Elevate Nexus regional pitch winners unveiled

INDIANAPOLIS (Inside INdiana Business) — Indianapolis-based Elevate Ventures has announced the winners of the regional Elevate Nexus pitch competitions. The organization says the pitches resulted in $660,000 in investments for the winning startups.

The awards are provided in $20,000 pre-seed investments and $80,000 seed investments. The majority of the winning startups are connected to a Hoosier university.

“This was an extremely difficult competition to judge with many great companies,” said Landon Young, executive director of university initiatives at Elevate Ventures. “We are thrilled to see the quality of Indiana companies continue to rise, a testament to Indiana’s support of innovation-driven companies.”

Young says at least one of the winning companies has already raised additional capital following the competition. The winners include:

Northern Indiana 

• Pre-Seed ($20,000 investment)
  • Groundata Technologies, South Bend, University of Notre Dame
  • SAFA, South Bend, University of Notre Dame
  • Tessellated, South Bend, University of Notre Dame 
• Seed ($80,000 investment)
  • Intrepid Phoenix Ventures, South Bend, University of Notre Dame
  • ProstheTech, South Bend, University of Notre Dame  

Central Indiana 

• Pre-Seed ($20,000 investment)
  • Adjuster Tools, Indianapolis, Indiana State University
  • Fia Technologies, Bloomington, Indiana University
  • NanoBio Designs, Indianapolis, Purdue University  
• Seed ($80,000 investment)
  • LeafTech Ag, Greenfield, Purdue University
  • Peak Mind, Indianapolis, Purdue University 

Southern Indiana

• Pre-Seed ($20,000 investment)
  • American Evidence Management, Vincennes, Purdue University
  • Utiliz, Evansville, Innovation Pointe
  • WANDR, Bloomington, Indiana University
• Seed ($80,000 investment)
  • DiningTek, New Albany
  • WayZada, Bloomington, Indiana University

All 15 winners will have the chance to compete for $320,000 in the Elevate Nexus Statewide competition this summer.