Innovate IndianaNews and information on how IU is driving innovation, entrepreneurship and economic development

IU Business Sustainability and Innovation Lab saves manufacturers millions

Posted on by Kevin Fryling

An initiative from the Indiana University Kelley School of Business has saved manufacturers in Indiana and beyond an estimated $91 million in just three years.

The statistic comes from the IU Business Sustainability and Innovation Lab, led by Amrou Awaysheh, an associate professor of operations and supply chain management and executive director at the IU Kelley School of Business in Indianapolis.

Since 2019, Awaysheh and his team of 14 have worked with over 450 facilities globally, with companies investing $24 million to date on projects. The cost savings –  in the form of higher machine up-time, better employee productivity, lower resource consumption and higher quality products going out the door – come through the use of sensors and AI technology.

The project has recently entered a new phase with the rollout of new sensors that collect new types of information – ranging from employee performance to machine metrics that can determine when machines need preventative maintenance.

Yogen V. Uttarkar, principal lead of product sustainability at Amazon Robotics, says: “IU students came up with strong system-level solutions and helped us with the methodology to optimize material circularity with logistics-based emissions. This will help Amazon become both more sustainable and more competitive.”

As one of the country’s top states for manufacturing, Indiana boasts a deep, existing supply chain network and the second-largest automotive industry in the U.S. According to the Indiana Economic Development Corporation, Indiana is home to 9,000 manufacturing operations and exports $34.8 billion in manufactured goods every year.

Awaysheh is also the founding director of the IU Energy Efficiency IoT Lab. Learn more about this work in the video below.

Serving Indiana’s innovation economy by connecting venture founders and funders

Posted on by Ryan Piurek

This week, IU Ventures, Indiana University’s early-stage venture and angel investment arm, will continue its mission of actively connecting new venture founders and funders from around Indiana and beyond. It will do so during one of the busiest weeks of innovation in the Hoosier state.

Back-to-back-to-back major events in Indianapolis, which will be held tomorrow and Thursday, Aug. 31 and Sept. 1, will introduce high-potential Hoosier startups to prospective investors. IU Ventures will join several partner firms at the events in serving Indiana’s goals to support and advance new business innovation and further the development of the state’s entrepreneurial ecosystem.

The series of events, collectively called “(Ind)Venture,” includes a venture capital summit, an innovation showcase and pitch contest, and a networking event for founders and investors. None of these events are new; they had previously existed as standalone events. But this year, the organizations driving them decided to team up to spotlight the best of Indiana innovation and entrepreneurship more effectively to leading venture capitalists.

IU Ventures Chief Venture Officer Jason Whitney
Jason Whitney, chief venture officer at IU Ventures and executive director of the IU Angel Network.

“This week’s events are providing an expanded opportunity to showcase some of the best new startups in Indiana and creating networking opportunities for investors so that we can continue to share up-and-coming deals with out-of-state investors beyond what they may see this week,” said Jason Whitney, chief venture officer at IU Ventures and executive director of the IU Angel Network. “Garnering the attention of those out-of-state investors is an important piece of our ever-expanding startup ecosystem.”

The events include:

  • The 2022 Next Level Fund Annual Summit, which will be held on Aug. 31 from 9:30 a.m. to 11:30 a.m. on the corporate campus of The Heritage Group. The event, which includes a keynote address from Indiana Gov. Eric Holcomb, will include programming featuring founders and management teams of innovative venture-backed companies as well as leading venture capitalists that invest in these companies.
  • The 2022 Innovation Showcase, which will be hosted by the Venture Club of Indiana, Aug. 31 from 11:15 a.m. to 6 p.m. at The Heritage Group. The event will feature pitches from 21 Indiana-based ventures, each of which has already attracted some investment, competing for a total of $20,000 in prize money. IU Ventures is one of the nominating Indiana investors, and the IU Kelley School of Business at IUPUI a showcase sponsor at this year’s event, which includes a lunch and expo, as well as a talk by Brad Chambers, Indiana secretary of commerce, CEO of the Indiana Economic Development Corporation and Kelley School alumnus. Samantha Ginther, former senior associate at IU Ventures and current member of IU Ventures’ new Executive in Residence Program, will moderate a panel at the showcase.
  • A VC Speed Dating event, which will be hosted by nonprofit growth accelerator TechPoint on Sept. 1, following a social networking breakfast (8 a.m. to 10 a.m.) at the Biltwell Event Center. The event will enable short meetings among investors and entrepreneurs seeking support for high-potential ventures. IU Ventures recently hosted a Founders & Funders Networking event featuring TechPoint President and CEO Mike Langellier, who introduced members of the IU Ventures network to several programs, including the Speed Dating, that can help advance their new ideas and innovations.

