Just how much is Indiana University driving Indiana’s culture of innovation and entrepreneurship?
Look no further than the list of nominees for the 2025 Mira Awards, honoring the best of tech in Indiana.
TechPoint, Central Indiana Corporate Partnership’s industry-led growth initiative for Indiana’s digital innovation economy, recently announced more than a dozen IU-affiliated tech leaders and innovations as finalists for the awards. Now in their 26th year—and commonly known as the “Oscars of Indiana Tech”—the Mira Awards continue to shine a spotlight on IU’s increasing commitment to the pursuit of groundbreaking discoveries and development of the state’s startup ecosystem.
IU-affiliated companies make up half of the nominees for the sought-after “Startup of the Year” award. They include:
- Bereave of Indianapolis
- Blue Agilis of Carmel
- Membershine of Fishers
- Relate XR of Indianapolis
- rScan of South Bend
“The large number of Indiana University-affiliated nominees reflects IU’s forward-thinking approach to building a pervasive entrepreneurial ecosystem throughout our state and concerted focus on accelerating the development of high-potential innovations and startups,” said Jason Whitney, chief venture officer of IU Ventures and executive director of the IU Angel Network. “As IU’s entrepreneurial ecosystem continues to gain notice for the startups it has helped launch and build, it is also signaling that Indiana is a place where high-potential businesses can grow and thrive.”
Relate XR, which combines psychology with virtual reality technology to treat substance abuse disorders, also earned nominations for “Tech Innovation of the Year” and “BioCrossroads Life Sciences Innovation Team Award.”
The company’s founding team members, who have raised nearly $5 million in funding from the National Institutes of Health to support their invention, include co-founder Brandon Oberlin, an assistant professor of psychiatry at the IU School of Medicine with 20 years of experience in addictions research; IU Bloomington digital arts graduate Andrew Nelson, who owns Indianapolis-based gaming company Half Full Nelson; and Izzy Branam, of Zionsville, Indiana, an undergraduate student studying organizational and business psychology in the Department of Psychological and Brain Sciences at IU Bloomington’s College of Arts and Sciences.
Branam, who serves as a community manager at IU Innovates, a university-wide initiative to support faculty and student entrepreneurs, scored a nomination for “Rising Entrepreneur of the Year.” He will compete for the honor against IU Kelley School of Business MBA graduate Rod Baradaran, CEO and co-founder (with Kelley MBA candidate Dmitry Brown) of South Bend’s rScan, and Aaron Pritz, a Kelley School alumnus who co-founded cybersecurity and risk management startup Reveal Risk of Carmel, which was nominated as “Innovation Service Partner of the Year.”
A member of the Kelley School’s MBA Class of 2024 in “Poets & Quants,” which honors the best and brightest MBA students, Baradaran was also nominated for “Emerging Tech Leader of the Year.” He is part of a team seeking to establish rScan, which won first prize in the 2003 Crossroad Collegiate Pitch Competition at The Mill in Bloomington, as one of the most efficient resale apps on the market, while continuing to expand its foothold in Indiana. Earlier this fall, the company announced the expansion of its South Bend headquarters, which will create 152 new positions and contribute to the city’s economic growth.
This year’s nominees also include three companies in the investment portfolio of IU Ventures, IU’s early-stage venture and angel investment arm.
They include Bereave, a startup dedicated to transforming how individuals navigate death. Bereave was co-founded by Matt Tyner and Pat Rogers, both IU alumni, and Elijah Linder and Keagan McGuire. IU Ventures recently contributed to Bereave’s pre-seed funding round through the IU Angel Network, one of its primary investment vehicles.
They also include Indianapolis-based Adipo Therapeutics and Amplified Sciences of West Lafayette, Ind., which will vie for the “BioCrossroads Life Sciences Innovation Team Award.”
Adipo Therapeutics is a late-stage, pre-clinical biopharmaceutical company seeking to use breakthrough technology to transform the treatment of Type 2 diabetes and obesity. It is led by company CEO Karen Wurster, a pharmaceutical executive with over 25 years of experience in developing and commercializing billion-dollar diabetes products and an IU Kelley School of Business alumna. IU Ventures contributed to the completion of Adipo’s $1.9 million bridge fund round.
Amplified Sciences, the first-ever company to receive a double investment from IU Ventures, is a clinical-stage life sciences diagnostic company focused on accurately detecting and pre-empting the risks of debilitating diseases like pancreatic cancer. The startup is built on the innovation of Dr. V. Jo Davisson, an IU School of Medicine biochemistry graduate and longtime biochemist at Purdue University. It was co-founded by CEO Diana Caldwell, CEO, an IU Kelley School of Business alumna.
Other IU-connected nominees include Mathtrack Institute (“Higher Education Innovation Award”), IU Indianapolis graduate Aaron Pierce (“Resilience Award”) of Pierce Aerospace (“Exceptional Employer of the Year”, “Rising Entrepreneur Award”), and Zylo (“Tech Innovation of the Year,” “Emerging Tech Leader of the Year”).
The winners will be announced during the Mira Awards gala at The Palladium in Carmel, Ind., on Feb. 27.
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