Tech Square Ventures Research
Investment Thesis
Tech Square Ventures (TSV) is an Atlanta-based early-stage venture firm that invests in enterprise (B2B) and marketplace technology companies. It describes itself as backing "category-defining companies led by visionary entrepreneurs inventing better ways for enterprises to operate." The firm is sector agnostic, with stated focus themes in applied AI, logistics and supply chain, vertical solutions, infrastructure and productivity, and sustainability and energy. The name comes from Technology Square, the Midtown Atlanta district next to Georgia Tech that has the densest cluster of startups, corporate innovation centers and researchers in the Southeast.
Stage Focus
TSV invests primarily at Seed and selectively makes Pre-Seed and Series A investments. The portfolio page shows companies that took TSV's first institutional check (Slip Robotics' founder says TSV gave them "the first investor check"), and others where TSV joined a later round led by another firm (Saleo's Series A was led by Emergence Capital with TSV participating).
Check Size
The initial investment is $500K to $3M, and the firm follows on through later rounds. The Engage fund, a separate vehicle run by the same team, invests $250K in each startup in its accelerator cohorts.
Lead Tendency
Both. TSV announced that it led investments in Veckta, Paccurate, Danti and Pitstop, and it participated in rounds led by others at Saleo (Emergence Capital) and Rainforest ($20M Series A, June 2024).
Recent Activity
The newest dated items on the firm's news page are June 2024 (Rainforest's $20M Series A and Danti's $5M round). A 2026 article from Technology Square Atlanta profiles Engage as both an innovation platform and a venture fund. The site's "More Companies" page was updated in July 2026 with newer portfolio names such as Airia, ArborXR, Bricklayer AI and Cerby, but no investment dates are given for them. Fund II was announced in 2020 with a $26M first close toward a $75M target; the current fund size and AUM were not found, so neither is set. Fund status is recorded as unknown.
Portfolio Highlights
The firm says it has backed 110+ companies (the managing partner's bio says more than 130) with an aggregate company value above $10B. The portfolio page lists 138 companies including exits. Named spotlight companies are Slip Robotics (trailer loading robotics), The Mom Project (recruiting marketplace), Saleo (live demo platform), Rainforest (embedded payments), Danti (Earth observation search) and Nok (consumer returns). Other notable names on the page include Cresta, Cypress, Freightwaves, Stord, ICON, Coactive, Ditto, Cerby, GC AI, Fast Radius and Itential.
Team
- Blake Patton, Founder and Managing Partner: former General Manager of Georgia Tech's ATDC, former EVP at iXL, professor of the practice at Georgia Tech's Scheller College
- Scott Lopano, Partner: leads the investment team and co-investment network; first hire at the firm; ex-UBS investment banking
- Joelle Fox, CFO and Operating Partner: ex-PwC and iXL
- Jason Kuo, Principal: sources and executes deals; board observer at Paccurate and DocStation
- David Malloy, Senior Associate: focused on investing from the Engage funds
- Kayla Chernof, Associate; Ian Balser, Analyst
- Bill Nussey, Venture Partner: former iXL and Silverpop CEO, supports climate tech and sustainability
- Matt Stevens and Steve George, Entrepreneurs in Residence
Decision Process
Partnership model with a dedicated investment team led by Scott Lopano. No committee structure or decision timeline is published, so decisionTimeline and warmIntroRequired are left unset.
Founder Preferences
TSV backs entrepreneurs "with the relentless determination to not only dream big, but also build the future through innovation, agility, grit and operational execution." Several partners and EIRs have built and sold enterprise companies themselves, and the firm leans on that for go-to-market help. Founders also get access to the Engage network of 14 corporate partners (including Coca-Cola, Delta, Home Depot, UPS, Chick-fil-A and Georgia Power) plus Georgia Tech.
Geographic Focus
"Atlanta is our home, the South our back yard." About 80% of investments are in the Super South, the fastest-growing innovation region in the US. Portfolio companies elsewhere exist (for example Cresta, Cypress and ICON).
Gaps
Fund size and AUM, fund vintage for the current vehicle, and investment dates for most portfolio companies were not found. Stage at investment is not set for any portfolio company because no source names the round for each one.