Building our Defenses: ATDC is scaling companies in support of the DoD 14 Apr 7:10 AM (25 days ago)
ATLANTA — Eighteen months ago, Georgia Tech’s Advanced Technology Development Center (ATDC) announced a partnership with ManTech, a company that provides advanced, mission-focused technology solutions and services to the federal government. That partnership would support the growth of startups built on cybersecurity-related technologies and emerging innovations.
The partnership with ManTech and the focus on cybersecurity and defense technology have been so successful that ATDC recently added two new people to work in this vertical. Bob Nunnally and Jan Norris will work alongside Blair Tighe, a startup catalyst in cybersecurity and defense, who has been in the position since the beginning of the partnership in 2023.
“The expansion of this vertical is in response to an interest by the defense sector to solve immediate problems by onboarding up-and-running, ready-to-go technologies,” said John Avery, ATDC director. “Our goal is to provide a very rich, robust pipeline of talent and companies to solve problems in the defense category.”
The men who work in this vertical all have military backgrounds and experience operating within the Department of Defense, a huge plus for small companies that need to learn to navigate government waters.
They will work together in three areas that, Nunnally said, need to happen simultaneously.
“One is advancing the visibility of ATDC and our mission,” he said. “Second is finding companies that want to be affiliated and can meet the requirements of being part of the ATDC portfolio. And then the third is coaching and growing those companies that are part of the portfolio.”
Georgia and the Southeast are increasingly important players with the Department of Defense. There are cybersecurity facilities in Augusta and military bases in Columbus and Warner Robins.
The DoD is one of Georgia’s largest employers, accounting for 150,000 direct jobs, more than 330,000 others indirectly, and about $22 billion in economic activity, according to the Georgia Chamber of Commerce.
Additionally, the DoD engages with the Georgia Tech Research Institute, Georgia Tech’s nonprofit, applied research organization, to develop innovations for the Army, Air Force, Navy, and other DoD units designed to keep the U.S. safe.
The DoD plans to help grow the Atlanta ecosystem by working with emerging technology programs, such as ATDC, in ways that benefit Georgia Tech, ATDC, the companies themselves, and the DoD. It’s an important sector that will help ensure the security — both physical and cyber — of our nation, while positively impacting the economy in the region.
An important part of the job for the three team members is helping entrepreneurs find the right people at DoD to talk with about their technology and helping companies ensure compliance with DoD and intelligence regulations.
“The federal government needs technology around supply chain, risk management, maintenance, contested logistics,” Norris said. “There’s a list of critical technology areas published regularly for which DoD is looking for solutions and capabilities.”
And ATDC is well-placed to provide the technology needed.
“There’s a need on the DoD side to continue to do things smarter, faster, and cheaper,” Nunnally said. “It’s technology that’s resident in the brilliant young minds of entrepreneurs. ATDC can be the bridge to solve some of the most important and challenging problems. It’s a matter of — can we take this brilliant idea on the napkin and make that company sufficiently strong and competitive to win that work?”
It’s a question Avery believes can be answered with a resounding affirmative. “We think this is probably going to become our most active and impactful vertical,” he said.
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ScanTech Identification Beam Systems Closes Business Combination with Mars Acquisition Corp. 21 Jan 8:59 AM (3 months ago)
BUFORD, Georgia and NEW YORK — ScanTech Identification Beam Systems, LLC (ScanTech), an innovator of next-generation ‘fixed-gantry’ computed tomography (CT) screening systems and 2007 ATDC Graduate company, and Mars Acquisition Corp., a publicly traded special purpose acquisition company, entered into a definitive business combination agreement resulting in ScanTech becoming a publicly listed company.
Buford-based ScanTech and Mars, based in New York, will merge with newly-formed subsidiaries of ScanTech AI Systems Inc. ScanTech AI Systems is a newly-formed Delaware holding company and serves as parent to the ScanTech and Mars subsidiaries. ScanTech AI Systems is listed on the Nasdaq under the ticker symbol STAI.
“We are excited about this business combination, as it not only testifies to our achievements, but, more importantly, the future growth potential of our industry-leading, ‘fixed-gantry’ CT scanning technology,” said ScanTech CEO, Dolan Falconer, who earned his bachelor’s and master’s degrees in nuclear engineering from Georgia Tech. “We believe that this step will provide us with the opportunity to accelerate our innovation and market reach. We are delighted to take the next step in our growth trajectory as a public company.”
