ELEVATE Capital Ready
Empowering Entrepreneurs
INDIANA Indiana Committed
Sustainable Impacts
WELCOME
CHOOSE TO ELEVATE INDIANA Elevate Ventures’ overriding purpose is to elevate Indiana’s entrepreneurism and innovation velocity. At this moment in our organization’s history, looking ahead to 2019, we are in the midst of accelerating a statewide foundation upon which entrepreneurial ecosystems can take root and thrive. Our team works collaboratively with local, regional and state business and government leaders; and colleges and universities to empower communities and regions with the keys to launch and sustain a new generation of business creation. Most recently, on December 6, 2018, we established our fifth official regional partnership. With roots in Columbus and Bloomington, Velocities will fuel entrepreneurship and innovation across South Central Indiana. Other partnerships are based in Evansville and Jasper, Fort Wayne, Jeffersonville-New Albany and South Bend-Elkhart, and serve multi-county regions.
Cultivating entrepreneurism and innovation is the means to grow more successful communities throughout our state.
We are passionate that cultivating entrepreneurism and innovation is the means to grow more successful communities throughout our state. The Indiana Economic Development Corporation, through the State of Indiana, has also embraced this approach, and research backs up our efforts. Entrepreneurs and young businesses create nearly all net new jobs in America and account for 20 percent of gross job creation. The Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation reports that when it comes to job creation, startups and young companies — not necessarily large ones — are the primary sources of new jobs in the American economy. These firms also introduce competition into markets and stimulate innovation. Indiana has a rich history of entrepreneurial activity. Madame C.J. Walker Manufacturing Company, Cummins Engine Company, Eli Lilly and Company, Indiana Oxygen, ExactTarget, Koch Enterprises, Indiana Spine Hospital and many more less familiar names have shaped our past and present. Yet across the United States, entrepreneurship is in decline. Elevate Ventures is bucking this trend. It is not a quick fix, in fact it is a long-distance run requiring tenacity and perseverance, but our methodology promises to be a sustainable solution. Inside our 2018 Annual Report, you will find evidence of Elevate Ventures’ impact across several key areas. While we celebrate these success stories, we know that this is just the beginning. We can lead the Midwest in entrepreneurship. Together, we can elevate Indiana.
Chris LaMothe, CEO 2
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MISSION STATEMENT Elevate Ventures is a venture development organization focused on building sustainable innovation and entrepreneurship cultures in Indiana, and fostering and developing high-potential, high-growth businesses for investment and returns for our stakeholders.
CONTENTS
04
INDIANA COMMITTED
06
SUSTAINABLE IMPACTS
07
INVESTMENTS & INVESTORS
10
REGIONAL & KEY PARTNERSHIPS
The historical influence of entrepreneurship and innovation on our state runs deep.
Elevate’s long-term strategy brought about 2018 wins.
Elevate is capital ready, engaging other active investors and leading investment in Indiana companies.
Statewide, Elevate-supported collaborations lay the groundwork for stronger communities.
16 20 21 22
ENTREPRENEURIAL DEVELOPMENT Advisory services, Entrepreneurs-in-Residence, education and resources empower entrepreneurs across Indiana.
FUNDS Sources and uses of Elevate funds in 2018.
ORGANIZATIONAL SUPPORT Ambitious leaders and organizations that support Elevate and its mission.
TEAM Meet Elevate’s Board of Directors, statewide staff, Entrepreneurs-in-Residence and Elevate Advisors.
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INDIANA COMMITTED
ROOTED IN ENTREPRENEURISM Indiana is home to ambitious entrepreneurs. Evidence of entrepreneurship’s impact on communities, cultures and families can be found all across the state. Employment rates, property values, charitable services to others, education systems — all of these things and much more are elevated when entrepreneurship flourishes. This is why Elevate Ventures exists.
In Warsaw, Justin Zimmer established Zimmer in 1927. Fifty years later, Dane Miller, Jerry Ferguson, Ray Haroff and Niles Noblitt established Biomet in Warsaw. Zimmer acquired Biomet for $14B in 2015. Prior to the merger, Zimmer employed nearly 8,500 people and Biomet had 9,000 on its payroll worldwide.
In 2000, entrepreneurs Scott Dorsey, Chris Baggott and Peter McCormick founded ExactTarget in Indianapolis. The company’s employee count hit 1,800 at the height of its success. Salesforce acquired the company for $2.5B in 2013.
Kimball International in Jasper has roots in Chicago as a piano brand founded by William Wallace Kimball. In 1961, the company formed Jasper Electronics Manufacturing Company. In 2014, Kimball International spun-off its Kimball Electronics business segment to an independent publicly traded company. Entrepreneur Robert Morris founded what is now Berry Global in 1967 in Evansville. The producer of injection plastic products now has 23,000+ employees.
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ENTREPRENEURIAL VENTURES SHAPE COMMUNITIES Milo Miller, Wilbur Schult and Harold Platt created the original RV businesses in the Elkhart-South Bend area. In 1980, Wade Thompson and Peter Orthwein founded Thor Industries in Elkhart. Thor employs 13,600 people.
