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‘Hungry, humble and smart’

Posted on June 10, 2022 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.

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Filed under: Alumni, Economic Development, Engagement, Entrepreneurship, IU Ventures, Technology Commercialization, Workforce DevelopmentTagged College of Arts and Sciences, Daniel Smedema, Encamp, entrepreneurship, environmental compliance, environmental health and safety, Forbes 30 Under 30, Innovation, IU Philanthropic Venture Fund, IU Ventures, Luke Jacobs, Mira Awards, The Bee Corp

Kelley School, Indy Chamber initiative supports success of small businesses in central Indiana

Posted on May 19, 2022 by Ryan Piurek

A partnership between the Indy Chamber Business Ownership Initiative and the Kelley School of Business at IUPUI, initiated at the end of the first year of the COVID-19 pandemic, is entering its next phase of supporting small businesses across central Indiana.

Enterprise Corps serves as an accelerator for small businesses in the region — with an emphasis on historically underserved businesses — connecting them with Indiana University faculty “coaches” and teams of Kelley School MBA students as they aim to grow their operations and continue to overcome the challenges of the global health crisis.

From July 2021: Evening MBA students at the Kelley School of Business at IUPUI (from left to right) Jingshan Yin, MBA’21, Adiva Ayub, BS’17, MBA’22 and Chelsea Schmidt, MBA’21 meet with Suzette Sweatt, owner of group fitness business SweattBoxx Wellness Center of Indianapolis. SweattBoxx was one of 22 central Indiana small businesses selected last summer as an Enterprise Corps project at the Kelley School.

The first phase of the Enterprise Corps project began in December 2020, pairing 10 Kelley School faculty members with an equal number of Black- and Hispanic-owned small businesses for management coaching, training and mentoring sessions. Over a period of several months, the faculty members worked with the owners of each business — many of whom had struggled to survive the COVID-19 lockdown — to develop plans for acquiring financial capital, entrepreneurial knowledge and network connections.

Last summer, the project partnered teams of Kelley Evening MBA students working to complete their summer “capstone” projects with 22 small business owners from across central Indiana referred by the Indy Chamber’s Rapid Response Hub. In September, Enterprise Corps helped the owners, all but one of whom were people of color, pursue implementation of strategic recommendations made by the MBA teams.

With the Chamber’s continued support, Enterprise Corps has added another 20 businesses to its client roster this summer, and IU students and faculty will begin working directly with them in the next several days as the Kelley School’s newest summer capstone projects begin. The project’s partners intend to onboard a total of 50 new businesses by the end of the year and then steadily grow to 100 additional businesses by the end of 2023 and 200 more businesses by the end of 2024. (Companies “graduate” from the program when they reach $10 million in revenue.)

“The Enterprise Corps collaboration between the Kelley School and Indy Chamber advances equitable opportunities for our entrepreneurial community and promotes wealth generation for historically marginalized communities,” said Sarah MacInnis, Indy Chamber’s vice president of Small Business Development. “Through commitments like Enterprise Corps, we can advance the continued evolution of Indy’s entrepreneurial ecosystem as an ideal place to create, grow and advance a business for all.”

The long-term goal of Enterprise Corps is to build out its technical infrastructure and raise enough support to expand into a large regional network of specialized experts and coaches who can provide year-round knowledge, analysis and mentorship to small businesses that join the program. The Indy Chamber has already adopted Enterprise Corps as a lead regional small business initiative, and for its newest phase the project will partner with the Indy Black Chamber of Commerce, Mid-States Minority Supplier Development Council and the Business Equity for Indy collaborative to expand the project’s offerings, reach and impact on a larger set of businesses.

Last week, Phil Powell, associate dean of academic programs at the Kelley School at IUPUI, served as the featured presenter at the second-quarter meeting of the IU Council for Regional Engagement and Economic Development. CREED addresses regional economic concerns and identifies ways that IU can use its resources to advance economic development efforts in the state.

