Organization: Elevate Ventures Inc
Mission: Elevate Ventures is a venture development organization focused on building sustainable innovation and entrepreneurship cultures in regions throughout Indiana, and fostering and developing high-potential, high-growth businesses for investment and returns for our stakeholders.
Activities: For the past eight years, Elevate Ventures has executed on the two-fold strategy of providing Indiana entrepreneurs access to capital, coaching, mentoring, and other services while working to build entrepreneurial communities with our statewide partners. This two-fold strategy is cultivating the entrepreneurial ecosystem of Indiana while building a foundation to achieve the Big Ambition. So, what exactly is the Big Ambition? Indiana's Big Ambition is for entrepreneurism and innovation to be a driving force in communities throughout our state. While Indiana has made remarkable progress over the past 15 years, including ranking among the top five states in a number of key competitive categories, we are significantly lagging in a few critical areas that must be improved. In 2019, Indiana's overall Kauffman state competitiveness ranking for new entrepreneurs fell from 44th to 47th while our ranking for total employment at firms less than five years old dropped from 42nd to 47th. In addition, the state's ranking for venture capital invested is currently at 30th in the nation. We can do better! Indiana has an opportunity to encourage and support innovative new businesses which are vital in driving economic growth, attracting and keeping talent, and building strong, resilient, and successful communities throughout our state. Building this to critical mass isn't a sprint - it's a long-distance run and will take a decade to see results. Investing in the future is necessary if we are going to compete on a national level. Keeping the Big Ambition in mind, there are early indications that both innovation and entrepreneurism are beginning to take hold throughout Indiana. On the following pages, you will see examples of organizations such as The Mirro Center for Research and Innovation and The Root that are fostering long-term changes that support strong ecosystems. To gain more momentum, along with Elevate's existing partnerships in South Bend/Elkhart, Northeast Indiana, Bloomington/Columbus, Evansville/Jasper, and Jeffersonville/New Albany, Elevate also launched a university-focused initiative called Elevate Nexus. Elevate Nexus is focused on Indiana's public and private higher education institutions and taps into Indiana's upcoming talent and innovative ideas. Elevate Nexus creates bonds among higher education institutions, community partners, and entrepreneurs, leading to more high-quality startups launching and growing in Indiana. At our core, we exist to invest in start-up and early-stage companies for return, while creating sustainable cultures and infrastructure across Indiana that support the ongoing development and success of entrepreneurs. Our vision is to be regarded as a critical guide, investor, and ecosystem catalyst for developing high-performing, high-growth, Indiana-based businesses. We all have an important role to play in building Indiana's ambition! Elevate Ventures was founded in 2011 to assist the Indiana Economic Development Corporation (IEDC) manage a portfolio of direct capital investments in high-potential, 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. Elevate Ventures was ranked by PitchBook as the most active VC in the Great Lakes Region three years in a row (2017, 2018, and 2019). In 2019, Pitchbook also ranked Elevate 13th most active venture capital firm investing in early-stage companies globally. 2019 was also an active year for portfolio exits, with a record-breaking 13 total exits. Elevate Ventures investment programs include fund-of-fund investments, direct investments, grants and grant-matching programs. For every dollar Elevate Ventures invests, it pulls $7.50 from outside co-investors into Indiana companies. Since inception in 2011, Elevate Ventures has invested $99.7M in 338 startups which has been leveraged against $724.7M in private co-investment from 1,536 co-investors. In 2019, Elevate Ventures made 76 investments in Indiana companies, totaling $14.8M. 2019 Investments include (Fund # / $) : 21 Fund ( 8 / $7.67M); Indiana Angel Network Fund I (2 / $150K); 21 Fund Extender (20 / $5.27M); Community Ideation Fund (11 / $202.5K) Elevate Purdue Foundry Fund (9 / $240K); High Potential Startup (1 / $25K); SBIR/STTR (23 / $1.03M); Indiana Seed Fund (2 / $280K). Elevate Ventures Portfolio Companies generated 2,651 jobs with an average salary of $70.6K. Elevate Ventures' 8 Entrepreneurs-in-Residence and 34 Elevate Advisors provided advisory services to Indiana companies at no cost to the companies. In 2019, Elevate launched Elevate Origins, a pre-accelerator program created to prepare aspiring entrepreneurs within higher-education institutions and communities across Indiana. This online training series, administered by nationally-ranked accelerator gener8tor, teaches entrepreneurs how to evaluate their business ideas and ultimately develop an investor-ready business model, pitch deck, and executive summary. Elevate Origins first cohort received 75 applications and 26 companies graduated. As part of Elevate's newly formed Nexus University Initiate, each year, Elevate Nexus will award pre-seed and seed investments to startups launching the next high-growth businesses in Indiana. The pitch competitions will be held semiannually in February and October and will offer startups, preferably those engaged with Elevate Nexus partnered colleges and universities, the opportunity to secure foundational capital needed to launch their businesses. Pitch winners are invited to participate in the annual statewide competition for a chance to compete for larger investments. In 2019, 75 companies applied and $660K was committed to 15 companies through regional and statewide pitch competitions. Elevate hosted 45 events in 2019, attended by over 1,900 entrepreneurs and investors throughout the state. Furthering our support of Indiana Entrepreneurs, in April 2019 Elevate held its second annual Kinetic conference. Kinetic 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. Kinetic was attended by 455 people, included 214 investor one-on-one meetings, 52 speakers over 14 content sessions, and included over 50 investors/investment firms represented.
NTEE category: Community Improvement & Capacity Building
Secondary category: Philanthropy, Voluntarism & Grantmaking Foundations