Parkview Health started out as the Fort Wayne City Hospital in 1878. It is now the region’s largest employer with 10,000+ employees.
Inventor and entrepreneur Elwood Haynes pioneered automobile manufacturing in 1898 with the development of “The Pioneer” in Kokomo. He also founded Haynes Stellite Works in 1912, selling his shares of the metal alloy company in 1920.
The Matthews Brothers Stone Company was the offshoot of an Indiana limestone company started by John Matthews in 1862 just north of Ellettsville. The company was sold in 1979 to nearby Bybee Stone Company.
Sam Shine and Betty Neafus founded Samtec in New Albany in 1976. The connector company reported $713M in revenue in 2017.
Throughout our state’s history, business has helped define individual towns, cities and regions, representing each place and its people. The Indiana Gas Boom beginning in the 1880s and the evolution of the automotive industry in the 1970s are major stories. Everywhere you look, other examples can be found. ORTHOPEDICS MANUFACTURERS employ approximately 7,700 workers in Kosciusko County. Industry giants Zimmer Biomet and Depuy Synthes headline the cluster, but the county is home to about 30 life science/orthopedic companies. At its peak, STUDEBAKER CORP. employed 22,000 people. After decades of decay, in 2017 the Studebaker factory campus, including the iconic Building 84, began undergoing a massive transformation to be redeveloped into the largest mixed-use technology campus in the Midwest. INDIANA LIMESTONE has helped define the cultural fabric of South Central Indiana. Indiana’s stone is found in the Empire State building, Washington National Cathedral, the Pentagon and many state capitol buildings. HAYNES INTERNATIONAL, formerly Haynes Stellite, started as a family-run four-person operation in 1912. Revenues for Stellite alloy exceeded $1M in 1916. During World War II, Stellite alloys were used to create more than 25 million turbine blades. In 1943, about half of Haynes Stellite’s workforce, which peaked at about 2,000 employees, were women.
THE TIME IS NOW
Championing entrepreneurship and innovation presents us with an opportunity to invest in diverse communities all across Indiana. We have the chance to uncover talent, fuel ambition, and support not only our state’s economic success but also our fellow Hoosiers’ successes for decades to come. With a strong business climate, robust university system and passion for our state, we are in a position to lead. Elevate Ventures is laying the foundation necessary to elevate Indiana. EL EVAT E IN D IA N A
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S U S TA I N A B L E I M PA C T S
2018 IMPACT, FOCUSED ON THE FUTURE To elevate Indiana entrepreneurism and innovation, Elevate Ventures executes a thoughtful strategy built to deliver sustainable impacts statewide. From pages 7 to 19, you will see how this strategy produced real results for Indiana entrepreneurs, communities, investors and others in 2018.
Elevate’s venture development model continues to succeed by finding, fostering and supporting the success of startup and early-stage businesses, which ultimately lifts up Indiana to a new level of ambition and innovation.
#1
In 2018, Elevate Ventures ranked
for number of investments made in 2017, making it the most active venture capital firm in the Great Lakes Region. Among investors by venture capital deal location, as reported in the Pitchbook 2017 Annual Global League Tables and its annual global rankings of investors and service providers.
$
Since 2011, Elevate has invested
83.8 in Indiana startups.
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M
299 Indiana startups have received funding from Elevate.
INVESTMENTS AND INVESTORS
ELEVATE IS CAPITAL-READY In 2018, Elevate was named the most active venture capital organization in the Great Lakes region. Over the past eight years, nearly 300 companies have received financial support from or through Elevate, including $558.9M from co-investments from other capital sources. Because funding isn’t always easy to come by in Indiana, we make capital more accessible to high-growth startups and entrepreneurs. One way we do this is through direct and fund of funds (FOF) investments that fuel Indiana-based companies during the early stages of growth. Another way is through introductions to other venture capital firms and angel investors.
We’ve found the team at Elevate to be enormously helpful. The Series B investment enables us to double down on innovation within our Health Intelligence Platform. — Phil Daniels, Springbuk Cofounder
2,753 10th Globally, Elevate is ranked
people are employed by Elevate’s active portfolio companies.
most active among venture capital firms investing in angelstage or seed-stage companies.
Elevate’s portfolio boasts an average annual salary of
$
63.9
K
Among global investors by venture capital deal stage, as reported in the Pitchbook 2017 Annual Global League Tables and its annual global rankings of investors and service providers.
$20M SERIES B TAKES SPRINGBUK TO THE NEXT LEVEL In January 2018, Indianapolis-based Springbuk announced a $20M Series B round of financing. Coastal firms HealthQuest Capital and Echo Health Ventures led the round, with participation from Elevate and St. Louis-based Lewis & Clark Ventures. It was one of the largest financing rounds announced in Indiana in 2018. Springbuk, the nation’s leading employer-facing health intelligence software, aims to identify $4B in potential health cost savings by the end of 2020. The January investment will help the company reach this goal, grow its workforce and pursue its vision to “prevent disease with data.” At the start of 2018, the software had over $250M in potential cost savings for employers. Springbuk had conversations with more than 75 venture capital firms nationwide to uncover the right strategic partners for the Series B. HealthQuest Capital and Echo Health Ventures are two prominent institutional investors in the healthcare space. Elevate’s early investment in Springbuk helped pave the way to reach this latest funding milestone.
