Cox Enterprises is no stranger to the Atlanta startup scene. The broadband, automotive services, and media giant powers two of Atlanta’s Techstars programs, is a corporate sponsor of Engage, was part of launching Endeavor Atlanta, put $150 million into the fast-growing cleantech startup Nexus Circular earlier this year, and has been involved as an investor in several other venture deals across town over the years.
This week Cox Enterprises announced it is looking to pour even more fuel into the startup scene with the launch of Socium Ventures.
The $300 million fund is a “concerted effort” to “create our own vehicle to help facilitate” growth in Series A and beyond startups, says Cox Enterprises’ Andrew Davis.
“From my perspective, this really codifies Cox Enterprises’ desire to continue to be involved in [startups] at a direct level with a direct partnership,” Davis told Hypepotamus.
Davis, who serves as the Senior Vice President of Strategy & Investments, said that the fund will look to deploy capital into 18 to 20 companies. Cox Enterprises will be a “direct partner” with those startups by taking board seats and helping those businesses scale, Davis added.
Understanding The Fund
The fund will look at investment opportunities in the range of $3-$25 million, according to a press release. Cox will serve as the single limited partner and will look to deploy capital on a “long-term time horizon and no specific liquidity timeline.”
Davis, alongside 8 people on Cox Enterprises’ strategy and investments team, will be looking to deploy the capital into a wide variety of industry verticals, be it enterprise and vertical software, fintech, digital health, cleantech, or B2B marketplaces.
Atlanta-based Saltbox and New York-based Carbyne are listed on Socium Ventures’ website as recent investments.
The fund is intentionally looking at a wide range of industry verticals, with Davis saying that the fund can “potentially serve as a broader funnel for us to get into industries that we potentially haven’t done as much in before but we find that are more interesting.”
“We’re excited to launch Socium Ventures, Cox’s latest investment into the future,” said Cox Enterprises Chairman and CEO Alex Taylor in a press statement. “We’ll be looking for early-stage businesses that are solving big problems and leaving the world in a better place for the next generation.”
