VisionTech Partners

Tag: The Innovation Showcase

  • 20 Startups Are Ready to Pitch for Prizes and Investment Capital at the 11th Annual Innovation Showcase

    Ben Pidgeon, VisionTech

    Among my responsibilities as executive director of VisionTech Angels is screening startup companies. Each year, my committee members and I review more than 400 companies seeking investor dollars, selecting about 12 to pitch to our angel investors. It is, by design, a grueling process. I mention this because the Venture Club of Indiana took the same rigorous path for selecting the pitch companies for this year’s Innovation Showcase. Venture Club President Aaron Gillum and Pitch Competition Chair Travis Stegemoller took the “Road to the Showcase,” personally traveling to nine cities across Indiana to find the best of the best to pitch at the Showcase on August 22. My hat’s off to you both plus all of the folks who put on the local pitch competitions. Now, read on for details on the Innovation Showcase Pitch Competition!

    Aaron Gillum, President, Venture Club of Indiana

    The Venture Club of Indiana likes to say we have Indiana’s largest pitch competition, but this year it’s also among the most carefully curated. With the help of local sponsors in nine Indiana cities, we met many enthusiastic entrepreneurs who pitched a wide range of high tech and socially conscious solutions. Choosing the 20 we believed to be the most investor ready to participate in The Innovation Showcase was tough! Here are the 2019 pitch companies:

     

     

     

     

    Evansville
    Heliponix
    Safekeeping

    Fort Wayne
    Bukal Beverage Co.
    Cool Corp, Inc.

    Greater Lafayette
    Adranos
    Amplified Sciences
    Rogo AG, LLC

    Indianapolis
    AfterSchool HQ
    Atlas Energy
    Away Zones
    Pinpoint Pharma
    Plan Forward

    Muncie
    Tudr
    What’s Up 24/7

    New Albany
    Moxie Girl
    Total Mindcare

    Northwest Indiana
    FlykeArt

    South Bend
    Frost Control Systems
    SIMBA Chain

    Terre Haute
    Zoro, Inc.

    Here’s What You Need to Know About the Pitch Competition

    Showcase pitch companies are competing for $20,000 in cash plus in-kind prizes. Equally important, they’re competing for the attention of the VCs, angel investors and individual investors in the audience. We’re looking for a big crowd. Have you purchased your tickets yet? Get them here.

    We kickoff the Innovation Showcase with registration at 11 a.m. followed by lunch. After welcoming remarks by Venture Club President Aaron Gillum, we get down to business with great speakers, the Expo Hall, and the pitches. See the complete Showcase schedule here.

    There are two pitch sessions, one at 2 p.m. and the second at 3:30. With Emcee Dr. Don Kuratko of the IU Kelley School of Business cheering them on, each startup will have three minutes to make their case to the judges. The scores will then be tallied and the judges will huddle before announcing the winners at 5:30.

    The day ends on a high note with the VIP Reception and Expo Hall from 5:45 – 7:30p.m. Showcase attendees and entrepreneurs have plenty of time to connect for one-on-one discussions and networking.

    The Venture Club of Indiana extends special thanks for our 2019 Innovation Showcase sponsors, without whom this event would not be possible.

    Elevate Ventures
    Allos
    Barnes & Thornburg
    Deftly Creative
    50 South Capital
    Innovation Connector
    Katz Sapper & Miller
    Lux-Writes
    Novel Coworking
    Ontario Systems
    Purdue Foundry
    Purdue Ventures
    Signature Bank
    VisionTech Angels 
    When You Leave the Room

    Find more information on The Innovation Showcase here. Purchase tickets here.

     

  • What Do The Innovation Showcase Speakers Have in Common? A Passion for Startups

    Excitement is growing as the Venture Club of Indiana counts down to its premier, carefully curated startup pitch event, The Innovation Showcase on August 22 in Indianapolis. This year, a companion event joins the Showcase: The Next Level Fund Indiana Venture Summit. The Summit is designed to introduce venture capitalists and others to the exciting opportunities available through the Next Level Indiana Fund. I’ve invited Venture Club of Indiana Board Member and Program Committee Leader Sandy Wilcox to tell us about The Innovation Showcase, how the day will roll out, and the all-star line-up of speakers whose experiences as entrepreneurs, educators, and investors are legendary. VisionTech Angels is pleased to share Sandy’s inside perspective. Read on!

