Another year has come and gone, but the Atlanta startup ecosystem is much further along than it was 12 months ago.
We had a record year for 2019, having beaten our record of VC funding raised by Atlanta startups set last year before the fourth quarter of 2019 even began. Many in the biz have asked if Atlanta can keep the momentum going.
Whether you're a naysayer or a cheerleader, our tech community is steamrolling into 2020 full-speed ahead and we think we might have an idea of who will be the rookies of the year.
When we introduced Startups to Watch in 2019, we got your attention, much like these budding startups caught ours. Many of the 19 startups selected last year went on to raise more cash, expand, enter accelerators and climb that ladder like we predicted.
Since it was such a success last year — it is, after all, the most read story on Atlanta Inno's website — we thought we'd bring it back around for 2020.
Using our expertise, we've come up with 20 early-stage startups that are hitting the ground running come Jan. 1.
All companies must have completed a pre-seed, seed or Series A round to be considered. Which is why you won't see the mega hitters like OneTrust and GreenSky on this list. Nonetheless, these up-and-comers are making buzz we just couldn't ignore.
Here are the 20 startups we're keeping a real close eye on in 2020.
86Borders
86Borders is an end-to-end provider of visibility and communication between clients, their customers and affiliated groups.
The startup, which has a health care and logistics platform, focuses on delivering solutions-based services across the health care and logistics industries.
Founded in 2014, the company has raised more than $1.7 million in funding. In 2019 alone, the startup raised more than $60,000 in February and then completed a $148,015 round in July.
Axis Replay
Axis Replay is an entertainment and event facility for video games and esports. Located along the Beltline in Grant Park, Axis Replay serves as 12,000-square-foot haven for gamers, esports and other entertainment from strategic board games to Twitch streams.
The purpose of the woman-owned business is to "create fun, social, welcoming experiences for gamers and their friends so that they can build stronger personal and professional connections." In addition to daily gaming, Axis Replay offers coworking for other tech companies and an event space for esports and tech conferences.
Early in 2019, Axis Replay received a strategic investment from RIISE Ventures, a sports, entertainment and technology innovation firm.
ClickDimensions
ClickDimensions, a marketing automation startup, has been on the up and up in 2019.
In March, the company acquired Sweetspot Data Solutions, a New York marketing dashboard provider. Terms of the deal were not disclosed.
Founded in 2010, ClickDimensions is designed to help bridge the gap between sales and marketing for users of Microsoft Dynamics, a business management software suite that incorporates artificial intelligence, mixed reality, social and mobile capabilities.
ClickDimensions was awarded a 2019 Pacesetter Award from the Atlanta Business Chronicle for being one of the fastest-growing private companies in Atlanta. This is the sixth consecutive year that the company has earned a Pacesetter Award. To date, the company has raised about $550,000 in funding, according to Crunchbase.
Demand Driven Technologies
Demand Driven Technologies offers inventory management and supply chain planning solutions for manufacturers and distributors.
The company's software is based in the cloud and serves as a provider of a new method called Demand Driven MRP, which allows companies to pace their materials to actual demand in the market versus using forecasts.
Founded in the fall of 2011, Demand Driven Technologies was bootstrapped for six years before its first VC round in 2017 through Mosley Ventures in Atlanta and other investors. The company caters to more than 100 enterprises around the world, including clients Michelin Tires and Coca-Cola Beverages Africa.
The company raised about $3.7 million from undisclosed investors in a round of convertible notes in June 2019.Demand Driven Technologies plans to complete its Series A round in 2020.
Fanaticus
Fanaticus creates immersive environments for communities of fans using mixed reality technology.
By combining virtual reality, projection mapping and asymmetric gaming they create “layered experiences” that accommodate larger groups of people than most VR only platforms. These layered experiences provide different immersion levels at different price points, appealing to broader audiences.
The company raised an undisclosed seed round in 2018 and near the Krog Street Marketplace with Axis Replay.
Flourish Software
Flourish Software provides enterprise supply chain and inventory management software built for the cannabis, CBD and hemp industries.
