Investors in Atlanta are more inclined to put their money behind early stage deals, TechCrunch reported.
CrunchBase figures showed that since 2010, the State of Georgia averages anywhere from 90 to 100 investments annually. However, investors Atlanta and the "peach state" in general now favor deals in the earlier stages instead of making late-stage investments. That means they are now investing in angel rounds, seed rounds and Series A financing rounds, the report said citing CrunchBase data.
Large domestic investment firms remain the most actively involved in the investment scene. In terms of funding rounds, the top venture investors in Atlanta from 2009 to 2014 YTD are Imlay Investments with 14 rounds and Noro-Moseley Partners with 9 rounds. In that same period, however, national venture firms were also involved in the city's investment scene. Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers and New Enterprise Associates each had four deals while Sequioa Capital did three, the report said.
Other investment firms that have also been part of the Atlanta investment scene in that time period include Advent International and HIG Ventures with two deals each while Advantage Capital Partners, Insight Venture Partners and Summit Partners did one round each, the report said.
Southern tech startups have also garnered the support of actor and tech angel investor Ashton Kutcher who has made a bet on BitPay, a Bitcoin startup that holds headquarters in Georgia. Andreessen Horowitz, another young but active venture investment firm, has also backed a Georgia-based firm called Pindrop Security. Andreessen Horowitz was part of the startup's $11 million Series A round in June last year together with Citi Ventures and other investors for the startup that aims to safeguard against fraud done over the phone, the report said.
As far as later-stage investments go, Atlanta-based Kabbage has obtained venture and debt financing to provide online entrepreneurs with the capital they need for their operations through loans, the report said.
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