The New Orleans Startup Fund is an evergreen seed fund that invests in early-stage, innovative companies in the region. The fund recently announced they had invested in three new portfolio companies.
To date, the non-profit fund has invested over $2 million in more than 40 companies. Those companies have gone on to raise $65 million dollars.
“We’re excited to announce new investments that are helping local startups grow in our region,” said Jimmy Roussel, CEO of the fund. “Our fund has become an important part of the entrepreneurial ecosystem, providing the critical early-stage, ‘proof-of-concept’ funding that many startups might not be able to otherwise secure locally.”
In addition to the three new portfolio companies, the New Orleans Startup Fund also invested in two of its existing portfolio companies.
Meet them here:
Don’t Get Mad Get Paid, an online platform that provides a DIY solution for collecting on past due child support, including filing, document preparation, management, and other tools to make collecting easy. This is a follow-on investment for the New Orleans Startup Fund, which has already invested in Don’t Get Mad Get Paid and supported it through the PowerMoves.NOLA initiative. More at dontgetmadgetpaid.com.
Freshcane Inc., the makers of Bhoomi cane water. Offered in three flavors, the beverage is made with fresh local sugar cane, and it is cold-pressed to retain vitamins, minerals, and flavor. The company was founded by Arpit Bhopalkar, a recent Tulane MBA graduate from India who is also an Olympic-caliber ping pong player. In lieu of other energy drinks, his trainers in India had Arpit drink natural sugar cane water to replenish his sugars and electrolytes following matches and training. When Arpit came to the U.S. as a student, he was unable to find cane water, so he started Bhoomi to take advantage of the market gap. More at bhoomicanewater.com.
Mymee, a digital therapeutics program helping people overcome autoimmune issues. It was founded by Mette Dyhrberg, who first entered the functional medicine arena in an attempt to tackle her own chronic health issues. In her 20s, Mette battled an ever-expanding array of medical diagnoses ending up with six different autoimmune diseases simultaneously. She took matters into her own hands, hacked her own health, and in doing so, she created a tool that solved her health problems and soon began helping others do the same. More at mymee.com.
Pet Krewe, LLC, a pet costume company. It was founded by Allison Albert, who was raised on a farm in rural Pennsylvania where she learned to sew. After college and working as a forensic accountant for several years, she dusted off her old hobby to make costumes for her dog and opened a small online store to sell some of her designs. The business got a huge boost when Amazon featured one of her costumes in a television commercial. The market for pet costumes is large, and Pet Krewe is garnering market share with creativity and quality. Allison is currently working to develop an augmented reality platform/application to allow people to photograph and virtually place their pets in a variety of settings. More at petkrewe.com.
Vizzit, a digital media platform for storytellers and cultural caretakers to create place-based experiences as self-guided tours. Founder Arthur Bart-Williams relocated the company to New Orleans, which has proven to be an excellent test bed for the tourism and hospitality solution. This is a follow-on investment for the New Orleans Startup Fund, which has already invested in Vizzit and supported it through the PowerMoves NOLA initiative. More at vizzit.co.