Earlier this year, IU Ventures was once again recognized as one of Indiana’s most active professional investors in the annual Indiana Venture Report from Elevate Ventures. IU Ventures, which manages multiple early-stage funds to support IU-affiliated entrepreneurs, made investments in nine Indiana companies totaling $1.2 million in 2021, adding to a growing portfolio that includes around two dozen Indiana companies.

News of the rankings came just after IU Ventures hosted the IU Founders & Funders Network Venture Summit at IU Bloomington, which brought together leading IU-affiliated entrepreneurs, innovators, investors and others driving the development of the university’s global venture ecosystem. The summit was sponsored by Innovate Indiana and presented in partnership with Bridge Bank.

More about IU Ventures is available online.

IU researchers recognized as next generation life science leaders

Posted on by Kevin Fryling

A new recognition program from an initiative to advance life sciences in Indiana has honored six researchers, faculty members or other individuals affiliated with Indiana University as the “next generation of life sciences leaders.”

23PAIR Award logo

The individuals are the inaugural recipients of BioCrossroads’s 23 PAIR, or Promising Achievers in Innovation and Research, Awards. Each recipient was nominated by a senior member of the state’s life science innovation community, many also affiliated with IU.

The recipients are described as “the most valuable resource to Indiana’s life sciences sector — those who are innovating, discovering, developing and delivering critical pharmaceuticals and biotech products, medical devices, equipment, and diagnostics as well as researching and creating new protocols to accelerate getting life improving and lifesaving products to patients all over the world.”

The IU-affiliated recipients are:

Nathan Alves, an assistant professor and director of translational research in the IU School of Medicine’s Department of Emergency Medicine. He is also CEO and co-founder of Indiana Lysis Technologies LLC, a startup company seeking to develop new, safer treatments for life-threatening blood-clots using a nanoparticle-based drug delivery platform developed by Alves, who holds seven U.S. patents. He was nominated by Gregory Coy, a partner at Taft Stettinius and Hollister, LLP, who served as one of Alves’ mentors through the BioCrossroads’ AXIS mentoring program.

Joseph Chabenne, an associate research professor in the IU Bloomington College of Arts and Sciences’ Department of Chemistry. Chabenne’s research focuses on an innovative approach to insulin-dependent diabetes treatment. He was nominated by Richard DiMarchi, IU Distinguished Professor and Linda and Jack Gill Chair in Biomolecular Science, in whose lab he earned a Ph.D. A former group vice president at Eli Lilly and Co., DiMarchi is known for his discovery and development of rDNA-derived Humalog® (LisPro-human insulin).

Erica Clinkenbeard, an assistant professor of medical and molecular genetics. Her research focuses on bone health and chronic kidney disease. Clinkenbeard was nominated by Ed Greenfield, a professor of orthopaedic surgery at the IU School of Medicine whose research investigate the use of FDA-approved drugs to block growth of lung cancers. Greenfield said Clinkenbeard’s research “could result in novel therapies for life-threatening conditions.”

Daniel Sheik, director of research at Amplified Sciences, a biotechnology company seeking to improve the treatment and detection of diseases such as pancreatic cancer based upon the research of Vincent Jo Davisson, a graduate of IU. A part of the IU Ventures portfolio, Amplified Biosciences has received investment from both the IU Philanthropic Fund and IU Angel Network. Sheik was nominated by Diana Caldwell, CEO of Amplified Sciences.

Travis Johnson, an assistant professor of biostatistics and health data science. Johnson’s research focuses on applying artificial intelligence and deep learning to understanding tumor and immune cell interactions, resulting in the identification of new biomarkers and therapeutic targets. He was nominated by Kun Huang, a professor and chair of biostatistics and health data science at the IU School of Medicine.

Ying Wang, an assistant professor of anesthesia at the IU School of Medicine. Her research advances the use integrative pain management with acupuncture to treat chronic pain associated with sickle cell disease and is supported in part by the NIH’s National Center for Complementary and Integrative Health. Wang was nominated by Fletcher White, the Vergil K. Stoelting Professor of Anesthesia at the IU School of Medicine.

Alves accepts a 23PAIR Award
Nathan Alves accepts a 23PAIR Award during a recognition event at The AMP at 16 Tech. Image courtesy Nathan Alves.

“Just as 23 pairs of chromosomes are the building blocks for the human body, Indiana’s life sciences sector is a critical and foundational component of the state’s economy,” said Lori LeRoy, executive vice president of communications for BioCrossroads.

