LAFAYETTE, La. (KLFY) — Acadian Capital Ventures is the region’s first-of-its-kind seed-stage venture capital firm based in Lafayette. Led by Skip Boudreaux the firm seeks out startup companies in communities that might be overlooked and provides access to seed funding and mentorship.

Boudreaux explains, “Businesses that are women- and minority-led have a higher ROI than your average white male founder. I’m not sure what the cases, but that’s math. The idea is if you end up wanting to allocate more capital to women and minorities you have to start having women and minority representation on your investor side because people invest in what they know and what they like.” 

As for the future of economic development in our region, Boudreaux is optimistic. He says, “ We have a mentality of entrepreneurs that we can build it and can do it. We have good resources for them like the opportunity to machine to help people build skills. The capital is now in place, we are here providing it. The university is also turning out tons of talent, but for some reason, that talent is leaving. If we can convince them to stay here and build their business here or come back after you’ve acquired skills that’s the goal.”