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INVESTMENTS AND INVESTORS
$
558.9
VAST INVESTOR NETWORK INCLUDES PLYMOUTH GROWTH PARTNERS
M
has been co-invested with Elevate’s investments since 2011.
ON TARGET LABORATORIES AND PERQ’S MULTIMILLION-DOLLAR ROUNDS On Target Laboratories and PERQ made headlines in 2018 for major funding rounds. Elevate Ventures contributed to both exciting deals. In March, On Target Laboratories in West Lafayette announced that it had secured $11.1M in additional financing as part of its Series B capital raise, which initially closed in September 2017, led by Johnson & Johnson Innovation – JJDC, Inc. These recent raises, which included capital from Elevate Ventures, bring the total financing round close to $44M. The funding will be used to fully develop the company’s lead molecule, OTL38, in ovarian and lung cancers as well as introduce an additional molecule into the clinic. The privately held biotechnology company is developing tumor-targeted fluorescent dyes to improve cancer surgery. In October 2018, PERQ (photo above) announced it had sealed a $5M capital raise. The funding comes exclusively from Indianapolis technology leaders and is led by Elevate Ventures. The capital will fuel the expansion of PERQ’s award-winning, artificial intelligence-driven SaaS solution for big-ticket retailers into multiple verticals.
Investment syndicate partners like Elevate lower barriers such as transition costs and risk when investing in early-stage ventures in Indiana. The number and quality of deals increase the probability of success, and the team at Elevate is great to work with. — Teri Willey, Fund Manager of the Indiana Philanthropic Venture Fund and Executive Director of the Indiana University Research and Technology Corp.
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Elevate Ventures’ network of investors is one of the largest organized groups of angel investors, angel groups, venture capitalists and other sources of capital in the state of Indiana. This extensive network fosters investment in Indiana-based ideation-, earlyand growth-stage ventures by assisting entrepreneurs, sharing deal flow and providing co-investment capital. Plymouth Growth Partners is just one of the venture capital firms Elevate often invites to consider potential deals. The Ann Arbor, Mich., firm has a robust record that includes 30+ exits over the past 10 years, and has invested alongside Elevate in several larger funding rounds. “Elevate is great at providing deal flow. They have relationships with just about all of the tech companies in Indiana that have had traction,” says Jeff Barry, a partner at Plymouth Growth Partners. “Elevate has always been a very good, collaborative partner. That’s not something that can be assumed of all co-investors.” Barry also leans on Elevate to serve as a barometer of sorts. When Plymouth Growth Partners has an interest in an Indiana-based tech company, one of the team’s first questions is whether Elevate has invested in them and, if not, why.
Elevate is an important and trusted investment partner for the early and growth-stage companies we are building in the South Bend-Elkhart region. Together we hope to build nothing short of an economic transformation into a dynamic innovation hub.
1,315 co-investors have invested alongside Elevate over the past eight years
— Bryan Ritchie, Associate Provost and VP of Innovation at the IDEA Center at the University of Notre Dame
CAPITALIZING ON INDIANA’S HIGHER-ED FUNDS Indiana’s colleges and universities are hotbeds of research, innovation and entrepreneurism. To fuel the ambition inside our state’s higher-ed communities, Elevate works hand in hand with universityaffiliated funds. Elevate invests in Purdue Universityconnected companies alongside the school’s Purdue Ventures. The investment adds critical capital for the transition from the discovery of a promising technology to the founding of a viable company. Developed in partnership with the Indiana
Economic Development Corporation, and operated jointly by Elevate and Purdue Foundry, the Elevate Purdue Foundry Fund provides small investments to qualified Foundry client companies. This fund includes two stages of capital: Black Awards (up to $20K) and Gold Awards (up to $80K). Indiana University’s Indiana Philanthropic Venture Fund was established in 2017 to help build a “prosperous and innovative Indiana” and bridge the gap in the startup funding continuum by making equity investments in high-potential early-stage companies with IU ties. Elevate’s and the IU fund’s teams share information and deal flow to leverage resources and business knowledge. The IDEA Center at the University of Notre Dame established the Notre Dame Pit Road Fund in 2018 as a for-profit investment fund to accelerate promising early-stage technologies and startup ideas toward development. Through the fund, Elevate has co-invested in companies to provide seed funding for faculty, student, alumni and community startups.
Indiana University, photo by James Brosher
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REGIONAL & KEY PA R T N E R S H I P S
Startup South Bend-Elkhart
$
936
K
was invested in highpotential companies in the South Bend-Elkhart region in 2018.