“Indiana’s life sciences industry is fundamentally based on talent. We have some truly innovative early-in-career people who are doing groundbreaking work here that deserves to be put in the spotlight.”

A total of 23 individuals were named 23 PAIR awardees. The recipients were celebrated Aug. 23 during a recognition event at The AMP at 16 Tech in Indianapolis.

All winners and their nominators will also maintain engagement with BioCrossroads through activities and events, including coaching as “life sciences ambassadors.”

“The beauty of IoT”

Posted on by Ryan Piurek

As he prepares to retire from his “second career” in teaching, IUPUI professor Lou Lenzi discusses the importance and impact of the internet of things and the leading role IU is playing in the convergence of the classroom and industry.

When Lou Lenzi arrived to teach at Indiana University in 2016—after having spent 36 years designing and developing technological and other solutions for several major multinational corporations, including IBM, GE Healthcare and Thomson/RCA—he was determined to tear down any existing walls between the classroom and the corporate board room.

“At each one of my career stops, I was a big believer in internship programs and other experiential learning programs that gave students the opportunity to design and develop solutions to real-world, real-time marketplace challenges, while simultaneously giving employers an early glimpse at the pipeline of future employees,” says Lenzi, who will retire at the end of the month from his “second career” at the School of Informatics and Computing at IUPUI. “I really believed that the more we could connect our classroom activities to regional business and economic development initiatives—and the more we could raise awareness of our entrepreneurial spirit and problem-solving capabilities—the better off everyone would be.”

IUPUI Professor Lou Lenzi posing at Indiana IoT Lab in Fishers, Ind.
IUPUI human-computer interaction professor Lou Lenzi at the Indiana IoT Lab in Fishers, Ind.

As he began to conceive a new advanced curriculum in the school’s Department of Human-Centered Computing, Lenzi, who in 2016, was named one of the top 50 industrial designers over the last 50 years, envisioned a comingling of entrepreneurial-minded students with industry professionals that would expose students to a real-world, fast-paced business environment, as they worked to devise solutions to the most pressing challenges facing companies and community organizations.

Lenzi’s arrival at IU was as timely as his vision for a new design curriculum was prescient.

Around the time Lenzi joined IU, the “internet of things” was becoming a real thing. Though the actual term was coined by British technology pioneer Kevin Ashton in 1999 to describe the network connecting physical objects with sensors, software and other technological features to the Internet, it would be several more years before the IoT began to make a more pervasive and pronounced economic and societal impact.

Today, IoT devices—including cell phones, tablets, watches, home security and automation systems, household appliances, health monitors and vehicle communications systems, to name just a few—are routinely deployed across our home, consumer and manufacturing settings. And their usage is expected to grow exponentially. A recently published report indicates that the number of IoT devices are expected to climb to nearly 30 billion worldwide by 2030, triple the number from 2020.

Lenzi’s arrival at IU also coincided with Indiana’s increasing determination to support and catalyze innovation in IoT.  In 2018, Lenzi was asked to represent IU at the grand opening of a new, state-of-the-art Indiana IoT Lab in Fishers, Ind., a 24,000-square-foot facility that serves to connect Indiana’s leading entrepreneurs, startup companies and established companies and inspire the delivery of new IoT-driven solutions to the market. One of the founding members of the lab, IU arranged for an immediate presence in the space, which came in the form of an office and meeting space, across from a sponsored conference room. This sponsorship would enable IU students, faculty and staff to utilize the entire lab and all of its leading-edge equipment, including everything from 3-D printers and touch-screen walls to table saws.

“It was extremely fortunate that just as I was coming on board [IU Vice President for Government Relations and Economic Engagement] Bill Stephan and Tony Armstrong [IU associate vice president and president and CEO of IU Ventures] were talking about how Indiana University could develop a strong and active presence at the Indiana IoT Lab. They were looking to seize the opportunity to participate and interact more closely with companies around our state, and this dovetailed very nicely with a course we were building in IoT design and business innovation.”

Over the past five years, that course has generated more than 20 student-driven, industry-sponsored projects spanning such important industries as advanced manufacturing, energy management, home health, industrial automation, precision agriculture, process automation, rural telecommunications, and retail food and beverage.

Several of these projects have come out of the Indiana IoT Lab, including what Lenzi calls his program’s “first meaty project.” It led to the creation of a smart water filtration system for multinational coffeehouse chain Starbucks.

