Amid all the fundraising fuss of Venture Atlanta, international firms are used to carving out niche meetings to make their voices heard in the growing Southeast U.S. tech hub.
But those whose home countries have a presence in Atlanta have an secret weapon: boots on the ground helping them capitalize on existing relationships and forge new ones.
That was the experience of a delegation from the north of England, which had a red carpet rolled out by the U.K. Department of Business and Trade’s office at the British Consulate General in Atlanta.
Before Venture Atlanta started in earnest on Oct. 8, the group had already been feted at a reception in the British consul general’s residence and heard the “Why Atlanta?” pitch from the city’s economic development leaders during a luncheon at the law offices of Greenberg Traurig.
In addition to attending the conference six startups eventually met with the Metro Atlanta Chamber, the Technology Association of Georgia, Invest Atlanta and the Atlanta Tech Village.
Mark Cole, CEO of Liverpool-based ParkSmart Solutions, knows from experience that these interactions, while time consuming and often expensive, can be invaluable.
During a trade mission to the U.S. five years ago, Mr. Cole gleaned insights that went into retooling the company’s offerings. This time, he can focus on finding the right partners in the U.S. in the jurisdictions that fit from a regulatory perspective.
Beyond the British consulate, Atlanta has shown itself to be a hospitable, business-forward city, from the boosters to the Uber drivers — to the point where this short visit has been more productive than membership in an industry trade group, Mr. Cole said.
“For us, there’s been much more enlightenment this visit than from anything that we’ve tried to to gain from being a member of the association, so for us, that probably is the biggest eye opener,” Mr. Cole said.
Muhammad Ali, founder of Newcastle-based Uptivity, a business-to-business e-commerce software firm, said his company is using the mission to make sure that it’s not overestimating its own readiness to expand into the U.S.
“I think there was a lot of assurance, in a way,” Mr. Ali said of the meetings with local partners and counterparts. Trade missions with the British government have always led to productive new connections, he added.
“People on the ground always help me connect to people that I would otherwise wouldn’t meet,” Mr. Ali said. “We closed some of our large enterprise deals in the rest of the world by using kind of this type of framework.”
Manchester-based Indiespring is closing in on opening an office on the East Coast of the United States, perhaps in Atlanta, which increasingly looks like a “soft landing” for a company that already sees about half of its business in the United States, says Commercial Director Arran Kirkup.
Indiespring helps develop new mobile apps or resuscitate legacy ones that need to be modernized or scaled up.
“We’re working with businesses who have actually get themselves to an minimum viable product, but they’ve not thought about scalability. And so we can kind of help them take that next step,” said Mr. Kirkup.
The tech community in Atlanta seems to be a great target, he said, and the Eastern time zone and airport accessibility could make it attractive to open an office with sales functions and a couple of developers.
“Being able to work on us time will be really, really useful for us. At the moment, it’s just guys working through the night in the UK. It’s not ideal.”
Newcastle-based Wootzano, meanwhile, landed on the West Coast of the United States, thanks to a trade mission with the British consulate in San Francisco that led to a partnership with the Fresno County Economic Development Commission — and a $47 million deal with a private customer.
Wootzano makes “dexterous” robots equipped with what it calls “electronic skin” that enables them to feel and apply precise pressure to fruits and vegetables.
The Avarai robots, named after a plant native to India historically used in steel making, focused initially on packing, not harvesting, helping companies overcome labor shortages by adding them directly to packing lines. Proven in table grapes and tomatoes, the company is moving into stone fruits like the peaches Georgia is known for globally.
Atif Syed said trade missions like this one have opened doors from Japan to California’s Central Valley, leading to connections that often don’t reveal their value until later.
“All those interactions are useful, because you never know which one leads into the growth of the business,” said Mr. Syed, who is looking to localize production in the U.S. market.
Thomas Matheus of Newcastle-based Cystel, which helps companies protect against the encryption-breaking capabilities of quantum computing, said the company will likely locate where it can find the rare talent in this highly technical sector.
“When we look at talent in quantum cybersecurity, it’s very rare, and if we find some talent here, we can cultivate that. That would help set up shop here as well,” Mr. Matheus said.
The companies all noted that the presence of British firms already in the city, particularly Newcastle-based software giant Sage, which has a massive presence in Atlanta, adds to a comfort level that is only augmented by spending time on the ground here.
“You can speak to people online,” says Philip Blacklock, international trade advisor for the north of England ad the U.K.’s DBT. “But there’s a phrase in the UK: People buy people.”
It doesn’t hurt that Atlanta has had a sister city relationship with Newcastle since 1977, kickstarted by a friendship launched by then-President Jimmy Carter and grounded in the civil-rights connection established when Newcastle University gave Atlanta’s native son Martin Luther King Jr. an honorary doctorate.
Hanna Yu of the DBT’s local office coordinated the group’s itinerary on the ground and moderated the Monday afternoon panel discussion that gave the companies a broad perspective on doing business in Atlanta and Georgia. Contact her to learn more about the DBT in Atlanta.
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