Elevate Purdue Foundry Fund commits $400,000 to five startups

INDIANAPOLIS and WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. – Five Purdue-affiliated startups were each selected for $80,000 investments in the latest round of funding for Elevate Purdue Foundry Fund Gold Awards, officials announced Tuesday, April 18.

“The Purdue Foundry partnership with Elevate Ventures has really come into its own with the incredibly effective use of the state's 21st Century Research and Technology Fund for investments in Purdue-bred companies commercializing world-changing technologies,” said John Hanak, Purdue Ventures managing director. “Over the past two years, money from this fund has been instrumental in moving forward over 44 companies commercializing Purdue technologies or otherwise working with the Purdue Foundry. This funding has been leveraged to help attract significant additional investments in these companies.”

With the additional funding announced Tuesday, the Elevate Purdue Foundry Fund has now awarded $1.62 million to 44 Purdue-affiliated startups since the program’s creation in 2014.

“These five companies have moved on to the Gold Award level which is only achievable after receiving a Black Award. We were very impressed with the startups’ technology development and market growth potential,” said Chris LaMothe, Elevate Ventures CEO. “A primary objective for the Elevate Purdue Foundry Fund is to increase entrepreneurial activities and commercialization of Purdue innovations. The depth and breadth of such activities we’ve witnessed just in the last two years are a strong testament to the program’s early success.”

Startup companies receiving these investments must meet certain criteria, which include being a Purdue Foundry client, founded by Purdue students, faculty or staff, and/or being based on intellectual property patented through the Purdue Research Foundation. Companies also are evaluated for the strength of market potential, operational viability and their leadership team.

The Elevate Purdue Foundry Fund is operated jointly by officials from the Purdue Foundry and Elevate Ventures.

The startups receiving the funding are:

*AccuPS LLC, a software startup developing a high-definition 3-D motion-tracking technology for fast, accurate and easy-to-use 3-D user interface for mobile virtual reality platforms.

*Amplified Sciences LLC, a life sciences company that is developing solutions for the assessment of early-stage acute kidney injury with a patented dye-based detection technology to capture and identify levels of biomarkers in patient urine samples.

*Bionode LLC, a biomedical company developing a wearable neuro-modulation device that could be used as a non-invasive, personalized therapy to treat and prevent intra-ocular pressure in patients diagnosed with glaucoma.

*Mobile Enerlytics LLC, a software company developing technologies that catch energy glitches in mobile apps before every release and helps developers remove them.

*ZeroUI Inc., a tech company developing hands-free, gesture-based 3-D modelling software. 

As part of the collaboration, Elevate Ventures also provides support for four entrepreneurial advisers to work in the Purdue Foundry at the Burton D. Morgan Center for Entrepreneurship in Purdue University's Discovery Park.

In the last four years, Purdue startups have raised more than $144 million in venture funding and created over 190 positions. Purdue also has had record-breaking entrepreneurial activities in the same period, including the creation of 76 startups originating from Purdue-patented intellectual property and another 49 startups based on Purdue "know-how."

Since 2011, Elevate Ventures has invested more than $60 million into 219 Indiana companies, creating 2,537 jobs. Additionally, nearly $375 million have be co-invested through other capital resources. Elevate Ventures’ investments have assisted companies in technology, agriculture, drug development, medical device and diagnostics, manufacturing, defense or energy based industries.

The Elevate Purdue Foundry Fund activity is part of a three-year, $2 million targeted investment program through collaboration among the Purdue Foundry, Elevate Ventures and the Indiana Economic Development Corporation.

For more information, entrepreneurs can contact an entrepreneur-in-residence at the Purdue Foundry or John Hanak, Purdue Ventures managing director, at jmhanak@prf.org.             

About the Purdue Foundry

The Purdue Foundry is an entrepreneurship and commercialization accelerator in Discovery Park's Burton D. Morgan Center for Entrepreneurship where professionals help Purdue innovators create startups. The Purdue Foundry is managed by the Purdue Research Foundation, which received the 2016 Innovation and Economic Prosperity Universities Award for Innovation from the Association of Public and Land-grant Universities. For more information about funding and investment opportunities in startups based on a Purdue innovation, contact the Purdue Foundry at foundry@prf.org.

About Elevate Ventures

Elevate Ventures is a private venture development organization that nurtures and develops emerging and existing high-potential businesses into high-performing, Indiana-based companies. Elevate Ventures accomplishes this by providing access to capital, rigorous business analysis and robust advisory services that connect companies with the right mix of resources businesses need to succeed long term. To learn more about Elevate Ventures, its team and its funds under management, visit www.elevateventures.com.

Writer: Hillary Henry, 765-588-3586

Sources: John Hanak, 765-588-5255, jmhanak@prf.org

Alisha Estabrook, 317-975-1917, aestabrook@elevateventures.com