Phil Powell
Phil Powell

During the CREED meeting, Powell, a scholar in economic development and award-winning MBA teacher in economics, discussed the keys to the initial success of Enterprise Corps and plans to expand the project’s ecosystem in ways that ultimately raise central Indiana’s ranking as a place where small businesses achieve success.

“This is an accelerator project,” Powell said. “As long as small businesses owners are engaged with Enterprise Corps, we want them to have wraparound support so they can get up to the graduation point of $10 million in revenue. We’re focused on the small businesses that are looking to accelerate their growth and scale their market presence. These are the businesses that will drive economic development in central Indiana.”

“Our partnership with the Indy Chamber has been central to the success of Enterprise Corps,” he added. “We’ve really come together with the Chamber to advance our shared goal of helping small business owners maximize their talent and drive to build profitable enterprises. To this end, we want to help them overcome the barriers to their success, including not enough access to knowledge, networks and financial capital.”

Though the project began in the early days of the COVID-19 pandemic, Powell is quick to underscore that it’s not a “flash in the pan.” As Enterprise Corps-affiliated faculty and students discover more about the communities they’re serving, they’ve identified a number of “aspirational” programs that they hope to establish in the coming months to more effectively respond to the needs of small business owners. These programs are designed to provide greater access to, among other resources, loan capital and customers, coaching and mentorship, undergraduate interns and digital marketing support.

“This is a multi-decade vision,” Powell said. “We’ve got a staged process we’ve laid out, and we’re being deliberate and patient as we build our infrastructure. At the same time, we’re really excited by the success we’ve had so far, and our staff and faculty are really enjoying this effort because it breaks the mold of how your traditional university does business. It’s about committing to a singular goal, getting the job done and making central Indiana a more competitive region in terms of economic mobility and small business creation.”

Additional related links:

Fitness boutique rebrands after COVID thanks to consulting partnership with Kelley Evening MBA students.

Kelley Evening MBA Consulting projects lift up small business owners in central Indiana (YouTube video). 

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Filed under: Economic Development, Engagement, Entrepreneurship, Faculty, Statewide Engagement, Students, Workforce DevelopmentTagged business accelerator, Business Equity for Indy, COVID-19, CREED, Economic Development, Engagement, Indy Black Chamber of Commerce, Indy Chamber, IU Council for Regional Engagement and Economic Development, Kelley School of Business, Mid-States Minority Supplier Development Council, pandemic, Phil Powell, Sarah MacInnis

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

Posted on May 6, 2022 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.

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Filed under: Alumni, Economic Development, Engagement, Entrepreneurship, IU VenturesTagged Bridge Bank, Dhruv Kapoor, Ellie Symes, IU Angel Network, IU Founders and Funders Network, IU Ventures, Jason Whitney, Kelley School of Business, Peter Kennedy, Tagger Media, The Bee Corp, The Chernin Group

Tech innovator Scott McCorkle, co-founder and CEO of MetaCX, to deliver keynote at upcoming IU Ventures summit

Posted on April 21, 2022 by Ryan Piurek

Since receiving an MBA from Indiana University’s Kelley School of Business in 1995, Scott McCorkle has built a reputation as a globally recognized marketing tech leader and one of Indiana’s most successful innovators.

Next month, the co-founder and CEO of Indianapolis-based MetaCX will return to his alma mater to address members of IU’s ever-expanding community of entrepreneurs, innovators and investors at the inaugural IU Founders & Funders Network Venture Summit, which will be held May 12-13 at IU Bloomington’s Indiana Memorial Union. The summit is being hosted by IU Ventures, IU’s early-stage venture and angel investment arm.

