March 29, 2026 – “This is a place that gets its hooks in you.” That is how one attendee described New Orleans at the 3rd Coast Venture Summit this spring, and based on what was on display, the sentiment extends well beyond the city’s famous hospitality. It applies to the deal flow too.
The Gulf South has spent two decades since Hurricane Katrina rebuilding infrastructure, talent pipelines, and its relationship with risk. What the summit made clear is that the B-side city narrative is maturing. Investors who once engaged the region on preferential terms as an experiment are being asked to reconsider the terms on which they dismissed these markets in the first place.