TREK10’S MONUMENTAL 2018 Elevate Ventures portfolio company Trek10 saw big gains in 2018, nearly doubling the size of its team and achieving top line growth of over 40 percent. These are milestones Trek10 CEO Shane Fimbel believes shouldn’t be considered rarities. “There’s no reason why we can’t build the next major cloud computing company in South Bend — and Indiana in general. We have the right pieces coming together that could fuel the next globally relevant company,” he says. Elevate was an early supporter of
Trek10, Elevate funded Trek10 in 2014 and again when it participated in a convertible debt round. Elevate Entrepreneur-in-Residence Gavin Ferlic assisted the company on its most recent fundraise. Trek10 was one of 71 high potential startup ventures in the region Ferlic advised in 2018. “Elevate has been a huge supporter of Trek10 at the board level with leadership from Elevate Advisor Barbara Kew. She has been fantastic for us and enables us to extend and expand Trek10’s capabilities for enterprise customers,” Fimbel says.
Beyond funding, entrepreneurs really need connections like the kind Elevate can facilitate. Sometimes that’s all it takes to put a startup in touch with a future customer or client to get launched and get off the ground. — John Miller, Startup South Bend-Elkhart Board Member, experienced entrepreneur and accredited investor
SLIPSTREAM CLOSES $250K FUNDING ROUND In October 2018, Slipstream, a startup that is developing energy solutions to increase vehicle fleet performance, secured seed funding from Elevate Ventures and angel investors from Magnet Investors, a South Bend angel network. “Elevate has been crucial in financing our early-stage company. Their reliable support has been essential to building out our product features, and the fact that they are an Indiana-based fund who work with Indiana startups made it the perfect fit,” says Kevin O’Keeffe, Slipstream CEO. 10
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BOARD LAUNCHES COMMUNITY ACCELERATOR The development and successful execution of a community accelerator program was a major accomplishment of Startup South Bend-Elkhart in 2018. Board members Iris Hammel, John Miller and Gavin Ferlic; along with Catlin Bulger (SBE Partnership), Patrick Jones (EnFocus) and John Henry (IDEA Center); led the charge. The Startup South Bend-Elkhart board modeled its community program after Notre Dame’s approach to nurturing entrepreneurs. The goal was to ready people in the region to pitch the Accelerator Subcommittee for entry into the IDEA Center’s 4-Cylinder Accelerator Program. In the first year, 22 community startups participated in the program, with 10 having pitched to the Accelerator Subcommittee. Veteran entrepreneur John Miller spearheaded Startup South Bend-Elkhart’s mentorship program. In just a few months, more than 20 mentors representing various skill sets and experiences had agreed to participate. From July to November, more than 20 companies received support from mentors.
REGIONAL & KEY PA R T N E R S H I P S
LAYING A FOUNDATION IN SOUTHWEST INDIANA
Elevate Southwest Indiana The Cowork Evansville space grew from 1,300 square feet to almost 5,000 to accommodate
200 entrepreneurial members.
There is fertile ground for growing an entrepreneurial ecosystem in Southwest Indiana. Elevate’s $2.5M partnership in the region took root in October 2017. Since then, Elevate Southwest Indiana and Elevate Entrepreneur-in-Residence Eric Steele have been assessing needs and growing networks to support the development of a culture and infrastructure of sustainable innovation and entrepreneurship. The community’s 2018 momentum is palpable: • Heliponix (photo right) is tackling the challenge of global food insecurity through its GroPod appliance. The company pursued funding through the Elevate Purdue Foundry Fund and received a $20K Black Award in 2017 and an $80K Gold Award in May 2018. • Cowork Evansville, the city’s first and only coworking space, reopened in September following a major expansion and rebuild. • Evansville-based Quarion Technology took home the top $10K prize in the 10th annual Innovation Showcase pitch competition. The company develops tracking and control technology for forklift equipment.
SUPPORTING MOTIVATING SYSTEMS’ POSITIVE BUSINESS TRAJECTORY Motivating Systems’ software products merge technology and positive reinforcement to help motivate people to do their best. In November 2018, Elevate announced it would participate in the company’s most recent funding round. Spun out of Lieberman Technologies in Evansville, Motivating Systems’ flagship product aims to improve school culture and student behavior. Since 2015, the company has grown from being used in one middle school in Evansville, to more than 1,000 schools in 47 states and seven countries. When the team started to field inquiries about the possibility of adapting the platform to serve businesses and
organizations, the Workplace Rewards product began to take shape. “We actually eliminated some of the things we were going to work on because of the great discussions with Elevate. As we had to defend a couple of our ideas, we realized that we didn’t think our answers were strong — so we simplified our overall plan and now have better focus,” Motivating Systems founder and CEO Pat Heck says. The investment will give Motivating Systems the flexibility to add additional team members to support its SaaS applications and pursue growth in the Workplace Rewards product development and sales.
To catalyze entrepreneurship, Elevate Southwest Indiana is uncovering our region’s bold innovators and helping them connect to business leaders, resources and funding opportunities. — Greg Wathen, President & CEO of the Economic Development Coalition of Southwest Indiana
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REGIONAL & KEY PA R T N E R S H I P S
1804
Elevate has been a constant source of support since their first investment in Inscope. In 2018, Elevate engaged David Broecker, a very accomplished life science executive, to serve on Inscope’s board. Kyle Keeney, Entrepreneur-inResidence [EIR] for the Southern Indiana region, has also provided valuable mentorship on some of Inscope’s toughest strategic issues and connected us to other advisors in this region and in other life science hubs. It is expertise like this that sets Elevate apart from other investors. — Maggie Galloway, CEO at Inscope Medical Solutions
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90
Elevate Ventures has been the foundation for regional growth and now having an EIR in place in 1804 will be a game changer for local entrepreneurship.
new businesses have moved into downtown New Albany since 2013. Entrepreneurial momentum continues to grow.
