TiE Atlanta is proud to announce the first round of planned investments of ACCESS, its newest entrepreneurship program that is aiming to close the mentoring and funding gap between women- and minority-owned businesses in the Southeast US.

The top three investments went to: Physician360, a startup focused on telemedicine treatment kits for strep, flu, UTI, anemia, birth control, and erectile dysfunction; Gryppers, a company that seeks to naturally increase the proficiency, and preserve the longevity of every athlete and active professional worldwide; and MuJu - MUSICJUGGLE, a synchronization app that allows its users to get music licenses for ads, TV shows, film or video game in an easy, fast and reliable method. 

The final pitch, held virtually on Saturday, August 29, included 11 companies that were vetted through a formal process and were announced in June. Leading up to the final, each company was assigned two coaches that provided mentorship for the founders. 

They then pitched to judges Tiffany Bussey of Morehouse Innovation & Entrepreneurship Center; Dharti Desai, President of TiE New York; Bernie Dixon, founder of LaunchPad2X; Jamie Hamilton of the Atlanta Seed Fund; and  Joey Womack of Goodie Nation. 

The TiE ACCESS program was launched in April 2020, and set the stage for business owners to present their product or service to angel investors. Qualifications for the program included that the business must be in the Early Stage, Seed, or Seed+ funding stage; have at least one female or minority founder/cofounder, be post revenue and based in the southeast US.

Supported by TiE Atlanta Angels,  TiE ACCESS aims to pave in-roads for minority- and women-owned businesses to build their companies and networks not only here in Atlanta, but also at an international scale due to TiE Global’s international impact. The program is in partnership with LaunchPad2X, Startup Runway, Zane Venture Fund and TiE Women, the global organization’s women-focused initiative. 

TiE Atlanta Angels is the angel investment group of TiE Atlanta and has made over $6.7 million investments into 18 companies since August 2017, with a primary focus on high growth entrepreneurial startups across all industries.