TiE Atlanta is excited to announce ACCESS, an entrepreneurship program launched by TiE Atlanta Angels, to close the mentoring and funding gap between women- and minority-owned businesses in the Southeast US.

ACCESS will set the stage for business owners to present their product or service to established angel investors from TiE Atlanta. Qualifications for the competition include that the business must be in the Early Stage, Seed, or Seed+ funding stage; at least one female or minority founder/cofounder, pre or post revenue and more. The business that places first will receive an angel investment of $50,000 and an opportunity to present at TiECON Atlanta 2020.

“We are excited to launch this program and support even more entrepreneurs and innovation across the Southeast,” said JP James, president of TiE Atlanta and co-chair of TiE Atlanta Angels. “Along with investing financially in these companies, we are also going to provide mentorship and resources such as legal consultation, financial advisors and more to invest in the entrepreneur.”

The program aims to pave in-roads for minority and women-owned businesses to build their companies and networks not only here in Atlanta, but at an international scale, thanks to TiE Global’s international impact.

ACCESS is now accepting applications until May 15. Qualified participants will be announced by June 5, 2020; and screened and approved participants will go through a qualifying round on July 11, 2020. The finalists will be announced on July 14 and will present to investors on August 19, 2020.

TiE Atlanta Angels is the angel investment group of TiE Atlanta and has made over $4 million investments into 17 companies, with a primary focus on high growth entrepreneurial startups in the Southeast US across all industries. The angel group has worked on a disciplined investment model and has invested in companies seeking Seed through Series A funding. Through this model, TiE Atlanta Angels has become one of the fastest growing, high impact angel groups in Southeast.