The New Louisiana Angel Fund (NLAF) is an angel capital fund launched last year that is currently made up of 53 accredited investors statewide. The fund was organized by the Biomedical Research Foundation.
The Fund has recently announced its ninth investment in a Louisiana company, which puts the total investment for the group at just over $1.6 million.
SkyCoach, NLAF’s latest investment, is a software company aiding coaches in capturing and analyzing plays.
“We are encouraged by the angels’ investments and by these high growth startups, which have brought $12 million more into this market and 40 new jobs,” said Dave Smith, Executive Director of BRF’s Entrepreneurial Accelerator Program, which provides services to entrepreneurs as they prepare to go before accredited investors. “Our mission is to improve north Louisiana’s economic well-being by supporting high growth companies and initiatives like this.”
The other eight companies that have received funding are:
- Embera Neuro Therapeutics – Clinical-stage pharmaceuticals company focused on smoking cessation, cocaine dependence and other addictions.
- Swaybox Studios – Film and TV media technology studio that specializes in puppetry.
- Innolyzer – Science technology company offering a “lab on a chip” concept that measures hydrogen sulfide.
- Mainspree – Digital media company specializing in small business online tools.
- CyberReef – Technology company that makes transactions across the Internet more secure.
- Highly Favored Creations – Pet product company specializing in pet health and longevity.
- Lagniappe Labs – Research company that takes the guess work out of determining the value of privately held companies.
- Endopro Solutions – Medical technology company fighting obesity.
The Fund’s investments have gone through the Entrepreneurial Accelerator Program (EAP) based in Shreveport that prepares companies to present to members of investor funds. The program has worked with 135 companies to date.