NEW ORLEANS – The Idea Village has issued its 2024 Annual Impact Report with highlights on outcomes in building the startup ecosystem in New Orleans and across the Gulf South, fueling startup activity, harnessing talent, and creating jobs.
“Our mission is to inspire, start, and scale startups in the Gulf Coast region,” said Marianne Van Meter, outgoing chair of the board, The Idea Village. “New Orleans Entrepreneur Week, produced by The Idea Village, boasted 268 speakers to inspire over 5,400 attendees. IDEAinstitute provided coaching to nearly 200 aspiring entrepreneurs, while VILLAGEx selected nine later stage companies to complete the VILLAGEx program.”
VILLAGEx is the industry-based, mentor-driven accelerator program for venture-scale startups that are on the path to raise at least $1M in the next 24 months.
The Idea Village launched a $6.7M Momentum Fund which it has called “a game-changer for the Gulf South’s entrepreneurial ecosystem”. The Momentum Fund provides catalytic capital to help startups scale and has invested in three VILLAGEx graduates.
In addition, the Annual Impact Report indicates that The Idea Village served more than 2,100 entrepreneurs and provided 9,807 hours of mentoring. It also supported nearly two hundred early-stage founders in 2024, with fifty-eight percent identifying as BIPOC and sixty percent as women or non-binary.
In 2024, The Idea Village saw five alumni companies exit – Gilded, Research Defender, WRSTBND, ChapterSpot and Brewsy – contributing to $1.7B in economic impact across the Gulf South.
The Gulf South, also referred to as the 3rd Coast comprising Texas, Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama, and Florida, is a burgeoning startup ecosystem which brings talent and resources come together to tackle problems and build forward-thinking ventures.
“The inaugural 3rd Coast Venture Summit in 2024 brought 81 venture capital investors (60 from outside Louisiana) to New Orleans to meet with 73 regional startups,” Van Meter said.
“This summit places startup founders from across the Gulf South in the room with nationwide investors, business leaders and corporate partners in positions to accelerate their growth. The result will be increased deal flow for Gulf Coast startups and overall growth of the regional venture ecosystem.” Jon Atkinson, CEO, The Idea Village.
The 2025 3rd Coast Venture Summit will be held March 26-28 in New Orleans and aligns with New Orleans Entrepreneur Week (NOEW) and the New Orleans Book Festival.
The New Orleans Entrepreneur Week (NOEW) for 2025 will be held March 24-29. It is an annual week-long celebration of innovation and entrepreneurship, co-produced by Center for Entrepreneurship and Community Development at Loyola University New Orleans and The Idea Village. Spanning venues across New Orleans, NOEW 2025 culminates in The NOEW Summit at Loyola University, featuring programming designed to connect entrepreneurs across the Gulf South.
Bobby Savoie, the incoming chairman of the board of The Idea Village, brings his role as Dean of the College of Business at Loyola University New Orleans to the position. “My role aligns with my vision for The Idea Village,” said Savoie. “By bridging these two worlds, I see incredible opportunities to create synergies that will benefit both university students and the wider entrepreneurial community.”
Over the past five years, The Idea Village says it raised $115M in capital over the last five years and created 418 jobs.