    Sandy Wilcox, The Innovation Showcase Program Chair

    In planning to hold the Next Level Fund Indiana Summit the same day as the Innovation Showcase, our objective was to encourage venture capitalist from all over the country to participate in The Innovation Showcase along with our statewide investment community. We all know that Indiana has long been considered a flyover state. The Venture Club Board and our president, Aaron Gillum, who is also senior vice president with 50 South Capital, are seeking to transform this perception and reflect the excitement and extraordinary progress of Indiana’s tech-driven innovation. By inviting investors to both events on the same day and putting our startups on stage in front of those investors, we know that we are fulfilling our objective, “Where Capital Meets Innovation!”

    When I volunteered to be program chair for The Innovation Showcase, I knew my committee and I had an amazing job ahead of us. Our goal was to make the Showcase a dynamic event for everyone regardless of your perspective, startup or VC, student or supporter.

    When the Next Level Fund Summit ends at around 11:30 a.m. and the attendees leave their seats, they will walk out of the hall and into The Innovation Showcase’s Entrepreneur’s Expo filled with booths hosted by some of Indiana’s finest startups for a “walking lunch.”

    At precisely 1 p.m., The Innovation Showcase will kick off with welcoming remarks from Venture Club President Aaron Gillum and Kip Frey, Executive Vice President, New Ventures, The Heritage Group.

    Don Brown, The Accidental Entrepreneur

    Seeking one of the most significant pioneers in Indiana’s technology space, we asked Don Brown, CEO of LifeOmic, to be our keynote speaker. As a leader at Software Artistry, and then as founder and CEO of Interactive Intelligence, Don negotiated the successful creation and sale of Interactive Intelligence to Genesys Telecommunications for a record $1.6 billion. His new adventure is LifeOmic, an Indianapolis-based software company that leverages the cloud, machine learning, and mobile devices to offer disruptive, precision medicine solutions to healthcare providers. A serial entrepreneur, Don still calls himself, an “accidental entrepreneur.” Sharing his entrepreneurial journey as well as lessons learned, Don will also outline his bold vision for the future of healthcare with Innovation Showcase guests.

    Don Kuratko, IU Kelley School of Business

    Following our keynote, the pitches begin! Two rounds of 10 of Indiana’s finest startup companies will present to Investors in the audience and to win a cash prize. Who better to serve as the emcee of this competition than Dr. Don Kuratko, the Gill Distinguished Chair and Professor of Entrepreneurship at the Indiana University Kelley School of Business. Recognized among the Top 10 entrepreneurship scholars in the world, “Dr K” created one of the country’s first entrepreneurship centers at Ball State University in 1983. His love, drive, and determination to build the foundation in education to prepare and support the growth of entrepreneurship make him a stunning choice to emcee our pitch competition!

    Jeff Ready, CEO, Scale Computing

    In between the two pitch segments, Jeff Ready, CEO of Scale Computing, will lead us on the “The Road… After the Showcase.” Jeff will share the impact winning The Innovation Showcase’s Venture Idol pitch competition in 2008 presented to him as CEO of an Indiana startup. Today, with 2,000 customers in 30 countries and a total capital raise of $96 million, Scale is poised for explosive growth through partnerships with much larger companies skillfully negotiated by Jeff and his team. He will also interview two other past winners to demonstrate the real impact of presenting and winning at the Venture Club’s Innovation Showcase. We ask from time to time, “Does the Showcase make a difference?” Jeff and the other winners prove that “YES,’ it absolutely does!

    Jane Martin

    After the final round of pitches, Jane Martin, a retired venture capitalist, will present “Seven Decades of Venture Capital, A Brief History.” A maverick as a women investor in the venture capital world, Jane was instrumental in numerous deals, investing in the likes of FedEx, MCI, Control Data, Sun Microsystems, Gymboree, and Calloway Golf to name a few. She will further discuss what it will take to bring venture capital investors to Indiana.

    The Showcase will wrap up with a dynamic panel of female VCs discussing venture investing from a woman’s perspective.  At 5:30 p.m., the winners of the pitch competition will be announced and we’ll celebrate with a VIP reception.  A full day to be sure, but a day that you won’t want to miss!

    The Venture Club of Indiana hopes you are as excited about the outstanding program and speakers we’ve assembled for The Innovation Showcase, Thursday, August 22, 11:30 a.m.-7:30 p.m. at The Center in Indianapolis. For more information about The Innovation Showcase, visit our website. If you don’t have you ticket yet, grab it now! Space is limited and you don’t want to miss out on Indiana’s largest pitch event.

