Atlanta is a Sunbelt hub for fast-growing startups, often called the “Silicon Valley of the South.”
And the draw is only getting stronger.
South Downtown is attracting a wave of entrepreneurs since Atlanta Ventures partners David Cummings and Jon Birdsong acquired dozens of buildings with the aim of turning the neighborhood into a vibrant community focused on startups. It could make the city one of the country’s top startup hubs, said John Yates, a veteran Atlanta technology lawyer and partner at Morris, Manning & Martin LLP.
It has also reinvigorated confidence in South Downtown after German real estate firm Newport decided last year to no longer pursue a major redevelopment of the neighborhood.
Mayor Andre Dickens recently told Atlanta Business Chronicle, “Tech folks. Entrepreneurs. Small businesses. They will bump into each other weekly, if not daily. I think it’s going to be a startup city.”
Growth of entrepreneurship is already underway. Data from job search site LinkedIn found metro Atlanta to be the leading U.S. metro based on recent business formation growth, topping other hotspots like Austin and Seattle. It’s time to put the spotlight on Atlanta.
With college basketball’s March Madness just days away, the Chronicle picked its top 25 startups to watch from the city’s current ecosystem of fledgling companies. Community advisers who helped the Chronicle choose this year’s winners include: John Yates, with Morris, Manning and Martin LLP; Jacey Cadet, with Atlanta Ventures; Lisa Calhoun, general partner at Valor Ventures; and William Leonard, Investor with Valor Ventures.
Jim Szyperski, Acuity Behavioral Health
Acuity Behavioral Health
Acuity Behavioral Health
- Leader: Jim Szyperski, managing director and CEO
- Funding: $650,000 in December 2022
- What it does: The company created a platform that allows mental and behavioral health care providers and facilities to assess their patients’ needs therefore forecast their next-day staff needs.
- What to watch: Acuity Behavioral Health is a patient/nurse-centric staffing program for inpatient psychiatric facilities and behavioral health care. The company was founded by 11 health care systems and has been funded to date by five health care systems around the country.
AdPipe founders Sam Birdsong (Left) and Andrew Levy (Right)
AdPipe
AdPipe
- Leader: Andrew Levy, co-founder and CEO
- Funding: $10.5 million
- What it does: The digital marketing platform uses AI and other programs to boost growth for its clients.
- What to watch: AdPipe says it tripled annual recurring revenue in 2023 and announced $6 million Series A funding with Atlanta Ventures in January. Partnerships with Adobe and other content leaders are on the horizon, the company states.
Chris Appleton, Art Pharmacy
Art Pharmacy
Art Pharmacy
- Leader: Chris Appelton, CEO
- Funding: $1 million to $2 million
- What it does: The company works with health care providers to prescribe social/artistic/creative experiences to people dealing with mental health issues. It’s being used in states including Georgia, Massachusetts and California, including students at Stanford University.
- What to watch: This year, the company plans to expand to all states.
T.C. Whittaker, Audit Sight
Audit Sight
Audit Sight
- Leader: T.C. Whittaker, CEO
- Funding: $10 million since its founding in August 2021
- What it does: Audit Sight allows CPAs and other professionals who audit financial statements to verify account records during those audits.
- What to watch: The startup is expanding to support not only auditors but also CPAs that perform financial statements for companies being bought and sold, according to its nomination form.
Erica Tuggle, Cookonnect
Cookonnect
Cookonnect
- Leader: Erica Tuggle, founder and CEO
- Funding: $120,000 initial investment and $1 million pre-seed funding secured
- What it does: The platform connects professional chefs with customers looking for a meal prep service.
- What to watch: The company tripled its business in 2023 and is looking to expand in hiring and create an app.
Mike Aldridge, Costnip
Costnip
Costnip
- Leader: Michael Aldridge, CEO
- Funding: None reported
- What it does: The startup, founded last year, compares health care costs and services. It uses peer-to-peer data from medical bills to facilitate price transparency.
- What to watch: Costnip's mission is to help lower health care costs for consumers.
Jonathan Wilson, FinCEN Report
Sarah Fernandez
Fincen Report
- Leader: Jonathan Wilson, CEO
- Funding: More than $1 million
- What it does: Fincen Report's mission is to provide easy beneficial ownership filing service for business owners to fulfill Corporate Transparency Act requirements.
- What to watch: The startup has secured partnerships with law firms and other companies and is planning on a major expansion this year.
Starr Douglas, FrontHouz
Richard Dominguez
FrontHouz
- Leader: Starr Douglas, founder and CEO
- Funding: $1.2 million
- What it does: The platform brings together hospitality industry professionals, particularly front-of-the-house staff, with restaurants that need workers.
- What to watch: The company this year is expanding to Las Vegas; Charleston, South Carolina; New York City and Nashville. It's also continuing to grow in Vail and Aspen in Colorado; Anchorage, Alaska; Maui and the Hamptons in New York. Its CEO said the platform expects to see over 5,000% growth this year.
