Engage’s Winning Strategy: Executive Insights from Day One
Last year, we announced our search for visionary entrepreneurs building enterprise startups in six strategic themes. At the same time, we also knew we needed a systematic way to make effective startup selection decisions and drill down on the specific problems that these broad areas encompassed.
After several experiments, the answer to this puzzle turned into Engage’s recently launched Working Groups. Each Working Group has functional experts, innovation leaders, and executive champions from our 14 Fortune 500 corporate partners alongside leading Georgia Tech researchers. Here is what quickly emerged from seeing 60+ corporate executives and GT faculty across four Working Groups in action:
- Having subject matter experts whose day-to-day matches these themes gives us an incredible insight into how customers think and what is needed from startups to solve fundamental problems and new opportunities.
- Adding Georgia Tech faculty has been a welcomed voice in this mix. Their insights keep us anchored in the fundamentals and help drive future forward-thinking.
- Early feedback from experts and champions turbocharges our startups’ GTM strategy, increasing their success rates of landing pilots/ contracts.
- This infusion of executive and academic input allows us to be more intentional in how we construct our bi-annual Enterprise GTM Program cohorts.
- Each of these Working Groups is also accelerating cross-corporate collaboration. These influential peer groups bring together individuals never previously connected before, giving them an inside line to learn how their counterparts approach similar problems.
We are in the final stages of confirming startups that will join Cohort 9 this Spring (to be announced shortly). If you are (or know of) a startup building the next big enterprise technology, drop us a line.
???? Highlights from our Portfolio
Verusen raised $25 million in Series B funding to grow its footprint and build out its AI-driven technology platform.
The Mom Project has created economic opportunities worth $300 million in the last three years for moms. In just Q1 2022, they are partnering with Amazon, Best Buy, Etsy, Zendesk, and many more to unlock $50 million in economic opportunity.
Cloverly released a new one-stop carbon dashboard, allowing customers to offset company hotel reservations, freight bookings, and card transactions in real time.
Goodr was featured in Forbes and founder and CEO Jasmine Crowe was included in Atlanta Magazine’s Atlanta 500, highlighting Atlanta’s most powerful leaders.
Instant partnered with Randstad USA, enabling clients to use responsible earned wage access to provide thousands of workers with access to their wages in real time.
Kanarys partnered with the Neiman Marcus Group to improve their diversity, equity, and inclusion initiatives through data and transparency.
Peerfit partnered with Innovative Integrated Health Community Plans, a newly-launched Medicare Advantage plan, allowing thousands of seniors in California to have Peerfit Move.
Filtered and Stratifyd ranked as High Performer in G2’s Winter 2022 Grid Report.
Things we ???? about our Corporate Partners
Wellstar Health System‘s Catalyst partnered with Engage startup Bee Downtown to find three new beehives a home at the Wellstar Vinings Health Park.
#GreaterPossibilitiesTogether: Engage Board members, Ed Bastian, CEO Delta Air Lines and Marty Flanagan, CEO Invesco, recently talked about how to attract, keep and motivate talent. While their industries are very different, they both agreed that talent is core to what they do.
Cox Enterprises‘ Social Impact Accelerator powered by Techstars announced its third class for its three-month program providing hands-on mentoring, funding, and global connections to ten for-profit, mission-driven companies.
Inspire Brands revealed plans to implement a robot named Wingy, capable of frying wings, lifting wings, and placing wings, at Buffalo Wild Wings in partnership with Miso Robotics.
Delta Air Lines was ranked No. 1 transportation company on JUST Capital and Forbes’ JUST 100 ranking.
Invesco led a $700-million funding round for Bengaluru-based food delivery startup Swiggy, whose valuation rose to $10.7 billion.
Goldman Sachs led a $25 million Series B for Wonderschool as part of its One Million Black Women initiative.
Honeywell and Freyr deployed energy storage solutions through next-generation battery cells, addressing the needs of a wide range of commercial and industrial customers alike.
Engage and Tech Square Ventures Welcome Fourteen New Interns
Engage and Tech Square Ventures are thrilled to welcome fourteen talented students as interns to our team this Spring. Engage’s internship program is part of our mission to bring hands-on educational opportunities and exposure to the startups and innovation ecosystem to more students in Atlanta.
These Georgia Institute of Technology, Georgia State University, and Emory University students will be taking on roles ranging from design and operations to investment and research.
Thank you all for joining us!
???? Dive into the ATL Ecosystem
Georgia Power CEO Chris Womack was named to the Atlanta Magazine’s 2020 list of the city’s most powerful leaders .
Georgia startups raised more than $4 billion in 2021, doubling the amount raised in 2020 and setting a fundraising record for the state.
Georgia Tech broke into the top 20 in higher education research and development spending for the first time in a decade, according to the NSF.