Atlas Digital Group, which provides e-commerce software for cable and fiber companies, has raised $3 million in a seed funding round led by a local investor.
St. Louis-based Cultivation Capital led the round. Other investors include Jerry Kent’s technology investment and management firm Cequel III, Lubbock, Texas-based Vexus Fiber, Tom McMillin and Gregg Graff. McMillin and Graff are former executives of St. Louis-based Suddenlink Communications, which was acquired in 2015 by European telecom company Altice.
Founded in 2018, Atlas Digital has developed an e-commerce platform, called CORE, designed specifically for cable and fiber companies.
"With surging investment in state-of-the-art networks and the never-ceasing demand for faster high-speed internet services, CORE is ideally positioned to enable a transition in the industry to efficient and rapid sales growth through digital commerce," said Heather Wood, partner at Cultivation Capital, in a statement.
Atlas Digital CEO Mark Mihalevich, along with several of the startup’s employees, formerly worked at Suddenlink and Altice. Mihalevich remained following Suddenlink’s acquisition, leaving Altice in 2018 as its senior vice president of e-commerce, according to his LinkedIn profile.
“Over the years at Suddenlink and then subsequently at Altice, we had just gained a huge amount of knowledge around how to successfully operate an e-commerce business in that particular industry and how it was different from some of the other typical retail-type e-commerce experiences,” Mihalevich said.
In its initial years of operations, Atlas Digital relied primarily on consulting work to generate revenue and bootstrap the business as it developed its e-commerce software. It launched the first version of the platform in April 2020 and Vexus Fiber served as the company’s anchor customer, Mihalevich said.
With its seed funding, Mihalevich said Atlas plans to bolster its headcount, product development and go-to-market efforts. The company currently has 10 employees, with plans to hire for a few more roles in the near term. Mihalevich said the company’s workforce could expand later this year during its marketing push.
“Depending on how things go in the fall when we really kick off a lot of the awareness building and more of the marketing efforts, (headcount) could also change fairly quickly,” he said.
Mihalevich said Atlas Digital’s software is well-positioned to help fiber and cable companies navigate an industry that has become increasingly more competitive as a result of increased investment in fiber networks and more players entering the market.
“To be competitive, you’re going to have to make that customer experience good. That in itself becomes a competitive advantage if you’re trying to gain market share that already have incumbent providers, which a lot of our clients are in that situation,” he said.
While Atlas Digital’s seed round will help it target efforts around product development and marketing, the funding also provides another key component of its sale pitch, thanks to its roster of investors.
“Our strategy is really about building awareness, but also building credibility. In this industry, it’s very important that people understand you come from the industry, that you’re being backed by people in the industry that are reputable, that are well-regarded,” Mihalevich said.
