Elevate Ventures Annual Report 2022

FOCUS

FOCUS 2022

FIND OUT HOW FOCUS LED TO IMPACT FOR ELEVATE VENTURES AND INDIANA STARTUPS IN 2022.

COMMUNITY. CAPITAL. ACCELERATION.

In July 2022, I joined the Elevate Ventures team as CEO. I am honored to be here and build upon the incredible foundation they have created. Elevate is fostering ecosystems across Indiana that empower entrepreneurs to start, build, grow and scale high-growth, cross-sector, innovative companies.

Over the last 10 years, Elevate has invested capital in more than 500 Indianabased startups and provided assistance to over 4,000 companies across 87 counties. These companies employ over 3,300 people and pay an average annual salary of $80K.

One of our goals is for Elevate to be seen as an investor that not only provides critical capital for new company starts, but also attracts talent, increases jobs and adds post-investment value to grow more billion-dollar brands in Indiana. This goal goes hand in hand with Indiana’s potential to become the Innovation Capital of the World™

To drive our state closer to this vision, Elevate focuses on three areas:

• Community: Build Collaborative Communities

• Capital: Invest in High-Potential Companies

• Acceleration: Provide World-Class Go-To-Market Value

In this Annual Report, you’ll find stories from founders and people connected to Elevate about how Focus allowed them to grow in 2022, and why they choose to live and work here. You’ll see impact numbers and evidence of progress statewide. I hope that you also see yourself in these stories and understand how you play a critical role in Indiana’s innovation-driven future.

Sincerely,

CHRISTOPHER DAY Chief Executive Officer

P.S. Please scan the QR code to watch a short video about why Indiana is positioned to become the Innovation Capital of the World™.

Over the last 10 years, Elevate has invested capital in more than 500 Indianabased startups and provided assistance to over 4,000 companies across 87 counties.

2022 MILESTONES

Elevate Ventures has been driving innovation in Indiana since 2011. This steadfast focus laid the foundation for our organization to reach and celebrate major milestones in 2022.

FEBRUARY

A major milestone was announced: Venture capital investment in Indiana for the year 2021

TOPPED $1 BILLION

according to the 2021 Indiana Venture Report. This is a first for the state of Indiana and exceeded total dollars invested in 2019 and 2020 combined.

JUNE Elevate hosted

the

THIRD ANNUAL ELEVATE NEXUS CONFERENCE.

The event is Indiana’s largest annual gathering of educators, students and entrepreneurial support organizations coming together to explore ways they can engage entrepreneurs and drive the future of venture creation.

MARCH

Elevate Origins graduated its largest spring cohort to date.

142 PARTICIPANTS

from entrepreneurial support organizations and nine colleges and universities participated in the no-cost entrepreneurship training program. Elevate Origins prepares participants to apply for Elevate Nexus Pitch Competitions.

JULY

After an extensive national search, Elevate hired CHRISTOPHER

DAY AS

CEO to succeed Chris LaMothe. Before joining Elevate, Day co-founded and launched eight businesses in seven verticals.

The U.S. Department of Treasury announced it had approved the state of Indiana’s STATE SMALL

BUSINESS CREDIT INITIATIVE PLAN.

As a result, Indiana will receive up to $99.1M in federal funding to expand access to and increase capital for Hoosier entrepreneurs, startups and small businesses. As the state’s venture development partner through the Indiana Economic Development Corporation, Elevate Ventures will direct an estimated $70M of the SSBCI funding to accelerate an innovative startup ecosystem through direct investments in earlyrevenue companies.

AUGUST

Capital provided through Elevate Nexus Pitch Competitions topped $4 MILLION.

These investments offer pre-seed and seed-stage startups the foundational capital necessary to launch their businesses.

Elevate launched Elevate Me and took direct aim at

FUNDING DISPARITIES

amongst Black, Brown and female founders (see page 9).

OCTOBER

Of more than 100 applicants,

NINE MINORITY FOUNDERS

were selected to take part in Elevate’s InnoPower Origins Pilot Program. The four-week program was developed to provide foundational entrepreneurship education and training to prepare founders to pitch their ideas and innovations in a competitive setting.

