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Tech Topics In This Article: Venture Atlanta, leadership announcements
Atlanta native and local investor Elizabeth Stephens has been tapped to be the chairwoman of Venture Atlanta for 2025.
Stephens, who is Principal at Noro-Moseley Partners, will work alongside CEO Allyson Eman and the rest of the Venture Atlanta board of directors to steer the conference during its eighteenth year in operation.
Stephens brings a wealth of experience to the role. A graduate of Vanderbilt University and the University of Virginia, Stephens spent the early part of her career in New York before returning to her hometown of Atlanta to work for Bain & Company. After working in the consulting world with large technology companies, she moved into the investing world by joining Noro-Moseley in early 2020.
Stephens follows a tradition of Venture Atlanta leadership from Noro-Moseley, one of Atlanta’s founding tech investment firms. The firm played a pivotal role in launching Venture Atlanta in 2007, and several of its team members have served as chair in previous years.
What’s Next For Venture Atlanta
The 2024 Venture Atlanta conference set new milestones, with a record-setting 88 startups pitching to a sold-out crowd at the Woodruff Arts Center. New features, including smaller group sessions, a live investment pitch competition, and expanded outdoor tent for networking and more panels, all which helped enhance the event’s impact.
As chairwoman, Stephens aims to build on this momentum by fostering stronger connections between founders and investors. She is particularly interested in incorporating more intimate executive sessions into the two-day conference format.
Venture Atlanta Through The Years
Launched in 2007 with just 20 investment funds, Venture Atlanta has grown into Atlanta’s premier startup event, drawing over 1,300 participants annually and attracting more than 350 investment funds from across the country. The conference has become a cornerstone of the Southeast’s tech ecosystem, facilitating $7.5 billion in funding and over $17 billion in successful exits.
Notable alumni of Venture Atlanta include Kabbage, Cloud Sherpas, Roadie, ParkMobile, and SalesLoft.
“We are so happy with how the conference has grown over the last 17 years. The sponsorships and the attendees get better every year. Allyson’s done such a phenomenal job growing the conference and having such an impact on so many founders,” Stephens added.
A Look Ahead
When asked what excites her most about Atlanta’s startup ecosystem, Stephens pointed to the ecosystem’s maturity level and the new pace of growth she’s seeing.
“There’s strong momentum, with more exits and people starting to pay it forward into the ecosystem by giving back to newer founders,” she told Hypepotamus. On the capital side, she noted that “investors from all over the country come into Atlanta proactively to try and deploy capital — from the West Coast, East Coast, and beyond,” which is helping to build up a more robust local ecosystem.
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