NEW ORLEANS — Greater New Orleans, Inc.’s Startup NOLA hosted a special event on Jan. 27 at Copper Vine to coincide with a visit from leadership of the Federal Laboratory Consortium for Technology Transfer (FLC), a national network representing more than 300 federal research laboratories focused on commercializing government-developed technologies.
The Jan. 27 event was distinct from Startup NOLA’s regular monthly meetup series. The organization’s February monthly meetup took place Feb. 3 and was hosted by 1834 Ventures, while the Jan. 27 gathering was organized specifically around the FLC’s semiannual board meeting in New Orleans.
The Jan. 27 Federal Laboratory Consortium event drew more than 80 founders, investors and innovation leaders from energy, defense, healthcare, manufacturing, maritime, environmental and education sectors.
“We had 80 attendees from almost as many companies and organizations,” said Evie Poitevent Sanders, vice president of innovation and entrepreneurship at Greater New Orleans, Inc. “We had 160 registrations, but weather disruptions and Washington Mardi Gras travel issues cut into attendance. Half of the FLC board ended up snowed in across the country.”
Even so, the turnout included representatives from multiple federal laboratories, venture capital firms and regional institutions.
“The good news is the FLC was very pleased with the event and how everything went, and they want to continue to partner with our ecosystem,” Poitevent Sanders said.
The opportunity to engage the FLC locally grew out of an existing defense innovation initiative underway in New Orleans.
“We have been working on a big defense innovation initiative — the Bayou Tech Node — for the last year in partnership with four different Naval commands, including the Naval Surface Warfare Center in Panama City,” Poitevent Sanders said.
That effort became pivotal when Paige George, a New Orleans native and tech bridge director for the Naval Surface Warfare Center in Panama City — who also serves on the FLC’s executive board — informed organizers that the consortium would be holding its semiannual board meeting in New Orleans.
“The FLC is all about commercializing federal IP that’s sitting latent or underutilized on lab shelves,” Poitevent Sanders said. “That IP can become the core of a local startup’s technology — what sets them apart and allows them to scale. We would be crazy not to expose, educate and connect our startups to those opportunities.”
She said the Jan. 27 gathering created a rare opportunity to “get all of those federal lab heads together all at once in the same room.”
For founders unfamiliar with federal research infrastructure, the gathering also served an educational role by clarifying how startups can work with federal laboratories, including access to programming and technical assistance, government researchers and technology transfer professionals, and licensing pathways for federal intellectual property.
“Access to real human beings who can serve as your navigator inside the federal government is incredibly valuable,” Poitevent Sanders said.
One participant, Jim Guenther, followed up after the event to say he had established relationships with representatives from multiple federal laboratories and planned to invite them to speak with students in his technology transfer course at Loyola University New Orleans. Guenther is the New Orleans chapter director for Startup Grind New Orleans and is active in the region’s entrepreneurship and higher-education ecosystem.
George also reported strong post-event engagement.
“I have so many emails in my inbox from companies looking to follow up with the Navy,” she wrote to organizers after the event.
The Role of 1834 Ventures
1834 Ventures participated in Startup NOLA programming in February, hosting the organization’s Feb. 3 monthly meetup. Separately, at the Jan. 27 FLC gathering, organizers brought in Hello Gravel co-founder Daniel Crowley, whose New Orleans-based company represents a rapidly growing, two-year-old startup in which 1834 Ventures has invested.
Hello Gravel is focused on modernizing the bulk aggregate industry by streamlining how construction materials such as gravel and sand are sourced, priced and delivered. The company operates at the intersection of construction, logistics and technology, an area where execution and coordination across multiple stakeholders are critical to scaling.
Backed in part by Louisiana’s State Small Business Credit Initiative, 1834 Ventures launched its inaugural $20 million fund in August 2025 and recently announced it has raised half of that target. The fund focuses on pre-seed through Series A companies, particularly founders connected to Tulane University’s extended community.
In that context, Poitevent Sanders said connecting startups to federal resources remains a critical part of the region’s innovation strategy.
“Whenever you can connect startups to resources, mentorship, technical assistance and IP that could help them launch a novel product, that’s a huge win,” she said. “The best part is it’s all free — you just have to know where to look and who to engage.”
