December 12, 2022 — We are excited to share the publication of our fourth annual Greater New Orleans Startup Report, which features information gathered in the first quarter of 2022. In this year’s report, two main themes emerge: choices and change.
In the face of uncertain market conditions, business owners are making hard choices about hiring, office locations and fundraising. These choices are reflected in the data and indicate that significant changes have taken place, and are currently taking place, which will have long-lasting impacts on our city and region.
Although the data show reasons for both optimism and concern, we can also look to the important investments being made in the future of our ecosystem that point to us building for the long term. In 2021, we saw many exits of firms such as Lucid, TurboSquid, Levelset and Kickboard, which resulted in “about $1 billion returned to the ecosystem through payouts to locally based founders and investors.” The funds returned to the ecosystem will almost certainly result in more companies created, additional investment dollars and even more job opportunities.
One of the most important new investments comes with the creation of Tulane’s Innovation Institute and the hiring of inaugural Chief Innovation and Entrepreneurship Officer, Kimberly Gramm. Through a multimillion-dollar commitment over the next decade, the Innovation Institute will help entrepreneurs both inside and outside of Tulane launch businesses, attract more than $100 million in capital to region and cultivate talent that will strengthen our region’s economy.
We are already seeing results from this initiative, as just this week the U.S. Treasury announced a commitment of $113 million to Louisiana for new loans and venture capital investments into startups through the State Small Business Credit Initiative (SSBCI), and the Innovation Institute debuted an investment fund for women- and minority-led startups in our region.