— Bobby Ferreri, Managing Partner at Ferreri Law and 1804 board member
TECHNOLOGY PROGRAM LAUNCHED TECHSHOT INTO SPACE From their headquarters in Greenville, the Techshot team has a direct line to the International Space Station. The SBIR/STTR program, now facilitated by Elevate Ventures (see page 17), allowed this 30-year-old company to prove its technological potential and earn that kind of trust from NASA. “Pretty much every space payload that we’ve flown so far started with an SBIR. The program has been essential to our founding and growth,” says Rich Boling, Techshot’s vice president of Corporate Advancement. The SBIR/STTR programs are the largest source of early-stage, non-dilutive technology funding in the United States. In Indiana, Elevate matches $0.50 toward every federal dollar awarded up to $50K with a lifetime maximum match of three SBIR/ STTR Phase I contracts and/or grants (totaling $150K) per company. Elevate funded three of Techshot’s SBIR contracts. Jumpstarted by SBIR contracts, Techshot has continued to grow and win contracts year after year. In fact, the team has realized $85M worth of business in aerospace, defense and medical work since 1988. Boling describes the work done at Techshot as building the complex “picks and shovels” that researchers 240 miles above us use to make discoveries.
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REGIONAL & KEY PA R T N E R S H I P S
Launched in 2018, a micro-grant fund called the Farnsworth Fund approved $1,000 grants for
Elevate Northeast Indiana
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ENTREPRENEURS GIVING ENTREPRENEURS A LADDER TO CLIMB The Elevate Northeast Indiana board and Elevate EIR Robert Clark are making way for an entrepreneurial culture shock. Together, they are filling gaps in funding and business support to make sure new entrepreneurs have a chance to pursue pre-seed and seed investments. Two critical new rungs in this “ladder” approach follow: • Launched in May 2018, the Farnsworth Fund supports entrepreneurs from the very beginning. • Elevate’s Community Ideation Fund, introduced in October 2018, enables ideation-stage high-potential companies to move closer to a specific, measurable technology or product development milestone with an investment between $5K and $20K. Blaire Biomedical and Apollo Dynamics are just two companies that began to ascend this ladder in 2018. Blaire Biomedical founder Melanie G. Watson is a
Elevate Ventures has been a vital asset to the entrepreneurial ecosystem in Northeast Indiana and the entire state. — Brian Emerick, CEO of Micropulse
biomedical engineering associate professor at Trine University in Angola. Her healthcare startup is developing a handheld medical device to obtain real-time biological parameters from a single drop of blood. “The Community Ideation Fund and Farnsworth Fund provided the means for Blaire Biomedical to hire two contracted engineers, purchase key supplies and equipment, submit a provisional patent and more,” Watson says. Apollo Dynamics founder Kyle Craig is a mechanical engineering graduate of Trine University. He invented a wearable biokinetics device that pairs with software to track and analyze body motion in real time. His Farnsworth Fund win in May allowed him to purchase the right electronic materials for Apollo Dynamics, pay his programmer to work on the functional prototype and more.
COLLECTIVE POWER OF ITS COLLEGES AND UNIVERSITIES When employers are ready to expand or relocate operations, access to talent is often the key issue driving decisions. To shore up top talent, the Northeast Indiana Regional Partnership, steward of Elevate’s partnership in the region, organized the Northeast Indiana Colleges & Universities group in 2018. Ryan Twiss, the organization’s vice president of Regional Initiatives, leads the project. “Universities are key to our economic success, and although the region doesn’t
have one major research institution, it does have a group of smaller institutions that boasts nearly 45,000 students,” Twiss says. Its members are nine otherwise unaffiliated higher education institutions united to help the region compete globally for employers. In 2018, the initiative played a pivotal role in both a business retention project that kept 250 jobs in the region and a business attraction project that will bring another 130 jobs.
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REGIONAL & KEY PA R T N E R S H I P S
Velocities
100
people attended the Velocities launch event (photo below) on December 6, 2018
VELOCITIES FUELS INNOVATION BETWEEN TWO CITIES In December 2018, Elevate Ventures, Dimension Mill and the Columbus Area Chamber of Commerce announced the establishment of Velocities, a new partnership designed to fuel entrepreneurship and innovation across South Central Indiana over the next three years. The Velocities partnership is backed by a wide range of regional funders and a robust board, including member Pat East, executive director of Dimension Mill. The 19,000-square-foot coworking and business incubator is located in downtown Bloomington. He says the need for resources like Dimension Mill and Velocities is great, pointing out that Bloomington’s valuable assets don’t correlate to overall success in the region. Despite being home to Cook Medical, Indiana University, Ivy Tech Community College Bloomington, and the Naval Surface Warfare Center Crane Division, wages remain flat, and the poverty rate is higher than it should be — more can and should be done. “Our goal is to have another Cook Medical come out of the Mill. It’s very much needed here, and we’re placing a lot of strategic bets around it,” says East, adding that the $2.5M Velocities deal will fuel entrepreneurial fires already burning in South Central Indiana and stoke future ones. It also officially connects Bloomington to Columbus. “It’s exciting to be a part of bringing these two unique communities together around a shared vision,” says Velocities board member Cindy Frey, president of the Columbus Area Chamber of Commerce. “Ultimately, Velocities will enable innovation-driven companies to launch and to scale up faster. Access to an experienced coach and early-stage capital will be critically important,” Frey says, pointing out that 37 percent of local employment is tied to manufacturing, making Columbus a place where people know how to design and build things.
