Funding is growing in the Southeast region, both in the number of deals and in investment firms, according to a new report.
Tampa-based innovation hub Embarc Collective teamed up with #BuildinSE Alliance, a network of the region's leading startup organizations, for the second annual 2020 Southeast Capital Landscape Report.
They found the region is growing, both with early-stage funding deals and investment firms themselves. In the last year, there has been an almost 20 percent uptick in new angel and venture firms specifically focused on early-stage companies, now totaling 240 entities.
In the last year in Florida, new firms and networks launched with the specific focus of boosting funding to Black entrepreneurs. There's St. Petersburg-based Seedfunders, which launched the Seedfunders Opportunity Fund in June. It will invest in Black-owned, tech-enabled startups as a replacement for the "friends and family" round common in the industry.
Similarly, a Tampa-based nonprofit Hire or Wire Now launched in June to help either hire or fund minorities in the tech industry. And Black Angels Miami launched in January, which connects Black angel investors to high-growth, pre-seed and seed investments.
The report also found angel networks and investment firms are by and large focused on early-stage capital, best defined as in the pre-seed and seed rounds. Those rounds are typical for lower amounts before raising Series A, B, C and so on.
In the Southeast, more than 65 percent — or 158 of the 240 entities — are directed at early-stage capital. That capital, the report states, largely goes to five major metro areas: Tampa Bay, Miami, Atlanta, Nashville and Louisville.
But when it comes to later-stage capital, the region needs help. Thirty-five of the 240 firms say they are geared toward growth-stage investments and those 35 are seen only in four states: Florida, Georgia, Virginia and Tennessee. For many companies to continue to grow their company, that means they will have to seek funding elsewhere. For some, that could mean vacating the Southeast region altogether.