Scott McCorkle
Scott McCorkle

McCorkle has more than a quarter century of experience leading teams in the business of emerging marketing technologies, most recently as the CEO of Salesforce Marketing Cloud and as president of technology and strategy at Indianapolis-based ExactTarget, which Salesforce acquired in 2013 for $2.5 billion. He spent 11 years at ExactTarget and Salesforce, helping to build one of the world’s leading cross-channel digital marketing software platforms. Prior to his career at Salesforce, McCorkle served in leadership roles with tech companies including Software Artistry, Mezzia and IBM.

McCorkle has taken on a new adventure as the co-founder and CEO of MetaCX. Founded in 2018 and headquartered in Indianapolis, MetaCX has created a first-of-its-kind network that allows businesses that join to increase the value of their relationships with customers, vendors and other stakeholders. The company has raised more than $31 million to date, which includes multiple investments from several venture capital firms.

McCorkle will deliver the keynote address at the concluding event of the summit — a dinner to celebrate the spirit of entrepreneurship and innovation across the entire IU community. During the dinner, IU Ventures will announce the newest recipients of the Spirit of Venture Award, which is given to members of IU’s network of founders and funders who exhibit success in entrepreneurship and innovation, provide mentorship and support to IU affiliated founders and funders, and demonstrate noteworthy service to IU.

In his address, McCorkle is expected to share wide-ranging remarks about building a thriving entrepreneurial ecosystem, the state of venture capital and his insights for building a successful tech venture.

The summit will be presented by Bridge Bank, a division of Western Alliance Bank.

Registration for the summit is now open on the IU Ventures website. Registration is $95 and includes all summit programming.

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Filed under: Alumni, Engagement, Entrepreneurship, Faculty, IU Ventures, Staff, Statewide Engagement, Students, Technology CommercializationTagged ExactTarget, Founders and Funders Network Conference, IU Ventures, MetaCX, Salesforce, Scott McCorkle, Venture Summit

New IU Athletics-IU Ventures partnership serves to propel IU’s rowing team

Posted on April 19, 2022 by Ryan Piurek

Indiana University’s nationally ranked women’s rowing team has practiced this spring in high-tech style, clad in wearable technology that collects real-time data on their respiratory rates, oar placement and other performance metrics.

The team’s access to this new technology has been made possible through a nascent partnership between IU’s storied athletics program and IU Ventures, which leads IU’s investment in high-potential new venture opportunities with strong university connections.

Recently, IU Ventures helped make a connection between the Hoosiers’ sports staff and Sentinel Occupational Safety, a Department of Defense spinoff company that aims to preserve the lives of professionals in high-risk employment sectors, such as health care, fire departments, law enforcement and manufacturing. The company was co-founded in 2020 by CEO Zachary Kiehl, who earned an MBA from the IU Kelley School of Business.

In 2021, IU Ventures invested in Sentinel through the IU Angel Network, which connects IU-affiliated investors with early-stage startups led by members of the IU community. Members of the IU Angel Network praised the rapid success of Sentinel’s SafeGuard platform, which uses data collected via multiple human-worn and environmental sensors to track employee health and safety in real time and predict future risks.

The company’s intelligent technology has proven to be especially well-equipped to meet the needs of the nation’s defense industry, including the U.S. Navy and U.S. Air Force, as well as the greater industrial safety market. In February, Sentinel announced it had completed a $2.1 million fundraising round, which included the backing from IU Angel Network members. Kiehl has also shared plans to transfer the company’s platform to other markets where it can have an impact, such as physical performance, athletics and law enforcement.

Rowing is one of the most physically demanding of all sports. It requires significant physical strength to propel the boat through the water at high speeds, as well as major muscular and cardiovascular endurance.

For years, Steve Peterson, head coach of the IU women’s rowing team, had been unsuccessfully searching for a one-stop solution for monitoring key benchmarks of his athletes, including heart rates, respiratory rates, positioning of the rowing oars and the force applied to them. He sought to access this data from the “coaching launch,” the motorized boat used by coaches to follow practicing boats during workouts.

With Sentinel now on board, he can finally access many of the metrics he needs to improve his team’s performance while on the water.

