Atlanta-based startups received at least $65 million during April of this year, a substantial drop-off from other monthly reports. That number is based on formD filings and reporting by Atlanta Inno.
In April of last year, Atlanta startups raised more than $725 million, including local unicorns OneTrust and Greenlight Financial Technology raising over $200 million each.
Valuations for many companies have been ahead of themselves this year, making investors hesitant to invest.
“A number of investors probably concluded that given inflation and the state of the economy, the desire is to say that if an adjustment to a valuation says it's down, we're going to wait to make an investment.” said John Yates, a technology attorney at Morris, Manning & Martin LLP.
Despite April’s paltry numbers, there’s still hope this year can end strong for the Atlanta startup community, as it has started off with relatively strong growth.
Startups in the state of Georgia raised $922 million across 80 deals in the first quarter of 2022, a slight decrease from the $1.1 billion raised in the last three months of 2021, according to the Q1 2022 PitchBook-NVCA Venture Monitor.
“There’s no reason to panic, we see ebbs and flows from time to time in funding but the amount of entrepreneurship remains strong,” Yates said. “It’ll be a little harder for early stage companies, but for those who have built a customer base and have a viable product, those companies will pick up steam later in the year after we work through readjustments.”
Here’s a rundown of the month's top funding deals. To get the latest news on fundraising deals for Atlanta-based startups, subscribe to The Beat newsletter.
Atlanta startup founded by inventor Lonnie Johnson raises $30M to develop new energy source
Former NASA engineer and inventor of the Super Soaker children’s toy Lonnie Johnson and fellow entrepreneur Mike McQuary raised $30 million for their company, JTEC Energy Inc. Their company creates thermo-electrochemical energy through a device that converts waste heat, such as from solar panels, factories or cars, into energy. The funding will primarily be used toward pilot projects. JTEC devices will be placed in fields to test their durability and see what optimal heat sources can be used for the devices. After four years of testing, the company plans to commercialize the devices and raise a “huge” fundraising round, McQuary said. Read more here.
Data company to expand marketing and sales team after $6M raise
Atlanta data analytics company RightData Inc. raised nearly $6 million, which will be used to hire 11 U.S. employees and 40 more in India for sales and marketing as well as research and development. The investment comes after the company launched two platforms: Dextrus and RDt. Dextrus is used to gather and organize data such as building a data pipeline, transformation of data or loading data onto cloud platforms. RDt is used for the testing, validation and automation of the data. Read more here.
Auditing platform Audit Sight gets $4M to expand
Last year, Jonathan Womack and T.C. Whitaker left PricewaterhouseCoopers to create a startup with software that takes on some of the time-consuming tasks that an auditor does. They called the new company Audit Sight. Now, following a $4 million seed round also led by Hyde Park Venture Partners, the company is ready to take its software to market. It will also hire an additional four to six engineers and expand its sales and marketing team by the end of the year. The startup’s software can be used by auditors to access a client’s financial records, so auditors don’t have to manually ask for each document. Read more here.
Local investment firm attracts Silicon Valley startup to Atlanta with $4M raise
Local investment firm Circadian Ventures led a $4 million investment in data analytics startup Aginity, now rebranded as Coginiti Corp. Founding Partner Mike Dowdle didn't require the company to make the move but pointed out Atlanta's advantages in cost of living, local talent and diversity of industry. Coginiti is setting up its office on the second floor of Ponce City Market, the 12-story redevelopment of a former Sears & Roebuck warehouse along the BeltLine Eastside Trail. The company expects to double its 55-person staff by the end of the year. Read more here.
Serena Williams venture fund leads $3M in retail startup
Serena Ventures, a venture fund founded by professional tennis player and six-time U.S. Open winner Serena Williams, led an investment into Atlanta-based Lillii RNB Inc. The investment comes more than a year after the company launched its Freeing Returns platform, which is a software that analyzes return data and detects fraudulent returns. The company plans to integrate its Freeing Returns platform with Salesforce's e-commerce platform. The investment funds will partly go toward that partnership. Read more here.
Banyan Hills Technologies raises $3M to change marketing strategy
After a $3.1 million raise, Duluth Internet of things company Banyan Hills Technologies is refining its marketing strategy. Banyan Hills plans to add eight people to its marketing and sales team. The company is zeroing in on two industries with the new marketing strategy: electric vehicle charging stations and food supply chain operations. Focusing on specific industries are new approaches for Banyan Hills. The company previously declined to focus on any one industry in an effort to have an "agnostic" platform that integrates with any vertical. Read more here.
Crypto mining company plans expansion with $1.1M raise
Atlanta's Bitmine Immersion Technologies plans to establish new cryptocurrency mining facilities after a $1.1 million investment. The one-year-old company is prioritizing Georgia or Texas and hopes to secure up to $10 million from investors for the expansion. BIT buys shipping containers and converts them into bitcoin mining centers, which are similar to data centers. Georgia is favored for the expansion since the company is already headquartered in the state, Nelson said. BIT plans to add 10 to 20 employees by the end of the year for the new facilities. Read more here.
Atlanta fintech startup triples office footprint with $200M in capital facility
In addition to venture capital, one of the biggest funding raises was for Capital on tap. The company provides funding for small- and medium-sized businesses through its business credit card, issued by WebBank. The company recently raised a $200 million funding facility from Värde Partners and HSBC Bank to provide lines of credit to its customers. The company plans to grow its team from 50 to 100 by the end of the year with most of those hires located in Atlanta. The hires will be customer support, marketing and business operations. Read more here.
Charity platform gets $2M to enable more in donations
Atlanta donation platform Charityvest has raised a $2.2 million seed round from mission-driven firm DURO VC, Jackson Healthcare CEO Rick Jackson and UMANA Family Office CEO Ba Minuzzi. The funding will be used to develop a mobile app and add more community-giving features. It will also help the company work with charities on fundraising initiatives and market the platform through personal finance influencers. The purpose of the company is to create tools to help people give to charity through a simple platform with low fees, CEO Stephen Kump said. Read more here.
Other raises
Skyscend, an IT consultancy company, raised $2.7 million. Founder and President Chayapathy Gangadarappa was a client partner at E. & J. Gallo Winery and an advisory consultant at Newell Brands before launching his company, according to his linkedin profile. The company uses AI to automate businesses’ data entry processes, according to its linkedin profile.
Medical equipment manufacturer StartBox raised $1.7 million. The company tracks risks and reduces medical liability costs through real-time data, according to their linkedin page.
Medical technology company ControlRad raised $1 million. The company uses intelligent collimation technology to reduce radiation exposure to patients and medical personnel by at least 50-85%, according to its website. Prior to becoming CEO of ControlRad, Guillaume Bailliard acted as North American President for another medical equipment company Mauna Kea Technologies for nearly three years, according to his linkedin profile.
