BATON ROUGE, La. -- Today the Economic Development Administration (EDA) announced a new partnership with Research Park Corporation to fund The Louisiana Deal Flow Accelerator. This initiative accelerates the ability of innovative early stage companies to capture seed and angel capital by achieving investment readiness as quickly as possible. It will also facilitate hackathon-based business challenges for Louisiana’s Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCU) to increase the diversity of the deal flow pipeline.
NexusLA, a wholly owned subsidiary of Research Park Corporation, will lead the Louisiana Deal Flow Accelerator. Partners include Southern University, Innovation Catalyst, NO/LA Angel Network, and the Opportunity Funding Corporation, a division of the Thurgood Marshall College Fund.
“We created the Louisiana Deal Flow Accelerator to address common challenges faced by early stage companies seeking capital, especially those that were close but unsuccessful in previous attempts,” said Dr. Byron Clayton, CEO of NexusLA.
Clayton saw a unique opportunity in partnering with Louisiana’s HBCUs, realizing their vast potential could be a valuable asset in this venture.
“The initiative also mines Louisiana’s Historically Black Colleges and Universities for exceptional young talent with ideas and products that have commercialization potential,” said Clayton.
The Louisiana Deal Flow Accelerator will help innovative early stage companies grow and emerge as providers of the high-paying, stable and in-demand jobs of the future.
The EDA will provide $250,000 in funding over two years to partially fund the $500,000 initiative.
Research Park Corporation is a technology-focused economic development organization that owns and operates NexusLA. NexusLA is a regional innovation organization that helps companies create the jobs of future by increasing regional collaboration, access to capital and workforce diversity. Both organizations are based in Baton Rouge, LA.
For more information, visit www.nexus-la.org or www.researchparkcorporation.com.