“Having all that in one place in the coaching launch to see live … there’s nothing like it,” Peterson said.

For Sentinel, the project is a perfect opportunity to field test its technology as the company seeks to broaden and enhance its usage.

Kiehl said the partnership has allowed Sentinel to assess the technology in action, get usability feedback from the athletes and experiment with the platform, while working with the team’s coaching staff to learn what kinds of features would be most helpful.

Zachary Kiehl
Zachary Kiehl. Photo courtesy of Sentinel Occupational Safety

For the team at IU Ventures, the initiative marks a significant milestone in a broader effort to translate IU creativity and entrepreneurial spirit into sports-related innovations in, among other areas, health and life sciences, data analytics, materials and apparel, and e-sports. In the coming months, IU Ventures will seek to engage IU’s global community of entrepreneurs who have ventures in these spaces, finding how IU can accelerate their growth and working with industry leaders to create solutions to their biggest challenges.

Kiehl is already a big fan of the effort.

“IU Ventures has been tremendously helpful to Sentinel and I would even extend that beyond this to just general IU,” he said. “From education to financial support to networking to opportunities to pilot these types of environments, it’s really the whole package. It’s truly a win-win opportunity and it’s been phenomenal for our business. I’m very excited by the potential for growth.”

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Filed under: Alumni, Economic Development, Engagement, Entrepreneurship, IU Ventures, Technology CommercializationTagged IU Angel Network, IU Athletics, IU Ventures, IU women's rowing team, Kelley School of Business, occupational safety, rowing, Sentinel, Steve Peterson, Zachary Kiehl

IU’s Shoebox Fund invests in two new student startups

Posted on April 19, 2022 by Ryan Piurek

An investment fund that supports IU student innovation announces investment in FoodMeets and Solesca

An app that connects people through dining-out experiences and a startup creating software to help farmers implement solar power are the latest student startups to benefit from the Shoebox Fund, an investment fund that supports student innovation and entrepreneurship at Indiana University.

The startups, which each received a total of $5,000, are:

  • FoodMeets, an app that matches like-minded people who share the same interests and food choices, founded by Victoria Nopporn, a sophomore at the Kelley School of Business in Bloomington, and Jayapriya Una, a sophomore at the IU Luddy School of Informatics, Computing and Engineering.
  • Solesca, a startup creating software to assist in the implementation of solar power systems co-located with crops or livestock, co-founded by Sam Schierloh, a junior at the IU Kelley School of Business in Bloomington.

“The Shoebox has continued to foster a strong community of IU student inventors and entrepreneurs, which is reflected in our ability to have teams as strong as FoodMeets and Solesca be eligible for support through the Shoebox Fund,” said Travis J. Brown, senior executive assistant dean of innovation, entrepreneurship and commercialization and executive director of the Shoemaker Innovation Center at the Luddy School. “They are a reflection of the high caliber of startups we are incubating.”

FoodMeets

Based upon a “swiping and matching” algorithm popularized in dating apps, FoodMeets is a social networking application that connects two or more people who want to discover new places to eat. After matching people based upon their interests, the app also assists with the planning process, recommending local restaurants for users based on their food preferences, schedule and budget.

Victoria Nopporn
Victoria Nopporn

The app, which is currently in beta testing, is based upon an idea developed by Nopporn and Una during their participation in a DECA competition. (Formerly known as Distributive Education Clubs of America, DECA is a youth organization for American and Canadian high school and college students interested in business, marketing, management and entrepreneurship.) More recently, FoodMeets won $20,000 from Elevate Venture’s 2021 Regional Elevate Nexus Pre-Seed Competition and earned status as a finalist at the Johnson Center for Entrepreneurship and Innovation’s 2021 Vernon Clapp IDEA Competition and a semi-finalist at the The Mill’s 2021 Crossroads Pitch Competition. The startup aims to pilot a more developed version of the app in larger cities such as Chicago and New York by early 2023, and nationwide by 2024

Jayapriya Una
Jayapriya Una

“As foodies and avid users of social media and matching apps, we came to realize that we could transform our high school project into a viable business,” said Nopporn, a graduate of Carmel High School, along with Una. “The Shoebox Fund has given us access to valuable one-on-one relationships with mentors who are dedicated to helping the entrepreneurs before their startup launch. The guidance has been crucial as we leapt into the deep end learning to run a startup for the first time. We’re grateful to the Shoebox Fund for the chance to learn and grow.”

