Founder and MP Jack Abraham: Today is the best time in decades to start a company
By Riley Kaminer
Today, Miami-based venture studio Atomic announced that it has raised its fourth fund, weighing in at $320 million. This is the firm’s largest fund to date, having last raised $260 million in 2021. This brings Atomic to over $750 million in total assets under management. Atomic reports that it will use these funds to fund new startups the firm co-creates as well as double down on previous investments.
Atomic is not your usual VC. It has a running list of hundreds of ideas for new companies. It then builds these startups alongside co-founders it sources – then funding it with their own cash. Since being founded in 2012, Atomic has built Miami companies including OpenStore, Bungalow, and Fire. Perhaps its biggest success is Hims & Hers, the consumer healthtech company that went public in 2021.
“I think there hasn’t been a better time in modern history” to build startups, Jack Abraham, the founder and managing partner of Atomic, told Fortune.
Why is that the case? First: talent. “The most valuable asset for almost any company is its talent, and of course, it’s also where the vast majority of startup capital is spent,” Abraham said in a blog post announcing the fundraise. “Over the past year, not only have hundreds of thousands of talented tech workers suddenly become free agents, but many more are considering change while surrounded by displacement.”
Second: timing. “At a time when many are retrenching and have slowed down, we’ve started more companies in more industries than ever over the past year,” noted Abraham.
As part of its efforts to further scale, Atomic has also named Kristin Schaefer as its third general partner, alongside Abraham and Chester Ng. As CFO of Postmates, Schaefer shepherded the company to its sale to Uber. Atomic now has over 75 employees who have helped to start 16 companies. It also recently onboarded a handful of new VPs to enable Atomic to scale across engineering, design, sales, marketing, people operations, finance, accounting, legal, operations, and more.
“Just as venture capital and private equity models were once new inventions, we are proud to have pioneered and continue to try to perfect the venture studio fund model over the past decade,” asserted Abraham.
Miami plays an important role in this expansion. Abraham is very bullish on Miami, as he explained during a talk at Atomic’s builders summit during Miami Tech Week.
“2022 was a really tough year for startups in venture capital, but Miami didn’t see that,” he said, noting the uptick in investment here amidst a broadly contracting market.
“The momentum here is real, and it’s really building,” he continued. “Not only are there amazing founders that are coming here and starting incredible companies, but there are unbelievable capital sources.”
“It’s a really special time, and Miami is a really special place.”
READ MORE ON REFRESH MIAMI:
- With $150M in tow, OpenStore expands mission to bring serendipity to online shopping
- Proptech startup Bungalow makes its HQ home in Miami’s Wynwood
- Uncomfortable with the security of web3 transactions? Fire might be your new best friend