IUPUI students who designed a smart water filtration system for multinational coffeehouse chain Starbucks.
In 2019, a team of IUPUI students taught by Lenzi researched and designed a smart water filtration system for multinational coffeehouse chain Starbucks.

As part of a semester-long project in 2019, a team of IUPUI students researched water quality, learned how to retrieve data from interconnected appliances and then figured out how to create a data dashboard that would help Starbucks with preventative maintenance on water equipment used across more than 8,000 company locations across the U.S. To allow the students maximum interaction with its equipment, Starbucks installed a prototype water filtration system in the IoT Lab so the students could pull data from the sensors installed on the unit. There are only five such installations in the country—four are in Starbucks cafes and one is in the IoT Lab.

“This was the perfect situation where we had several really bright graduate students with an idea around creating data visualizations to address customer experience challenges faced by major retailers, a test bed and lab space at the IoT Lab in Fishers where Starbucks could mount its water filtration system, and the technological capability of retrieving data locally or from campus,” Lenzi says. “Today, the dashboards our students built are being used at Starbucks, which has been able to reduce its costs and improve the quality of its product through this user interface.

“It was a great spotlight on the value of IU’s engagement with IoT and the university’s partnerships with industry and community leaders focused on moving our economy forward.”

Since that time, Lenzi has overseen two to three fast-paced projects per semester, which he calls “design sprints.” These industry-sponsored initiatives have allowed students to advance their research and design skills in the latest digital media product areas, including smart technologies, while helping companies and community organizations determine how to solve such problems as increasing their productivity and operating efficiency, improving regulatory compliance, driving revenue growth and creating new revenue streams. These projects have also expanded beyond the IoT Lab to, among other statewide innovation spaces, the 16 Tech district in Indianapolis, The Mill in Bloomington, and IUPUI’s newest building, the 100,000-square-foot Innovation Hall, which opened last year.

In 2019, IUPUI students in Lenzi’s applied HCI program worked to devise innovative solutions to help Indianapolis residents who are homeless and hungry. The concepts included remodeling buses into mobile homeless shelters, installing solar-powered cellphone charging stations in public spaces and establishing community refrigerators in areas where there is a high demand for food.

The following year, another team of students, working with community leaders in Carmel, Ind., devised several innovative solutions using artificial intelligence technology to help emergency responders more quickly and effectively relay critical information to dispatchers, hospitals and central information units. For their efforts, the students were recognized with the top three prizes in the nationwide Tech to Protect Challenge, sponsored by the National Institute of Standards and Technology.

Last October, students swept up several of the biggest prizes, including the $25,000 grand prize, at central Indiana’s fifth annual AT&T 5G Sports Hackathon. The event challenged teams of student developers, designers and other creatives to develop cutting-edge mobile technologies that enhance the fan experience and spotlight the benefits of a 5G network. In Indianapolis, investment in 5G connectivity is seen as a major development in the city continuing to be a mecca for world-class sporting events, such as the Indianapolis 500, the Super Bowl and NCAA March Madness.

And this past spring, several teams of students engaged with customers of Endress+Hauser of Greenwood, Ind., to review their water monitoring and sensoring processes and suggest changes to improve their operations. Endress+Hauser, one of the largest field instrument manufacturers in the country, produces and sells a cloud-based IoT system for global water treatment monitoring and sensoring, which has applications across a number of regional Indiana industries.

“What Lou and his students have accomplished by successfully engaging in these industry-sponsored projects is truly extraordinary,” says David Gard, IU assistant vice president for economic development. “They’ve demonstrated the enormous interest in IoT, what it represents to business and community leaders in terms of innovation and entrepreneurial impact, and the potential for it to have a transformative impact on the lives of Hoosiers across our state.”

Over the past five years, IUPUI’s business innovation students have worked on projects with regional, national and multinational companies including, among others, Amazon, GE, IBM, Rolls Royce, Allegion, Beck’s Superior Hybrids, Delta Faucet Company and Guardian Machine Protection.

“The scope of these projects we’ve done is just mind-boggling,” Lenzi says. “Ag tech, we did that. Warehouse functioning, we did a project on that. We even did a project on youth sports and improving the experience of young athletes and that of their parents.”

IUPUI Professor Lou Lenzi uses an IQ-Wall in the ideation room at the Indiana IoT Lab in Fishers.
Lenzi uses an IQ-Wall in the ideation room at the Indiana IoT Lab in Fishers.

As pleased as he is with the number and variety of projects that have come out of his design curriculum, Lenzi is most proud of the impact those projects have had —especially in preparing IU students for successful careers as entrepreneurs and innovators.

