GNO, Inc. Sunday Night Highlight – Top Ten Entrepreneurial Momentum Continues

Greater New Orleans was recently ranked as top ten in the USA for entrepreneurship, as well top ten for women and African Americans in digital media and tech jobs.  The startup momentum continues in 2024, including:

Greater New Orleans founders are enjoying investment and M&A success, for example:

• Renewable energy provider PosiGen announced a $150m investment from Brookfield Asset Management, which follows a round in 2023 and brings their total investment to $400m
• Technology company Watershed Health completed a $13.6 million funding round led by an investment from First Trust Capital Partners
• Ticketing platform AXS has acquired a majority stake in Elmwood-headquartered WRSTBND, a leading provider in access, credentialing & POS solutions for live events + venues
• Tech company Excella secured a minority investment from Attain Capital to advance its focus on delivering differentiated technology solutions in support of critical client missions
• ChapterSpot, a CRM and member management software for fraternal and chapter-based organizations, sold to Michigan-based Billhighway
• Nest Health raised a $4m extension round to provide in-home and virtual care to families, just one year after raising $15m in seed funding

New Orleans metro investment groups also continue to grow, for example:

• Boot64 Ventures, announced the closure of its Magnolia Fund I at $10m.  The group was also selected as Louisiana Economic Development’s LEDC Equity Fund of the Year
• Gulf South Angels has surpassed $20 million in investments since its inception a decade ago
• Revelry Venture Partners recently announced

• • Figure.ai successfully closed a $675 million Series B funding round at a $2.6 billion valuation. This round was led by OpenAI and Microsoft
  • Emporia closed its a $4.7 million seed round led by Founders Collective with participation from RVP, Data Point Capital, Remarkable Ventures, and strategic angels
  • Participation in a $4 million seed investment In Velou to build the leading AI platform for eCommerce

Finally, the entrepreneurial ecosystem continues to expand, for example:

• Twenty-five south Louisiana small business owners have been selected for the second class of the Shell LiveWIRE business accelerator program
• The second cohort of OHUB x NOLA is in process, and its Climate Tech Bootcamp Demo Day is June 13th, where five New Energy Technology Incubator (NETI) Batch 2.0 founders pitch for a $50,000 equity investment

• The second cohort of the METRONOME Music Business Accelerator, a partnership between Idea Village and GNO, Inc. is underway, continuing this program to bring startups associated with the music industry to life
• Idea Village’s IDEAinstitute program is hosting a pitch night on June 13, presented in partnership with Dell for Startups
• Startup St. Bernard is returning on August 1 for its 10th year. Entrepreneurs are invited to apply for the program by noon on June 7

You can stay updated on news like this from around the region’s growing startup ecosystem, including a database of companies and startup resources, at StartupNOLA.com.