NEW ORLEANS – The Idea Village has released the list of 12 startup companies that will participate in its 2022 VILLAGEx program. Over the next four months, the nonprofit business accelerator will support entrepreneurs and founders by providing access to mentorship, subject matter expertise and other resources, including marketing and design services, legal counsel in partnership with Jones Walker LLP and fundraising preparation.
“The goal of the VILLAGEx accelerator program is to identify the entrepreneurs who are the future business leaders for our region and give them the tools needed to grow their companies,” said Jon Atkinson, CEO of the Idea Village, in a press release. “The results will be more good jobs, more investment in our city and more economic opportunity for the entire New Orleans region.”
The Idea Village’s 2022 VILLAGEx accelerator cohort includes:
- Liam Meier and Neal Shulman of Brewsy, an at-home winemaking experience with an online community and social app that currently has more than 7,000 users. https://getbrewsy.com/
- Tobias Patch of Claimly, a user-friendly insurance claims management platform for disaster recovery. https://www.myclaimly.com/
- Maryclaire Manard of Cluey Consumer, which helps consumers find brands that are aligned with their personal values. https://www.clueyconsumer.com/
- Jake Gus, Sam Matluck, Diego Pinzon and Leo Simanonok and of DAWn Audio, a platform that enables music artists to co-create using the production tools they already know and love. https://dawn-audio.com/
- Chris Cummings and Wendy Overton of Iconic Moments, the world’s first NFT marketplace that provides cultural institutions a new way of monetization. https://iconicmoments.co/
- Marlon Butler, Brent Craige and Donovan Williams and of Jamm Around, an app that provides a social platform for artists to meet, collaborate, share and find music services. https://apps.apple.com/in/app/jamm-around/id1599120804
- Claire Smith of Kidkred, which allows companies to create performance incentives for students and helps relieve educator burnout. https://www.kidkredpilot.com/
- Bayleigh Frickey and Stephanie Hilton on The Meetery, a dating app for in-person speed dating that allows users to chat less and meet more. https://www.themeetery.co/
- Ben Legum, Jody Strausser and Jennifer Vondran and of Muse Engine, which creates injection 3D printing systems combining the speed and production quality of injection molding with the versatility of 3D printing. https://www.museengine.com/
- Ronnie Harper and Tavis Piattoly of My Sports Dietitian, which makes the app Eat2Win that is a tech-enabled delivery model for licensed sports dietitian services. https://www.mysportsd.com/
- Will Bradshaw of Reimagine Fund, which creates technology to radically increase accessibility of tax credit investment opportunities. https://www.reimaginegiving.org/reimagine-fund
- Jonathan Foucheaux and Conway Solomon of WRSTBND, a company that provides technology services such as ticketing, access control and cashless payments for live entertainment events. https://www.wrstbnd.com/
The 12 startup companies were chosen from an application pool of 48 by an external selection panel and members of the Idea Village, which has worked the past 20 years to “build and sustain a vibrant startup ecosystem in New Orleans.” Recently, local companies connected to the Idea Village and its accelerator programs were acquired for more than $2.5 billion. Many of these homegrown startups, including Levelset, Lucid, Turbosquid, and iMoto, received guidance and participated in accelerators run by the Idea Village.
These 12 entrepreneurial companies were selected based on the potential of the novel products and services they are bringing to market according to their growth potential, market insight, product stage, team strength and evidence of product-market fit. Over the next four months, each VILLAGEx company will go through and intensive acceleration process working closely with an Entrepreneur-In-Residence, who will provide many hours of direct mentorship. Each VILLAGEX participant will also work closely with an Investor-In-Residence, general mentors and an Advisory Board, who will guide company founders as they work to increase scalability and position the company to raise a growth round of capital.
In addition to numerous hours of mentorship and consulting, the entrepreneurs will develop meaningful peer-to-peer relationships that increase accountability and upskilling at all levels of company leadership.
“The relationships these founders develop, with each other and with the experienced professionals who will mentor and advise them, will result in a stronger entrepreneurial ecosystem and a repeatable cycle of economic growth and success,” said Atkinson. “These founders represent the future of a vibrant startup community in New Orleans.”
More information at www.ideavillage.org
Credit: Source link
