Startup Centers of Excellence: Part 2
Highlighting Four Southeastern Startup Ecosystems
Five months ago, I shared an analysis of four cities in the Southeast that deserved to be called hubs of venture activity. Some are obvious, some are not, but each of them share a role in the story coming out of the Southeast; the storyline that says you should be looking in this part of the country for exciting new startups and activity. Today, we will continue that progress by sharing insight on four more cities that you shouldn’t ignore. Now, let’s take a look at Atlanta, Charlotte, Louisville and Tampa Bay.
ATLANTA
It should come as a surprise to no one that Atlanta is a booming hub of startup activity. This large metropolitan area is home to some of the countries largest corporations; UPS, Home Depot, Coca-Cola, Delta and Cox Enterprises to name a few. With the presence of these major employers, the city of Atlanta draws and retains talent which bolsters the overall talent economy for local startups.
However, one of the most impressive things Atlanta offers local entrepreneurs are the resources to start and expand their companies. One such resources is the 6-year old Atlanta Tech Village. This 100,000 square foot hub, that hosts more than 300 entrepreneurs, was created by David Cummings after his successful exit from Pardot. The village counts an impressive list of alumni including Terminus, IO Education, SalesLoft, Yik Yak and Bitpay. Atlanta is also home to ATDC, the Advanced Technology Development Center, which is a part of the Georgia Tech’s Enterprise Innovation Institute . These resources are some of the best in the country and provide entrepreneurs with the mentors, tools and connections they need to succeed whether they are an experienced entrepreneur or a student at a local university.
Around the country, the awareness of Atlanta’s potential continues to grow. With firms like BIP Capital and Engage becoming names to know, the city has proved to outsiders that it’s investors and founders deserve a look. Perhaps one of their most exciting storylines is their strong entrepreneurship community for people of color. In Inc.’s recent Surge Cities article, Atlanta ranked №18, due in large part to the fact that “no city has a stronger black entrepreneur community than Atlanta”. (Inc)
CHARLOTTE
Charlotte, which is adoringly known as “The Queen City”, is the largest city in North Carolina. Charlotte has historically made a name for itself as a hub for financial activity. In fact, Charlotte is the second largest banking hub in the country, falling only behind New York City. The city is home to the Bank of America headquarters and the East Coast Operations for Wells Fargo.
Therefore, it shouldn’t come as a surprise that the city has a booming fin-tech startup ecosystem. With large corporations nearby and expertise next door, the city offers a great launching pad for local entrepreneurs. Charlotte has recently seen success with a number of its companies. In August 2018, local fin-tech company, DealCloud, was acquired by Silicon Valley based company, Intapp. The company still operates independently out of Charlotte where it continues to expands its team and operations. In addition, local company AvidXchange, which focuses on accounts payable and invoice management, has raised more than $500 million (Crunchbase) and stands as a benchmark for rising entrepreneurs.
While there are some great successes already coming out of Charlotte, the city might be the most exciting because of the promising companies just getting started. With the support of local ecosystem builders like Innovate Charlotte and Queen City Fintech, Charlotte entrepreneurs have the tools they need to get started. Perhaps one of the most interesting startups I’ve come across is Honeyfi, a company that provides an application for couples to manage their finances.
LOUISVILLE
Louisville may be known for the Kentucky Derby and baseball bats but I assure you it offers so much more. For starters, the city recently opened a brand new entrepreneurship center just east of downtown in the NuLu district. The 40,000 sq-ft innovation building is called Story and began moving in members earlier this month.
What sort of companies can you expect to find in the new space? Well, there’s a high chance you’ll happen upon a startup focused on elder care. Louisville, “has the country’s largest concentration of headquarters for aging-related businesses — nursing homes, rehab, hospice care, in-home health care.” (Inc) The city is home to some mammoth health conglomerates such as Humana, Kindred Healthcare, Trilogy Health Services and Atria Senior Living. The presence of these corporations provides Louisville an opportunity to sect from the expertise opportunities for innovation.
In addition to being a concentrated location for healthcare, Louisville is also a major shipping hub. Louisville company, SkuVault, offers a cloud-based platform to manage inventory and warehouses. Earlier this year the company did something few had done before, it took outside capital. The company raised an 8M series A from investor Ballast Point Ventures, out of St. Petersburg, Florida.
TAMPA
Being born in the Midwest, I grew up thinking of Tampa as a destination city for midwinter Florida trips. Knowing what I know now, my childhood perception embodies about 5% of the credit Tampa deserves as a city. In fact, many people have begun to recognize Tampa’s potential. Most recently, the city caught the attention of Steve Case. Tampa was the third stop on his 2019 Rise of the Rest Tour. During his visit, Steve Case said Tampa is “on the rise. It’s clear it’s building, it’s clear the work of the people to be part of that is starting to pay off.” (Tampa Bay Business Journal)
Tampa has more high growth companies than New York (Inc). An example of a high growth company is Peerfit, a digital platform redefining corporate wellness. The company is an example of what a lot of Southeast companies go through with funding. Peerfit has raised nearly 40M to date and most of their early capital came from Florida investors. However, most recently they were able to catch the attention of an outside investor, Virgo Investment Group, who led their series C round in March 2019.
Tampa is an example of a city where the people are buying in and determined to bring out success. For Tampa, one of its greatest advocates is Tampa Bay Lightning owner Jeff Vinik, who recently opened Embarc Collective, a hub for founders, VCs and accelerators. In addition, one of the country’s most well-known accelerators, Dreamit, opened a Tampa location. They join local accelerator, Tampa Bay Wave who focuses on health, education and marketing.
What comes next?
My initial intent around publishing these pieces was to increase awareness of the Southeast’s potential. I wanted to share with people the amazing things these Southeast cities have to offer and why they deserve a look from those in the Southeast and beyond. Through my research, one of the most surprising things I recognized was how easily I became an advocate of each city I came across. Through conversations with local community leaders, founders or investors, I came to find a commonality. Each of these cities has an incredible drive to share the great parts of their structure. So I’ll leave you all with a challenge; connect with someone in a Southeast city (I’m happy to make intros!) and spend 30 minutes hearing why they believe in their city. I believe you’ll come to a similar conclusion as me; there’s a lot of great founders, companies, people and investors in these determined cities.
At ModernCapital, our mission is to increase the number of startup success stories in the Southeast by leveraging a cross-regional, collaborative network. We believe the future of company building will be geographically distributed, hyper-personalized, and driven by creativity. Based in Nashville, ModernCapital believes the best talent will #BuildInSE (translation: Build In Southeast).
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