Flourish currently serves cultivators, manufacturers, processors, wholesalers, distributors and retailers. Flourish is integrated with state compliance systems, so cannabis operators remain compliant while they capture critical business data, operate more efficiently, track product from seed to sale and leverage advanced analytics.
Founded in 2017, the startup completed a $2.1 million seed round in August 2019.
FortifyData
2019 was a big year for FortifyData, a Kennesaw-based cyber risk platform.
In September, the startup hired Bob Morrell as its new CEO, who previously served as co-founder and CEO of Riskonnect, a Kennesaw-based integrated risk management software company.
In November, the company raised $1.3 million in convertible notes, with 17 investors participating in the round. According to data from Crunchbase, FortifyData raised an undisclosed pre-seed round in 2018.
FortifyData's platform identifies, monitors and presents cyber risks into quantifiable corporate intelligence.
Greenzie
Greenzie designs software for autonomous robotic lawn mowers.
The company's first product was made for the B2B market and was designed to pair with a manual commercial lawn mower. Using software developed by Greenzie, the machine operates on autopilot — turning a commercial manual machine into a robot.
The startup is the first to graduate the Atlanta Ventures Studio, an internal incubation program and has received an undisclosed amount of seed funding from David Cummings, co-founder of the Atlanta Tech Village.
Greenzie raised $500,000 in funding from seven investors for a seed round earlier this year.
Jonny On It
Jonny On It is a home services solution for the real estate industry. Real estate brokers use the Jonny On It white label app to connect their home sellers to the service professionals they need to get their homes ready to list and sell, and to help their buyers to find the resources they need to improve and maintain the properties they have purchased.
Jonny On It's broker partners include Realty One, Dorsey Alston Realtors, Engel and Volkers, Coldwell Banker, Harry Norman Realtors and Berkshire Hathaway Home Services Georgia Properties. Jonny On It enables qualifying vendors to acquire new customers and grow their businesses by fulfilling job requests through the Jonny On It network. Small local operators use the Jonny Pro mobile app to accept and manage job requests, and regional service providers with larger fleets utilize the Jonny On It Dispatch Portal.
All Jonny On It service professionals must be licensed and insured and are rated by users to ensure the highest level of service.
The startup was selected as a presenting company for Venture Atlanta 2019, nominated for the best B2B startup in Atlanta 2019 by Atlanta Startup Awards and won a Top 50 Tech Companies Award by Intercon.
To date, the company has raised $1.1 million in funding, according to Crunchbase.
Layr
Layr helps companies to get the layer of insurance protection they need to succeed and pay for it monthly with a credit card.
Using AI technology, Layr's platform automates the role of brokers and underwriters, allowing businesses to purchase insurance tailored to their company's needs.
The company completed a pre-seed round in July 2019 of $625,000 and participated in Lloyd’s Lab accelerator.
Lucky
Lucky is a location based marketing platform that creates impactful marketing experiences for brands to engage with and gather consumer insights from people as they move throughout a city.
Their first vertical is working with mobility apps (ridesharing, e-scooters, bikeshare, etc.) to create impulse buying opportunities for people that they can use within a few blocks of their destination.
The company has recently secured their seed round, been accepted into the Plug & Play Media/Advertising accelerator and closed their first few corporate clients. Lucky is also an ATDC company.
ModifyHealth
ModifyHealth's mission is to change lives by making food as medicine simple and effective for providers and patients.
ModifyHealth’s provider recommended home-delivered, Low-FODMAP and gluten-free meals are shipped nationwide to help bring relief to common GI conditions such as irritable bowel syndrome, inflammatory bowel disease, SIBO and celiac disease where dietary modification is a recommended treatment.
All meals are organic, non-GMO, delivered fully-prepared and supported with expert dietitian consultations to ensure positive outcomes.
Founded in 2018, ModifyHealth raised a $2 million seed round in early 2019.
Motivo
Founded in 2017, Motivo connects recent graduates to a clinical supervisor to fulfill state licensure requirements as a therapist, counselor, social worker or psychologist. Much like a doctor is required to fulfill a residency at a hospital, those working towards professions in the mental health sector are required to complete approximately two years of face-to-face consultation with a licensed therapist following graduate school. Though requirements are typically completed in person, the rise in tele-health has pushed for many states to allow supervision hours to be collected through secure video conference.
