A Brief History of Atlanta Tech Angel Investing
How one visionary investor sparked an entire city's angel investing ecosystem—and created billion-dollar success stories.
Sig Mosley was there when there wasn’t much there. He is known as the Godfather of Atlanta Angel investing because he demonstrated that angel investing is a viable investment class. And he made millions doing it while bringing many of us along with him. He showed us all how to find deals, vet startups, negotiate term sheets, and partner with entrepreneurs to help them build their companies.
I wrote this summary of Atlanta’s angel investing history based on an interview I conducted with Sig this year. (You can find the full interview here.) It’s a concise read that describes thirty-five years of angel investing. Sig laid the foundation that the next generation of angels is building on. It amazes me that we now have billion-dollar angels. How about that?
The Beginning
In the early '90s, Atlanta's tech scene was a spare landscape. Imagine this—it's 1990, and there's just one venture capital firm in our entire city, Noro Moseley Partners. Entrepreneurs had ideas, but there was nowhere near enough money to turn them into reality. That's when John Imlay stepped forward. After selling MSA to Dun & Bradstreet Software, John wanted to give back to the community that had supported their success. John loved Georgia Tech, and he loved tech leaders. He called them “tigers.”
He didn't realize it at the time, but his generosity and encouragement would spark what we now call angel investing in Atlanta.
Sig Mosley was charged with this mission.
Sig kicked off his angel investing journey around 1991 as Imlay Investments. His first check was written to a company called Audiofax. Back then, funding rounds weren’t flashy multimillion-dollar affairs; they were scrappy, $100,000 deals.
But Sig didn't just invest—he led. Soon, he was crafting term sheets, setting the stage for venture capitalists to join smoothly down the road. His strategic foresight earned him the nickname “Godfather of Atlanta Angel Investing.” If you've raised money in Atlanta, chances are you've walked the trail Sig blazed.
To manage the growing investor pool, Sig began forming Special Purpose Vehicles—SPVs—which streamlined investments for many first-time angels. At one point, he managed as many as 45 SPVs. This method tidied up the investor list and made startups attractive for future funding rounds. By the time Sig stepped back from active investing, he'd recruited and collaborated with over 400 angels and had helped shape a thriving, diverse startup Atlanta ecosystem.
From those humble beginnings, formal angel groups like Atlanta Technology Angels (ATA) and TiE Angels emerged, along with a host of early-stage VCs. Each carried the torch Sig lit years earlier. Although Sig is no longer writing checks himself, the legacy he created—Atlanta's vibrant angel investing community—continues to grow, thrive, and innovate, fueling the dreams of entrepreneurs across the city.