IU-connected tech companies, professionals named Mira Award nominees

TechPoint, the state’s technology initiative, recently announced the nominees for the 20th annual Mira Awards. Several have connections with Indiana University.

For the second year in a row, IU Ventures has been named one of the nominees in the Investor of the Year category. Tony Armstrong, president and CEO, said IU Ventures has recently celebrated several milestones.

“We were accepted as a member of the National Venture Capital Association, which will further our ability to meet potential co-investors and introduce IU-related companies to the larger venture community. We also launched the IU Angel Network, which facilitates connections between startups and prospective investors with ties to the university,” Armstrong said.

“In 2019, the IU Philanthropic Venture Fund and Innovate Indiana Fund received more than 250 funding inquiries from IU-related ventures,” he continued. “We funded 10 of them for a total of $3.31 million; they received more than $30 million in funding from additional investors. And three of our portfolio companies — Canvas, Costello and Doxly — were acquired by other companies.”

The 2020 Mira Award nominees with IU connections are:

Tech Product of the Year

• Zylo

Service Partner of the Year

• BLASTmedia

Innovation of the Year

• ConverSight.ai
• Olio
• Preventia Group

Rising Entrepreneur Award

• Amy Brown, founder and CEO, AuthentiCx
• Ben Forrest, founder and CEO, Olio
• Luke Jacobs, co-founder and CEO, Encamp
• Megan Lohman, CEO, Plan Forward
• Aaron Pierce, CEO, Pierce Aerospace

Tech Education Award

• Indiana University Idea Garden @IUPUI

Investor of the Year

• IU Ventures

Community Impact Award

• Jason Pennington, executive director, Indiana IoT Lab
• The Polis Center at IUPUI

Rising Tech City Award

• City of Bloomington
• City of Indianapolis
• City of South Bend

Exceptional Employer Award

• BLASTmedia

Startup of the Year

• AuthentiCx
• Casted
• Civic Champs
• Encamp
• Olio
• Plan Forward
• The New Paper

Scale-up of the Year

• Zylo
• Boardable

A news release with the complete list of Mira Award nominees and commentary by Mike Langellier of TechPoint is available online.