Atlanta’s Flywheel Effect: Socium’s Role in Starting a Self-Sustaining Venture Ecosystem 

By Morgan Phillips and Rebeca Zerpa

And for founders like Scriven, this unique combination of corporate muscle and growth- and venture-stage expertise is an essential part of success.  

Building the foundation   

Atlanta, GA, isn’t just the location of our company headquarters. It’s also an ideal hometown for small business owners, innovators and dreamers of every stripe. We want to continue to make ATL a top city for entrepreneurs; so, in 2015, our team conducted a study to determine how to help Atlanta to become a top venture hub in the US.   

Our team found three opportunities in the ecosystem: a lack of world-class founder support (i.e., accelerators); limited early-stage funding; and no easy way for startups to engage with the area’s high concentration of large enterprises.  

We developed seven Atlanta-based venture partnerships, including Techstars Atlanta and Endeavor Atlanta, to create a top venture ecosystem locally. Our goal is to produce a “flywheel effect” in Atlanta so that startups have a healthy and active community of founders, pilot programs and enterprise mentors supporting successful outcomes that lead to local reinvestment over time. 

Since 2016, nearly 200 Atlanta startups have raised more than $3 billion in funding.

That opportunity came in 2022, when Socium Ventures co-led Saltbox’s $25M Series B funding round with Pendulum Holdings. Saltbox, which Scriven has been scaling right here in Atlanta, solves the hardest parts of running an e-commerce business with its accessible logistics solutions, including a network of flexible warehouses in major metropolitan areas across the US.  

Socium’s involvement in Saltbox isn’t just a financial investment — it’s a strategic, long-term partnership. Since 2022, Socium’s managing partner Andrew Davis has served as a Saltbox board member, providing hands-on guidance and a long-term vision that aligned with the company’s goals.  

“Andrew has been wonderful to work with. He continues to be one of our biggest champions through all the natural ups and downs, and ebbs and flows of startup life,” Scriven said. “I really appreciate having in him, and in Socium, an investor that understands the nature of growth and getting to success in a venture-backed startup.”  

“I spent many years in the core of Silicon Valley, and although it’s a magical place to be building a company, I reached a point where I wanted to get back into what I consider the ‘real world,’” he said.  

Scriven highlights Cox’s influence in shaping the startup ecosystem as a key factor in the city’s continued growth.  

“Cox has played this foundational and non-self-serving role in the community,” he said. “Their impact is everywhere. I think about the number of companies, venture funds and startup-oriented programs that Cox has funded over the years and continues to fund.”  

Socium Ventures brings a fresh perspective that is still somewhat rare in Atlanta, where early-stage funding has grown but growth-stage investments remain limited.  

“Socium has done an incredible job of filling that gap by supporting companies that need that next level of investment and expertise,” Scriven said. “And not just focusing on Atlanta-based companies, but also investing across the country, and contributing to Atlanta’s reputation as a city that is actively involved in the national [tech] ecosystem in a meaningful way.”  

For example, Socium’s investment portfolio includes startups based in NYC, Cambridge, MA, and Silicon Valley. 

Scriven has already seen examples of how the success stories in the Atlanta startup ecosystem create compounding returns: driving more entrepreneurs, capital and knowledge into the community.  

“Success begets success,” Scriven said. “When a company grows, exits and creates wealth, it drives the entire ecosystem forward. Those who succeed want to do it again.”  

At Socium Ventures, we’re proud to support founders as they scale their businesses and reinvest in Atlanta, fueling the “flywheel effect” of success that continues to gain momentum with the help of growth-stage investors like us. In the last decade, we’ve generated strong strategic investment and pilot opportunities and will continue to lean into the local venture and innovation ecosystem going forward. 

“Socium has a valuable role to play in the ecosystem by making great investments,” Scriven said. “By focusing on identifying great founders and making great investments, they’ll help shine a positive light on what Atlanta is capable of.”  

Learn more about what makes Socium Ventures a great investment partner, and check out our current investment portfolio.