CAPITAL

Georgia’s Technology Decision Makers remain bullish on Georgia’s ability to raise capital. More than 62 percent of the survey respondents said Georgia will increase its invested capital over the next year, and more than 80 percent said that capital investment will increase over the next five years. Expectations are down slightly, 6 and 3 percentage points respectively, but still strong.

Technology leaders do find raising capital in Georgia to be somewhat challenging. Respondents rated the ease of raising capital an average score of 5.4 out of 10, almost identical to the 2017 results.

This year, most technology decision makers believe the best sources of funding will come from private equity investors (25.6%), angel investors (25.13%) and large companies acting as strategic investors (21%). This outlook differs slightly from previous years when large companies that act as strategic investors and venture capitalists were perceived to be the best sources of funding. The 2017 point that only 10 percent of large companies indicated they plan to invest in early stage companies is proving accurate as leaders see less investment from this source.

According to BIP Capital State of Startups, Georgia remains the Southeast’s SaaS innovation leader with 358 deals totaling $1.6B in the 2013 - 2018 time period.

The Biotech/Pharma and FinTech categories are tied for second place with $606M and $604M invested, respectively. However, Biotech/Pharma has closed

123 deals over the 2013-2018 time period, compared to FinTech’s 62 deals, showing a larger check size and perhaps a greater confidence in the financial tech sector.

BIP Capital also noted that unlike several other states that attract investors from other areas, 100% of the top VC firms investing in Georgia-based companies are based in the Peach State.