Governor Eric Holcomb speaks at the Indiana Global Economic Summit in downtown Indianapolis on Thursday, May 23, 2024. (Leslie Bonilla Muñiz/Indiana Capital Chronicle)
Startups, rejoice.
The state of Indiana and a local venture capital firm plan to launch a $100 million venture capital fund aimed at growth-stage companies, officials announced Thursday. The announcement came minutes after Indiana Governor Eric Holcomb opened the state’s second Global Economic Summit.
Indiana, under Holcomb, dedicated $250 million to start-ups in 2017. But officials said there was still a gap.
“Now, in addition to being able to help cultivate and foster the growth of a start-up, Indiana will continue to be able to play a key role in getting that innovation from… one stage to the next,” Holcomb said.
“This is filling the void that existed,” he added.
Elevate Ventures CEO Christopher Day indicated the fund was a long-time goal.
“In the state of Indiana, we have never had a growth phase fund. I’ve been dreaming about this for literally 16 years,” he said.
Day said he believes Indiana could be the “innovation capital of the world,” highlighting the state’s infrastructure, talent, cost of living and other key factors.
Elevate Ventures will anchor the fund with a commitment of $25 million of its returns, according to a press release. The company plans to raise an additional $75 million through the private market.
The company plans to begin building the fund at the end of the second quarter – which runs from April to June – and make its first investments in 2025, according to a press release.
Most of the investments will be in fast-moving startups at Series A, or Series B and beyond, Day said. These are typically companies with revenues of $7 to $8 million or more, he added. They would use the funds to expand product development, marketing and sales.
More closed deals
Holcomb also joined Purdue University President Mung Chiang and Elanco CEO Jeff Summins on Thursday afternoon to announce a new OneHealth Innovation District in Indianapolis.
Elanco, an animal health company based in Greenfield, is building a new headquarters at the former GM stamping plant located near downtown on the west bank of the White River.
The extensive factory closed in 2011. After demolition, the site – which required environmental restoration – sat empty for years. A previous proposal to rebuild the property died and a legal fight ensued, according to the Indianapolis Star.
Elanco’s new headquarters would now be accompanied by a shared-use research center with office space, wet labs and incubators.
“The research center will advance the state’s vision to anchor our regional technology hub as an important addition to the One Health Innovation District, which aims to accelerate collaborative innovation in our life sciences,” Holcomb said in a press release. “The partnership marks a rare and noteworthy move in which a global healthcare company, a university and a government come together with a shared vision. The district will create an ecosystem focused on talent, applied research and innovation that can be sustained for generations to come.”
The partnership with the university, part of the integrated “One Health” approach, “aims to increase the ability to prevent, predict, detect and respond to health threats”, according to the statement.
Elanco has also committed to sharing technology development capacity at its current Indianapolis facilities and later in the completed Innovation District, and to contributing up to $2 million to launch a new Animal Health Venture Fund.
It’s also a win for Purdue, which will lose most of its Circle City presence when its joint campus with Indiana University officially splits in July. Chiang, Purdue’s president, said all of his university’s programs would “find homes throughout our state’s capital.”
Holcomb is also expected to announce new investments from local pharmaceutical giant Eli Lilly and Co. on Friday, according to his public schedule.
External dignitaries and business leaders gather
Minutes earlier, Holcomb addressed a crowd of spectators in a welcoming speech to the summit’s more than 1,000 participants.
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They include 41 delegations from more than 30 counties, according to Holcomb.
He touted Indiana’s economic growth and public health victories. He also reinforced the state’s “all of the above” approach to fossil fuels and renewable energy sources.
And he sought to appeal to the summit’s external guests, denouncing political philosophies that opposed involvement in foreign affairs and supported limits on foreign imports.
“Isolationism and crude protectionism actually narrow future horizons and, even worse, show a profound lack of trust,” Holcomb said. “Of course, today’s new foreign investor here in Indiana could be a competitor to an American company. But… in an instant that same foreign investor becomes a customer of an American company, not to mention a job creator, a community builder and a source of tax revenue,” he continued. “…The same thing happens when American companies invest and grow on their soil.”
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