DECEMBER

Elevate broke its all-time annual record for the number of venture investments in a year. Total investments equaled 128

TRANSACTIONS.

SEPTEMBER ELEVEN B2B TECHNOLOGY STARTUPS

joined Elevate’s first Sales and Marketing Accelerator. At the end of the program, the Elevate portfolio companies will have a documented marketing strategy and sales process. By identifying core sales and marketing team gaps, the startups have begun hiring key team members to help them reach aggressive growth goals.

NEARLY 300 PEOPLE ATTENDED KINETIC,

Elevate’s conference for high-growth, high-potential startups in Indiana. The event featured 173 meetings between founders and investors and 20 guest speakers, including global innovation expert Sara Frasca, Foundry partner and Techstars co-founder Brad Feld and innovative product leader Josh Banko. Elevate is sunsetting Kinetic to focus on Rally in 2023 (see page 12).

NOVEMBER

Elevate invested in its 500TH INDIANA

STARTUP.

Pitchbook’s Q3 2022 Global League Tables reported that Elevate was the #1

MOST ACTIVE VC

in the Great Lakes region and ranked #11 in the United States. This was Elevate’s sixth annual appearance on top of the regional ranking.

Powderkeg and Elevate Ventures announced a partnership to build momentum and

NATIONAL BRAND AWARENESS

for Indiana tech companies. Powderkeg is an Indianapolis-based nationwide privatemembership network supporting tech leaders in fast-growing communities.

FOCUS ON COMMUNITY FOCUS ON CAPITAL

FOCUS ON COMMUNITY

Building collaborative communities for Indiana at home and around the world

When ambitious, creative people connect to one another, they are taking tangible steps to make themselves and their communities better in some way. Without connection, progress grows stagnant and eventually fails.

Elevate Ventures has empowered entrepreneurs, state leaders, economic development organizations, investors and other stakeholders to connect and build collaborative communities since 2011. As a result, Elevate has made a $5B total impact in Indiana during just the last decade.

companies all across Indiana have capitalized on Elevate’s multifaceted resources since 2011. Funding assistance, expert advising and our vast network have helped build more growth-focused relationships among founders, investors and stakeholders statewide.

DIVERSITY INITIATIVES

Elevate aims to reduce barriers for historically underserved entrepreneurs in Indiana.

Through Elevate Me, Elevate leverages collaboration to spur innovation, funding and economic development amongst minority groups— specifically, Black, Brown and female founders.

The CareSource Diversity & Social Impact Investment Fund provides capital for diverse founders and/or those who seek to improve healthcare outcomes or related social impact.

While there is still work to be done, Elevate’s portfolio exceeds national averages for investment in companies owned and led by women and minorities.

15.8%

of Elevate’s venture dollars have been invested in women-owned and led businesses. (National average is 2.3%.)

10.8%

of Elevate’s venture dollars have been invested in minority-owned and led businesses. (National average is 2.6%.)

EMIL EKIYOR, FOUNDER / CEO

InnoPower Indy

INDIANA | ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT

Focusing on how Black Hoosiers can leverage entrepreneurship as a pathway out of poverty and toward wealth generation, InnoPower Indy looks at high-potential venture development from a different angle: focusing more on the individual entrepreneur.

In low-capital communities, the priority should be developing entrepreneurs to become finance-smart as they transition from boot-strapping to accessing capital via loans or investments. This is how they will build bigger businesses that export goods/ services and import wealth. This is how entrepreneurs in VCstarved communities will be the real winners.

The stars are aligned in Indiana today. We have exemplary leadership in place, and there is a desire for Indiana to lead the nation in business startup and growth.

FOCUS ON COMMUNITY

STEVE SMITHERMAN, PRESIDENT, INDIANA MARKET

Caresource

INDIANA | HEALTHCARE

Over the last year, CareSource has invested nearly $2.5M in organizations with diverse founders and those who seek to improve health care outcomes. The CareSource Indiana Diversity & Social Impact Investment Fund focuses on high-growth, Indiana-based companies launching in technology or select health care and life sciences sectors that may provide solutions to underserved populations.