The company's recent seed round brings Motivo’s total funding to $2,325,000.
Motivo is a 2018 Techstars Atlanta graduate, an Atlanta Inno Coolest Companies winner, and an Atlanta Inno 50 on Fire winner. Founder Rachel McCrickard was also a finalist for the Atlanta Business Chronicle's Small Business Person of the Year, and one of 50 Female Founders to Watch by Forbes.
NView Health
NView Health, an Atlanta-based behavioral health solutions company, uses tech and data insights to ensure that every person has access to the behavioral health care they need to achieve optimal health.
Accepted by the FDA and World Health Organization, nView’s online solutions are now changing the way healthcare providers, educators and researchers identify, diagnose, treat and monitor people with behavioral health conditions.
The company recently raised $4.65 million from BIP Capital in 2019 and expects to use the funds to expand its software solutions and more aggressively pursue additional markets.
Polygon.io
Polygon.io supplies companies and developers real-time and historic market data for stocks, forex and cryptocurrencies. The startup provides easy to use APIs to help democratize access to the world's financial market data and to help developers build the future of fintech.
Polygon was started by ex-Googlers who have a proven track record of building performant, large scale platforms with clean, intuitive usability.
"While attempting a project that applied ML to news articles and market data, we were amazed how difficult, unreliable, and expensive market data was," Jack Bell, a developer advocate at Polygon, said in an email to Atlanta Inno. "With no solution to our pain points, we decided to apply our deep knowledge of modern tech platforms and infrastructure to solve this for ourselves."
In June, Polygon raised $500k from GreenVisor Capital. The startup's customers include Google, Stanford, Robinhood, Revolut and the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission.
Sideqik
Sideqik is an influencer marketing SaaS platform that enables marketers to grow, manage and prove ROI on their influencer marketing strategy initiatives. Founded in 2012, the startup originally started as a marketing partnership platform.
Sideqik customers include The Coca-Cola Co., Logitech, Universal Music Group and Under Armour. In 2019, Sideqik's customers worked with over 25,000 influencers — sourced from the company's database of over 20 million social profiles and were able to measure over $1.5 billion in earned media value.
The company completed a $5 million Series A round in February 2019.
SimpleShowing
SimpleShowing is a tech-enabled real estate company that helps homebuyer access residential properties on demand, without a real estate agent.
The company uses a combination of identity verification software and IoT lockboxes to provide a more streamlined buying and selling experience, ultimately helping consumers save time and money.
SimpleShowing was founded in 2018 and has raised $1.5 million in funding. The company has participated in several startup programs including Launch's Founder University in San Francisco and Velocity Accelerator in Birmingham.
SingleOps
SingleOps is an all-in-one business management software for outdoor service industries, including tree care, lawn care, full-service landscaping, sod farms and landscape supply.
The company serves thousands of users who have collectively processed over $1 billion in revenue through SingleOps, and use it daily to operate their businesses and interact with clients.
To date, the startup has raised $2.6 million, including a $1.6 million Series A round led by serial entrepreneur and founder of Atlanta Ventures David Cummings earlier this year.
In 2019, the company was named a Best Place to Work and one of Atlanta’s fastest-growing technology companies by the Atlanta Business Chronicle.
Transitiv
Transitiv is a programmatic customer data platform.
The startup claims to have created the world's first fully-automated, optimized and truly open multi-channel marketing platform. Transitiv unifies customer data for franchise and other brand network businesses to provide personalized customer experiences and media execution services.
In November, the company closed an oversubscribed $1.7 million seed investment led by Vocap Investment Partners. Transitiv was selected as a presenting company at Venture Atlanta 2019.
West Hill Global
West Hill Global is an Atlanta-based insurtech software company.
The company says its mission is to "revolutionize the customer experience in the claims process." Their platform connects stakeholders, while also providing transparency, customer choice and engagement.In 2019, the startup raised $2.5 million from Eos Venture Partners.