     

     

     

  • Want to Connect with Capital? Don’t Miss the Inaugural Next Level Fund Summit

    The Venture Club of Indiana’s annual Innovation Showcase includes the state’s largest pitch event, with some 20 companies vying for prize money. This year the pot is sweeter thanks to a companion event, the 2019 Indiana Next Level Fund Summit, held the morning of The Innovation Showcase. The host of the Summit is 50 South Capital Advisors, the fund administrator of the Next Level Fund. Aaron Gillum, senior vice president at 50 South, is also the president of the Venture Club of Indiana and works with the state’s venture community. I recently sat down with Aaron to learn more about the Summit and how VisionTech Angels, startups, and others can get involved. Here goes!

    Ben Pidgeon, VisionTech

    BP: What’s the history of the Next Level Fund? It’s fairly new, right?
    AG: It is! The Indiana General Assembly announced the Next Level Fund in 2017 as a replacement of the Next Generation Trust Fund originally created by the Indiana Toll Road. We officially kicked off in March 2018. The Next Level Fund aims to invest $250 million over five years to encourage venture capital and philanthropic organizations to invest in Indiana’s innovation community. 50 South Capital manages the fund with oversight by the Governor’s Office and an Investment Board. While most of the money invested by venture capital firms (VCs) in our portfolio, the Next Level Fund can also make direct investments in companies alongside VCs in our program.

    BP: How many VCs are participating in the Next Level Fund so far? Is there a limit to how many that can get involved?
    AG: So far we have five groups that we have announced in our VC portfolio: Allos, High Alpha, the Foundry Group, Hyde Park Venture Partners, and Techstars SportsTech. There really isn’t a limit per se, but participants either have to be located in Indiana or have a track record of investing in Indiana companies. The objective is to get more venture funds in the state and deployed to Indiana startups and entrepreneurs.

    Aaron Gillum, Indiana Next Level Fund

    BP: That’s awesome! Tell me about the Next Level Fund Summit? This is a first-time event, right?
    AG: It is the first year for the Summit. I do want to stress while we share the same date and venue, the Next Level Fund Summit is a standalone event. At the same time, 50 South is heavily involved in the efforts of the Venture Club and thus The Innovation Showcase. The purpose of the Summit is to highlight our work to date, introduce our fund managers and what they’re working on, introduce portfolio companies, and ultimately, by exposing more people to the Next Level Fund, expand our list of VCs. We have invited venture firms from across the country to attend. To date we have more than 120 guests that have RSVP’d  for the event. Our goal is to double that number.

    BP: Is the Summit limited to VCs? Are angel investors welcome to attend?
    AG: We’ve extended a special invitation to all investors – anyone who writes checks! Indiana is blessed to have a thriving angel investing community and groups like VisionTech Angels, Elevate Ventures, and several other up and coming angel groups throughout the state that play a critical role in funding early stage companies. We want you guys at the Summit connecting with the VCs, the investment board and me. We want to grow our investment community; we’re all in this together! The general public is also invited to the Summit.

    BP: VisionTech Angels as well as other angel groups in Indiana have a number of Indiana-based portfolio companies in the middle of Series A Rounds. Can they attend?
    AG: Absolutely. We want them at the Summit. I would encourage them to go to our website, look at the venture firms that are currently participating, do some homework, and come prepared to network.

    BP: Any special guests you’d like to mention?
    AG: Every guest is special, but we are particularly pleased to welcome Governor Eric Holcomb as well as members of the Fund’s investment board. Our fund managers and many of their portfolio companies are looking forward to showcasing all the work they have been doing throughout the state.

    BP: Will we see Summit guests at The Innovation Showcase?
    AG: I am personally encouraging everyone who attends the Next Level Fund Summit to stay and attend the Venture Club of Indiana’s Innovation Showcase. It’s such a natural segue from what Indiana is doing as a state to increase the number of VCs firms and ramp up later stage investment, to the excitement of the pitch competition with 20 of Indiana’s most investable companies. Anyone with a stake in Indiana’s innovation and entrepreneurship community should attend both events.

    BP: I’ll be there.
    AG: I’m counting on you, Ben.