Individuals who want to sign up to beta test the FoodMeets app can learn more on FoodMeet’s Instagram page.

Solesca

Driven by the founders’ desire to address climate change, Solesca is a software startup focused on assisting in the development of “agrivoltaic systems,” or solar panels located on the same land as crops or livestock in order to maximize efficiency and land usage. The app provides users with the most cost-effective layout for their solar panels, maximizing megawatt hours while considering factors such as crop shading, accommodating equipment and safety.

The company, co-founded by Schierloh and Brendan Devine, a junior mechanical engineering major at Harvard University, began as a backyard project to convert used solar cells into phone battery chargers. After efforts to turn the project into a larger business revealed challenges related to scalability and patenting, the founders shifted their focus to agrivoltaic system software to capitalize upon their previously established relationships in the solar industry. With support from the Shoebox Fund, Schierloh and Devine will attend the Large Scale Solar USA conference this June in Austin, Texas, where they will showcase their software and connect with future customers. The team also plans to integrate feedback from solar developers at the conference to strengthen their product prior to launching for early adopters in the fall.

Samuel Schierloh
Sam Schierloh

“The Shoemaker Innovation Center has been a huge help in the development of our business,” said Schierloh. “Getting 24-hour access to a center where you can work on your business is not something you see at many other universities. The Shoebox has provided access to resources such as legal help and venture capital guidance — as well as a community of individuals who all share a similar desire to have an impact through their business. We want to make Solesca a major player in the solar software industry.”

Established through a gift from Donna and John Shoemaker in 2021, the Shoebox Fund supports companies to emerge from the Shoebox, the student startup incubator in the Shoemaker Innovation Center at the Luddy School. The fund is administered by the school in partnership with IU Ventures, which leads IU’s investment in high-potential new venture opportunities with strong university connections.

“Shoebox clients are given a wealth of resources through the Shoemaker Innovation Center, but they come with the expectation that the startups continue to show progress,” said Brown. “Thanks to Donna and John’s generosity, we have managed to build a thriving hub of dedicated, serious entrepreneurs.”

Kevin Fryling, a senior communications specialist at IU Studios, was the lead contributor on this story.

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Filed under: Economic Development, Engagement, Entrepreneurship, IU Ventures, Students, Technology Commercialization, UncategorizedTagged dating apps, Donna Shoemaker, FoodMeets, IU Ventures, Jayapriya Una, John Shoemaker, Kelley School of Business, Luddy School of Informatics, Sam Schierloh, Shoebox Fund, Shoemaker Innovation Center, solar panels, Solesca, Travis Brown, Victoria Nopporn

Founder of successful plant-based gelato company to serve up thoughts on launching a new venture

Posted on April 13, 2022 by Ryan Piurek

In 2020, members of the IU Angel Network announced a $300,000 investment in Sacred Serve, a fully organic, plant-based gelato company headquartered in Chicago and founded by Indiana University alumna Kailey Donewald. It was the first-ever investment in a consumer goods company by the network, one of four major investment programs managed by IU Ventures, IU’s early-stage venture and angel investment arm.

Kailey Donewald
IU alumna Kailey Donewald is the founder and CEO of Sacred Serve, a successful plant-based gelato company. Sacred Serve was the first consumer goods company to receive investment from members of the IU Angel Network.

