NEW ORLEANS – New Orleans Entrepreneur Week culminated on Friday, March 26 with the event’s 12th annual IDEApitch, the high-stakes pitch competition that celebrates the region’s emerging ventures. At the finale of the week-long festival of innovation, three startup finalists pitched their businesses in front of a live audience – and a global virtual audience – for an investment prize from the Idea Village. Lauren Bercier and Laken Swan, co-founders of wedding flower rental business Something Borrowed Blooms, walked away with the grand prize of $50,000.
The participating startups also included on-demand laundry app Hampr and Spot2Nite, a company that offers users the ability to find and book vacant RV camping sites.
Each founder was allowed seven minutes to pitch their companies onstage, followed by a rapid-fire Q&A session with a panel of esteemed judges from the New Orleans startup scene, including Libby Fischer, COO, SchoolMint; Scott Wolfe, founder and CEO, Levelset; Matt Wisdom, VP of 3D Strategy, Shutterstock; and Gary Solomon Sr., chairman of the board, Crescent Bank; and Shelby Sanderford, founder and CEO of DOCPACE.
Something Borrowed Blooms was founded in 2015. Based in Lafayette, the company rents silk floral arrangements to brides for weddings and offers everything from the bridal and bridesmaid bouquets to boutonnieres, flower crowns, centerpieces and garlands.
“After a year of virtual pitching, we were thrilled to participate in NOEW’s in-person pitch competition, IDEApitch. This event allowed us to share with local and national investors the story and opportunity of our company Something Borrowed Blooms – where we’re modernizing the wedding flower industry,” said Bercier. “COVID-19 has hit the wedding industry hard, but our unique ability to not merely survive, but thrive during the pandemic proves our business has the potential to scale aggressively. We’re ecstatic to have the support and investment from the Idea Village to see that through.”
The company is currently fulfilling more than 600 weddings each month. Their goal is to serve more than 1,000 weddings by the end of 2021.
The 12th annual New Orleans Entrepreneur Week featured 137 speakers and 87 panels across five days of free, virtual events that drew over 2,000 attendees from 34 countries.
The full schedule of virtual events and panels are now available to watch online until April 26 at www.NOEW.org. The event was presented by Entergy’s innovation lab, KeyString Labs, with additional support from Revelry.