Thanks to our partnership with Elevate Ventures, we’ve been able to fuel innovation led by Storybolt, a startup that offers equity and inclusion training; Codelicious, a computer science curriculum startup; and 120Water, a digital water solution. We see these organizations making a true impact on the wellbeing of the communities where our members live and work.

While it’s atypical for a nonprofit like CareSource to invest this way, we feel strongly that it makes good financial sense. We are simultaneously diversifying existing investment dollars and aligning our investments with our mission while better serving members.

KYLE CRAIG, FOUNDER / CEO

Caevisus

ANGOLA | MEDICAL DEVICE

What excites me the most about being in Indiana right now is the culture shift attracting more software- and technologybased companies to the state. It’s fueling more startups that need funding, people and guidance to succeed.

Indiana is a great place for technology-based companies in agriculture, medical devices and construction to grow and thrive. As a lifelong Hoosier, I’m proud to be accompanied by a team of people who have been around technology and healthcare, but more importantly, they are normal, everyday people working to pursue the common good of all people in our neighborhood, state and country.

LINDSAY TJEPKEMA,

/ CO-FOUNDER Casted INDIANAPOLIS | MARTECH

Support shows up in a lot of ways. My greatest support in running Casted comes from my co-founder, Adam Patarino. There’s no relationship quite like the one between cofounders. You go through so much together that no one else — personally or professionally — truly understands. Adam and I keep each other focused, energized and aligned to creatively, intentionally and strategically grow the business, protect our culture, and maximize this incredible opportunity we have here at Casted.

CEO

U.S. TECH FUNDING

In Indiana, Elevate manages the Small Business Innovation Research and Small Business Technology Transfer programs, the largest source of early-stage technology funding in the U.S. Our advisors help small businesses apply for SBIR/STTR grants that encourage R&D, technology and commercialization. Successful bids are matched with state funds, further propelling Hoosier innovation.

AARON PIERCE, CEO

Pierce Aerospace INDIANAPOLIS | AEROSPACE

Our 2022 focus was twofold. The first goal was to win and close a U.S. Air Force Phase II contract. We did win and ended up getting 11 U.S. government customers on that single contract. To our knowledge, this was the most customers on a single SBIR/STTR contract in the program’s history. This success was critical because it opened the doors for us to move forward on additional sole-source contracting opportunities.

The second area of focus was advancing product development through the Elevate Ventures Innovation Voucher Program. Our intent with this program was to accelerate our hardware development so we could open commercial sales in January 2023. We’re on schedule for that, too.

The USAF award and funding from Elevate Ventures combined to validate Pierce Aerospace as the market leader in our space. Those wins resulted in two matching private-sector investments and numerous agreements that expanded our portfolio of industry partnerships and growth channels for 2023.

Pierce Aerospace

FOCUS ON COMMUNITY

ANDREW WIAND, EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR

enFocus

SOUTH BEND | ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT

Our purpose at enFocus is to attract and retain talent in northern Indiana in order to build a brighter future for our region.

We incubated six new companies in 2022 by hiring recent college graduates with strong business ideas and placing other graduates into promising startups in the region. This approach allows us to get great people with great business ideas moving from an initial plan to development and for more mature companies to tap into high-quality talent.

Our region aims to have 275 active startups by 2030. The more we can offer these opportunities, the more it benefits the entire state of Indiana.

RALLY: COMING AUGUST 2023

In collaboration with Indiana-based entrepreneurial-focused organizations, Rally, a new entrepreneurial conference, will launch August 29-31, 2023. With a goal of becoming the largest global cross-sector innovation event, Rally will forge and celebrate connections among companies, universities, entrepreneurs and investors around the world.

