Innovation Showcase Pitch Competition participants unveiled
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The Venture Club on Indiana on Monday announced the 20 startups that will participate in next month’s Innovation Showcase Pitch Competition. The companies come from all over the state and will compete for a total of $25,000 across two categories: Life Sciences/Agtech and Digital Technology.
The participating companies are early-stage startups that were nominated by Indiana venture capital firms. They must be founded and based in Indiana to be eligible for the competition.
Additionally, startups must have raised no more than $5 million in outside dilutive capital since their formation, must have a bona fide expectation of raising follow-on capital within the next 12 months, and cannot have placed in the top 3 at any prior Innovation Showcase to participate.
“Those selected are truly representative of the diversity of talent and industries in Indiana,” Venture Club Chairperson Sandy Wilcox said in a news release. “We have startups that are commercializing technology developed at our great research universities, while others were founded by innovative entrepreneurs…solving unmet needs with their own ideas.”
Among this year’s startups is West Lafayette-based pharma-technology startup Novilytic LLC, which recently marked its commercial product launch and announced plans to expand to a second location in the Indianapolis area.
The company has developed technology that provides pharmaceutical companies with a real-time alert if a batch of drugs under development is contaminated.
Novilytic took part in last year’s pitch competition, and CEO Paul Dreier said while the company didn’t win, it still saw big benefits.
“As CEO of a young company, The Innovation Showcase was invaluable as it gave me the opportunity to connect with venture capitalists who were interested in investing in our future investment rounds,” Dreier said. “The exposure we got from the Showcase in the media and with other startups was priceless. Being invited back this year to pitch is exciting because we’re a totally different company with a product in the market, three more set to commercialize and orders from three major customers.”
The Venture Club of Indiana also spotlighted Indianapolis-based Everewear, a startup founded by an Indiana University graduate who developed an app that uses artificial intelligence to improve clothing resale.
The company recently won a $10,000 pre-seed investment through the Crossroads Pitch Competition hosted by The Mill in Bloomington, as well as a $20,000 investment in the Elevate Nexus Regional Pitch Competition in central Indiana.
The 20 startups participating in this year’s Innovation Showcase Pitch Competition are:
- Contango, West Lafayette, Nominated by Purdue Innovates
- Eclipse Orthopedics, Warsaw, Nominated by Elevate Ventures
- Everewear, Indianapolis, Nominated by IU Ventures
- FiberX, West Lafayette, Nominated by Elevate Ventures
- Flamel.ai, Indianapolis, Nominated by Allos Ventures
- GemViz, Warsaw, Nominated by Elevate Ventures
- GEOH, Indianapolis, Nominated by Boomerang Ventures
- My Habits, Indianapolis, Nominated by Techpoint
- Here Here Market, Hammond, Nominated by 50 South Capital
- Laxis, Evansville, Nominated by the Flywheel Fund
- Navigate Maternity, Fort Wayne, Nominated by 50 South Capital
- Novilytic, West Lafayette, Nominated by Purdue Innovates
- OmniVis, West Lafayette, Nominated by Purdue Innovates
- OuroBio, Indianapolis, Nominated by Elevate Ventures
- Quantum Research Sciences, Lafayette, Nominated by Elevate Ventures
- Razor Medical Instruments, Warsaw, Nominated by Elevate Ventures
- SecondSight, Bloomington, Nominated by Render Capital
- StoryBolt, Hammond, Nominated by 50 South Capital
- TitleWise Clarksville, Nominated by IU Ventures
- Toolsey, Fishers, Nominated by IU Ventures
The pitch competition is part of the 15th annual Innovation Showcase, which celebrates Indiana’s venture companies and startups. This year’s event will take place at the Biltwell Event Center in Indianapolis as part of the two-day Indiana Venture Summit hosted by 50 South Capital, the Venture Club of Indiana and TechPoint.