ScanTech believes it has developed one of the world’s most advanced non-intrusive ‘fixed-gantry’ CT baggage and cargo logistics screening technologies. ScanTech utilizes proprietary artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning capabilities to develop state-of-the-art fixed-gantry CT scanners that accurately and quickly detect hazardous and contraband materials.
Karl Brenza, CEO of Mars, commented: “This merger with ScanTech represents an opportunity to bring a leading-edge security scanning technology company to the public market. We are confident that this partnership will enhance ScanTech’s capabilities and position it for sustainable growth.”
Transaction Overview
The combined company is expected to have an estimated post-transaction enterprise value of $149.5 million, consisting of an estimated equity value of $197.5 million and $48 million in net cash, assuming no redemptions by Mars’ public shareholders. Net cash will come from Mars’ approximately $72 million of cash in trust (assuming no shareholder redemptions).
Upon the closing of the transaction, and assuming none of Mars’ public shareholders elect to redeem their ordinary shares and that no additional shares are issued upon the closing of the transaction, it is anticipated that: 1. Mars’ public shareholders will retain an ownership interest of approximately 42% of the combined company, 2. the sponsors, officers, directors, and other holders of Mars founder shares will retain an ownership interest of approximately 12% of the combined company, and 3. the ScanTech security holders will own approximately 46% of the combined company.
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The Vision Behind Perspectiv – Revolutionizing Career Exploration for Students 11 Dec 2024 12:44 PM (4 months ago)
In an era of career dissatisfaction and workforce disengagement, Meagan Skerchock’s Perspectiv WHAT IS ITS CONNECTION TO ATDC (Educate? Accelerate? Signature?) WHERE IS THE COMPANY BASED? stands out as an alternative pathway for students exploring their professional futures. As detailed in her recent feature in The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, Meagan’s journey from film set dresser to education tech entrepreneur is nothing short of inspiring.
Skerchock spent nearly a decade dressing film sets for Hollywood blockbusters like Avengers and Suicide Squad. However, her career aspirations shifted after a pivotal conversation with an aerospace engineer, who shared their dissatisfaction with a desk-bound role. This revelation ignited her desire to help students better understand career options before committing to a specific path.
Recognizing a gap in career exploration tools, she founded Perspectiv, an innovative platform designed to provide students with real-world insights into various professions. By showcasing video interviews with professionals from diverse fields — including pharmacists, FBI negotiators, and software engineers — Perspectiv offers a virtual career day experience that bridges the gap between education and the workforce.
Key takeaways from Skerchock’s journey
- Be resilient when facing challenges: Transitioning from film to tech entrepreneur exemplifies the power of perseverance. Despite lacking a formal business or education background, she learned the ropes of curriculum development and startup scaling through hands-on experience.
- Take a grassroots approach to growth: Starting with a beta version built on Wix, Skerchock leveraged her savings to fund Perspectiv’s initial launch. By prioritizing student impact over investor-driven profits, she maintained control of her vision while forging partnerships with schools in Georgia, Arkansas, Massachusetts, and Florida.
- Addressing career discontent: With workforce dissatisfaction rates alarmingly high, Perspectiv provides students with tools to make informed decisions about their careers. By exposing them to professionals in niche fields — such as ice farming and window tinting — the platform broadens students’ understanding of available opportunities, especially in rural areas.
Skerchock’s vision for Perspectiv
At its core, Perspectiv reflects Skerchock’s belief that career fulfillment starts with informed choices. She envisions a world where individuals are excited about their jobs, leading to increased productivity and happiness in the workplace. Her ultimate goal is to empower students to discover careers that align with their passions and maximize their potential.
“I want to live in a world where people are not mad about going to work,” Skerchock told the AJC. “The big goal is helping people reach their potential in life, and that starts with finding something you’re excited about doing.”
The full AJC article requires a subscription, but here is a PDF link to it, republished with permission.
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Advanced Technology Development Center Announces Graduating Class of 2024 27 Sep 2024 11:09 AM (7 months ago)
Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger, Donnie Beamer to give addresses at dinner honoring class of 10 graduates
ATLANTA — The Advanced Technology Development Center (ATDC), Georgia’s technology incubator, announced today 10 startups will graduate from its internationally recognized top-tier portfolio — which includes the first startup to graduate from its ATDC @ program in Columbus, Georgia.