“Many of my students have gone on to make an immediate impact in corporate settings, in laboratories and in internships. In each instance, they’ve confidently entered those environments with a mindset of ‘Hey, I can hang with you. I can speak your language. And I know how to help you solve your problem.’ It’s amazing what our students can bring to the table in terms of helping businesses advance their goals.”

Lenzi is equally satisfied with how those projects have helped to strengthen key industries vital to the success of the state’s economy, including manufacturing, and, more broadly, how they have contributed to an ever-expanding culture of entrepreneurship and innovation across IU and the communities it serves.

“When people think about the Internet of Things, they think of smart phones and other smart devices used in their homes, but we shouldn’t forget manufacturing and other industrial applications,” Lenzi says. “We’re invested in the IIoT—the industrial internet of things—which has enormous potential for solving the problems of the automotive and transportation sector, of process automation, the chemical industry, in food and beverage, in farming, and elsewhere. Part of our mission is to maintain the awareness of IoT as very broad and not just limited to the consumer world.”

“It’s all part of the value proposition of what we’re doing,” he continues. “We’re giving our students the experience of working within industry so that they can now go to Starbucks or to Google and immediately make an impact. We’re helping businesses be more productive, efficient and regulatory compliant. And we’re building a more innovative culture, which will give our state a competitive advantage in attracting new businesses, launching startups and creating high-quality jobs for Hoosiers.”

A few days shy of retiring from teaching, Lenzi, who will continue doing consulting work and leading design and business innovation workshops, is confident that the foundation is set for the partnership between IU’s innovation ecosystem and the state’s key industries to continue “moving forward.”

“That’s the beauty of IoT,” he says. “There’s so much right now in our field of view.”

New rankings spotlight flourishing startup communities in Indianapolis, Bloomington

Posted on by Ryan Piurek

IU and its early-stage venture investment arm, IU Ventures, are helping to advance Indiana’s strategy to provide local startups with resources they need to accelerate their development

This week saw the release of the annual Midwest Cities Rankings, which gauge the performance of communities across the Midwest region of the U.S. in terms of their startup activity, their positive business climates, and their access to talent, investment, accelerator initiatives and other resources that enable the growth of high-potential ventures.

Midwest Cities Rankings for Startups -- Chart showing Indianapolis as No. 3 ranked startup city
For the first time since the launch of the annual Midwest Cities Rankings, which spotlighted the impact of investments made by IU Ventures, Indiana University’s early-stage venture investment arm, Indianapolis is in the top three Midwestern cities for startup activity and support for new business ventures.

This year’s rankings, presented by M25, an early-stage venture firm based in Chicago, reflect the continued growth of the Midwest’s startup communities—large and small—and their preparedness to survive and thrive in moments of market downturns. Even though markets have slowed down from a “blistering” 2020-21, the last 12 months still saw record venture capital investment in Midwestern-based startups, according to a summary of the rankings, suggesting the positive impact of regional strategies to build high-growth yet sustainable new ventures.

The 2022 rankings also brought good news for Indiana University and IU Ventures, as the university and its early-stage venture investment arm engage in efforts to strengthen the state’s entrepreneurial ecosystem and culture of innovation. For the first time since the rankings began in 2017, there was a shakeup in the top three Midwestern cities in the rankings, with Indianapolis jumping up one spot to third place, displacing the traditional order of Chicago, Minneapolis and Pittsburgh.

As noted in the rankings’ report, the biggest single factor to Indianapolis’ rise among startup cities is Indiana’s aggressiveness in launching and maintaining resources—including direct startup investing and a competitive angel tax credit—to support the growth and development of new business ventures.

The report references one of those new ventures, Encamp, co-founded in 2017 by IU Bloomington College of Arts and Sciences graduates Luke Jacobs and Daniel Smedema, which has seen steady investment at every stage of its venture capital financing. Encamp recently announced it had received $30 million in Series C funding to help further develop its pioneering environmental compliance platform that is being used by enterprises across the U.S.

Midwest Cities Rankings -- Chart showoing Bloomington, Ind., as No. 15 in rankings
Bloomington achieved its highest-ever spot in the Midwest Cities Rankings, finishing one spot ahead of its northern college-town rival, Lafayette.

Also mentioned in the report in connection with Encamp’s fundraising success is IU Ventures, which earlier this year was again recognized as one of Indiana’s most active professional investors. IU Ventures is the first “institutional” investor in Encamp, providing more than $775,000 in financial support for the company since 2019. Encamp has used these early investments—as well as financial support from other Indianapolis-based investors, including Allos and High Alpha—to dramatically expand its business operations and workforce and continue to improve its software platform, despite the challenges of the COVID-19 pandemic. Nearly 200 businesses (double the number from 2019) now use Encamp in more than 8,000 regulated facilities throughout the U.S., including a growing number of businesses listed in the Fortune 1000 and Fortune 100.