Fittingly, Donewald will return to IU next month for the inaugural IU Ventures Founders and Funders Network Summit, joining several other leading IU-affiliated entrepreneurs, innovators, investors and others who are helping to expand the university’s global venture ecosystem. IU Ventures will host the summit, which will be held May 12-13 at the Indiana Memorial Union at IU Bloomington.

Registration for the summit is now open on the IU Ventures website. Registration is $95 and includes all summit programming.

Donewald, who earned a bachelor’s degree in finance and real estate from IU’s Kelley School of Business and is a certified health coach, will participate in a panel discussion on May 13 on launching a successful new venture. The breakout session will explore topics such as finding product market fit, developing a minimally viable product, fundraising, corporate governance and the importance of “failing fast.”

Growing up, Donewald suffered from severe allergies and asthma. Numerous doctors told her she would need to rely on medications for the rest of her life.

Many years later, at the age of 25, she embarked on a plant-based and raw food diet while living in Bali, Indonesia. Within weeks, her body had completely healed itself of her ailments without any medication. Her healing was so profound, Donewald decided to quit her job, return to school to study nutrition and dedicate her life to empowering more individuals to heal themselves holistically.

Sacred Serve was born out of a desire to take ice cream, the most dairy- and sugar-laden category of food she could think of, and make a healthy, indulgent alternative. Its products are free of the top eight allergens and are made with certified organic young Thai coconut meat and superfoods, in addition to being non-GMO and low-glycemic.

The funding from the IU Angel Network has enabled Sacred Serve, part of a growing number of companies dedicated to plant-based, functional foods, to scale up its manufacturing, expand into nationwide regions, hire additional staff, and develop several new initiatives. Sacred Serve has also attracted the attention of chefs, food writers and even athletes such as former Chicago Bulls player Nikola Mirotic, who is also an investor in the company.

Kailey Donewald speaking to a class at the IU Kelley School of Business
This past December, Donewald addressed students at the IU Kelley School of Business who conducted case studies on her company.

The IU Angel Network facilitates connections between IU-affiliated ventures and prospective investors from among the university’s global community of alumni, faculty, staff, students and friends.

This past December, Donewald came back to Bloomington and the Kelley School to listen to and judge presentations by Kelley MBA students. As part of their class, which was taught by Kelley Senior Lecturer Tatiana Kolovou, the students conducted case studies on Sacred Serve and presented ideas for how the company could advance its business goals and address its biggest challenges. Jason Whitney, vice president of venture development at IU Ventures and executive director of the IU Angel Network, also helped judge the students’ presentations.

Joining Donewald for her session at next month’s summit will be Tarek Alaruri, COO and co-founder of the intelligence sourcing platform Fairmarkit, and Cy Megnin, entrepreneur in residence at Elevate Ventures. Samantha Ginther, an associate at High Alpha and former member of the IU Ventures team, will moderate the discussion. All are IU alumni.

Read a press release about the summit. More information about the event, including a complete list of speakers and events, is also available on the IU Ventures website. The summit will be presented by Bridge Bank, a division of Western Alliance Bank.

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Filed under: Alumni, Economic Development, Engagement, Entrepreneurship, IU Ventures, Statewide Engagement, Workforce DevelopmentTagged Bridge Bank, Cy Megnin, Elevate Ventures, entrepreneurship, Fairmarkit, gelato, High Alpha, IU Angel Network, IU Founders and Funders Network, IU Ventures, Kailey Donewald, Kelley School of Business, Sacred Serve, Samantha Ginther, Tarek Alaruri, Tatiana Kolovou

Summit spotlights impact of Indiana’s research innovation and manufacturing expertise on advancing national defense

Posted on April 12, 2022 by Ryan Piurek

The following was written by Kirk White, vice provost for external relations at IU Bloomington and assistant vice president at the IU Office of the Vice President for Government Relations and Economic Engagement.

