Benson Capital Partners

Benson Capital Partners (BCP) is a New Orleans-based venture capital firm founded in 2019 by Gayle M. Benson to honor the legacy of her late husband Tom Benson by fostering entrepreneurship and innovation in the Gulf South Region. BCP is "an organization that facilitates new business formation, workforce expansion, and wealth creation by investing capital and providing resources to the most promising companies that are addressing large markets." The firm focuses on the Gulf South — a geography it views as underserved by institutional capital despite strong demographic and growth characteristics. BCP targets early-stage, technology-enabled businesses that have demonstrated traction and product-market fit, filling a gap between angel/seed rounds and later-stage coastal VC attention. As the firm describes it: "The early funding scene has improved substantially since Hurricane Katrina so companies in the Gulf South are able to raise angel and seed rounds on the earliest end of the spectrum. They're also able to attract attention from the West/East Coast for later stage deals. However, in between, there are no players — until us."