ERIC SILVER, FOUNDER / CEO

Perpetua Technologies COLUMBUS | INDUSTRIAL MANUFACTURING

Indiana is admittedly a dark horse, and I love that. More specifically, the industrial artery flowing through Columbus is the lifeblood of my small operation. It has all the benefits of a manufacturing hub with prices a startup like mine can afford to pay. I don’t know a single place in the country where my dollar would go further for my technical goals.

enFocus

JIM GOLDMAN, FOUNDER / CEO Trava Security INDIANAPOLIS | CYBERSECURITY

REGIONAL PARTNERSHIPS

Statewide collaboration is necessary to drive innovation and encourage founders to grow their companies here in Indiana. Elevate’s regional partners enable startup entrepreneurs to obtain capital and valuable resources so they can launch and expand close to home.

Placed in each region, Elevate Entrepreneursin-Residence understand the nuanced challenges each location may present and represent a range of entrepreneurial experiences and industries. The EIR team shares a desire to give, solve problems and succeed for the entrepreneurs they guide.

Startup South BendElkhart Launched 2017 Counties: Elkhart, Marshall, St. Joseph

Velocities Launched 2019 Counties: Bartholomew, Brown, Monroe Elevate Southwest Indiana Launched 2017 Counties: Dubois, Gibson, Pike, Posey, Vanderburgh, Warrick

co-investors from around the world have come alongside Elevate to invest in Indiana companies. Elevate is proud to lead and grow the state’s investor network on a global scale.

The thing I love about the Indiana and Indianapolis tech community is the one degree of separation. If you don’t know someone, you’re guaranteed to know someone who knows someone. It makes it so easy to do business. We also have a highintegrity environment so even if you’re talking to the competition, you’re still going do your best to keep their best interests in mind.

FOCUS ON CAPITAL

Investing

No matter how promising a business idea is or how well connected a person is, it takes money to develop that idea into something truly innovative, profitable and perhaps even groundbreaking.

Elevate is proud to be a regional leader in venture investing, one focused solely on Indiana entrepreneurs. The ideas being born here have the potential to succeed on a global stage. Capital is critical to making it happen.

#1

SIX YEARS

STRAIGHT

Pitchbook has ranked Elevate as the most active venture capital firm in the Great Lakes Region for six years running. Based on deal count, Elevate tops the list among all venture capital organizations in Illinois, Indiana, Michigan, Minnesota, Ohio and Wisconsin.

in high-potential cross-sector companies as a venture capital leader in the United States

FOCUS ON CAPITAL

RAY FRASER, CO-FOUNDER / CEO

VitalView SOUTH BEND | MEDTECH

Venture funding has been huge for VitalView. We raised $1.6M in our first seed round in 2021, so in 2022 we were able to partner with a large, reputable research organization to gain a human proof of concept for our health-monitoring technology. Now we’re preparing to raise an even larger funding round to take the company to the next level. That initial funding made this progress possible.

One of the things that excites me about being in Indiana is what the future holds. Healthcare, life sciences and manufacturing are high-impact sectors in Indiana’s GDP. This aligns very well with a lot of the underlying technology that startups can be formed around, whether they come out of Notre Dame or elsewhere.

Healthcare startups take time. Through the life of a healthcare startup, you’re going to go through a market downturn of some kind. That’s when a lot of venture funds disappear and run for shelter. But in Indiana, they will invest for the long term. I like knowing that this way of doing business isn’t going anywhere. As a medtech startup and entrepreneur, I am confident laying down roots here.

One of the things

excites me about being in Indiana is what the future holds. Healthcare, life sciences and manufacturing are high-impact sectors in Indiana’s GDP.

that

VitalView

IAN HARLEY, CEO

Traction Ag

AUBURN | AGTECH

Securing funding for company growth was my primary focus in 2022. In September, we closed a $4.5M seed funding round, with Elevate Ventures as a lead investor alongside Hageman Group and Allos Ventures. This allowed Traction Ag to acquire Granular Business, a Corteva Agriscience product, in November 2022.

The seed funding essentially gave Traction Ag the runway and stability to build efficiently. With the acquisition, we gained Corteva’s industry-leading farm management technology, three valuable board members and five team members.