The rankings also illustrated strong startup growth in several Midwestern college towns, including Bloomington, Ind., which, for the first time ever, edged out its northern rival, Lafayette, in the rankings. Bloomington placed 15th, its highest-ever spot in the rankings, just behind Milwaukee, and one spot ahead of Lafayette, home to Purdue University.

As noted previously in this blog, IU and IU Ventures have been deeply engaged in energizing Bloomington’s innovation and startup culture, as well as its broader economic development goals. They continue to provide financial capital—as well as access to talent, expertise, mentorship, industry connections and other resources—to new ventures and partners across the greater Bloomington region. These investments have helped catalyze the growth of several fast-emerging IU-affiliated ventures that are growing their operations in Bloomington.

Ravi Bhatt
IU alumnus Ravi Bhatt, co-founder and CEO of Folia, recently moved his company from Chicago to Bloomington and is accelerating his business objectives with the support of a “milestone” $1 million investment from IU Ventures.

These ventures include:

  • Folia – founded by Ravi Bhatt, who earned his degree in cognitive science from IU Bloomington’s College of Arts and Sciences. Bhatt recently moved Folia, which serves the annotation needs of more than 1 million people daily, from Chicago to Bloomington. IU Ventures recently delivered a “milestone” investment in Folia by contributing just over $1 million to the company’s latest seed funding round through two of its major investment programs: the IU Angel Network and IU Philanthropic Venture Fund. This was the first time these funds co-invested in the same round.
  • Periodic – founded by former IU Bloomington student and Bloomington tech entrepreneur Brad Wisler. With the support of three separate financial investments in the past four years from IU Ventures’ Innovate Indiana Fund, Periodic, a software developer specializing in helping businesses with their calendaring and appointment scheduling needs, has joined forces with the Exclaimer Group, one of the world’s market leaders in email signature management solutions. The merger will enable Periodic to continue to expand locally and move into the new Trades District portion of the Bloomington Certified Technology Park.
  • Summaforte – founded by IU alumni and father-son team Jeff and Murtagh Thinnes. Last summer, IU Ventures invested $460,000 through the IU Angel Network, which at that point was the network’s largest investment, in the health and wellness company focused on performance and recovery of professional gamers.
  • Stagetime – founded by Jennie Moser, IU Jacobs School of Music alumna. IU Ventures recently announced its third investment in three years in this online talent-showcase platform that helps performers market themselves and find audition opportunities. Stagetime completed a $1.5M fundraising round last fall, and has been described as the “LinkedIn for the performing arts.”

IU is also one of three cornerstone sponsors of The Mill, which has become the largest coworking space in central Indiana for startups and entrepreneurs and one of the Midwest’s leading centers for new technology and other innovation. Additionally, this past spring, IU Ventures hosted the inaugural IU Founders & Funders Network Venture Summit at IU Bloomington, which brought together the best of IU’s venture community and innovation leaders from around the state and nation.

Read the summary of the 2022 rankings.

Learn more about IU Ventures.

CHIPS Act to provide major boost to IU innovation, STEM-related initiatives

Posted on by Ryan Piurek

This morning, President Joe Biden signed into law the CHIPS and Science Act of 2022, a $280 billion bipartisan bill that includes investments in emerging technologies and innovations critical to America’s economic competitiveness, scientific and technology leadership, and national security.

 

Indiana University was one of the first universities to support the legislation, previously known as the “Endless Frontier Act,” which will boost domestic manufacturing of computer chips and authorize more than $100 billion in new funding at the National Science Foundation and Department of Energy Office of Science to advance research and development in several key technological fields, including semiconductors, artificial intelligence, biotechnology and quantum computing. The bill will also advance diversity in science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) education and workforce develop programs designed to prepare American workers to succeed in the highly skilled jobs of emerging industries.

Indiana Sen. Todd Young served as the lead Republican sponsor and was instrumental in securing strong bipartisan support in Congress for the legislation. Because of Young’s leadership in writing the bill, IU was invited to weigh in at various points throughout the process of fine-tuning the legislation.

A section-by-section analysis and summary of the bill are available online.

IU economic engagement and government relations leaders stressed the implications of the legislation on the university’s efforts to advance STEM-related education and research.