Velocities is the key to accelerating new economy jobs for our region. Having a committed capital resource for startups is critical, and that’s what Elevate provides. Supplementing funding with a full-time Entrepreneurin-Residence, as well as our regional mentorships and angel investors, fills most of the gaps for boosting our innovation economy in the region. — Jane Martin, Retired Venture Capitalist and Velocities Board Member
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REGIONAL & KEY PA R T N E R S H I P S
Purdue Foundry
BLACK & GOLD AWARDS KEEP SOCIO GROWING When Yarkin Sakucoglu was a student at Purdue University in 2016, he attended a 5,000-person event in part to connect with other attendees. Instead, he found it impossible to fully unlock his networking opportunities. Sakucoglu and two other cofounders turned the challenge into Socio (photo above right), a B2B SaaS company that helps organizations of all sizes optimize events and boost return on investment. Today, more than 300 clients in 17 countries use Socio, including Google, Microsoft and PepsiCo. In May 2018, Elevate and Purdue Foundry announced that Socio had won $100K in Black and Gold awards through the Elevate Purdue Foundry Fund. Sakucoglu says the funds will help the company complete a $725K round of financing to grow its Indianapolis team, and expand sales and marketing operations.
$
2.44
M
has been invested in Purdue-affiliated companies since the start of the partnership. $940K was invested in 2018 alone.
SKYEPACK TURNS ANOTHER PAGE ON STEADY GROWTH In 2015, West Lafayette-based Skyepack launched the beta version of its technology in nine schools. Today, educators and students in 95 institutions use Skyepack to eliminate the need for costly, cumbersome textbooks. Through the Elevate Purdue Foundry Fund, Elevate has been alongside Skyepack’s growth since 2015, when the company won a $20K Black Award, followed by an $80K Gold Award in 2016. In March 2018, Skyepack announced it would expand operations in Indiana, creating up to 51 new positions by 2022. Also in 2018, Elevate made an additional commitment to Skyepack to help the startup close a $500K round of funding with other co-investors.
It remains a great partnership for us in working with Elevate Ventures — predominately through the Elevate Purdue Foundry Fund. Almost $2.7M in early-stage capital has been invested in more than 70 Purdueaffiliated companies. Also valuable are the services Elevate provides to our companies, from follow-on investment to conferences and advice. — John M. Hanak, Managing Director at Purdue Ventures
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ENTREPRENEURIAL DEVELOPMENT
Codelicious
ELEVATE EMPOWERS ENTREPRENEURS 2018 was an important year of progress for Vennli, and Elevate Ventures was at the center of the recruiting and hiring of our new CEO, Marty Muse, while providing guidance during the tuning of our business model, and participating in a bridge financing. Ting Gootee skillfully presided over these matters, while also bringing on Christopher Clapp to take over her board seat for the years ahead. —Gary Gigot, Vennli Cofounder and Member of its Board of Directors
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ELEVATE DEVELOPS FUTURE TECH LEADERS AT THICKSTAT There is no one-size-fits-all manual for taking a business idea from the concept stage to launch and beyond. Every industry and market is fraught with nuances, which is exactly why entrepreneurial development is so important to keep young leaders and companies moving in a positive direction at a sustainable pace. Startups including ThickStat turned to Elevate Ventures’ unbiased perspectives, expert leadership, market research and strategic consulting services for guidance in 2018. Launched in 2017 with just co-founders Ganesh Gandhieswaran and Gopinath Jaganmohan (photos above) on board, the Indianapolis company now has a 20-member global team and was forecasting $700K in revenue for 2018. Its flagship product is a natural-language voice platform that delivers actionable business insights in real time. Elevate Entrepreneur-in-Residence (EIR) Jacob Schpok reached out to ThickStat in early 2018. Over a series of meetings, he and the cofounders reviewed the product, its performance and more. Gandhieswaran says Schpok also acted as a mentor on the investment side.
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full-time Elevate Entrepreneurs-in-Residence serve high-potential startups across Indiana.
EIRS & ADVISORS ADD VALUE FOR CODELICIOUS During the 2016 Indy Startup Challenge, Elevate EIR Kelly Schwedland served as a mentor to participating founders and CEOs. Among the cohort was Christine McDonnell, CEO at Codelicious, which offered coding classes in brick-and-mortar settings. By the end of the Challenge, Codelicious (photo right) was ready to pivot from its franchise model to a scalable software-asa-service approach. McDonnell says Schwedland’s business guidance didn’t end when the 10-week program was over. “The EIR model is both a mentoring and coaching relationship. It’s ongoing. We would meet monthly after the Challenge,” McDonnell says. “We’ve tackled a lot of business growth questions, building upon Kelly’s collective wisdom from working with other startups and early-stage companies.”
