Key Insights:
- Jon Gosier relaunches his venture firm Southbox Capital in Atlanta as one of its portfolio companies prepares to go public.
- The relaunch includes a more defined investment strategy and brings on Miami investor RJ Joshi as managing partner.
- The pair hope to further solidify Atlanta as a venture and innovation hub.
Southbox Capital, the Atlanta-based $40 million venture fund, is launching a new $5 million fundraise after a recent company restructuring. Since launching in 2017, the firm’s focus has been on the film and TV industry, but the firm is now expanding its investment reach to include other sectors like real estate, biotech, life sciences and lifestyle brands.
Jon Gosier, Southbox Capital founding partner and founder of film financing firm FilmHedge, started investing in film and TV as a solo project, but after generating more than five-times return on his initial $8 million in investments, including a forthcoming IPO of portfolio company SambaTV, Gosier sought to formalize his efforts into launching a fund.
In addition to the $5 million raise and restructuring, the reboot includes a new office in downtown Atlanta, bringing on RJ Joshi as a managing partner and a team of up to five investors.
“These will continue to be private market investments but the due diligence effort is going to be a lot more defined,” RJ Joshi, Southbox Capital Managing Partner, told The Plug. While the investment process at Southbox grows more defined, prospective portfolio companies can expect to be backed at the $500,000 to $1 million range on average. The firm hopes to fund eight to ten deals in its initial relaunch.
Leveling the playing field to the South’s advantage is one aspect of Gosier’s strategy for Southbox Venture firm that will further solidify Atlanta as a formidable production and venture capital hub. This goal is the throughline of his film financing platform as well.
“It was important that this company be based in Atlanta, which is one of the largest film production markets in the world because of the tax credits,” Gosier previously told The Plug. “The decision-making isn’t happening in Atlanta. It happens where the people with money are, in L.A., N.Y., it’s important for Atlanta’s ecosystem that a, hopefully, major finance player is based here.”
The new office for Southbox Capital will be located at a building within an opportunity zone in Atlanta to bring innovation and venture capital activity to this part of the city. Joshi said that while he and Gosier are proud to be Indian American and African American investors leading the firm, the personal background of potential portfolio company founders will not be a factor in their investment strategy.
“We’re pure meritocrats and we look at things from merit on its own. We’ve been confident in our ability to present an opportunity that is worth investing in, we are also very much selective in who to invest in,” Joshi said. “For us, it’s not about personal background but how good of a fit they are to investors.”
