2022 was a tumultuous time for Atlanta startups.
Coming off a record year when local companies raised over $4 billion, doubling the amount from 2020, the city’s startup ecosystem was hit with an investor pullback that prompted numerous mass layoffs.
Still, the city’s startup scene saw sizable investments in everything from electric vehicles to food waste management, attracted startups to relocate from both coasts, and, as always, yielded new innovation.
These were the most widely read Atlanta Inno stories of 2022:
Once seen as a possible unicorn, this Atlanta startup is cutting jobs (May 27)
Atlanta startup Terminus confirmed it would be laying off "a small percentage" of employees a year after raising $90 million and garnering attention as a possible unicorn.
The layoffs were part of a restructuring, a Terminus spokesperson confirmed to Atlanta Inno. A LinkedIn post by a former employee stated that 15% of Terminus’ workforce were affected. In March of 2021, the company had 200 employees with plans of hiring an additional 50. It has offices in Atlanta, Indianapolis and London.
Impacted employees received severance packages and continued health benefits, according to the spokesperson.
The marketing software firm has been widely viewed as a possible unicorn, the nickname given to startups that reach at least a $1 billion valuation.
Read the full story here.
Chick-fil-A president, former Home Depot CEO invest in Atlanta EV charger startup (Dec. 12)
Executives from some of Atlanta’s largest companies invested in a local electric vehicle charging company with major growth plans.
EnviroSpark Energy Solutions Inc. raised $10 million, 10 months after raising its $5 million Series A funding, according to a news release. Funds from the investment will be used to expand the company's charger network and quadruple its employees.
Investors include Frank Blake, The Home Depot Inc.’s former chairman and CEO; Chick-fil-A Inc.’s president and chief operating officer Tim Tassopoulos; Paul Bowers, Georgia Power’s former chairman, president and CEO; Dealer.com’s founder and former CEO Mark Bonfigli; and Dave Stockert, Post Properties’ former president and CEO.
Ultra Capital, a Philadelphia-based investment firm that focuses on sustainable infrastructure and energy businesses, led the round.
Read the full story here.
Goodr raises $8M (June 24)
Atlanta food rescue startup Goodr Inc. raised $8 million, according to a filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission, likely the single largest investment round for the 5-year-old company.
As part of the raise, the company also received debt financing from Atlanta Emerging Markets Inc., a community development entity created by economic development agency Invest Atlanta, for $300,000.
The loan is designed to assist with hiring in the Atlanta area specifically. The company's goal was to bring 35 new jobs to the market, according to CEO Jasmine Crowe.
Goodr is part of a food waste management industry set to surpass $83.2 billion by 2030, according to market research firm Reportlinker.com. The private sector will play a critical role in reducing excess food supply from grocery stores, restaurants, and suppliers, according to a 2018 analysis by the Boston Consulting Group. Food waste could become a $1.5 trillion problem by 2050, the report said.
Read the full story here.
Bernice King launches financial startup to close racial wealth gap (June 21)
A crucial part of Martin Luther King Jr.’s efforts to improve social and economic conditions for African Americans in the civil rights movement was housing.
Half a century after his assassination, his vision has not been fully realized. His daughter, activist and Atlanta native Bernice King, is continuing his work through a new digital banking and payment processing company called Ready Life, which launched on Labor Day.
King is the top advisor for the San Francisco-headquartered startup, founded by former White House aide Ashley Bell. The startup aims to qualify disadvantaged people for mortgages and grow Black-owned small businesses.
“A lot of my father's work was focused on creating a pathway for Blacks in terms of job creation,” King said. “If you fast forward, it really was about affordable housing, because he wanted to challenge our country to open pathways economically for the Black community, because one of the major avenues to create wealth is homeownership.”
Read the full story here.
Atlanta logistics company aims for 1,200 employees nationwide (May 25)
At the end of 2020, Cameron Baird’s logistics company CargoBarn Inc. had a Sandy Springs office with 66 people as it served a customer base of 477 businesses.
With e-commerce soaring and businesses facing labor shortages, companies looked towards innovators such as Baird to resolve supply chain woes. The company added new services and refined its hiring model to meet the demand.
The result? The company’s revenue grew by 73% while its volume of sales and staff increased by 52%, said Baird, CEO of CargoBarn.
