Elevate Ventures

Elevate Ventures was founded in 2011 to assist the Indiana Economic Development Corporation (IEDC) manage a portfolio of direct capital investments in high-growth Indiana companies and make capital more accessible to Indiana entrepreneurs. Through a subsidiary partnership with the Indiana Economic Development Corporation (IEDC), Elevate manages both direct and indirect investment funds. The separately reportable partnership holds the investment capital and portfolio income/expense and reports earnings via the IRS form 1065 U.S. Return of Partnership Income. Elevate receives state funding from the Indiana Economic Development Corporation (IEDC) to manage these investment funds through a Professional Services Agreement and a management fee arrangement for the various funds. Over the last decade, the team at Elevate Ventures has worked alongside partners statewide to boost Indiana's innovation and entrepreneurial success throughout our state. Successful startups are key to our economic futures-and innovation is what will move our state forward. Indiana startup founders, supported by investors, work tirelessly to make their businesses successful and are a testament to the innovation culture that is taking hold here. This work, coupled with the efforts of Indiana's gubernatorial leadership, legislators and statewide entrepreneurial partners, has been instrumental in Indiana's momentum. While we have made remarkable progress, Indiana still has a long way to go if we truly aspire to be one of the top states in the country that through innovation and entrepreneurism create successful companies, investors and communities of vision and boldness. This is a global race, a new world, and a chance for us to take this momentum further and accelerate our progress aggressively. In 2022, Elevate was ranked the #1 Most Active VC in the Great Lakes Region for the sixth year in a row by Pitchbook. CB Insights named Elevate the most active VC By Unique Tech Investment in Indiana as well. Elevate Ventures investment programs include fund-of-fund investments, direct investments, grants and grant-matching programs. Since inception in 2011, Elevate Ventures has invested $152.3M in 507 startups which has been leveraged against $2.1B in private co-investment from 2,555 co-investors. The Direct Investment Programs invest in high-growth Indiana startups. The 21 Fund (21F) invests in early-stage companies, generally at or near the series A stage. In 2022, 21F dollars were used in 7 transactions totaling $3.8M in invested capital. The Return Fund is used to make investments in early-stage companies, typically around Series A stage. The Return Fund was used to complete 7 transactions totaling $5.6M in 2022. The Angel Fund III IANF3 is SSBCI dollars used to invest in seed-stage companies. In 2022, Elevate completed 11 transactions totaling $3.5M through Indiana Angel Fund III. The Angel Fund IANF2 is used to invest in seed-stage companies. In 2022, $4.3M across 17 transactions was used from the IANF2 fund. The Community Ideation Fund (CIF) invests in companies at the ideation stage. CIF invested $260K in 13 transactions. The Smart and Advanced Manufacturing/Manufacturing Expansion Fund (SAM/MEF) is used to invest in companies innovating within the manufacturing industry. In 2022, SAM/MEF invested $675K across 4 transactions. In addition, Elevate launched the Caresource Diversity and Social Impact Fund totaling $2.5M in 2021. In 2022, 2 transactions were completed totaling $1.5M. In 2021, the State of Indiana approved the expansion of the grant-matching SBIR/STTR program to include Phase II. Elevate maintained management of both the Phase I program, and the Phase II program. Combined in 2022, both programs resulted in $1.81M being granted/invested through 34 transactions. Elevate Ventures Portfolio Companies generated 2,904 jobs with an average salary of $88K totaling an annual payroll of $256M. This annual salary is double the median household income of Indiana residents.

The Elevate Nexus Program is the "nexus" of five main initiatives focused on Indiana higher education institutions and the communities they serve. Initiatives include: 1. Elevate Origins: foundational entrepreneurship training for early-stage startups and growth minded individuals 2. Nexus Pitch Competition: live pitch competitions that result in convertible securities instruments 3. Nexus Pitch Competition Matching Grants: Grants that go to organizations supporting the winners of the Nexus Pitch Competition that are equal to 10% of the awards. 4. Nexus Annual Conference: An annual conference that brings together faculty, department heads, and other entrepreneurial support organizations from across Indiana to explore new and leading ways higher-education institutions can engage entrepreneurs as well as share best practices, resources, and entrepreneurial-focused initiatives. 5. Higher Education Grants: centered around faculty and department heads working to develop entrepreneurship programming on their campus by providing $50K grants for the development and improvement of entrepreneurship In 2022, the Elevate Origins program was paused and migrated to a learning management system in order to allow a wider range of individuals to access Origins asynchronously. Around 100 participants piloted this new program at universities and colleges across the state. Most of these were students that were enrolled in entrepreneurship, innovation, or business courses at an Indiana higher ed in which the Origins curriculum was used. In 2022, $1.56M were invested in early-stage Indiana startups via the Nexus Pitch Competition via two regional competitions that culminate in one statewide competition per year. Each regional competition is comprised of three regions - Northern, Central, & Southern - and two levels - Pre-seed and Seed. 18 $20k, 3 $40k, 11 $80k, and 2 $100k investments were made via the Nexus Pitch Competition in 2022. In 2022, Nexus Pitch Competition Matching Grants were awarded to non-profit organizations listed by a winning startup as having supported their progress.