As a result, we can rapidly grow the product, engineering, sales and success teams in 2023.

Being in Indiana during this period of growth was especially important. Having Corteva and Traction Ag in the same state made it easier to complete the acquisition. We received a great deal of support from organizations like the DeKalb Chamber Partnership, AgriNovus Indiana and Elevate Northeast Indiana.

MEGAN GLOVER CEO / CO-FOUNDER

ZIONSVILLE | COMPLIANCE MANAGEMENT

Raising capital is a full-time job and can be a major distraction from the day-today running of the business. We’ve certainly experienced that at 120Water.

We knew securing funding in 2022 was going to be pivotal in our growth plans and give us the financial security to comfortably grow and weather looming market conditions. Securing venture funding led by Elevate Ventures in Q3 2022 allowed us to focus our time inside the business to ensure we met and exceeded 2022 revenue targets. It also gave us the capacity to do thoughtful strategic planning for 2023 to support our ambitious growth goals.

Securing venture funding led by Elevate Ventures in Q3 2022 allowed us to focus our time inside the business to ensure we met and exceeded 2022 revenue targets.

FOCUS ON CAPITAL

MATT RUBIN, CEO / FOUNDER

True Essence Foods

INDIANAPOLIS / FOOD & BEVERAGE MANUFACTURING

As a venture-backed company, True Essence Foods would not be able to grow at our current pace without both capital support and experienced advisors.

Venture funding through our network of investors, including Elevate Ventures, has enabled us to grow more quickly and focus on building the longterm infrastructure necessary to sustain growth. Nearly all of the industrial customer agreements we established in 2022 were for at least a 15-year term, and we expect those agreements to grow in scope and scale.

We have a saying that it’s OK to make new mistakes. However, you don’t want to make old mistakes that could have been avoided. Current investors and industry advisors have been critical this year in helping our team avoid common pitfalls as we have scaled operations. Our advisors have helped us manage critical issues, such as staffing, construction and expansion, and standardization of our commercial terms.

KELLI N. JONES, MANAGING PARTNER Sixty8 Capital INDIANAPOLIS | VENTURE CAPITAL

Sixty8 Capital is the first fund in Indiana fully dedicated to investing in and bringing light to the most undercapitalized founders — especially Black founders who still struggle to get access to capital and investment. We also invest in industries that historically aren’t a focus for venture capital.

These investments directly impact the diversity of our broader ecosystem. The more we invest in Black-led, Indiana companies, the more we’ll see the ecosystem shift. This could mean more investments from local funds, more support from coastal or regional funds, and more support for the development of new funds investing in diverse groups.

Hopefully, we’ll begin to see more fund managers and associates of color join or start funds to multiply the work and impact. Investing in Indiana, for us, means opening the door for more diversity in the entire VC ecosystem.

Venture funding through our network of investors, including Elevate Ventures, has enabled us to grow more quickly and focus on building the long-term infrastructure necessary to sustain growth.

OSCAR MORALEZ, MANAGING PARTNER

Boomerang Ventures

INDIANAPOLIS | VENTURE CAPITAL

Healthtech is the fastest-growing vertical within the healthcare sector, and Boomerang Ventures is one of the few healthtech-focused venture funds and studios in the Midwest.

It’s an exciting position to be in. Indiana is home to wonderful life science and healthcare assets — IU School of Medicine, university research institutions, Lilly and Roche, to name a few.

As a state, we can leverage these assets into something intentional so that new companies with ideas that measure up on a global scale can start here, access the tools they need to scale, and then stay here. Those ingredients are now coming together. Boomerang is excited to lead the effort.

The

Elevate Ventures Innovation Voucher

grant program was instrumental in supporting Amplified Sciences’ academic collaboration projects in 2022. The program’s matched funding enabled our team to do more in the areas of clinical research and scientific research collaboration than we could have done on our own.

