Elevate Ventures today announced that Christopher Day, after an extensive national search, has been hired as CEO to succeed Chris LaMothe to lead Elevate’s next stage of growth. Day assumes the role on July 18.

Day’s background in building and exiting companies, investing his own dollars in growing companies, co-founding an investment banking firm, and engaging in public policy has positioned him to take on the multi-faceted role, said Barbie Wentworth, CEO of Miller Brooks, and a member of the Board of Directors search committee.

During the past 25 years Day has co-founded or launched eight businesses in industries including artificial intelligence, billing software, utility hardware, broadband, entertainment, investment banking and real estate. He has participated in $600 million in transactions and delivered four-fold cash-on-cash returns to his investors upon exiting the companies. He most recently served as co-founder and CEO of DemandJump, a leading artificial-intelligence-powered marketing strategy platform.

Day also has served on boards of private and nonprofit organizations—currently the Indiana Technology & Innovation Association (founding member), Indiana Chamber of Commerce and TechPoint. Day is frequently requested to speak about policy formation in SaaS sales tax, Next Level Funding and Venture Capital Investment Tax Credits.

“I’m honored to join the Elevate team and build upon the incredible foundation they have created of fostering ecosystems across Indiana that support entrepreneurs in building, growing, and scaling high-growth companies,” Day said. “I want Elevate to be seen as an investor of choice and a growth catalyst that, over time, builds a billion-dollar fund and grows billion-dollar brands.”

DemandJump investor and board member Bill Godfrey said Day built an idea into a growth company with an excellent team.

“We are excited for him to lead Elevate as Indiana continues to build a robust ecosystem of accelerating new business starts and fueling the growth of our next generation of great companies,” Godfrey said.

Accelerating Venture Momentum Across Indiana

Since its inception in 2011, Elevate Ventures, the venture development partner of the state of Indiana, has invested nearly $136 million in 468 companies, leveraging an additional $1.7 billion from private sources. Companies funded by Elevate employ upward of 3,000 people earning an annual average wage of $85,000.

Pitchbook has ranked Elevate the most active venture capital firm in the Great Lakes Region since 2017.

A recent report by the Indiana Economic Development Corp. (IEDC) and Startup Genome, a policy advisory and research organization, ranked Indiana in the Global Top 40 Emerging Ecosystems. The report analyzed more than 280 entrepreneurial ecosystems, which included 3 million startups.

“Entrepreneurship is one of the IEDC’s 5E focus areas, and the work necessary to bolster Indiana’s entrepreneurial ecosystem has never been more critical,” said Indiana Secretary of Commerce Brad Chambers. “Elevate Ventures is in an important position to influence the health of our future economy, and the state stands ready to support a vision and leadership required to create positive and meaningful momentum in this space.”

Day is ‘ideal leader’

The Elevate Ventures Board of Directors search committee enlisted Medallion Partners to conduct a national search for its next CEO. Medallion vetted over 350 applicants through lenses of 11 core functions including assessing entrepreneurial and fundraising experience, background in leading teams, executional requirements and leadership.

“Christopher’s experience and his tremendous passion for building Indiana’s entrepreneurship ecosystem made him stand out as the ideal leader for Elevate’s continued growth,” Wentworth said. “The Elevate board is eager to work alongside him as we continue to invest in Indiana and maintain our status as the top VC in the Great Lakes region.”