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Indiana and Elevate Ventures have partnered on a new $100 million fund aimed at growth-stage companies involved in cross-section innovation.
Gov. Eric Holcomb announced the fund during a Thursday morning news conference at the Global Economic Summit in Indianapolis, touting it as an opportunity for Indiana to land companies that might otherwise have to look elsewhere without later-stage funding opportunities.
Holcomb was joined by Indiana Secretary of Commerce David Rosenberg and Elevate Ventures CEO Christopher Day for the announcement.
“This is just going to be music to an entrepreneur’s ears—to know that … this is filling that void that’s been there,” Holcomb said. “For Indiana, this is, I only see it as addressing a missing link. I can only imagine what the folks from AgriNovus or other associations who are keenly aware of what this will mean down the road are going to build this into, including with phone calls today to potential and current clients.”
The new fund, called the Elevate Ventures Growth fund, will be aimed at companies with a $500 million or greater total addressable market that are looking for Series A or Series B funding. Most of the targets, Day said, will be companies with at least $7 million in revenue who are trying to scale up product development and marketing efforts.
The fund will be started by a $25 million initial investment from Elevate Ventures, stemming from the company’s return on previous investments in the state Elevate plans to raise an additional $75 million through the private markets for the fund.
Elevate Ventures is planning to begin fund formation in the late second quarter and begin making investments from the fund in 2025.
Day said Indiana has historically had a sizable gap in its investment capabilities for companies that would be classified into this fund—those looking at raising $10 million or more from a new funding round.
He said the new fund addresses that gap and positions Indiana to compete for companies from other states and those already in Indiana that might otherwise look to move elsewhere.
“The biggest gap or hole in our funding continuum, historically and today is growth capital, and this is the first growth capital fund … Indiana has ever had,” said Day, who has started numerous companies in the state over the years. “So it’s quite a historic moment—and something I wish I had [access to] with my previous businesses.”
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