The VILLAGEx 2023 Cohort
Thirteen of the region’s leading startups across CPG, Climate Tech, Health Tech, SaaS, and more have been selected to participate in The Idea Village’s VILLAGEx 2023 accelerator. VILLAGEx is an industry-leading program focused on catalyzing rapid growth for highly scalable companies in the Greater New Orleans Region and beyond.
On the week of January 15th, the VILLAGEx 2023 founders kicked off the 4-month program with three days of onboarding, networking, orientation sessions, and more. For each founder, the following months will mirror their “Kickoff” experience and offer enhanced tools and resources such as mentorship, office hours, workshops, pitch development and practice, access to networks of investors and entrepreneurs, and other assistance to help grow his/her/their company.
“The relationships VILLAGEx founders develop, with each other and with the experienced professionals who will mentor and advise them, will result in a stronger entrepreneurial ecosystem that breeds further economic growth and success,” said The Idea Village’s Program Director, Megan Balch.
“This impressive group of founders proudly builds on past decades and paves the way for furthering a fast-growing, vibrant, and diverse startup community across the Gulf Coast. We expect great things from this cohort.”
Image of the VILLAGEx 2023 cohort at Kickoff 2023.
VILLAGEx 2023 will culminate in Demo Day, where each founder takes the stage to showcase their company, demonstrate their growth throughout the accelerator, and indicate their readiness to take on investment capital. (Demo Day is a free and public event in May, with the exact date to be announced through The Idea Village’s communication channels soon! In the meantime check out videos from last year’s Demo Day pitch presentations.)
Join us in welcoming the year’s VILLAGEx cohort as they keep the flywheel turning and continue paving the way for startup success across the region!
The companies and founders participating in
The VILLAGEx 2023 accelerator cohort are:
Bea's Bayou Skincare - Founder: Arielle Brown
Founded in 2020, Bea's Bayou Skincare is an eczema-focused skincare brand that merges Louisiana's bayou herbs with probiotics for natural relief from itchy scalp & skin.
Bomb Ass Fro - Founder: Sydni Raymond
Bomb Ass Fro is a natural hair care company with non toxic hair products for the perfect wash and go hair style.
Carmigo - Founders: Andrew Warmath, Sean Peoples, and Daniel Kim
Carmigo's online vehicle marketplace connects private-party sellers to dealers in the easiest way possible.
Ceres - Founders: Rich Simmerman and Branson Morgan
Ceres is the 1st cereal with 20 grams of plant protein and 0 grams of sugar. Created to be just as sustainable for the planet as it is for people, Ceres is 100% plant-based, vegan, non-GMO, and gluten-free. Because we believe that sustainable, plant-based nutrition should be available to everyone, everywhere, we place a particular emphasis on bringing our cereals to underserved communities.
Glass Half Full - Founder: Franziska Trautmann
Glass Half Full recycles glass into sand and gravel for coastal restoration, disaster relief, new glass products, and more.
iCAN Technologies - Founder: David Decuir
iCAN's mission is to improve the safety, skills, and retention of your skilled workforce through a comprehensive, methodical and seamless full cycle approach to training and competency backed and validated through data analytics.
Gnomic - Founders: Joshua Anderson and Robert Ismo
Gnomic is making industry-oriented computer science education accessible to high schools, utilizing modern tech like AI.
JurisDeed - Founders: Stephen Morel and Lydia McEvoy
JurisDeed is a online property intelligence platform dynamically connecting real estate's historical records with its current legal interest-holders, empowering real estate professionals, local government, and other stakeholders with an accurate, digital research alternative to static public records systems, enabling dramatic gains in work efficiency and unlocking otherwise trapped opportunities for wealth creation and community redevelopment.
Kubanda Cryotherapy - Founders: Bailey Surtees and Clarisse Hu
Kubanda Cryotherapy is revolutionizing veterinary tumor care with minimally invasive cryotherapy for lumps, bumps, and cancers in pets.
OS Benefits - Founder: Elizabeth Tilton
OS Benefits is a technology developed by Oyster Sunday that connects independent hospitality operators and their teams to affordably priced preventative care, wellness services, and career resources.
RCOAST - Founders: Christy Swann and Trey Cloutier
RCOAST is a sustainability company that automates coastal monitoring and erosion mitigation.
Safety Pouch - Founder: David Price
The Safety Pouch is a removable pouch that stores and presents essential driving credentials needed for traffic stops and to prevent active reaching.
Wake Up and Read the Labels - Founders: Jen Smiley and Seth Smiley
Wake Up and Read the Labels empowers people to feel good by educating them on clean eating with products, community and a coaching network.
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Each of these companies went through a competitive selection process and were selected based on the potential of their novel products and services they are bringing to market, along with their growth potential, market insight, product, team strength, and evidence of product-market fit. From January through May 2023, they’ll be working closely with an Entrepreneur-in-Residence, Investor-in-Residence, curated Advisory Board, and a host of mentors through The Idea Village’s extensive Mentor Network.
Follow each company through their website and social channels, and stay tuned to The Idea Village blog and newsletter for ongoing cohort updates! Sign up for the newsletter here.