From its first $1 billion exit to an increased number of venture capital deals, the tech scene in New Orleans scored some major headlines in the second half of 2021.
For Jon Atkinson, CEO at the city’s accelerator The Idea Village, these headlines are just the start.
“We see the string of recent events as the first turn of the flywheel,” he told Hypepotamus. “The events of the last few months have been the result of 20 years of deliberate investment in changing attitudes towards risk, embracing technology, and building a vibrant startup community at the core of a dynamic entrepreneurial ecosystem. This incredible “overnight success” is a testament to the many, many people who labored, invested, and believed before there was much to believe in. Now we know the model works, but we need to continue pushing until the events of the past few months become the norm rather than the exception.”
Those recent success stories include the acquisition of Lucid ($1 billion deal), Levelset ($500 million deal), Geocent, and Turbosquid.
Increased M&A activity was also followed by a number of strong venture capital deals. The 2021 New Orleans Startup Report, created by The Albert Lepage Center for Entrepreneurship and Innovation at Tulane University, reported a 21% increase in VC funding and a 15% increase in angel investing year-over-year.
The report surveyed 200 startups in the 10-parish region during the first part of 2021.
For Atkinson, it is the city’s “unique nexus of culture and innovation that breeds creativity, startup activity, and a supportive culture for business building.”
The Idea Village put together a list of startups to watch, which Atkinson sees as startups that could be the next “success story” to put New Orleans on the map.
These startups range from BioTech to SaaS ventures, and several, including Ready, Resilia, and RentCheck, may already be familiar to Hypepotamus readers.
While not all startups are affiliated with The Idea Village, Atkinson said the list includes startups that meet the investable criteria of “product, team, traction, and market opportunity.”
The companies to keep an eye on are:
- Ready: HealthTech – a platform for on-demand healthcare workers
- Resilia: SaaS – nonprofit formation and compliance platform
- RentCheck: PropTech – a platform improving the tenant-landlord relationship
- Junum: HealthTech – helping hospitals address malnutrition
- ProKeep: B2B – a messaging app for distributors
- ID Scan: fraud prevention and access control
- Advano: nanotechnology in the Li-ion battery space
- AxoSim: BioTech – improving the development of neurological drugs.
- Obatala: Life sciences
- Spot2Nite: RV reservation platform
