Cox Enterprises, known mostly for its cable and broadband operations, led last year’s $56 million Series C funding round for emergency call technology provider Carbyne.
Cox also backs OpenGov, a budgeting, planning and procurement software provider that about a year ago bought Cartegraph.
Socium Ventures will focus on gov tech and other emerging growth businesses with investments that range from $3 million to $25 million, according to a company announcement.
“Given Cox’s involvement with many local governments and communities, we’ve made several investments in the gov tech space, namely our ownership in OpenGov,” wrote Andrew Davis, who serves as senior vice president of strategy and investments for Cox and as managing partner of Socium, in an email. “We will continue to evaluate other ideas in gov tech as we like the long-term trends of digitalization and improved citizen transparency and access that are driving the sector.”
Socium will seek to fund companies whose platforms “digitize government workflows, compliance and citizen services,” Davis said.
Socium has an advantage, he said, from existing relationships with Cox Communications and Cox Automotive, the latter of which includes brands like Autotrader and Kelley Blue Book. As he put it, those operating divisions offer “inroads” to public agencies that in turn can produce leads for new investments in gov tech.
“That alone helps us discover companies attempting to sell into the government channel often earlier than others,” Davis said. “We have an investor on our team that exclusively focuses on gov tech, so we are particularly invested in the space.”
