NEW ORLEANS – The Idea Village and New Orleans Startup Fund co-hosted the GNO Inc.’s Startup NOLA Monthly Meetup at The Shop at the Contemporary Arts Center on Oct. 7 with a focus on raising regional visibility of New Orleans’ local venture ecosystem through startup data reporting.
“Startup reporting is a critical tool for putting New Orleans on the national map,” said Andrew Albert, programs director for The Idea Village. “By tracking our ecosystem’s growth and sharing accurate data, we help local founders gain visibility with investors, and attract attention from other leading ecosystems and resources.”
Data Visibility and National Rankings
Kimberly Gramm, head of the Tulane University Innovation Institute, presented on New Orleans’ current rankings in startup ecosystem data. She compared New Orleans’ performance to leading global startup cities using publicly available data and highlighted how rankings are determined across multiple industry reports. Gramm walked attendees through several of these benchmarking tools, explaining how they collect and interpret ecosystem data.
StartupBlink
During her presentation, Kimberly Gramm highlighted the StartupBlink Global Startup Ecosystem Index as a key measure of how cities like New Orleans are viewed by investors. The index compares more than 1,000 cities across 100 countries, evaluating the size of each ecosystem, the performance of local startups, and the overall business environment.
In the 2025 report, New Orleans ranks 188th globally and 66th in the United States, placing it in the top fifth of startup ecosystems worldwide but still behind faster-growing hubs such as Austin and Miami. StartupBlink’s data also shows a 10.9 percent decline in the city’s score from 2024 to 2025, suggesting slower growth or incomplete reporting of local activity. Gramm said gaps in data can make a region appear less active than it truly is, reinforcing her call for founders and investors to self-report key metrics.
Pitchbook
Gramm also pointed to PitchBook as an essential tool for improving visibility and accuracy in national rankings. The firm tracks venture capital, private equity, and M&A deals across thousands of cities through its Global VC Ecosystem Dashboard, which measures both a market’s maturity and its growth over time.
Several New Orleans–based funds already appear in PitchBook’s database, including the New Orleans Startup Fund, Tulane Ventures, Corridor Ventures, and Voodoo Ventures. Their presence reflects a growing investor base in Louisiana, where venture capital funding increased from about $25.7 million in 2012 to more than $324 million in 2022. Gramm emphasized that greater participation and self-reporting by founders and investors will ensure that this progress is captured more accurately and recognized by outside investors.
Crunchbase
Gramm also cited Crunchbase as another key platform where startups can publicly share funding information. She said that visibility on such national databases helps strengthen the accuracy of rankings and attract investor attention to the region’s growing startup activity.
Founders Share Insights on Raising Capital
The event also featured founders from the latest VILLAGEx cohort, including Rahul Gopal of CampusKnot and Daniel Crowley of Hello Gravel, who shared their recent experiences raising outside capital, working with investors, and using reporting tools and tactics to successfully close funding rounds. The panel was moderated by Blake Stanfill of the New Orleans Startup Fund.
“Announcing our raise on platforms like Crunchbase and other national databases builds transparency and credibility, while attracting the right kind of attention from investors, partners, and talent,” said Rahul Gopal, co-founder and CEO of CampusKnot. “Reporting these numbers strengthens the ecosystem as a whole, ultimately benefiting entrepreneurs across it.”
“It was a very well received and engaging discussion amongst founders about the process of fundraising and the importance of data tracking and reporting,” said Evie Poitevent, Vice President of Entrepreneurship & Innovation at GNO Inc. “Also, Kimberly Gramm with Tulane Innovation Institute gave an excellent presentation on why data tracking and reporting (including fundraising reporting) are so important – it has everything to do with AI web scraping tools!”
Organizers said the monthly Startup NOLA meetups are designed to promote ecosystem cohesion and close connection, offering opportunities for founders, funders, and ecosystem champions to network, share information, and learn from one another. Attendance for the Oct. 7 event hosted by The IDEA Village reached approximately 75–100 registrants according to GNO Inc.
The Next Startup NOLA Meeting – Benson Capital Partners
The next Startup NOLA Monthly Meetup will be hosted by Benson Capital Partners on Wednesday, November 12, at the Benson Towers 5th floor event space. Mrs. Benson is expected to attend and speak and attendees may be offered tickets to the Pelicans game that night through the event’s registration form.
