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Indianapolis-based Elevate Ventures has selected the 25 startups that will compete in its second annual $1 million IN-Prize pitch contest—and this year’s crop of competitors includes a lot more Indiana companies.
IN-Prize will take place during Elevate Ventures’ Rally innovation conference, which is scheduled for Aug. 27-28 at the Indiana Convention Center.
For this year’s contest, 10 of the 25 finalists are Indiana-based startups. In last year’s contest, only two finalists were based here.
Elevate Ventures CEO Christopher Day said this was not a deliberate strategy on the part of organizers. Rather, it’s likely because more Hoosier companies applied for the contest this year as compared to last year.
Day said the process of selecting the finalists does not consider the applicant’s location. “It’s 100% merit-based. … There’s a third-party group of independent advisors that looks at all the applicants, and based on the merits, that’s how the finalists are selected.”
A total of 344 startups from 38 states and 12 countries applied to be part of this year’s contest, Day said.
The competition is made up of five separate pitch contests, each one focused on a certain industry area: agriculture and food, hard tech, health care, software and sports tech.
The Indiana-based startups selected as finalists this year are:
• Agriculture and food: Hammond-based Here Here Market; and Indianapolis-based Insignum AgTech and ReproHealth Technologies
• Hard tech: Newberry-based Ateios Systems; Lafayette-based Tactile Engineering; and West Lafayette-based Uniform Sierra Aerospace
• Health care: Indianapolis-based 3Aware and Grannus Therapeutics
• Software: Brownsburg-based Vitalswap Technologies
• Sports tech: South Bend-based TayCo Brace
Each of the five contests includes five competitors, and the winner of each of the five contests receives the chance at up to $1 million in funding for their businesses. That funding includes money that the startup raises from investors, to be matched by up to $500,000 from Elevate Ventures. (So, for instance, if a startup raises $200,000 from outside investors, Elevate Ventures will invest an equal amount, giving the company a total investment of $400,000.)
An underlying goal of Rally and the IN-Prize competition is to showcase Indiana to outsiders and lure them to come here. In order to receive Elevate Ventures funding, the IN-Prize winners must commit to establishing a significant Indiana presence for at least a year. The contest rules define “significant presence” as having at least one full-time company executive or founder living in the state and at least one physical office or active co-working space membership within Indiana.
Last year’s In-Prize winners all hailed from out of state, and four of the five of them have established (or are in the process of establishing) Indiana operations, Day said. Edge Sound Research and PawCo Foods, both of which launched in California, have both set up operations in Indianapolis.
MyBiometry, which launched in Massachusetts, is in the process of establishing an Indianapolis presence. Another California company, Xponent Power, which makes solar panels for recreational vehicles, has established a presence in Elkhart.
The fifth winner last year was Louisville-based GoodMaps, which Day said is the only one of the five that hasn’t established a presence here.
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