Fast forward to March 2021. The company was serving over 700 customers and moved into a 24,000 square-foot Central Perimeter office, which could accommodate 200 employees at full capacity.
Now, the company is geared to expand its offices in Dallas, Jacksonville, Florida, and Fresno, California, in addition to establishing new locations and reaching at least 1,200 employees nationwide.
Read the full story here.
Why are Atlanta tech companies laying off employees? (July 11)
Investors pulled back from technology startups after record amounts of capital flooded company reserves last year.
Meta Platforms Inc., the parent company of Facebook, said it was preparing employees for "the worst downturn that we’ve seen in recent history,” according to The New York Times. Carvana cut 2,500 employees from its payroll.
The shift in capital markets caused startup executives to trim their operations, leading to mass layoffs and slower growth projections. Atlanta companies are also taking a hit.
Tech investors are trading a growth mindset for a focus on profitability. That profitability focus has decreased company valuations, which were based on projections rather than actual revenue.
Read the full story here.
California film startup relocates to Atlanta before tripling staff (June 13)
When Seed&Spark CEO Emily Best taught creative workshops, only a handful of people would volunteer to pitch their projects. That didn't happen in Atlanta.
When the founder of the film and entertainment startup was teaching a workshop called "Art of the Pitch" in the city, all but 10 people in a room of 125 volunteered their ideas.
“Everyone was excited to show their ideas,” Best said. “I thought ‘Oh, the synergy and creativity here is different.’”
After a decade based in Los Angeles, Best moved her startup to Atlanta. The relocation is a testament to Georgia's robust film industry and Atlanta's growing technology ecosystem.
“When we started working on the intersection of creativity and enterprise, there was no other place we could go,” Best said. “If you think about where there are so many enterprise businesses and a creator community, Atlanta is the only place in the country that has what it has.”
Read the full story here.
Atlanta startup Sunday lays off employees as investors demand profitability (July 6)
Sunday reduced its team in response to constrictions in the market. Those cuts also include refining the startup's geographical and product focus — a new business model for CEO Christine de Wendel's team.
Despite the layoffs, de Wendel was trying to remain positive.
"We’re going back to a much more healthy, sane pace of growth where you grow incrementally,” she said, as she prepared for a retreat with employees. “The team is excited because there’s less complexity, less noise, less languages.”
Sunday’s shifting focus from growth to profitability is a growing trend among technology companies and startups. Last year, company valuations skyrocketed based on business growth projections. Many companies rapidly expanded their workforce.
Read the full story here.
After a year of high valuations, Atlanta could be in two-year 'drought of new unicorns' (April 21)
Last year, startups in the state set a record by raising over $4 billion. It was the second consecutive year Georgia startups, most of which are concentrated in Atlanta, doubled their venture capital raises.
However, a few metrics indicate the state might not be able to beat its record a third consecutive year.
The $922 million Georgia startups raised in the first quarter of 2022 was a decrease from the $1.1 billion raised in the last three months of 2021. The state also hasn't seen any startups have exits, public offerings or reach unicorn status so far this year.
Atlanta Inno talked with serial entrepreneur David Cummings, CEO of Atlanta Ventures and founder of Atlanta Tech Village, about why Georgia is lagging its recent achievements.
Read the full story here.
Atlanta-based FullStory is latest fast-growing startup to lay off employees (Sept. 12)
One of Atlanta’s latest unicorn companies laid off around 12% of its staff just over a month after raising $24 million as technology companies nationwide continue to grapple with an investor pullback.
Digital experience startup FullStory Inc. made the layoffs to “align to the current macro environment and focus on long-term sustainable growth,” said a spokesperson in an email. Positions that were impacted were primarily in sales and recruiting functions. Atlanta Inno reported in August 2021 that the startup has approximately 300 employees.
“Last year, we really hit the accelerator to keep up with growing market demand,” said FullStory founder and CEO Scott Voigt in a LinkedIn post. “Unfortunately, economic headwinds shifted quickly and scaling back our costs to align with the current climate was the responsible path.”
Impacted employees in North America were provided severance packages including six weeks of pay, health coverage through the end of the year, a laptop and job support, according to the company. Employees in other countries received “comparable packages.”
Read the full story here.