The companies and ATDC alumni will be honored at graduation and alumni homecoming dinner celebration October 24 in Tech Square. The Honorable Brad Raffensperger, Georgia Secretary of State, will give the keynote address to the graduates. Donnie Beamer, Senior Technology Advisor to Mayor Andre Dickens, Office of Technology and Innovation, Office of Mayor, City of Atlanta, will give opening remarks.
The ATDC Startup Class of 2024, reflects the incubator’s diverse portfolio of industry sectors including logistics, sustainability, healthcare technology, hospitality, supply chain, and marketing technology, sports, and construction.
With the addition of these 10 companies, ATDC, program of Georgia Tech’s Enterprise Innovation Institute, will have graduated 231 startups since its founding in 1980.
“This class of graduates perfectly showcases so many of the industries and sectors we are focused on where Georgia is a leader or has emerged as a magnet for innovation,” said ATDC Director John Avery. “They’re all making headway and continue our 44-year record of being the nexus of Georgia’s startup innovation ecosystem.”
The ATDC Startup Class of 2024 includes:
- Ampliphi: A platform that enables companies to analyze, mitigate, and report on their circular and plastic impact.
- Carpool Logistics: Enables multiple clients to share space on one truck, lowering cost and emissions.
- Dr. Noze Best: Provider of innovative wellness solutions that improve children’s health and reduce stress for parents.
- Makeswift: Composable visual editor for headless websites and storefronts.
- Press Sports: Aggregator of hundreds of information sources — then distills the top stories, highlights, and scores from around the sports world into a five-minute, weekly e-mail, delivered with humor and wit included.
- PurpleCloud Technologies: Hotel optimization software that harnesses the power of gamification to educate, inspire, and drive your teams to peak performance.
- SmartPM Technologies: AI-driven automated project controls and schedule analytics solution built for construction.
- Strados Labs: Medical technology company focused on improving the lives of patients with respiratory diseases.
- Turbine: A lightweight enterprise resource planning ERP for companies that manage physical inventories.
- VIVA Finance: Mobile-first lending platform that offers loans underwritten primarily based on employment information, rather than credit history.
“ATDC has been a pivotal steppingstone for Carpool Logistics,” said Joe Norton, co-founder and vice president of product. “The incubator’s collaborative atmosphere, expert guidance, and access to resources have significantly contributed to our development. As we move forward, we’re thankful for the invaluable experiences and connections gained at ATDC.”
Jack Markwalter, VIVA Finance co-founder and CEO, echoed those sentiments.
“ATDC has given VIVA a home to grow from an idea to a real company,” Markwalter said. “We were able to supercharge our pace of learning through sharing our experiences with this community of founders and were able to learn from the mistakes of others. As first-time founders in our 20s, this experience was invaluable and put us in a position to thrive.”
Collectively, the ATDC Class of 2024 has raised $56.95 million in capital funding.
The Class has some other significant milestones, too. Four of the companies were founded or co-founded by women; three were acquired, and Turbine, which is headquartered in Columbus, is the first company to graduate from ATDC @ Columbus, one of the incubator’s regional, focused startup ecosystem building initiatives across the state.
To graduate from ATDC, portfolio companies must meet several milestones, including annualized recurring revenue of at least $3 million to $4 million, an identified scalable business model, the ability to finance growth, or been acquired.
About the Advanced Technology Development Center (ATDC)
The Advanced Technology Development Center (ATDC), a program of the Georgia Institute of Technology, is the state of Georgia’s technology startup incubator. Founded in 1980 by the Georgia General Assembly, which funds it each year, ATDC’s mission is to work with entrepreneurs in Georgia to help them learn, launch, scale, and succeed in the creation of viable, disruptive technology companies. Since its founding, ATDC has grown to become one of the longest running and most successful university-affiliated incubators in the United States, with its graduate startup companies raising $3 billion in investment financing and generating more than $12 billion in revenue in the state of Georgia. To learn more, visit atdc.org.
