Elevate Ventures Awards $20K to South Bend Tech Startup

SOUTH BEND – Indianapolis-based Elevate Ventures has awarded $20,000 to a South Bend startup that develops high school curricula on emerging technology.

Digital Leader Academy was started in September 2019 through the IDEA Center at the University of Notre Dame. The company says it is trying to make complex topics, such as application development, tangible for high school students.

“We’re excited to move forward and develop new courses that will modernize how our students learn in high schools across the country,” said Ellen Joyce, Digital Leader Academy chief executive officer.

DLA also won a $20,000 pre-seed investment from the Elevate Nexus Regional Pitch Competition in October 2019. The funding allowed the company to create a minimum viable product and begin creating test lessons to send to teachers.

The academy is beta testing a course at Riley High School in South Bend, the district’s computer science and engineering magnet. The course, Data Science in Manufacturing, combines math, computer science, and business entrepreneurship.

Digital Leader says the new funding will allow it to refine the course based on teacher and student feedback.