    For more information on the Indiana Next Level Fund, click here. RSVP for the 2019 Next Level Fund Summit on Thursday, August 22, 8-11 am at The Center here. There is no cost to attend. RSVP for The Innovation Showcase here.  We look forward to seeing you at both events!

     

  • The Road to the Showcase: Searching for Indiana’s Most Investable Companies

    The Innovation Showcase is Indiana’s largest curated event for entrepreneurs, investors, and supporters of the state’s vibrant ecosystem and includes a pitch competition with up to 20 startups representing a spectrum of industries. As a board member of the Venture Club of Indiana, I’ve personally been involved with the Showcase for seven years. While this year’s event isn’t until August 22, my fellow Venture Club board member, attorney and chair of the Showcase pitch competition, Travis Stegemoller, has spent the last six months crisscrossing the state in a search for Indiana’s most investable companies. I recently had coffee with Travis to learn more about “The Road to the Showcase.”

    Ben Pidgeon, VisionTech

    BP: I hear you and Aaron Gillum (Venture Club President) have been putting lots of miles on your cars on something called “Road to the Showcase.” What’s that all about?
    TS: You heard right; I’ve put at least 1,000 miles on mine on the Venture Club’s pitch company selection process. Two years ago, we took a look at how pitch companies are selected for The Innovation Showcase. At that time, most were from the Indianapolis area. As the Venture Club of Indiana, we realized we had to do a better job getting startups across the state represented in the Showcase and connecting them with venture capitalists. So we created the Road to the Showcase, where we hold pitch competitions in nine cities across the state. The winners of each go on to compete at The Innovation Showcase in Indianapolis in August.

    Travis Stegemoller,
    Barnes & Thornburg

    BP: Where all have you been?
    TS: We kicked off in South Bend at Notre Dame’s IDEA Center in April and from there went to Hammond, Evansville, New Albany, Lafayette, Fort Wayne, Indianapolis, and Terre Haute. We’re wrapping up in Muncie at an event called the Innovation Connector on July 23 at 6:30 p.m. I’ve been to nearly every Road to the Showcase event. I think Aaron’s been to all of them.

    BP: How did you pull this nine-city tour?
    TS: Sounds like a logistical nightmare, right? Actually, it’s been great thanks to some wonderful partners. Elevate Ventures has been deeply involved from the start and offered the services of their entrepreneurs in residence to connect us with local stakeholders around the state. In some cases, we joined existing pitch events like “The Big Sell” in Hammond sponsored by Purdue University Northwest. One of our Venture Club board members, Nick Arnett, was instrumental starting The Blaze pitch event in Fort Wayne, which was co-hosted by the Venture Club, Start Fort Wayne and Founders Spark. All of the events are volunteer-driven and we had no shortage of help. I encourage you to visit our website for details on the Road to the Showcase events and hosting venues.

    BP: What kind of turnout did you have at the Road to the Showcase events?
    TS: First, I want to thank our local partners. Each city rallied around their event and really invested in the success of their local startups. There was great involvement in recruiting and coaching startups, finding qualified judges and inviting people to just come and experience it all. It’s been amazing. The overall turnout was great everywhere, but I have to give a shout out to Fort Wayne with over 100 attendees and to Evansville, which had tremendous enthusiasm.

    In terms of the startups, the overall quality has been impressive. We had the opportunity to see pitch companies across many industries, including software, hardware, consumer, medical devices, and life sciences. Most were considered true startups, but were in the process of scaling their business.”

    BP: What were the criteria for selecting the winners to go on to The Innovation Showcase Pitch?
    TS: The Venture Club has developed a judging rubric that rates each company on their product, scalability, traction, and management team. Our goal is to identify the most investable companies. Our hope was to find two per city. We anticipate having up to 20 pitch companies at The Innovation Showcase pitch competition on August 22. We’re still finalizing the list, but it will be a highly competitive event.

    BP: Any surprises on the Road to the Showcase?
    TS: Two things: how much fun I had meeting people across the state who are truly passionate about encouraging and supporting entrepreneurs and secondly, just how barren I-69 is between Evansville and Indy. Nothing for 1.5 hours, not even a McDonalds!

    BP: That’s harsh.
    TS: Right?

    The Venture Club of Indiana invites you to attend The Innovation Showcase, Thursday, August 22, 11:30 am-7:30 pm at The Center in Indianapolis. Register here. If you would like to become an Innovation Showcase sponsor, find information here. See you in August!