To this end, the CHIPS Act will:

  • authorize an NSF-sponsored “AI Scholarships for Service” program, modeled on the NSF CyberCorps Scholarships for Service program. Both IU Bloomington and IUPUI are NSF CyberCorps grantees;
  • invest in regional innovation and technology hubs across the country, bringing together leaders from business, community, government and higher education organizations to create regional partnerships to develop technology, innovation and manufacturing sectors;
  • provide support for technology transfer capacity building at research universities — it is the first federal program designed to support university tech transfer operations; and
  • authorize $13 billion for STEM education, including scholarships, fellowships and traineeships to create workers in critical fields, a national network for microelectronics education and cybersecurity workforce development programs.

IU’s Office of Federal Relations, which is included in the Office of the Vice President for Government Relations and Economic Engagement, plans to work closely with all IU campuses, schools and departments to vigorously pursue the opportunities that emerge from the CHIPS and Science Act.

‘Hungry, humble and smart’

Posted on by Ryan Piurek

IU Ventures-backed company Encamp relies on IU and Indiana roots to achieve genuine growth and impact

This week’s news that Indianapolis-based software company Encamp had secured $30 million in Series C funding to help further develop its innovative environmental compliance platform came as welcome—but not at all surprising—news for IU Ventures, Indiana University’s early-stage venture and angel investment arm. IU Ventures was an early champion of the trailblazing company with deep IU roots that, from its inception, has been determined to be a leader in the environmental health and safety industry and a major contributor to the economic vitality of the Hoosier state.

IU Ventures is the first “institutional” investor in Encamp, providing more than $775,000 in financial support for the company, which offers a first-of-its-kind software product to organizations seeking to improve their environmental compliance operations and mitigate the risks of non-compliance. The company was co-founded in 2017 by Luke Jacobs and Daniel Smedema, graduates of IU Bloomington’s College of Arts and Sciences.

In 2019, IU Ventures invested $250,000 in the company through the IU Philanthropic Venture Fund, which aims to bridge gaps in venture funding by making equity investments in high-potential early-stage companies with IU affiliations. The investment closed out Encamp’s $1.1 million seed-funding round, which concluded shortly after the company graduated from the gBeta Indy accelerator program for early-stage companies preparing for initial funding rounds. IU Ventures followed this investment with an additional $151,000 in financial support in 2020 and another $373,000 last year. The latter investment was part of Encamp’s $12 million Series B funding round, one of the largest rounds raised in Indiana last year.

Luke Jacobs
Encamp co-founder and CEO Luke Jacobs

Encamp has used these early investments to dramatically expand its business operations and workforce and continue to improve its software platform. Nearly 200 businesses (double the number from 2019) now use Encamp in more than 8,000 regulated facilities throughout the U.S., including a growing number of businesses listed in the Fortune 1000 and Fortune 100. The company’s growth also includes a 500% increase in annual recurring revenue in 2021 and a 200% increase in its workforce of around 60 software engineers, product developers, environmental consultants, customer experience professionals, and sales and marketing staff, with the goal to more than double again by the end of this year.

Encamp will further develop its platform’s capabilities as businesses increasingly face the growing complexities of successfully collecting, managing and analyzing environmental compliance data across varying state guidelines. Not successfully handling such data can be costly and damaging; according to a company news release, the general minimum for regulatory non-compliance is $62,689 per day/per violation just for the federal EPCRA act alone. Encamp, which competed for “Tech Product of the Year” at TechPoint’s annual Mira Awards earlier this spring, will also look to develop new technologies to help companies comply with Clean Water Act, Clean Air Act and other federal toxic release regulations, while also expanding its hazardous material and waste compliance automation capabilities internationally.

As IU Ventures President and CEO Tony Armstrong noted in a recent op-ed for the Indianapolis Star, Encamp has experienced major growth during the global COVID-19 pandemic, which has caused many early-stage companies to scale back their business plans. The company’s ability to overcome the pandemic-related disruptions of the past two years, he added, suggests the key role private investment—including venture capital—is playing in catalyzing job creation across Indiana and ensuring the state’s overall economic competitiveness.

Jacobs, who serves as Encamp’s CEO, is quick to underscore the impact that IU Ventures’ investment has had as Encamp accelerates its business development, generating interest from other investors and enabling the company to pursue plans to grow the business despite the challenges of COVID-19.

“IU Ventures was our first institutional investor, our first fund,” Jacobs says. “We had a large local angel cohort, but within our first $1.1 million of funding, $250,000 of that came from IU. That investment really was the initial momentum-builder. IU Ventures committing capital, demonstrating that level of trust and giving us that major vote of confidence very early on when we were a new business—that really got the ball rolling.”