Rodrigo Dantas e Silva, Gabriel Money Inc
LAMONT L JOHNSON
Gabriel Money Inc.
- Leader: Rodrigo Dantas e Silva, co-founder and CEO
- Funding: $500,000 as of November 2023
- What it does: This startup assists young Latinos with financial security and literacy.
- What to watch: This year is the first that the startup will have customers. Georgia is its launch state because metro Atlanta has one of the fastest-growing Latino populations in the U.S.
Alex Edquist, Good Agriculture
Good Agriculture
Good Agriculture
- Leader: Alex Edquist, co-founder and CEO
- Funding: $120,000 from Techstars Impact
- What it does: The startup is creating a business model for regenerative farming.
- What to watch: Good Agriculture plans to grow to 10 times its current size this year by working with more than 250 farmers around the country. The company currently is part of ATDC.
Ty Abernethy, Grayscale
Grayscale
Grayscale
- Leader: Ty Abernethy, co-founder and CEO
- Funding: $3.25 million in a seed round in September 2021; $7.5 million for Series A in September 2022
- What it does: The Grayscale app helps customers hire and onboard workers.
- What to watch: Grayscale plans to launch and scale a new module in 2024.
Sudhir Sharma, Green Boom Corporation
Green Boom Corporation
Green Boom Corp.
- Leader: Sudhir Sharma, founder and CEO
- Funding: Yes but did not disclose amount
- What it does: This company has created a bio-based and compostable product to absorb oil from oil spills.
- What to watch: Sharma said Green Boom Corp. raised enough to start manufacturing and selling the product in 2024 to manufacturing and distribution facilities in Europe and the Middle East.
Hatched Dating cofounders, left to right, Sam Lukens, COO & Co Founder, Mitch Alterman, CEO & Co Founder, Reeves Kissel, CTO & Co Founder
Hatched Dating
Hatched Dating (Hatch Networks Inc.)
- Leaders: Co-founders Mitch Alterman (CEO), Sam Lukens (COO) and Reeves Kissel (CTO)
- Funding: $1.085 million
- What it does: Hatched is a dating app that focuses on personality and core values and does not include photos.
- What to watch: Hatch Networks Inc. plans to expand throughout the U.S. this year. In 2023, there was only a free version and a first set of paid features launched this year, with more to come. The company plans to raise another growth round this year.
Chris Lee, Huxley Medical
Huxley Medical
Huxley Medical
- Leaders: Chris Lee, chair and CEO, and Brennan Torstick, president
- Funding: Over $10 million
- What it does: Founded on the mission to “streamline clinical care for any patient anywhere,” Huxley collaborates with clinicians and researchers to simplify diagnoses and treatments with multifunctional devices and machine-learned algorithms. The company developed a wearable patch that can diagnose multiple diseases simultaneously in a single night of wear. These diseases include sleep apnea and cardiovascular disease.
- What to watch: Huxley said it completed its nationwide clinical study, demonstrating the safety and effectiveness of its Sansa patch on over 500 patients. The startup anticipates FDA clearance and commercial launch in 2024.
Vijay Alagarraj, Inertia Systems Inc
Inertia Systems Inc
Inertia Systems Inc.
- Leader: Vijay Alagarraj, CEO
- Funding: $12.3 million. They are exploring a Series A funding round next year.
- What it does: The Alpharetta-based company works to streamline ambitious construction projects through collaboration among teams through its patent-pending technology, known as "ICD" (Intelligent Construction Drawing). The ultimate aim is to empower teams to create better buildings.
- What to watch: The company, which has 12 full-time employees, plans to release its ICD plugin to the public. The move lets users convert their Building Information Models into Intelligent Construction Drawings. They also plan to release multiple mobile apps this year and to expand internationally.
Kent Kiersey, Invoke
KAYLINN GILSTRAP
Invoke
- Leader: Kent Keirsey, CEO
- Funding: $3.75 million
- What it does: Building on one of the most popular Open Source AI projects, the Atlanta-based startup is a platform for Enterprise AI image generation. It offers AI research to control and customize machine learning models and lets businesses retain full control of their intellectual property.
- What to watch: They launched a new brand and website earlier this year, alongside new products and services that include expanded self-service Machine Learning training options.
Janice Yu Edwards and Sarah Rodehorst, Onwards HR
Onwards HR
Onwards HR
- Leaders: Janie Yu Edwards, chief product officer and co-founder, and Sarah Rodenhorst, CEO and co-founder
- Funding: $850,000
- What it does: The mission of the Johns Creek startup is to make employee separations better for employers and workers. Its data-driven platform streamlines employee separations in compliance with corporate policy and employment laws. Onwards HR will end 2023 with a 470% year-over-year increase in annual recurring revenue, according to its nomination form.
- What to watch: The firm plans to expand globally this year after starting that process in 2023, launching multilingual documents to support its customers in Puerto Rico (Spanish) and Quebec (French).