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U.S. Food and Drug Administration Gives Huxley Medical 510(k) Clearance for SANSA Home Sleep Apnea Test 31 Jul 2024 9:18 AM (9 months ago)
ATLANTA — Huxley Medical, a developer of technologies that streamline cardiopulmonary care, has received 510(k) clearance from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for its groundbreaking, chest-worn, sleep apnea diagnostic patch, SANSA.
With this clearance, Huxley Medical, a heath technology startup in the Advanced Technology Development Center‘s portfolio of companies, can move forward to market its device.
The patch is a first-of-its-kind, at-home, single-point-of-skin-contact diagnostic device and represents a breakthrough in medical innovation. Unlike current patches, rings, watches, or finger probes, SANSA does not require additional attachments, wires, belts, or hoses.
Its patented combination of sensors and materials precisely measures eight physiological channels including blood oxygen saturation, EKG-derived heart rate, respiratory effort, chest movement, sleep staging, snoring, body position, and actigraphy.
This clearance is a significant milestone for Huxley and positions its SANSA device as the first and only FDA-cleared chest-worn patch that utilizes advanced signal processing and artificial intelligence to detect sleep disordered breathing while simultaneously providing an electrocardiogram (EKG) reference channel to record electrical signals from the heart.
“Our SANSA technology offers healthcare providers a cutting-edge tool to enhance diagnostic accuracy and patient outcomes,” said Chris Hallett, Huxley Medical’s co-founder and chief commercial officer with more than 25 years of experience in the field. The announcement is the latest milestone for the company, which has raised more than $20 million in investment capital and grant funding since its founding in 2019.
Sleep apnea is a serious disorder characterized by repeated interruptions in breathing during sleep, leaving patients tired and irritable, even after a full night’s sleep. It can lead to more serious health issues, including heart and metabolic diseases, and strokes. The disorder costs $86.9 billion in lost productivity, $26.2 billion in motor vehicle accidents, and $6.5 billion in workplace hazards in the U.S. each year, according to theAmerican Academy of Sleep Medicine.
“From my prior experience developing programs to engage sleep physicians and cardiologists, I know first-hand the difficulties in getting patients with sleep apnea and comorbid arrhythmias diagnosed and managed,” Hallett said. “SANSA will begin to eliminate these barriers for physicians and patients.”
The SANSA platform has already undergone a comprehensive clinical trial involving 533 patients across seven U.S. sites, including at the University of Pennsylvania, the University of Michigan, Emory University, and Atrium Health Wake Forest Baptist. SANSA has demonstrated its efficacy in measurement reliability and performance for use in diagnosing mild, moderate, and severe sleep apnea.
The clinical trial provided robust data supporting SANSA’s safety and effectiveness, including:
- high accuracy, sensitivity, and specificity in sleep apnea detection compared to in-lab sleep tests;
- improved patient compliance and comfort due to its non-invasive nature;
- excellent performance on all skin tones for diverse patient management, which had been a challenge in the past.
Clinicians who have utilized the SANSA device say it’s a milestone in innovation.
“As electrophysiologists, we are already quite comfortable in using patch-based EKG monitors for arrhythmia monitoring,” said Dr. Suneet Mittal, Chair of Valley Health System’s Cardiovascular Service Line as well as director of electrophysiology. “The ability to diagnose sleep apnea using the same platform using the SANSA device represents an exciting opportunity to manage two diseases that often co-exist, namely atrial fibrillation and sleep apnea.”
Dr. Douglas Kirsch, past president of the American Academy of Sleep Medicine and medical director of Atrium Health Sleep Medicine in Charlotte, N.C., agreed.
“It’s excellent news for the sleep community that Huxley’s SANSA device has been cleared by the FDA to evaluate obstructive sleep apnea at all severity levels with reliable performance across all skin tones,” Kirsch said. “This 8-channel wearable patch, including an EKG sensor, should be easy for patient self-application and improve the experience for diagnosis of obstructive sleep apnea.”
About Huxley Medical
Huxley Medical, Inc. is a privately held medical technology company that develops products and services to streamline care for any patient anywhere. The company has received funding from the National Science Foundation, National Institutes of Health, the Georgia Research Alliance Venture Fund, Invest Georgia, the Georgia Tech Foundation Research Impact Fund, and Duke Capital Partners to translate its growing technology portfolio. To learn more, email info@huxleymed.com.
