Come together: Baton Rouge-based Anedot, a fundraising and donor management platform, announced today it has acquired fundraising website YouCanSend.Me from Hivemind Labs Inc., which is also a local venture. As part of the acquisition, the founders of YouCanSend.Me, Josh Ferrara and Jonathan Simmons, will join the Anedot software engineering team. Anedot will continue operating and supporting the YouCanSend.Me site.
Naming names: There’s a number of Capital Region professionals who are named alongside the likes of New Orleans Saints quarterback Drew Brees as the “top movers and shakers on the Silicon Bayou” by Silicon Bayou News. The online publication’s “2012 Silicon Bayou 100” includes Business Report Chief Innovation Officer Curtis Heroman, Louisiana Technology Park Executive Director Stephen Loy, LSU Continuing Education Assistant Executive Director Wendy Overton, and many more. Check out the complete list here. The website notes that more details about each honoree will be released in the coming weeks.
Up and up: Visit Baton Rouge says hotel occupancy tax collections in September were just shy of $461,000, or about 74% higher than they were during the same month last year. The tourism promotion agency attributes the increase to the city’s hosting four home LSU football games during the month as well as Hurricane Isaac relief workers and “strong leisure visitation.” October collections were about $396,000, an increase of 17.5% over last year. The Visit Baton Rouge board of directors announced the figures at a meeting today, during which they also approved a 2013 budget totaling $3,725,000 and renewed CEO/President Paul Arrigo’s contract for 2013. Arrigo will receive a $2,000 annual raise next year, bringing his salary to $152,174.
