Entrepreneurial activity is heating up this summer, and there is no better validation for the Indiana Chamber’s focus on entrepreneurship than witnessing some of these events up close.
The STARTedUP Foundation recently held the state finals for what it considers “the most elite high school pitch competition in the country.” Ten teams from across Indiana competed for $25,000 in seed funding and $10,000 per team member in scholarship funds. The winner, Caseflood.ai, was founded by students from the Signature School in Evansville.
Last week, Launch Fishers is holding its annual Indiana Coworking Passport (ICP) event, which serves to bring together teams from nearly 60 coworking spaces across the state to exchange best practices and networking. Coworking spaces are locations that provide resources to founders and companies that may be unable to lease standalone properties. Members of one ICP space are granted privileges to access and use any other space that is also part of the ICP program.
It is also worth noting the incredible work that the Indiana Economic Development Corporation (IEDC) and its partners have done over the past few months to boost entrepreneurial activity. In February, the IEDC and Elevate Ventures announced the Elevate Ventures Pre-Seed Fund, a $3 million fund that will provide direct investments ranging from $20,000 to $100,000 to pre-seed companies in Indiana for the purpose of de-risking start-ups to the point that they are attractive to other investors and for follow on seed-stage investment. To date, more than $2 million dollars has been deployed or committed to Indiana start-up companies.
The Innovation Voucher program is another successful partnership between the IEDC and the Applied Research Institute that is taking off. The program leverages Indiana’s research and higher education institutions, as well as approved non-profit research organizations, to provide small businesses access to industry experts and research leaders. A matching grant for up to $50,000 and can be used by companies for product development, simulations, studies and more – all to help Hoosier entrepreneurs develop innovative products and services.
Support for entrepreneurship is a pillar of the Chamber’s Indiana Prosperity 2035 economic playbook and will remain a priority for our advocacy efforts as we head into the 2025 budget session.
