The Silicon Bayou has been buzzing with tech and entrepreneurial news. Here are the most popular stories published on Silicon Bayou News in the past seven days:
Kickboard Raises $2M in Series A Funding
The web-based school analytics platform Kickboard, based in New Orleans, announced today it has raised $2M in a Series A funding round. The round was led by New Markets Venture Partners and Two Sigma Ventures, in addition to the nearly 20 local investors rumored to have participated. This recent round adds to the $800,000 Kickboard has already raised.
Idea Village Announces NOEW Headliners
The Idea Village announced today the headliners and Keynote Speakers coming to the city for New Orleans Entrepreneur Week, March 16-22, 2013. Event headliners include Walter Isaacson, President and CEO of Aspen Institute; Hamdi Ulukaya, President, Founder, and CEO of Chobani; and Dana Mauriello, Director of New Business Opportunities for Etsy. The list of additional speakers can be found here.
3rd Annual Teen Tech Day Gets Teens Excited About Tech Through Interactive Conference
The third annual Teen Tech Day, sponsored by Greater New Orleans Inc., is scheduled for March 23rd, 2013 at Delgado Community College. It’s a one-day interactive conference, created in 2011 by New Orleans Tech, to emphasize math, science, and engineering as tool to enable teens to use technology anywhere from a hobby to a career. It’s designed to help the teens interact with the speakers and each other to get excited about technology.
Consumer Trends Website WikiTrend.org is Looking for a Co-founder
WikiTrend.org is a new consumer trends website that has seen international success since its launch. Founder Daniel Levine travels back and forth from New York to New Orleans (like many others do) and attended the NOLA Meetup last week. At the Meetup, SBN learned Levine is looking for a co-founder for the project who has the business experience to bring this site to the marketplace.
Launch Pad Unveils New Global Network and E-Commerce Site LP.co
Launch Pad has launched the much-anticipated global network, LP.co. Members will enjoy network benefits such as retail opportunities and promotional merchandise through the e-commerce section of the site. Launch Pad said, “The new storefront is a platform to showcase all the great companies, products and apps being created by LP members.” The site will provide merchant processing and fulfillment services to the members who want to sell through the storefront.
Petrodactyl Studios to Host Live-Streamed ‘Torturetainment’ Fundraiser
Video game startup Petrodactyl Studios has been hard at work on their first major project, Vendetta. Like all startups they need money, so they are holding a unique event to accomplish their fundraising goals. They thought about a bake sale, a car wash, and other typical fundraisers. They came to the conclusion that, “pledging hours of ‘torturetainment’, live-streamed, for money,” would be the best bet.
New Orleans Chamber Schedules Four Dates for New Small Business Seminar Series
The New Orleans Chamber has announced a new series of seminars in partnership with Goldman Sachs 10,000 Small Businesses. The Small Business Seminars will be held on the second Thursday of each month, beginning March 14th, 2013.
Louisiana’s Online Lagniappe Loves Non-Profits Doing Good
This week’s Louisiana Online Lagniappe by Flynn Zaiger covers The Baton Rouge Youth Coalition (BRYC), The Lens, and The New Orleans Fruit Tree Project. Our extra shout-out this week goes out to the Audubon Institute for the extra adorable poster you see below (which we found in New Orleans CBD.) Is your Louisiana-based business doing stupendous things online? Send Flynn Zaiger of Online Optimism a note at Flynn@onlineoptimism.com and it just might be included in next week’s column.