Michelle Songy, CEO of Press Hook
Press Hook
Press Hook
- Leader: Michelle Songy, CEO
- Funding: $1.5 million
- What it does: Press Hook connect brands and journalists. It acts as LinkedIn meets Google, but for the media. The company says it has more than 500 brands and thousands of journalists, with the aim of democratizing access to media for small and medium-sized businesses that don’t have massive in-house communications teams or outsourced agencies.
- What to watch: The startup wants to double its current customer base this year and raise a series A round of funding. Plans also include expanding to more industries including tech, hospitality and more types of media such as podcasts, newsletters, and broadcast.
Blake Young, ProGro BIO
BILL ADLER
ProGro Bio Inc.
- Leader: Blake Young, CEO
- Funding: $475,000 to build out its AI-enabled platform and related models and algorithms
- What it does: The microbial sciences company, launched in 2022, aims to develop organically certified solutions to assist farmers, gardeners and growers of all kinds to grow healthier, more durable and greater producing plants. The company addresses an issue prevalent in agriculture: the harmful effects of chemical pesticides on both the environment and human health.
- What to watch: Plans for nationwide distribution and the launch of offerings like microbial-infused seed talc and nutrient-enhanced microbial powder. The company is currently in the process of securing six patents for its delivery mechanisms.
Karl Swensen, Pull Logic Inc
Pull Logic Inc
Pull Logic Inc.
- Leader: Karl Swensen, CEO
- Funding: 475,000 to build out its AI-enabled platform and related models and algorithms.
- What it does: A home-grown company based on research out of Georgia Tech and the work of Dr. Benoit Montreuil, who leads the school’s Supply Chain and Logistics Institute, Pull Logic wants to solve the $2 trillion problem of lost sales and too much unproductive inventory for manufacturers, brands, distributors, and retailers due to failure points in the supply chain and selling processes.
- What to watch: Since launching with two customers over a year ago, Pull Logic has finished building out its platform, and is now ready to scale with more customers.
Syaam Khandaker, left, Ford Coleman and Cam Holmes, Runway
Runway
Runway
- Founder: Ford Coleman, CEO
- Funding: Bootstrapped
- What it does: There's a disconnect between university talent and businesses seeking skilled interns or project-based workers. Runway, founded in 2022, addresses the challenge of efficiently and effectively connecting university students with meaningful internship opportunities and micro-projects. It aims to bridge the talent gap in the job market.
- What to watch: Runway has partnered with Atlanta Tech Village and ATDC to sponsor career fairs for their portfolio companies, and hopes to get into Y Combinator next summer or Techstars Boston. The startup projects $250,000 in sales this year.
Shyamy Sastry, CEO of Synaptrix
Synaptrix
Synaptrix
- Leader: Shyamy Sastry, CEO
- Funding: Started Series A raise in September 2023; expect to close the round this quarter
- What it does: The Alpharetta-based company aims to develop and commercialize drug-free pain management solutions for post-operative joint surgery patients. Starting as a spin-out in 2022, its NOVABLOC system is a procedure-based solution that companies says delivers an electrical stimulation that differs from other post-surgical pain management solutions.
- What to watch: Synaptrix has set its sights on obtaining FDA clearance for the NOVABLOC system by late 2024 and launching it for commercial use in 2025.
Rachael Jones, CEO and co-founder of Syntax Health Inc.
Syntax Health Inc.
Syntax Health Inc.
- Leader: Rachael Jones, CEO and co-founder
- Funding: $7.5 million
- What it does: Launched in 2022, Syntax Health is a two-sided SaaS solution that scales value-based care adoption. It offers analytics and a real-time collaborative workspace to engage in modeling and negotiation, allowing health plans and providers to achieve better outcomes from best-fit aligned incentives.
- What to watch: In 2024, the company hopes to expand and scale.
Alissa Cohan Allen, tapfer
tapfer
Tapfer
- Leader: Alissa Cohan, CEO
- Funding: $20,000
- What it does: Tapfer is a an AI resiliency tool to address health care providers’ compassion fatigue and patients' emotional distress through spirituality. It is designed to analyze user needs and increase patient and provider demand for consultations with spiritual health clinicians, otherwise known as chaplains. Cohan advocates for emotional resilience, LGBTQIA+ addiction, and recovery support tools.
- What to watch: The startup will launch at Winship Cancer Center next year for breast cancer patients and at the end of 2024 become an outpatient tool for cancer survivors. The app is also on track to be implemented with the Palliative Care department at Emory
Mitch Rutledge, Vertice AI
Vertice AI
Vertice AI Inc.
- Leader: Mitch Rutledge, CEO
- Funding: Bootstrapped
- What it does: The Athens-based company works to empower credit unions and community banks to be more data driven, thus providing customers with more personalized products and services. They won the Fintech South Innovation Award in 2023 and were selected as a finalist for VentureTech in 2023.
- What to watch: Vertice AI launched their product in February 2023 and are working with five community financial institutions. As an ATDC company, they are hiring from Georgia Tech and expect more growth this year.
