies, such as Delta Airlines, UPS, Coca-Cola, and CNN, means that corporate talent is never far away.
Particular sector strengths include health, fintech, and enterprise. Startups that focus on these sectors should perform well. There is also ample opportunity for entrepreneurs pursuing innovations around logistics, given the presence of some of the world's largest logistics and supply-chain-oriented companies.

Risk Factors

There is a lack of capital in early stage startups because many investors are unfamiliar with angel investing and lack experience.
At 1,652 square miles, urban sprawl in Atlanta makes getting around challenging for those who don’t have a car. And those with a car spend an average of 50 hours a year sitting in traffic jams, providing a disincentive for startups to move to the city.
The ecosystem lacks demographic diversity, which can make it difficult to attract new talent from other parts of the country.
According to the Brookings Institution, Atlanta is America’s most unequal city: the top 5% of households make 19 times as much as those in the bottom 20%. Economists believe that income inequality negatively impacts the product differentiation offered by producers in a given market.

Market Indicators

5,522,942 Metro area population
$72,144 Average annual salary for a developer
176 Startup event groups

Notable Success Stories

Acquired for $95.5M by
Up and coming startup
Acquired for $270M by
Acquired for $455M by

Key players

Allen Moseley General Partner at Noro-Moseley Partners (NMP)
Allen joined NMP in 1998 and leads the firm’s healthcare practice, primarily focusing on health IT. He has worked extensively in the healthcare and business services industries, advising on a number of initial public offerings, M&A transactions, and private placements.
David Cummings CEO at Atlanta Ventures
In 2007, David co-founded Pardot, a B2B marketing platform, which was acquired by ExactTarget in one of the largest SaaS acquisitions ever of a bootstrapped company. Recently, David has founded the Atlanta Tech Village, a 103,000 sq ft technology entrepreneur center, where his VC, Atlanta Ventures, is located.
Michael Tavani Founder at Switchyards and Scoutmob
Michael is a co-founder of Scoutmob, a mobile eCommerce company. Previously, he had co-founded SkyBlox, a local Wi-Fi marketing company that became the first company to ever raise financing via Twitter. His background is in professional sports marketing for the Atlanta Hawks, Women’s United Soccer Association (WUSA) and Major League Soccer (MLS).
Sig Mosley Managing Partner at Mosley Ventures
Sig is the Managing Partner of Mosley Ventures, a VC that invests in early-stage technology startups in the Southeast. Known as “The Godfather of Angel Investing”, Sig is the most prolific Southeast investor with 120 startups in his portfolio.
Ross Kimbel Global Director of Innovation and Entrepreneurship at The Coca-Cola Company
Ross is responsible for designing and managing the Coca-Cola Founders Platform. This includes recruiting, advising, and networking Coca-Cola co-founder teams in Atlanta and around the world.
Shane Matthews Professional Advisor at ATDC
Shane is well known throughout the community through his activities as part of the organizing team for the Startup Weekend at Atlanta. In addition to his role at ATDC, Shane is also the founder of My Inventor Club, which helps guide people and startups through the process of launching products and companies.
Lance Weatherby VP of Marketing at CallRail
Lance is VP of Marketing at CallRail, a provider of tracking and analytics services. He was previously COO of nCrowd, Inc., was Startup Catalyst at Georgia Tech's Advanced Technology Development Center, and co-founded Skribit, Socialytics, and Twitpay.
Sanjay Parekh Founder at Startup Riot
Sanjay founded Startup Riot in 2008 as a way to give the Atlanta startup community curated and affordable events. Previously, he was the founder and CEO of Digital Envoy until its acquisition by Landmark Communications in 2007.
Glenn Bachman President at 2500 Bachman Ventures
In addition to being president of 2500 Bachman Ventures, Glenn is an angel investor, entrepreneur and advisor for early stage B2B software technology companies and he serves on the screening committee for Atlanta Technology Angels, the state’s largest angel group.
Bird Blitch CEO at Patientco
In 2009, Bird co-founded Patientco, a medical payments platform. Before creating Patientco, Bird co-founded and served as CEO for BroadSource Inc. He also serves as an Advisory Board member of the Advanced Technology Development Center (ATDC), a start-up accelerator that helps technology entrepreneurs launch and build successful companies.

Market timeline

Georgia Tech establishes Advanced Technology Development Center (ATDC)
As one of the nation's oldest incubators, Advanced Technology Development Center's (ATDC) 150 graduates have raised well over $2 billion in capital since 1987. 90% of ATDC graduates are successful five years after graduation, and 48% of ATDC companies have successfully exited.
1981
Atlanta Tech Angels is formed
Atlanta Tech Angels (ATA) is created, and includes members in Atlanta and across Georgia that work together to evaluate and fund early-stage companies. ATA members provide seed and early-stage capital of between $150K-$2M.
1998
MailChimp is founded
Perhaps Atlanta's most well known success story is MailChimp, which is a powerful email marketing platform with 7 million active users.
2001
IBM acquires Internet Security Systems for $1.3B
Founded by a Georgia Tech undergrad in 1994, Internet Security Systems (ISS) creates cybersecurity software.
2006
Atlanta Ventures Accelerator launches
The VC of entrepreneur David Cummings, Atlanta Ventures, launches its own accelerator designed to leverage the resources of the Atlanta Tech Village.
July, 2013
AT&T opens Atlanta Foundry Innovation facility
The Atlanta Foundry is the result of a partnership including AT&T, Cisco, Georgia Tech, the City of Atlanta, and state and local business leadership. The AT&T Foundry is adjacent to Georgia Tech, and AT&T will tap into the research, expertise and entrepreneurial creativity at the university.
August, 2013
Startup Atlanta is formed
Formed to serve growth-focused entrepreneurs in the Atlanta region who are focused on scaling their businesses, Startup Atlanta has partnerships with EO Atlanta, Invest Atlanta, and the Metro Atlanta Chamber.
May, 2013
VMWare acquires AirWatch for $1.54B
AirWatch, a mobile device management provider, is acquired by VMWare for $1.54B.
February, 2014
General Assembly and The Iron Yard open their doors
The Iron Yard and General Assembly are institutions operate code schools to teach individuals lacking a technical background the skills needed to succeed.
2014
Coca-Cola Enterprises to put innovation center at Georgia Tech
Coca-Cola Enterprises opens an Advanced Technology Development Center at Georgia Tech where the company will work on emerging technologies and develop apps to help retailers improve their business.
February, 2015

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