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AgencySpotter.com Acquired by Private Investors 12 Jun 2024 6:37 AM (11 months ago)
Parent Company Rebrands to SpotSource Inc. to Focus on Enterprise SaaS Growth
ATLANTA — AgencySpotter.com, a leading public rating and review platform for marketing and IT agencies, has been acquired by a private investment group specializing in technology and service marketplaces. This acquisition will enable AgencySpotter.com to focus on its core mission of championing verified customer reviews within the service provider selection process. Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed.
AgencySpotter.com is a member company in the Advanced Technology Development Center’s startup portfolio.
Following this divestiture, the parent company of AgencySpotter.com, formerly known as Agency Spotter Inc., will rebrand to SpotSource Inc. This name change reflects the company’s strategic focus on its core business: SpotSource, a leading enterprise service supplier management (SSM) software platform.
“We are thrilled to see AgencySpotter.com continue its journey under new ownership,” said Brian Regienczuk, founder and CEO of SpotSource Inc. “This move allows us to sharpen our focus on developing and scaling our enterprise SaaS solution, SpotSource.”
Evolving Service Procurement Landscape
Spend on services continues to increase, and the business landscape is only getting more complex with regulation and other compliance issues, Regienczuk said. “SpotSource believes it should be easy for any subject matter expert, like a marketer, to find the best service provider, manage and collaborate on their work together, and streamline payments. SpotSource is doing this while ensuring compliance, governance, and seamless integration with existing enterprise systems.”
According to a report by Grand View Research, the global workflow automation market size is expected to reach $31.4 billion by 2028, growing at a CAGR of 23.2% from 2021 to 2028. Additionally, MarketsandMarkets projected the professional services automation (PSA) software market to have reached $14.39 billion by 2023, growing at a CAGR of 10.8% from 2018 to 2023. These trends highlight the increasing demand for effective service supplier management solutions in the professional services sector.
AgencySpotter.com: A Legacy of Empowering Businesses
Over the past 12 years, AgencySpotter.com has played a vital role in connecting marketing and advertising leaders at the world’s largest companies with millions of small, medium, and large businesses. Notably, Agency Spotter was among the first to champion verified customer reviews in the marketing industry.
Finding the right-fit marketing agencies and IT partners is more complex than ever, and the new ownership structure, organized as Agency Spotter LLC and led by the acquiring private investment group, is committed to ensuring this legacy continues to evolve and innovate in the future.
SpotSource: A Private Marketplace for Streamlined Service Procurement
SpotSource empowers companies to create private internal marketplaces or hubs for managing relationships with a broad range of service providers. From marketing agencies and IT firms to R&D partners and external manufacturers, SpotSource simplifies the entire procurement process. With this strategic shift, SpotSource remains a leader in service procurement, offering an intuitive platform for managing the entire service provider lifecycle.
SpotSource’s growing roster of clients across the Fortune 1000, includes one of the largest global consumer packaged goods (CPG) companies, and underscores the platform’s capability to meet the needs of major enterprises.
About SpotSource Inc.
SpotSource Inc. (formerly Agency Spotter Inc.) is a cloud-based service supplier management (SSM) software platform that empowers companies to manage all aspects of their service provider relationships. SpotSource streamlines the entire procurement process, from discovery and selection to project management, invoicing, and performance reviews.
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TAG Top 40 List of 2023 Includes 10 ATDC Companies 28 Apr 2023 12:25 PM (2 years ago)
Happy Friday afternoon.
Just wanted to share a Friday afternoon shout out to the 10 ATDC portfolio companies who were chosen as TAG Top 40 winners this past Monday. The TAG Top 40 are invited to showcase their company at the Georgia Technology Summit’s exhibition at the Georgia World Congress Center next Wednesday, May 3. Ten winners will be chosen at the end of the day.
Join me in congratulating these 10 ATDC companies selected for the TAG Top 40 2023:
| Acivilate | AETOS |
| Carpool Logistics | iVue |
| MapHabit | TQIntelligence |
| Queues | Vieaura |
| Speedscale | Symtrain |
Since 2006, the Technology Association of Georgia has recognized an elite group of 40 companies who represent the very best of Georgia’s tech community. Selections are made based on degree of innovation, scope of solution and potential financial impact. This year’s list includes both corporations as well as tech startups and young companies from throughout the state.
