Today Elevate Ventures, through its higher-education program Elevate Nexus, announced the winners of the most recent regional pitch competitions, which resulted in $660,000 in investments.

“This was an extremely difficult competition to judge with many great companies,” said Landon Young, executive director of university initiatives at Elevate Ventures. “We are thrilled to see the quality of Indiana companies continue to rise, a testament to Indiana’s support of innovation-driven companies. At least one company has already raised additional follow-on capital and we look forward to the continued growth of all winning companies in 2022.”

Most of the winners are connected to a university:

Northern Indiana

• Pre-Seed ($20,000 investment)
  • Groundata Technologies, South Bend, University of Notre Dame
  • SAFA, South Bend, University of Notre Dame
  • Tessellated, South Bend, University of Notre Dame
• Seed ($80,000 investment)
  • Intrepid Phoenix Ventures, South Bend, University of Notre Dame
  • ProstheTech, South Bend, University of Notre Dame

Central Indiana

• Pre-Seed ($20,000 investment)
  • Adjuster Tools, Indianapolis, Indiana State University
  • Fia Technologies, Bloomington, Indiana University
  • NanoBio Designs, Indianapolis, Purdue University
• Seed ($80,000 investment)
  • LeafTech Ag, Greenfield, Purdue University
  • Peak Mind, Indianapolis, Purdue University

Southern Indiana

• Pre-Seed ($20,000 investment)
  • American Evidence Management, Vincennes, Purdue University
  • Utiliz, Evansville, Innovation Pointe
  • WANDR, Bloomington, Indiana University
• Seed ($80,000 investment)
  • DiningTek, New Albany
  • WayZada, Bloomington, Indiana University

“Winning this investment from Elevate Ventures means that we can continue to build innovative mental well-being technology that could save lives,” said Alicia Mckoy, founder of Peak Mind. “We are in a mental health crisis and better mental well-being preventative tools, like Peak Mind, are needed more than ever. We are excited to use these funds to develop our next-level innovation for the workplace.”

In addition to being recognized as Elevate portfolio companies, all 15 winners have the opportunity to compete for $320,000 during the Elevate Nexus Statewide competition in summer 2022.

To stay up to date on future competitions, deadline reminders and program updates, sign up for the Elevate Nexus newsletter.