{"id":342058,"date":"2017-05-26T23:59:47","date_gmt":"2017-05-26T15:59:47","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/techcrunch.com\/?p=1496381"},"modified":"2017-05-26T23:59:47","modified_gmt":"2017-05-26T15:59:47","slug":"for-one-new-fund-the-question-isnt-which-corporate-backer-but-why-not-10","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/people.utm.my\/asmawisham\/for-one-new-fund-the-question-isnt-which-corporate-backer-but-why-not-10\/","title":{"rendered":"For one new fund, the question isn\u2019t which corporate backer, but why not 10?"},"content":{"rendered":"

<\/p>\n

Engage Ventures<\/a> is a new, Atlanta-based accelerator fund for early-stage deals. It isn\u2019t managing a ton of money \u2014 it just closed on $15 million for its debut effort \u2014 but it does have some interesting financial backers.<\/p>\n

Unlike a corporate venture unit that\u2019s trying to satisfy one company, Engage has instead secured its capital commitments from 10 Fortune 1000 companies that are frankly all over the map\u00a0and include AT&T, Chick-fil-A, Cox Enterprises, Delta Air Lines, Georgia-Pacific, Georgia Power Foundation, Intercontinental Exchange, Invesco, The Home Depot, and UPS.<\/p>\n

The idea, says managing director Thiago Olson, is to ensure Engage\u2019s portfolio companies have as many potential partners, as well as acquirers, as possible.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s an interesting proposal, and one we saw more recently and on a much larger scale with Fifth Wall Ventures<\/a>, a real estate focused venture firm that earlier this month closed on $212 million in commitments<\/a> from an array of heavy-hitting corporations in the real estate industry. (Among Fifth Wall\u2019s\u00a0investors\u00a0are CBRE, the brokerage and real estate services giant, and Lowe\u2019s, the home improvement franchise.)<\/p>\n

Engage isn\u2019t a micro fund, exactly. It\u2019s more like the accelerator spin-off\u00a0of an Atlanta-based venture firm called\u00a0Tech Square Ventures<\/a>, where Olson, a former entrepreneur<\/a>, is also a venture partner. The outfit is being run independently, however, and it plans to invest in 16 companies each year, focusing in spring and summer on\u00a0eight companies for three months at a stretch, beginning this August.<\/p>\n

There is no sector focus. A\u00a0startup\u2019s initial product should be built of near completion, however.<\/p>\n

Interested startups will receive $75,000. In exchange, Engage is asking for upwards of\u00a06 percent of their businesses. (Olson says Engage will take a smaller ownership stake in startups that are further along or have already raised some outside funding.)<\/p>\n

Engage is also promising office space to companies that need it,\u00a0along with mentorship from a\u00a0network of local founders and operators\u00a0who intend to\u00a0aid the startups with their\u00a0growth tactics, pricing structures, and go-to-market strategies.<\/p>\n

Naturally,\u00a0introductions to Engage\u2019s 10 corporate backers\u00a0are designed to sweeten the deal, too.<\/p>\n

If you\u2019re thinking that Engage sounds an awful lot like\u00a0the hundreds of other new accelerator programs around world, we\u2019re with you.\u00a0(As of last year, at least, there were 160<\/a> of them in the U.S. alone.)<\/p>\n

But it is smartly taking advantage of a growing trend\u00a0\u2014 that of\u00a0giant companies trying to keep up with the technological shifts that could\u00a0impact their businesses, and that are willing to\u00a0work together if it helps to keep them relevant.\u00a0Startups can certainly benefit from that trend, too.<\/p>\n

To become\u00a0a member of Engage\u2019s inaugural class,\u00a0here<\/a>\u00a0is more information.\u00a0Engage, which is based in Georgia Tech\u2019s Technology Square, began taking applications yesterday.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

\"\" Engage Ventures is a new, Atlanta-based accelerator fund for early-stage deals. It isn’t managing a ton of money — it just closed on $15 million for its debut effort — but it does have some interesting financial backers. Unlike a corporate venture unit that’s trying to satisfy one company, Engage has instead secured its capital commitments from 10 Fortune 1000… Read More<\/a><\/p>\n

\n<\/img><\/a> <\/img><\/a> <\/img><\/a> <\/img><\/a> <\/img><\/a> <\/img><\/a>\n<\/div>\n

\"\"\/ <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5817,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[25],"tags":[59,66,26],"class_list":["post-342058","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-technology","tag-media","tag-techcrunch","tag-technology"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/people.utm.my\/asmawisham\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/342058","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/people.utm.my\/asmawisham\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/people.utm.my\/asmawisham\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/people.utm.my\/asmawisham\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5817"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/people.utm.my\/asmawisham\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=342058"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/people.utm.my\/asmawisham\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/342058\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/people.utm.my\/asmawisham\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=342058"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/people.utm.my\/asmawisham\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=342058"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/people.utm.my\/asmawisham\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=342058"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}