Skip to main content

ELEVATE NEXUS:

Regional Pitch Competition

Offering promising startups, engaged with partnered colleges and universities, the opportunity to secure foundational capital needed to launch their businesses.
APPLY NOWREQUIREMENTS FOR APPLYING

Three participating regions

Each Regional Competition takes place in North, Central, and South Indiana at both pre-seed and seed levels. At the conclusion of each competition, nine pre-seed companies (three per region) will receive a $20,000 investment award, and six seed companies (two per region) will receive an $80,000 investment award for a total of $660K invested.

Northern Region Counties

Adams, Allen, Benton, Blackford, Carroll, Cass, DeKalb, Elkhart, Fulton, Grant, Howard, Huntington, Jasper, Jay, Kosciusko, LaGrange, Lake, LaPorte, Marshall, Miami, Newton, Noble, Poter, Pulaski, St. Joseph, Starke, Steuben, Wabash, Wells, White, and Whitley counties

Central Region Counties

Boone, Clinton, Delaware, Fayette, Fountain, Hamilton, Hancock, Hendricks, Henry, Johnson, Madison, Marion, Montgomery, Morgan, Parke, Putnam, Randolph, Rush, Shelby, Tippecanoe, Tipton, Union, Vermillion, Warren, and Wayne counties

Southern Region Counties

Bartholomew, Brown, Clark, Clay, Crawford, Daviess, Dearborn, Decatur, Dubois, Floyd, Franklin, Gibson, Greene, Harrison, Jackson, Jefferson, Jennings, Know, Lawrence, Martin, Monroe, Ohio, Orange, Owen, Perry, Pike, Posey, Ripley, Scott, Spencer, Sullivan, Switzerland, Vanderburgh, Vigo, Warrick, and Washington counties

Criteria for entry

Pre-Seed Requirements

  • Indiana based
  • Total addressable market of over $500M
  • Unique value proposition
  • Committed team with ambition to create a venture-backed, high-growth, enterprise
  • Preferably, engaged with a college or university participating in the Elevate Nexus program
  • Available to present the company pitch deck in front of an audience to a panel of judges.

Seed Requirements

  • Fulfill all regional pre-seed award requirements
  • Completed an MVP, or if selling in a government regulated field (i.e requires FDA, USDA approval) the company should have a viable plan toward developing a completed prototype or trial results
  • Conducted customer discovery, and preferably, gone through a formal customer discovery process
  • Demonstrating professional operations by adding expertise as managers, board members and/or advisors
  • Have validated the company’s value proposition by generating early revenue, securing signed contracts, and/or established strategic partnerships with entities that will license or buy the company’s intellectual property upon future development
  • May have, or are in the process of, raising capital

The Elevate Nexus Regional Pitch Competition offers:

Potential investment

Valuable practice

Priceless exposure