In February, New York-based Valmiki Capital Management announced it would be opening up an office in New Orleans for its newly formed subsidiary, Valmiki 504.
Landing Zone is a new 20,000 square foot co-working space and small business incubator in New Orleans.
Valmiki 504 is in the process of launching two venture capital funds in Louisiana to cater to both startups and investors: Valmiki Bayou Partners I & II LP. An initial investment of $5 million has been made by Valmiki partners while additional funds are still being raised.
The company has now revealed a new partnership with Landing Zone, a coworking space and business incubator that provides entrepreneurs with the resources to create start-ups in a setting to inspire and support their success.
Founded by Robert Armbruster, a US Naval Academy graduate and Iraq War veteran, Landing Zone also focuses on veterans through their alliance with the non-profit VetLaunch, and its accelerator program.
Valmiki 504 has invested in a Landing Zone incubated startup, which plans to launch in 2017. “The new company is expected to employ over 150 veterans in high-paying full-time jobs within three years of launch.”
Peggy Babin, CEO of Valmiki 504 said, “We are thrilled to bring to New Orleans Valmiki’s well-established investment process of partnering with business accelerators on the ground to source and nurture emerging companies. It is a model that has proved successful in de-risking early stage private investment and will be tremendously helpful to the NOLA startup ecosystem”.
Babin is currently working on recruiting a local team to accomplish the goal of bringing world-class investing expertise and connections to the New Orleans startup ecosystem.