U.S. Rep. Jim Banks hosted the inaugural Northeast Indiana Defense Summit yesterday, April 11, in Fort Wayne, Ind. Doug Wasitis, IU associate vice president for federal relations, joined me for the day-long event.

The summit brought together leaders from Indiana’s business, military and education sectors to focus on innovation and supply chain challenges. Banks moderated discussion on the importance of taking advantage of research and manufacturing expertise in Indiana for the advancement of national defense. Northeast Indiana has an extensive industrial base that includes electronic warfare, communications and micro-electronics. Banks, who serves on the House Armed Services Committee, also made the point that there are more manufacturing jobs per capita in his northeast Indiana congressional district than any other in the nation.

The recent supply chain disruptions have proven that the U.S. must significantly expand trusted micro-electronics manufacturing, and Indiana is in a good position to contribute.

Click the video below for an archived stream of the summit.

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Filed under: Defense Partnerships, Economic Development, Engagement, Research, Statewide Engagement, Workforce DevelopmentTagged defense partnerships, Doug Wasitis, Innovation, Jim Banks, Kirk White, manufacturing, Northeast Indiaan Defense Summit, supply chain

Todd Yeagley to help kick off Venture Summit

Posted on April 7, 2022 by Ryan Piurek

The best of Indiana University’s venture community will get the opportunity to hear from one of the best collegiate soccer coaches in the nation when Todd Yeagley, head coach of the IU men’s soccer team, helps launch the inaugural IU Founders & Funders Network Venture Summit next month.

Yeagley, who will enter his 13th season at the helm of the Hoosier program in 2022, will deliver a keynote address on the second day of the summit, which will be held May 12-13 at IU Bloomington’s Indiana Memorial Union. The summit will bring together leading IU-affiliated entrepreneurs, innovators, investors and others driving the development of the university’s global venture ecosystem. IU Ventures, IU’s early-stage venture and angel investment arm, will host the summit, which will be presented by Bridge Bank, a division of Western Alliance Bank.

Todd Yeagley
Todd Yeagley

Registration for the summit is now open on the IU Ventures website. Registration is $95 and includes all summit programming.

Yeagley, who presides over one of the most successful collegiate soccer programs in the history of the sport, is expected to share his thoughts on the elements that are critical to building a winning culture. The Hoosiers have captured eight national championships, second only to Saint Louis University’s 10 titles, and appeared in 21 College Cups, which leads all Division I teams.

A four-time All-American at IU (1991-1994), Yeagley took the helm of IU’s storied soccer program in 2009. In just his third season as head coach, he led IU to the 2012 NCAA title, and he has guided the Hoosiers to two other final game appearances. During the 2020-21 season, for the second time in program history, Indiana claimed the Big Ten regular season and tournament titles in three-straight seasons.

Yeagley is a four-time Big Ten Coach of the Year winner, and he was named 2012 Soccer America Coach of the Year. He is also a member of the Indiana Soccer Hall of Fame, and in 2013 he was inducted into the Monroe County Hall of Fame and the IU Athletics Hall of Fame.

He earned a B.S. degree in sociology from Indiana in 2002. He and his wife, Suzy, have three children: Ben, Grant and Jay.

Read a press release about the summit. More information about the event, including a complete list of speakers and events, is also available on the IU Ventures website.

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Filed under: Alumni, Economic Development, Engagement, Entrepreneurship, IU VenturesTagged IU Angel Network, IU Founders and Funders Network, IU soccer, IU Ventures, Todd Yeagley

IU helping to ignite innovation at WestGate Technology Park, continued development of Indiana Uplands region

Posted on March 11, 2022 by Ryan Piurek

Yesterday, March 10, marked another milestone in the development of the Indiana Uplands, an 11-country region in south-central Indiana that includes Monroe County, home to Indiana University’s Bloomington campus. And once again, IU is playing a central role in a breakthrough event for a region committed to advancing economic prosperity and well-being for the citizens who call it home.

