Engage Celebrates 5 Years Investing In Innovation and Entrepreneurship

First-of-its-kind corporate innovation and startup accelerator program continues to establish Atlanta as a premier technology hub

ATLANTA, Oct. 17, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Engage, the first-of-its-kind collaborative innovation program and venture fund, celebrates five years of connecting startups with leading corporations in the Southeast.

The catalysts behind Engage – Marty Flanagan, President and CEO of Invesco, Dr. G.P. "Bud" Peterson, President Emeritus of Georgia Tech, and Blake Patton, Managing Partner of Tech Square Ventures – founded the program in 2017. Engage combines strategic capital, a startup growth accelerator, and a collaborative network of leading global corporations to create a corporate innovation and startup go-to-market accelerator program that has accelerated the Southeast's emergence as a leading tech hub.

"As one of the founding corporate partners of Engage, Invesco recognizes the tremendous impact entrepreneurs have on the US economy and we're committed to working with the Engage corporate partners to empower their growth in the Southeast region," said Marty Flanagan, President and CEO of Invesco and Chairman of Engage. "Through working together with a diverse group of Engage startup founders, we have all benefited from shared innovation, insights into new technology and invaluable learning opportunities. We look forward to continuing to shape and nurture the growing community of entrepreneurs in Atlanta."

To date, Engage has mentored and invested in 10 startup cohorts, signing 116 customer contracts between startups and corporate partners. Its 75 startups have raised more than $2.5 billion in capital and currently employ more than 3,300 people. 59% of Engage startups are Southeast-headquartered, with 29% based in Atlanta. 

CEOs and senior innovation executives from the corporate partners comprise the Engage program's Board of Directors and Advisory Board, along with over 100 domain experts and Georgia Tech faculty participating in working groups and knowledge sharing initiatives around customer experience, data & analytics, future of work, sustainability, and supply chain and logistics.

"Engage is helping to establish Atlanta and the Southeast as the best place in the country for enterprise-focused startups to do business," said Blake Patton, Managing Partner at Engage and Tech Square Ventures. "Our partners have enabled us to build not only a startup growth accelerator – but an innovation platform that has accelerated corporate innovation and connectivity in the region and helped it to become a premier tech and innovation hub. We are proud that 29 of our startups are headquartered or have team members in Georgia." 

The Engage fund, managed by Tech Square Ventures, invests in companies selected for its enterprise-focused Go-To-Market Program in partnership with Georgia Tech, which combines education and one-of-a-kind access to help startups break through the barriers of selling to, and partnering with, large enterprises. Some recent highlights from Engage startups include:

• The Mom Project, a marketplace connecting enterprises with working mothers, reaches one million mothers.
• Moth + Flame, a developer of virtual training technology, is featured on Inc. 5000 fastest-growing private companies in the US. 
• Skyryse, a tech-enabled air mobility platform, partnered with Air Methods, an American air medical transport company, to add their FlightOS hardware and software stack meant to replace complex manual flight control systems to 400 single-engine helicopters and fixed-wing aircraft.
• Stratifyd, an AI-powered analytics platform that captures all customer interactions, turning them into actionable business intelligence, recently raised $10 million in Series B3 funding.
• MetaCX, a network that companies join to manage the expected value from their business, raised a round of $5.1 million, comprised of 14 angel investors, bringing the total capital raised by the company to $33.6 million.

"There's no question the people have been the most memorable part about the Engage experience" said Michael Scharff, CEO and Co-Founder of Evolv AI, an Engage startup. "The relationships we developed with the Engage team, the corporate partners, and our cohort peers are going to be relationships that will serve us well in the future."

Engage will celebrate its fifth anniversary on October 18, 2022, at the bi-annual Engage Entrepreneur and Executive Reception, featuring the latest cohort of Engage startups, a keynote by Cox Enterprises CEO Alex Taylor, and a panel discussion with Engage founders Marty Flanagan (CEO of Invesco), Blake Patton (Managing Partner of Tech Square Ventures), and G.P. "Bud" Peterson (President Emeritus of Georgia Tech).

About Engage

Engage is a first-of-its-kind innovation platform comprising category-leading corporations in the Southeast that have joined forces to support startups building the future of enterprise. Engage is designed to promote innovation through a network of connections between startups, corporations, university researchers, and the venture community.

Engage's corporate partners include Chick-fil-A, The Coca-Cola Company, Cox Enterprises, Delta Air Lines, Georgia-Pacific, Georgia Power Foundation, Georgia Tech, Goldman Sachs, The Home Depot, Honeywell Connected Enterprise, Intercontinental Exchange (ICE), Inspire Brands, Invesco, Invest Georgia, UPS, and Wellstar Health System. These corporate partners, along with the Georgia Institute of Technology's Advanced Technology Development Center (ATDC) and Tech Square Ventures, provide tools, hands-on support and resources that help startups develop go-to-market strategies, open doors faster and transform strategies into action. For more information, visit engage.vc.

CONTACT: Blake Patton, 404 206 2653

SOURCE Engage Ventures