Sunday Night Highlight – Louisiana #6 In USA For Venture Capital Growth

Flippa, a business brokerage, has released an analysis of National Science Foundation and Pitchbook data showing the states with the largest growth in venture capital investment over the past decade.  Louisiana comes in at #6 in the nation, with a 10.2X increase.

According to their dataset, total Louisiana funding in 2012 was only $25.75 million – growing to $324.45 million by 2022. The report also cited an average deal size of $3,380,000 in 2022, up from $610,000 in 2012. Overall deal flow also grew in that decade, from 42 investments in 2012 to 96 in 2022.

The data used in this analysis comes from the U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis and PitchBook, retrieved from the National Science Foundation’s National Center for Science and Engineering.  Researchers at Flippa compared total venture capital disbursed in each state relative to the state’s GDP in both 2022 and 2012 to determine those that experienced the most growth. The data represents venture capital funding secured by companies in each state and includes all stages of financing, from seed to later-stage investments.  You can read more here.

Looking forward, Louisiana was recently awarded $113 million through the U.S. Treasury’s State Small Business Credit Initiative (SSBCI).  This money will be distributed to support entrepreneurs across the state in partnership with private financial institutions and equity funds, and includes numerous investors in the Greater New Orleans region.

The announcement of Louisiana’s SSBCI allocation follows a rigorous, year-long application and approval process that required states to create an individual SSBCI allocation to support small business growth and entrepreneurship.

One could argue that Louisiana’s recent funding growth is due to its low starting point, as places like Silicon Valley still dominate VC funding.  But, to quote the old proverb:  “The best time to plant a tree is 20 years ago. The second-best time is now.” 🌲