WestGate@Crane Technology Park
IU will play a key role in the continued physical development of WestGate@Crane Technology Park as an innovation district and center for emerging technologies.

As announced by Regional Opportunity Initiatives, yesterday’s launch of the new Uplands Science and Technology Foundation is expected to enhance the vitality of WestGate@Crane Technology Park. The park, which is located outside the gates of Naval Support Activity Crane, the 3rd largest naval installation in the world, is currently home to more than 50 organizations — many with roots in the high-tech and defense industry sectors — and more than 850 employees.

The USTF will lead the continued physical development of WestGate as an innovation district and grow the park’s capabilities in emerging technology areas such as microelectronics, artificial intelligence and hypersonics.

Joe Carley, who currently serves as the director for economic development within IU’s Office of the Vice President for Government Relations and Economic Engagement and the director for strategic partnerships at the IU Center for Rural Engagement, will serve as the USTF’s interim CEO. Carley will lead USTF on a loan basis from IU.

“I’m honored to serve the Uplands region in this role and to build on the work of the many partners who have helped make WestGate Technology Park a unique asset for our state,” Carley said. “Throughout the process of creating USTF, we’ve been fortunate to work with some of the best minds in the country on building innovation communities, and I believe that we have a roadmap for WestGate that has the potential to be transformative for the region and the state.”

IU Vice President for Government Relations and Economic Engagement Bill Stephan added, “IU has a deep interest in ensuring that the regions around our campuses grow and prosper. We are pleased to be able to provide support for this important initiative and look forward to seeing USTF become a vital partner for Crane and the Indiana economic development community.”

IU continues to join with other educational and research institutions, elected officials, and business and community leaders in supporting the continued growth of WestGate’s innovation ecosystem and working collaboratively with ROI, NSA Crane, the Naval Surface Warfare Center, Crane Division, and other organizations to strengthen a culture of entrepreneurship and innovation across the Indiana Uplands region.

Joe Carley

This past December, the Indiana Uplands region was selected to receive $30 million in funding from the Indiana Regional Economic Acceleration and Development Initiative. IU campuses and regional education centers have deeply engaged in READI from the start of this ambitious program, and IU leaders have worked in close collaboration with ROI, Radius Indiana and other partners across the state on project proposals to enhance economic development and quality of life in communities across the Hoosier state.

Last fall, IU renewed its commitment to a longstanding partnership with NSA Crane that has engaged IU students and faculty in numerous research projects designed to address regional issues concerning economic development, education, energy management, environmental science, land conservation, public health and sustainability.

IU also continues to engage in significant research activity with the Naval Surface Warfare Center, Crane Division, which is located at NSA Crane. These include projects related to artificial intelligence, machine learning, programmable circuit boards and quantum information processing in service of national defense.

Finally, through its Sustaining Hoosier Communities initiative, the IU Center for Rural Engagement has partnered with five Indiana Uplands counties (Dubois, Greene, Lawrence, Orange and Washington) on projects to address issues concerning health and wellness, infrastructure planning and natural resource management. Hundreds of IU students and faculty have participated in the initiative, now in its fifth year, which has become one of the largest rural engagements of its kind in the nation. It was honored, in 2019, with the inaugural Outstanding Program of the Year award by the Educational Partnerships for Innovation in Communities Network.

Read more on the launch of the new Uplands Science and Technology Foundation and IU’s involvement in this new initiative.

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Filed under: Defense Partnerships, Engagement, Entrepreneurship, Faculty, Research, Staff, Statewide Engagement, Students, Technology Commercialization, Workforce DevelopmentTagged Bil Stephan, Center for Rural Engagement, Crane Naval Base, Indiana Regional Economic Acceleration and Development Initiative, Indiana Uplands, Joe Carley, NSA Crnae, Radius Indiana, READI, Regional Opportunity Initiatives, ROI, Sustaining Hoosier Communities, Uplands Science and Technology Foundation, USTF, WestGate@Crane Technology Park

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