Not surprisingly, ATDC portfolio companies consistently bring a strong showing to the Top 40 list each year (and every year since the award’s inception). Here’s a snapshot of ATDC awards in the TAG Top 40 since 2019.
| Year | # ATDC of 40 chosen |
| 2023 | 10 |
| 2022 | 11 |
| 2021 | 12 |
| 2020 | 13 |
| 2019 | 11 |
Congratulations again to the recipients and hope everyone has a great weekend.
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GRIT Conference Announces Startup Stage Pitch Competition Finalists 18 Jan 2023 9:34 AM (2 years ago)
SAVANNAH, Ga. — The Creative Coast has announced the Startup Stage finalists that will pitch their companies at GRIT (formerly called Geekend), Savannah’s premier innovation conference. Startup Stage is a business pitch competition during which finalists present their endeavors to a panel of judges and a live audience for a chance at $10,000 in cash and prizes. The competition is scheduled to take place on Friday, January 27th, from 4:30pm – 6:30pm at the Savannah Cultural Arts Center.
After a week-long selection process, the Startup Stage committee has chosen the following companies to pitch onstage. The founders and their companies are:
- Melanie DeFilippis for Oro Maternal Health Inc.
- Sade Shofidiya for BEEnevolent
- Johnathan Manning for 88 Technologies
- Adam Tsang and Jim Paul Walker for The Whiskey Grail
- Rodeline Joseph for Medsembly
- Deborah McIncrow for PillowSak, LLC
- Kirkland Brooks for Febris
- Malcolm Brown for WorkCEO
Startup Stage will be judged by a panel of angel investors and venture capitalists. Judges include Bill Nussey (Partner with the Engage and Tech Square Venture firms, Author and Podcast Host of Freeing Energy), Julianne Roseman (Senior Associate at Plug and Play Tech Center), Bill Glenn (Partner at Fernwood Holdings), and Jim Goodlet (Board Director, Angel Investor, CEO, CTO and Chief Information Architect).
Startup Stage is sponsored by the Advanced Technology Development Center (ATDC). As Georgia’s technology business incubator, ATDC assists entrepreneurs across the state from IDEA to commercial SUCCESS.
Early Bird tickets for the full, two-day GRIT Conference are currently on sale for only $99 through January 20th. To learn more about Startup Stage and attend the GRIT Conference, visit https://thegritconference.com/startup-stage/.
About the GRIT Conference
The GRIT Conference is an event organized by The Creative Coast in Savannah, Georgia. The Savannah Economic Development Authority (SEDA) is the Presenting Sponsor of the two-day conference, which features and connects leading designers, technologists, entrepreneurs, and thought leaders from Savannah and beyond. Sessions showcase Savannah’s achievements in business, tech, and the arts, address our toughest challenges, and discuss emerging trends with the goal of providing individuals with access to new ideas and people to spark their momentum. Learn more at www.thegritconference.com.
About The Creative Coast
The Creative Coast’s mission is to catalyze the innovation economy in Coastal Georgia. The 501(c)3 non-profit serves the entrepreneurial, technology & creative community of the Savannah region. The organization builds and supports the creative economy in Savannah through educational & social programs that connect and foster local innovation in both large and small companies. Learn more at www.thecreativecoast.org.
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Fyve By Joins Georgia Tech’s Advanced Technology Development Center’s Accelerate Portfolio 18 Jan 2023 9:11 AM (2 years ago)
ATLANTA — Fyve By Corp., a leader in smart ground operations technology, today announced it has been accepted into the Advanced Technology Development Center’s ATDC Accelerate startup portfolio.
A program of Georgia Tech’s Enterprise Innovation Institute, ATDC is the state of Georgia’s technology startup incubator. It helps entrepreneurs learn, launch, scale, and succeed in creating viable, disruptive technology companies.
Co-founded by Benjamin Youngstrom and Preston LaVangie, Fyve By Corp.’s technology reduces instances of ground movement damage of aircraft for operators across the aviation industry. Such damage costs the aviation industry an estimated $2.8 billion a year, according to the Flight Safety Foundation.
Fyve By leverages the latest in smart visualization technology and IoT innovations to equip those on the frontlines with the best tools to operate safely and efficiently.
“Fyve By is honored to be joining ATDC’s Accelerate program. We are proud to be joining a community of innovation and ingenuity,” said Youngstrom, the company’s CEO. “With such an impressive council of minds surrounding us we are confident that these next few years will see the end of ground movement damage in our industry.”