DIANA CALDWELL, CEO Amplified

Sciences

WEST LAFAYETTE | LIFE SCIENCES

Plymouth-based SIMBA Chain CEO Bryan Ritchie accepted an award during Kinetic in recognition of his company closing a $25M Series A funding round led by Valley Capital Partners with participation from Elevate Ventures, the Notre Dame Pit Road Fund and Stanford Law School Venture Fund.

Founders bring a range of experience to their startups. Some are seasoned leaders. Others are first-time entrepreneurs.

In addition to building community and providing capital, Elevate meets all of these bright minds where they are. We advise, educate and nurture them. This is what it means to focus on acceleration.

TRAINING UP ENTREPRENEURS

Elevate Origins offers training to support aspiring entrepreneurs and those leading revenue-generating startups. In 2022, more than 300 people applied to participate in the Elevate Origins program.

A new partnership with InnoPower Indy launched the first Origins minority-focused cohort. Higher-ed institutions continued to be a strong partner with the Elevate Origins program, with 11 colleges/universities sending a participant to the program.

CLAYTON THOMPSON, CEO

Membershine

FISHERS | NONPROFIT TECH

Building and refining process was Membershine’s primary focus in 2022. While I had created and sold a lifestyle business in this same niche before, creating a sales growth approach with Membershine has led to some unfamiliar challenges.

There is still a lot to learn about how to scale and lead a “growth company.” Elevate’s Sales and Marketing Accelerator pointed me towards vendors and topics to think about as I work toward my goals. The program also gave me the ability to research unfamiliar territory and reminded me there is a plethora to think about when aiming for $100M/$1B valuation.

Stamus worked hard in 2022 to build a repeatable sales pipeline. Armed with a much better understanding of our marketing/sales funnel, we executed a multifaceted marketing strategy that included content creation, social media, digital advertising and publishing a book that we presented during an international conference in Greece in November 2022. As a result, the number of sales leads entering our funnel increased by a factor of 10 in one year.

KEN GRAMLEY, CEO

Stamus Networks

INDIANAPOLIS | CYBER SECURITY

FOCUS ON ACCELERATION

ELEVATE NEXUS

provides programming and funding for higher-education institutions, communities and entrepreneurs. In 2022, 165 founders in the earliest stages of their startups applied to participate in at least one of 6 statewide Nexus regional pitch competitions. Honing the pitch is critical for any venture that seeks funding.

Nexus Pitch Competition

KNOWLEDGE SHARING

Our 13 Elevate Advisors generously share their experience and knowledge with entrepreneurs to help them grow smarter and faster. This select group includes successful current and former company founders, corporate executives, board members of market-leading companies and investors experienced in achieving strategic exits.

In 2022, Nexus Pitch competitions led to 22 Investments totaling

$1M

More than 100 people attended the 2022 Elevate Nexus Conference and left more equipped, connected and resourced. Attendees represented entrepreneurial support organizations, funds and nearly 20 higher-education institutions from across the state.

PAUL ANTHONY, CO-FOUNDER / CEO

OpStart

SOUTH BEND | FINTECH

Startups often can’t pay premium salaries, so I appreciate that I can live a high-quality lifestyle in Indiana while working on a startup that I love.

I would not be able to own a house, travel regularly or pursue certain hobbies if I lived in a traditional startup hotbed like San Francisco. In a work-from-home world, I would rather be working from a nice home in Indiana than a cramped apartment in a coastal metropolis — and I expect that Indiana will see a continued influx of startup and tech industry workers as others come to this same realization.

Historically, the availability of top-tier tech talent and VC funding may have created obstacles to starting a tech company here in Indiana. Thanks to Elevate and the continued work-from-anywhere trend, those barriers no longer exist. Our Indiana headquarters allows OpStart to be more capital efficient than competitors, and we’ve built a unique culture around the integrity and kindness that Hoosiers are known for nationwide.

EMILY EDWARDS, FOUNDER Paradise Spreads

SCHERERVILLE | FOOD AND BEVERAGE

Focusing on the future, even when things are going well, has helped us determine where the company’s future growth will be. Creating a growth plan helps Paradise Spreads become what we want to be, whether that’s one, two, five or 10 years down the line. It helps establish a shared vision and set of common goals, making it easier to align teams and pitch to investors. Most of all, it helps Paradise stay on the course to success.

