Week in Review: April 7, 2014

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:

 

Kellogg Foundation Awards Propeller Social Venture Accelerator $1.295 Million

Propeller announced today that its core program, the Propeller Social Venture Accelerator, has received a 3-year, $1.295 million investment from the the W.K. Kellogg Foundation. “We are grateful to Kellogg for recognizing the crucial impact of Propeller Fellows and programs,” announced Propeller. Propeller has opened applications for the fourth Social Venture Accelerator class (2014-2015). They are seeking another group of socially minded, early-stage ventures with viable solutions to New Orleans’ biggest challenges.

Top Regional Entrepreneurs to Pitch at Final Round of Tulane Business Model Competition on April 11

Tulane Business Model Competition finalists Million Dollar ScholarTympanogen andInVision Biomedical will pitch on April 11th, 2014 in the Freeman Auditorium at Tulane’s Woldenberg Art Center. The grand prize winner will be awarded  $25,000 and enter the International Business Model Competition as a semifinalist. $10,000 will go to the runner-up. The event begins at 12:00 PM.

Game On NOLA Treps

Gerard Ramos, local entrepreneur and founder of Revelry Labs wrote a follow up on a few things Chris Schultz mentioned here: The season’s over, let’s get back to work. He writes that it’s time for traction. “You’ve spent a shitload of time prepping pitches, working on financials, and projecting awesomeness throughout New Orleans. You’ve been networking your face off. You made some good connections and established relationships with potential partners and investors. You got mentioned in nola.com, Silicon Bayou News, INC or Forbes. Way to go. The NOEW PR train only goes so far. Overall, I think this was the best NOEW yet. Most of the people I spoke with had a solid experience, but how much did it really impact your company?” Click here to read more.

Zlien Secures All-Expense-Paid Trip to Meet Silicon Valley Investors After Winning Coulter IDEApitch

Coulter IDEApitch, named after billionaire investor and New Orleans lover Jim Coulter, was created in as part of New Orleans Entrepreneur Week (NOEW) in 2010 to give local startups the chance to reach world-class investors. Dinner Lab, mSchool and Zlien all pitched. Zlien, which provides software and services to help building material supply and construction companies reduce their credit risk and default receivables through the management of mechanics lien and bond claim compliance, won over the audience and judges.

Graffagnini + Associates Releases 2014 Louisiana Venture & Angel Capital Report

Graffagnini + Associates, a local law firm in New Orleans, released the second, Louisiana Venture & Angel Capital Reportthe first of which was released last March to help Louisiana measure private investment into businesses throughout the state.

A Broke BioDistrict Partners with New Orleans Business Alliance to Salvage Potentially Paramount Organization

Over the last few years, the BioDistrict New Orleans has been a sort of mysterious yet major project encompassing 1,500 acres of downtown New Orleans and Mid-City. The economic development district was created by the state in 2005 to advance the bioinnovation sector in the city. After statements showing just $360 in the BioDistrict account, in a seemingly perfect partnership, the BioDistrict has teamed with the New Orleans Business Alliance.

Health 2.0 NOLA Partners with Team Gleason for “Cheers for Charity” Benefit April 24th

Local organization Health 2.0, which hopes to catalyze digital health innovation in New Orleans, has partnered with the empowering Team Gleason to host the “Cheers for Charity” fundraiser at the Rusty Nail on Thursday, April 24th from 4:00 to 8:00 PM. It may seem like an unlikely collaboration, yet the two organizations have a common interest in solving healthcare challenges through new technologies and entrepreneurship.

New Orleans Developer Introduces New Visualization of Crime Incidents with Heatmap

Software developer at TurboSquid has created theNOLA Crime Heatmap, which was created by collecting local police incident reports from a number of other sites and aggregating the feed into Google Maps’ Visualization Library. The Heatmap uses that data and shows crime by concentration in certain areas with green and red colors. Green dots represent individual incidents; the more dots in certain areas, the more red those areas become.

Baton Rouge-Based Fitnotix Seeking $50,000 to Launch Virtual Fitness Lifestyle Trainer

The startup combining technology and fitness is planning to expand its virtual fitness trainer lineup with funding from its currently liveIndiegogo campaign. The goal of Fitnotix is to incorporate technology into everyday life through a web and mobile platform to help users develop habits and create a healthy lifestyle.

Marketing Firm Providing Leads Based on Need, Not Demographics, Now Headquartered in New Orleans

Plain and simple, ViaMetric gets clients in front of the people who acknowledge they have a problem that the client might be able to help fix. Through their proprietary, web-based tools, they help generate qualified leads, which translates to up to 75% sales opportunity conversion rates. Their marketing success is accomplished through the company’s digital direct marketing, web outreach and inside sales best practices. ViaMetric has always had an office in New Orleans and recently made the transition to having its headquarters in the I.P. Building.

Peer Conference for Financial Media Community Arrives in New Orleans This September

FinCon, the online personal finance media conference, is headed to New Orleans on September 18th through the 20th. The peer conference, now in its fourth year, aims to provide a platform where money and media meet, featuring topics including personal finance, writing, community, branding and entrepreneurship.

Venture Consulting and Business Strategy Firm Launches in New Orleans

New Orleans-based venture and transaction consultant Jay Taffet has announced the launch of Gracen Consulting, a venture consulting and business strategy firm that specializes in the capitalization planning and presentation process for companies. Taffet has over 25 years of experience as a consultant and has advised hundreds of new and established businesses on all aspects of organization. The comprehensive advisory service will target both startups and next-level growth companies for all phases of business activity and ownership.

Startup Conference in Memphis Hopes to Attract Silicon Bayou Entrepreneurs

Nibletz Media, the media and events production company that aims to be the voice of startups, created the Everywhere Else Conference series to celebrate startups and entrepreneurs outside of Silicon Valley, wherever they may be. The Memphis, Tennessee conference will be held from April 30th to May 2nd and hopes to attract a solid group of attendees and showcasing companies from the Silicon Bayou.

PowerMoves.NOLA Partners with Techstars for Risingstars Boot Camp

The brand new initiative PowerMoves.NOLA is about creating power and opportunity through entrepreneurship in New Orleans. The goal is to increase the number of high-growth, minority-owned businesses through connecting entrepreneurs to mentors, financing and technical assistance both locally and nationally. As part of the initiative, PowerMoves.NOLA has launched a flagship program in partnership with startup accelerator Techstars.

Entrepreneurial Post-Season Launches the New Orleans Startup Showcase

In an attempt to connect local startup founders to national networks, Launch Pad, in conjunction with The Idea Village and Greater New Orleans, Inc., will produce the first-ever entrepreneurial post-season. The New Orleans Startup Showcase will be a series of events following the recently wrapped New Orleans Entrepreneur Week (NOEW), New Orleans companies will connect to partners and investors locally as well as in San Francisco and New York City. Companies nominated by investor partners during NOEW will participate in Launch Fest and demo days in San Francisco and New York.