In 2018, Codelicious announced a close to its $940K seed financing round, including investment by Elevate. Elevate Advisor Barbara Kew represents Elevate on the Codelicious board of directors, continuing the team’s supportive relationship with Codelicious. Codelicious’ growth has come at a time when school systems are determining how to integrate computer science into the school day, and employers are looking
to close the workforce skills gap. Codelicious’ mission strongly aligns with Indiana Governor Eric Holcomb’s push to require all K-12 schools to offer at least one computer science course by 2021. The company was also in Indianapolis’ first five-team cohort of gBETA, a program of nationally ranked startup accelerator gener8tor, and won Tech Service of the Year during TechPoint’s 19th annual Mira Awards.
STEM RESEARCH FINANCING NOW UNDER ELEVATE MANAGEMENT To further streamline operations for Indiana’s small businesses, Elevate Ventures and the Indiana Economic Development Corporation announced in March 2018 the state’s Small Business Innovation Research and Small Business Technology Transfer program would be administered fully by Elevate Ventures. Since 2014, the IEDC and Elevate Ventures had comanaged the SBIR/STTR program. The SBIR/STTR program is the largest source of early-stage STEM research and development non-dilutive funding in the United States. Indiana’s SBIR/ STTR matching program provided nearly $6.4M to 90 companies from 2014 to 2017. Together, these companies have attracted over $23.5M in federal SBIR/STTR grants and nearly $30M from other capital sources.
2,371 COMPANIES have been impacted by Elevate’s investment and advisory services since 2011.
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ENTREPRENEURIAL DEVELOPMENT
BARBARA KEW Elevate Advisor, retired CIO and Independent Consultant with 40+ years of experience in corporate-level positions
“Many new entrepreneurs don’t know how to navigate business hurdles such as structure, budget processes, procurement criteria, regulatory requirements and obligations (both domestic and international), to name a few. I participate as an Advisor to share my knowledge and skills. It is invigorating to work with these smaller companies as they turn their creative ideas into real-world solutions.”
CHRISTOPHER CLAPP Elevate Advisor, Managing Director of Great Blue Ventures and Executive Chairman of Doxly, a transaction management SaaS platform for law firms
“Having been in the Indiana technology world for over three decades, I’ve personally seen and benefited from the virtuous cycle of tech companies being founded, grown and exited, with the cycle repeating. It’s amazing how the early tech community stuck with this vision, despite the long road and against long odds. Elevate Ventures now plays an important and unique role in our technology community.”
ARI VADALI Elevate Advisor and Founder/CEO of Envisage Technologies
“Being an Elevate Advisor allows me to share some of the knowledge and passion for startups I have gained over the years. I love helping entrepreneurs with business modeling, sales, marketing, ideation, and creating and scaling technology solutions. As Advisors, we have an opportunity to help the next generation of founders pursue their dreams and make meaningful impacts in the world.”
FRITZ FRENCH Elevate Advisor, Chairman of the Board of On Target Laboratories, Board Member of FAST BioMedical and Anagin, and former CEO of Calibrium and Marcadia Biotech
“I enjoy the life science business, especially startups. Also, as a native Hoosier, I have an interest in helping to build up the life science sector here in my home state. I get a lot of enjoyment out of helping entrepreneurs and their companies. After having started and run several startups myself, I’ve had a number of experiences, both successes and failures, that I draw upon to provide counsel.”
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ELEVATE ADVISORS Elevate Advisors are sounding boards, trusted guides and mentors for Elevate entrepreneurs, and include some of the most successful members of Indiana’s business and venture community. Among the criteria to become an Elevate Advisor are in-depth industry experience, a strong professional reputation and track record in operating or scaling companies. Industry targets for Advisors include B2B software, B2C products or solutions, life scienc/health care, manufacturing/energy/ defense, agriculture and others. See the full team on page 23.
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Elevate Advisors serve on Elevate portfolio company boards.
ENTREPRENEURIAL DEVELOPMENT
ELEVATE’S INAUGURAL KINETIC CONFERENCE In May, Elevate Ventures hosted Kinetic, its inaugural portfolio conference dedicated to startups around the state. Kinetic opens doors for entrepreneurs and investors to access the knowledge, networks and opportunities they need to accelerate their ambitions. The gathering brought together entrepreneurs, higher education institutions, community leaders, regional economic development partners, institutional and angel investors, legislators and others representing startup communities to engage and spur collaboration.
MORE 2018 ENTREPRENEURIAL DEVELOPMENT ACTIVITY
52
EVENTS
were planned by Elevate for entrepreneurs, investors and other stakeholders statewide.
7,300
people participated in events Elevate planned or sponsored.
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MARK YOUR CALENDARS FOR KINETIC: MAY 2, 2019 KEY KINETIC DATA POINTS
340 people attended.
115 investor
one-on-one meetings held.
48 companies participated in the Kinetic Expo. 75 speakers and panelists shared experiences and expertise.