FOCUS ON ACCELERATION

ATIA, CO-FOUNDER/CEO

ZeroCarb LYFE

EVANSVILLE | FOOD AND BEVERAGE

ZeroCarb LYFE’s primary focus in 2022 was scaling and growing our new and current customer base in both retail and direct-to-consumer channels. This allowed us to resource the right departments and projects and forced us to make creative decisions to achieve this goal.

Many organizations in Indiana have been extremely supportive of our business. As a producer of pizza crust, we have access to one of the top distributors of pizza in the U.S. and some of the cleanest sources of ingredients and foods. Being here also gives us unique logistical advantages similar companies don’t have.

It’s an exciting time to be in Indiana. The amount of support and resources the state offers companies is above and beyond what other states offer.

PATTON, FOUNDER / CEO

STRE.ME

FORT WAYNE | HR TECH

In 2022, I focused on STRE.ME’s market development, the process of intentionally generating revenue in a repeatable, capital-efficient way. Advisors, investors and other founders who have solved similar problems were really helpful in this endeavor because there is no substitute for lived experience.

I thought I was prepared for this journey. Today, I know that what I learned in 2022 took me four years to figure out. There are no shortcuts. Experts say it takes 7-10 years to build a sustainable company.

I’m 100% living it.

In 2022, we doubled our revenue, added over 100 new clients and tripled our staff. There’s no way we could have done these things without a growth-enabling infrastructure in place.

PETER DUNN, CEO Your Money Line INDIANAPOLIS | FINTECH

OMAR

ZeroCarb LYFE

JACK

More than

34

highereducation institutions engaged with Elevate programming in 2022.

SAN PATHAK, COO / CO-FOUNDER

AfterSchool HQ

FISHERS | EDTECH

If it weren’t for venture funding, my co-founder and I wouldn’t be able to buckle down and focus. Instead, we would still have to get income elsewhere.

We raised $1.2M in 2022, which helped us to book $1.4M in revenue and focus on designing a workable go-to-market strategy that we’re now trying to scale. Also, our advisors at DeveloperTown Starts, Sixty8 Capital and Elevate Ventures have provided great counsel to help accelerate our learnings in many areas of startup.

We now know that our product is desired, the market is large, and we know how to connect with our ideal customers. This never could have been discovered without the focus that funding brings.

If it weren’t for venture funding, my co-founder and I wouldn’t be able to buckle down and focus. Instead, we would still have to get income elsewhere.

KLOTO Social cofounders Adriana Morales and Ethan Rodriguez pitch their business during a Nexus Pitch Competition at Launch Fishers. In 2022, Elevate hosted six regional contests and one statewide contest to fund and accelerate pre-seed and seed-stage startups.

FEATURING 6 INNOVATION STUDIOS OF THE FUTURE

Emerging and existing innovative software technologies including Web 3.0, Blockchain and Cyber that leverage data and modern technology stacks to rethink how to solve B2B and B2C challenges better and introduce new opportunities

Companies innovating across food, animal health, plant science, agtech and agriculture to create an efficient, sustainable food system while preserving natural resources from the farmgate to the kitchen table

Companies that enable better access to data, medicine, and devices that improves the quality of life, and life expectancy, for people and animals

The production of hard goods, soft goods, and sensors, that may include combining hardware and software, through intersecting engineering and science

The intersection of traditional sports, esports and technology to provide better safety and experiences for teams, players and fans

Innovators and thought leaders impacting the world through revolutionary ideas

INNOVATION CAPITAL OF THE WORLD™

We invite you to participate in our vision to see Indiana become the Innovation Capital of the World. Scan the QR code or visit elevateventures.com/whyindiana to watch a short video that answers, “Why Indiana and why now?”

50 E 91st Street, Suite 213 Indianapolis, IN 46240 (317) 975-1901

ElevateVentures.com