Tulane’s A. B. Freeman School of Business has released the results of the 2019 Greater New Orleans Startup Report, the first comprehensive overview of the region’s entrepreneurial ecosystem.

Working with 22 economic development groups and community organizations, Freeman’s Albert Lepage Center for Entrepreneurship and Innovation surveyed more than 200 local startup-stage companies for the 60-page report, which aims to become the benchmark for tracking entrepreneurial activity in New Orleans.

Findings include:

• The majority (64%) of the city’s startups are small businesses, while 34% are early stage technology companies and 33% describe themselves as high-growth startups.
• Most are lean — almost 54% have 2 or fewer employees and 18% have 3–5 employees; on the other end of the spectrum 1.9% have 100-plus employees and 1.9% have 50–99.
•  Access to investment and other funding sources is scarce. Most area founders have relied on bootstrapping (reinvested revenue), personal savings, friends and family, and credit card debt to finance their operations.
• Health care is the top industry, representing 17% of the region’s startups, followed by food and beverage (10%), hospitality (10%), media (10%), marketing (8%) and real estate (8%).
• While health care is the largest startup industry, energy and finance are projecting the highest revenue growth and have also raised significant investment capital. 
   

View the report here: 
tulane.it/startup-activity