18 content sessions held on topics including
EVENTS
featured speakers from Elevate.
leadership team building, stakeholder communication, life science entrepreneurship, term sheets, exit experiences and improving lead generation sales.
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FUNDS
USE OF FUNDS
INDIANA ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT CORPORATION
0.9%
ADMIN LABOR & OVERHEAD
1.4%
PROFESSIONAL SERVICE
10.1%
MARKETING
14.8%
ADMIN & OVERHEAD
19.1% DIRECT SERVICES
EIR LABOR & CONSULTING
23.7%
30%
INVESTING & LABOR CONSULTING
2.2%
OTHER
2.4%
SSBCI
20.3% KEY SUPPORTERS
INDIANA ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT CORPORATION
75.1%
SOURCE OF FUNDS
Elevate Ventures’ efforts are largely made possible through an invaluable partnership with the Indiana Economic Development Corporation via the 21st Century Research and Technology Fund. As a partner who is paramount to achieving our unified goals, we thank you for helping us to elevate Indiana.
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O R G A N I Z AT I O N A L S U P P O R T
2018 CONTRIBUTORS We are grateful to the people and organizations that financially support us in our work to elevate Indiana. • Ambassador Enterprises • Blue Sky Network • Community Foundation of Elkhart County • Community Foundation of St. Joseph County • Fort Wayne Metals • Economic Development Coalition of Southwest Indiana • Garatoni-Smith Family Foundation • German American Bancorp • Graham Allen Partners • Huntington University • Indiana Economic Development Corporation • Interlogic Outsourcing Inc. • The Judd Leighton Foundation • Kem Krest • Koch Enterprises Inc. • Lake City Bank • Marshall County Economic Development Corporation • Micropulse Inc. • Northeast Indiana Regional Partnership • Paul Ogle Foundation • Old National Bank • Olive B. Cole Foundation • Parkview Health • Segway Capital and Management • Tom and Barbara Schoellkopf • Ultra Electronics USSI • University of Notre Dame • Vectren Corporation
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TEAM
BOARD OF DIRECTORS
STATEWIDE TEAM
BOB MYER
Leaders, innovators and experts across Indiana make up our Elevate Ventures team. Together we are working to unleash value for public-private entrepreneurial initiatives in communities across Indiana, and the statewide and regional entrepreneurial network.
Director & Chair
DON DENSBORN Director
LARRY GARATONI Director
CHRIS LaMOTHE Director
ALISHA ESTABROOK
PHIL LODATO
Communications & Marketing Manager
General Counsel & Chief Compliance Officer
MYLA MCKINNEY
TING GOOTEE, CFA, CAIA, CIPM
STEVE MARTIN
Chief Investment Officer
Director
ERICA SCHWEYER
NATHAN HAHN
JOHN SAMPSON
Senior Director of Brand Development & Strategic Initiatives
Analyst
Director
KIP TOM
TAYLOR HARRUFF
Director
Office Manager & Executive Assistant to the CEO
Senior Director of Communications & Marketing
DAVID STECKLER Analyst
PHIL LODATO Secretary
CHRIS LaMOTHE
BARBARA UGGEN-DAVIS, CPA
Chief Executive Officer
Chief Financial Officer
ENTREPRENEURS-IN-RESIDENCE Our team of Entrepreneurs-in-Residence provide entrepreneurs with business advisory services to help them navigate the uncharted waters of starting a business, from launch to exit and every decision in between.
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ROBERT CLARK
GAVIN FERLIC
KYLE KEENEY, Ph.D.
MARK GRAMELSPACHER
Northeast Indiana
North Central Indiana
Southern Indiana
Central Indiana
KELLY SCHWEDLAND
JACOB SCHPOK
ERIC STEELE
Central Indiana
Purdue Foundry & West Central Indiana
Southwest Indiana
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ELEVATE ADVISORS Elevate Advisors include current and former company founders who have achieved large, successful outcomes; corporate executives and board members of market-leading companies; and investors experienced in achieving strategic exits. These men and women augment the work of our Entrepreneurs-inResidence to introduce entrepreneurs to people, knowledge and resources to help them grow.
ANIL BANSAL
TIM BRAUN
DAVID BROECKER
CHRISTOPHER CLAPP
DAVE CORCORAN
ANDREW COTHREL
DAN DAWES
MAX DUARTE
MIKE EARLEY
DAN FANGMAN
FRITZ FRENCH
IRENA GOLOSCHOKIN
KEN GRAMLEY
JEFF HODGSON
RYAN HOU
BARBARA KEW
KARL KOEHLER
WADE LANGE
TIM MAGINN
BILL MCCONNELL
JOHN MILLER
JANE NIEDERBERGER
MONTY RIFFER
MIKE SHEPARD
THOMAS SHRYOCK
STEVE SMITH
ERIC STINE
TOM STONE
JENNY VANCE
ARI VIDALI
BART WACLAWIK
JIM ZALOUDEK
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CONTACT US 50 East 91st St, Suite 213 Indianapolis, IN 46240 PHONE 317-975-1901 ElevateVentures.com
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© 2019 Elevate Ventures. All rights reserved.