“Now we’re in a really good position,” he continues. “At a time of market compression, we’re leaning into our development, hiring great talent and working with more corporations looking to increase efficiencies while still being compliant. And we’re doing all of this in Indianapolis, which has been really gratifying.”

Encamp logoIn addition to helping elevate Encamp’s credibility, IU Ventures also provided the company with valuable advice, mentorship and business connections, Jacobs says. Through the founder-funder relationship, Jacobs has become closely involved with The Mill, Bloomington’s downtown center for coworking and entrepreneurship, and has built relationships with fellow IU alums including Ellie Symes and Wyatt Wells, co-founders of the successful agtech startup The Bee Corp, which is also headquartered in Indianapolis. (Jacobs shares another notable connection with Symes and Wells: All were recently named to Forbes’ prestigious ’30 Under 30′ list.)

Encamp logoJacobs studied ecology as a student at IU Bloomington, where he met Daniel Smedema, who was pursuing an education in cognitive science. (The pair were introduced as freshmen, when they were both selected to participate in the College of Arts and Sciences’ Integrated Freshmen Learning Experience.) After both graduated from IU in 2015, they hatched the idea for Encamp with Jacobs’ brother, Sam, who had experience in human resource software. They started their venture with $12,000 in the bank and paid one another $800 a month the first year they were in business.

If $12,000 seems a long way from $30 million, it is, but Jacobs says his liberal arts education at IU Bloomington, Midwestern roots and “boot-strapping heritage” of his company will keep him grounded even as Encamp continues to scale new heights. While at IU, he was introduced to the ideas of American business management author Patrick Lencioni, who described the ideal team player as “hungry, humble and smart.”

“We want to be really hungry, humble, smart and into our mission, but we’re not an ego-driven place,” he says. “A pretty unique part of Encamp … me and my two co-founders, none of us are traditional business people. I was planning on a doctorate in ecology. Together, we started this company because we saw a problem and wanted to help out. If we could do Encamp with 20 people and service the world, we probably would.”

For more on Jacobs and the beginnings of Encamp, check out the terrific “Software Meets Science” feature story in the fall 2021 issue of “The College” magazine.

A matter of scale: Kelley School graduate, venture analyst Dhruv Kapoor to discuss taking new ventures to the next level

Posted on by Ryan Piurek

Want to know more about scaling up a new business venture? Who better to learn from than an angel?

Indiana University alumnus Dhruv Kapoor is currently an investor at The Chernin Group, where he focuses on sourcing, executing and leading multi-stage investments in consumer businesses across the fields of media, entertainment and technology. Prior to joining TCG, he was an investor at Five Elms Capital, a tech growth equity firm with more than $1.5 billion under management and over 50 platform investments globally

Dhruv Kapoor
Dhruv Kapoor

Kapoor is also an avid member of the IU Angel Network, one of the major investment programs managed by IU Ventures, which leads IU’s investment in high-potential new venture opportunities with strong university connections. As part of IU’s growing network of business founders and funders, he is committed to helping further the university’s culture of entrepreneurship and innovation.

Next week, Kapoor will put on his halo and return to his alma mater for the inaugural IU Founders and Funders Network Venture Summit, which will be held May 12-13 at the Indiana Memorial Union. Hosted by IU Ventures, the summit will bring together the “best of IU’s venture community,” allowing members of this group to connect with and learn from like-minded industry leaders and find investment, expertise, mentorship and other resources they need to build their businesses.

On Friday, May 13, he will participate in an afternoon panel session on the importance of quickly scaling a new business venture and the key milestones potential investors are looking for. The panel, which will also include IU alumni Ellie Symes (co-founder and CEO of The Bee Corp) and Peter Kennedy (president and founder of Tagger Media), will also explore such topics as developing a robust go-to-market strategy, building a winning culture, hardwiring scalable processes and considering a non-founder CEO. Jason Whitney, vice president of venture development at IU Ventures and executive director for the IU Angel Network, will moderate the session.

Originally from Mumbai, India, Kapoor graduated from IU’s renowned Kelley School of Business, earning a B.S. in business with a focus on finance and music. While at IU, he founded and captained the IU squash team and was a member of the Investment Banking Network and Capital Markets Workshop.

Kapoor also writes about hot trends and investments in the venture ecosystem in a newsletter he calls “Weekly SaaSology.”

Registration for the summit, which will be presented by Bridge Bank, a division of Western Alliance Bank, is still open on the IU Ventures website. Registration is $95 and includes all summit programming.