In 2022, Elevate began the process of rebranding and expanding its "Regional Entrepreneurship and Innovation Partnerships" (REIP) program outside of the boundaries of the partnership regions to a state-wide, industry vertical specific approach. While the existing partnership regions continued to operate throughout the year, Elevate provided "Entrepreneurial Services" state-wide, aligning the Entrepreneurs-in-Residence (EIRs) with their industry expertise and adding new EIRs to support specific industries and initiatives. The following narrative includes both region-specific as well as industry and diversity initiatives. To support the migration to a state-wide, industry vertical focus, Elevate hired an EIR to be focused on life sciences - therapeutics, medical devices, diagnostics, and digital health. Elevate developed a vertical-specific checklist for life sciences companies to use in their preparation to pitch to Elevate - it includes items like their regulatory path timelines, patent and publication strategies, and fundraising plans. Elevate Northeast Indiana covers 11 counties in Northeast Indiana. The year 2022 was a big success as Elevate Northeast Indiana, the partnership led by Chair Dr. Michael Mirro, MD of Parkview Health System, achieved its 3-year goal of investments in the region. This included investments in new companies and follow-on investments in portfolio companies to achieve $15.1 million in combined direct investment and co-investment (since January 2020). Investments were in several industries, including Medical Device, Software as a Service (SaaS), and Hardtech. The region saw a significant improvement in the Midwest Startup Activity, improving ranking in the annual M25 Ventures Midwest Annual Report, and enhanced its ability to continue to deliver training and events in the region with the hiring of a new Entrepreneurial Ecosystem Manager. Elevate Southwest Indiana covers 5 counties. Elevate closed on 2 transactions totaling $220K. An additional $800K was leveraged as a result of past investments made in the region. Four events were executed throughout the year with participation from over 140 people. Companies that received investment from Elevate's direct investment funds employ a total of 74 people. Elevate is deeply involved with supporting the entrepreneurship and innovation efforts of many additional regional organizations including the Evansville Regional Economic Partnership and Junior Achievement. Start South Bend-Elkhart (SUSBE) covers the three North Central counties of Indiana, St. Joseph, Elkhart, and Plymouth. The partnership was renewed for its third three-year session, fully funded by regional family offices, donors, and stakeholders. The EIR dedicated to the region, has been in the role since 2020, and has assisted numerous entrepreneurs by coaching, mentoring, connecting them to resources, and working towards initial investment dollars in Elevate's numerous programs as well as preparing founders and teams to pitch to Elevate's investment team. Some venture funding activities include fully deploying the first LEAD fund tranche and partnering with the Flywheel Fund to gather 9 local angel investors to raise an initial fund to invest in Indiana-based companies. The Velocities region covers Monroe and Bartholomew counties. The EIR and Entrepreneurial Engagement Director held 745 one-on-one meetings with entrepreneurs and attended 626 pitch events. In 2022 Velocities supported 135 events that reached nearly 5000 community members in the region. These events included workshops like startup Saturday, pitch events ranging from Pitch Velocities to Elevate Nexus, and idea competitions like IGNITE Columbus. Companies from Monroe and Bartholomew counties raised over $1,700,000 from Elevate Ventures this year. This is nearly double any previous year's deployed capital into the region from Elevate. This number does not include the amount of leveraged capital raised by companies outside of Elevate funding. Elevate hired a new EIR to evaluate the Indiana ecosystem from various perspectives and identify gaps and opportunities to increase the impact of its work, specifically within minority groups. With this came the need to engage and dialogue with public and private stakeholders and community leaders across the state. This resulting in the formation of ElevateME (Elevate Minority Entrepreneurs) - an initiative that aims to reduce barriers for historically underserved entrepreneurs in Indiana and leverage collaboration to spur innovation, funding, and economic development amongst minority groups-specifically, Black, Brown, and Female founders who have historically received less than 2% of venture capital funding in the United States. Through a collaboration with InnoPower, Elevate created and launched a startup program targeted at aspirational entrepreneurs working in corporate America. The program received positive feedback, and the outcome has led to deeper community engagement, seeking to close any learning gaps identified within minority groups and simplify what access to capital means.