Companies accepted into ATDC Signature join a rigorous, metrics-driven, and milestones-based program designed for startups with transformative technologies or life sciences products that are ready to scale. ATDC Signature companies have tailored access to coaches, capital, and customers, as well as Georgia Tech resources, including intellectual property, and talent.
“They have enormous potential and are addressing a very difficult and costly problem in the aviation industry. This team is an excellent addition to our portfolio” said Bob Siegel, ATDC’s 5G Connected Future Startup Catalyst. “They’ve created a multilayered approach — utilizing artificial intelligence — for better and safer management of aircraft hangers.”
About Fyve By Corp.
Fyve By seeks to reduce instances of ground movement damage for aircraft operators and ground ops teams. Fyve By leverages the latest in smart visualization technology and IoT innovations to equip those on the frontlines with the best tools to operate safely and efficiently. To learn more, visit fyveby.com.
About the Advanced Technology Development Center (ATDC)
The Advanced Technology Development Center (ATDC), a program of the Georgia Institute of Technology, is the state of Georgia’s technology startup incubator. Founded in 1980 by the Georgia General Assembly which funds it each year, ATDC’s mission is to work with entrepreneurs in Georgia to help them learn, launch, scale, and succeed in the creation of viable, disruptive technology companies. Since its founding, ATDC has grown to become the longest running and one of the most successful university-affiliated incubators in the United States, with its graduate startup companies raising $3 billion in investment financing and generating more than $12 billion in revenue in the state of Georgia. To learn more, visit atdc.org.
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A Message from the ATDC Director: 2022 – The Year in Review 15 Dec 2022 12:02 PM (2 years ago)
As the year draws to a close, it’s dizzying to think of what a phenomenal year 2022 was for ATDC. I look back on the year with a lot of pride for what we and our portfolio companies have accomplished this year. Official statistics will come in the new year, but here are a few highlights I can report today:
We welcomed 46 new companies into the ATDC portfolio — all full-time founders with scaling businesses and tackling big problems in their industries. This represents a new high watermark for new companies in one year and represents the strength of the startup ecosystem in Georgia.
We welcomed four new major corporate sponsors in Home Depot, Amazon Robotics, Visa, and Norfolk Southern. Their contributions help us support and stand up four new verticals which represent some of the fastest growing sectors in IT: Supply Chain Tech, Advanced Robotics, FinTech, and Sustainability, respectively. The addition of these four brings our total vertical focus areas to seven, including Advanced Manufacturing, HealthTech, and 5G.
We opened three new statewide offices in Macon, Columbus, and Albany. That brings our statewide presence via our ATDC @ program to six offices all working to further Georgia’s technology startup support and ecosystem building infrastructure. Likewise, we expanded our staff with 13 new hires — bringing our team to 23 to better support our portfolio companies and statewide needs.
We have been developing a new startup curriculum this year that we are excited to launch in January. Register on our website at atdc.org under the “Events” tab.
We have continued work on our grant-funded Center for MedTech Excellence in collaboration with the Georgia Manufacturing Extension Partnership and Global Center for Medical Innovation to provide targeted curriculum and support for medical device companies. Companies engaging in the Center have already raised $3.4 million in private investment this year. You can learn more by visiting medtech.gatech.edu.
We graduated 13 companies from the ATDC portfolio whose statistical success rate as an ATDC graduate makes them 90% likely to survive five years out.
We received a $1 million grant award from the Georgia AIM initiative to support advanced manufacturing cohort’s growth and commercialization efforts.
We facilitated, supported, and marveled at our active portfolio of companies which as a group, raised more than $114.5 million in capital in 2022 alone to grow their businesses.
Our ATDC Educate program has changed and underwent an overhaul to ensure that we continue to deliver world-class programming and content to support our growing ecosystem of entrepreneurs.
Finally, if you know me, you know I like to say, “it’s engineers and smart founders who have the potential to solve complex, existential challenges and make a material impact on society.” Know that for ATDC in 2022, we did our part to facilitate those outcomes and plan to continue to build on that momentum in 2023.
Wishing you all the best for a Happy Holiday Season and a prosperous and healthy New Year,
John Avery
Director
ATDC
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