One of Atlanta's most well-known and successful angel investors has signed on to tackle the tech ecosystem's biggest challenge as of late: diversity.
Sig Mosley, founder of Mosley Ventures, has joined Zane Venture Fund, a $10 million fund created to support founders with diverse teams, as a venture partner. Mosley is known for leading the largest venture deal in the Southeast---the $5.7 billion acquisition of Tradex by Ariba.
Founded in late 2018 by Shila Nieves Burney, Zane Venture Fund was created to address the capital investment gap for tech-enabled startups led by women and people of color.
"Zane is going to do investing in diversity and problem solving opportunities and both of those are things I think we lack in the tech community of Atlanta," Mosley said. "I would work with Shila, mentoring her along the way. I think she was the ideal person to address the issue."
Nicknamed the "Godfather of angel investing," Mosley is seen in the local tech community as a walking, living legend. His candid approach to angel investing inspired the infamous, "Sig Said No :(" t-shirts from the early 2010s and even the made-up term "Sig’d," which means to blow your chances with other investors by pitching the biggest angel in town too early and having him decline the offer.
Burney, who began a mentor-student relationship with Mosley when she first ventured into learning about the Atlanta investment community, said working with the biggest name in Atlanta angel investing is nothing short of awesome. Mosley, she said, brings a sense of credibility to Zane Venture and their mission.
"I can tell you the day he accepted, I slept good that night," Burney told Atlanta Inno. "I really assumed he would go to a fund that had more experience. To have Sig as a part of our team right now, it’s unfathomable---to the moment I called him. I am eternally grateful for him accepting the call. He already knows it's going to be hard based on this thesis. It’s nothing short of amazing to me that he said yes."
To have an angel with a reputation of saying "no," say yes to your endeavor, separates you from the pack, Burney said.
Burney, who says her super power is "making connections," began her journey in entrepreneurship in early 2017 by providing support to small businesses and nonprofits. She helped score a letter of intent for a startup in Africa that could lead to an investment of $5 million up to $100 million.
"I knew nothing about venture capital and very little about the startup space," she said.
Shortly after the letter of intent came, Burney's world would drastically change in an instant. Riding through the Atlanta neighborhood, Pittsburgh, Burney and her daughter were caught in the crossfires of a random shootout in broad daylight. Her daughter suffered injuries, but survived.
“Two weeks after that, I find out the investor doesn’t want to invest in the startup, but hotels,” she said.
Coming to a crossroads, Burney had to make a decision about her next move and decided to launch a venture fund for diverse teams that are looking to solve problems in their local community. Burney even went so far as to name the fund after her daughter, who inspired and encouraged her throughout their challenges.
"The fund is named after her because during this time, she’s the one that suggested I keep going," she said. "I was sitting there trying to think of a really strong woman to name this after." Burney said she looked to her daughter and knew she found a name.
Zane Venture Fund has an operational team and $5 million in the pipeline. Mosley said the fund will primarily focus on startups in the southeast and possibly New York City, with the potential to expand investments to other parts of the country.
"The idea is to close in May with a significant amount of that money raised and immediately disperse that capital," Burney said.
"Now is the right time to get involved..."
The hope is that other wealthy, white angel investors in the Atlanta community will see Mosley's involvement in Zane Venture and follow suite, Burney said.
"Knowing what the data shows, he’s very much aware that convincing his peers is definitely important. I assume most of my investors will look like Sig," she said. "That’s where the power lies in this phase. Him bringing his peers around to this fund is the only way to change that ... I can definitely see him leading the charge and that others will follow along."
Already, Mosley said a peer angel investor has expressed interest in Zane Venture Fund and the possibility of exploring other funds geared to aid diversity because of his partnership with Burney.
"We are not funding enough diverse teams in the Atlanta area. I think we have been improving over the last, say, four or five years ... A lot of opportunity and a lot of attention is being paid to it that was not being (given) in the past," Mosley said of the recent efforts of inclusion and diversity, led by leaders including Paul Judge and Jewel Burks Solomon, in the Atlanta ecosystem. "I think it just comes back to how we’ve been investing for three decades. I think particularly over the last decade, (it's become apparent) that women and multicultural entrepreneurs can bring value to businesses. And you can make money investing in those. Now is the right time to get involved in it."
