Subscriber Benefit
As a subscriber you can listen to articles at work, in the car, or while you work out. Subscribe Now
Purdue University is hoping that its new startup accelerator program will help founders establish or rekindle their Indiana connections—and perhaps someday expand or relocate their companies here.
The Purdue Innovates Accelerator, which launched this week with its first cohort of five startups, is a 13-week program for early-stage companies with Purdue connections. Startups that complete the program qualify for $100,000 in investment from the university.
The accelerator is the latest in a series of initiatives Purdue has launched over the past several years to encourage entrepreneurship and technology commercialization. Other initiatives include programs to help students develop business ideas, student pitch contests and help for faculty members who want to commercialize their research. The various initiatives operate under what’s known as the Purdue Innovates Incubator.
“There’s a little bit of a pathway we’ve started to create,” said Doug Applegate, the incubator’s associate director.
Applegate said his office received more than 70 applications from Purdue-connected founders—students, faculty members and alumni—for the accelerator’s inaugural cohort. The university plans to offer the program once a year.
Purdue selected the five participating startups based on a variety of factors including the strength of the business idea and its potential market size, the skills and backgrounds of the founding team and the amount of early traction the startup has gained. The program is industry-agnostic and is generally aimed at startups with $1 million or less in annual revenue.
Of the five selected startups, four have Purdue alumni on their founding teams, and one is built around technology developed by Purdue researchers.
Only one of the five startups has executives who currently live in Indiana. That company is Capturely, which describes itself as a remote photography studio that uses artificial intelligence and professional photographers to produce professional-quality headshots.
Though Capturely was launched in California and is still officially based in that state, the company’s Chief Technology Officer, David Chiasson, and CEO, Rob Eyler, both live in the Indianapolis area. Chiasson is a Purdue graduate.
The other four startups chosen for Purdue Innovates Accelerator’s inaugural cohort are:
- Chicago-based Dronespotter Inc., which has developed sensors that identify and track drones in real time. Co-founder and CEO Mike Munizzi is a Purdue graduate.
- London-based Elisyan Wealth Ventures Ltd., a financial app that allows users to track their wealth across multiple countries. CEO Yasmina Marie Slimani earned her MBA from Purdue.
- Denver-based Greenshoot Materials, which has created a compostable and non-toxic alternative to plastic for food packaging. The company is licensing two different Purdue-developed technologies for its product. CEO is Monika Bleszynski.
- Jackson, Wyoming-based Rev Pharmaceuticals Inc., which has created a patented over-the-counter pain relief cream. The company’s chief technology officer, Beth Brown, is a Purdue graduate.
The accelerator is designed as a hybrid program, which means that it will include four weeks of in-person programming. Of those four weeks, three will be in West Lafayette and one will be in Indianapolis.
During those Indiana weeks, Applegate said, Purdue will have the chance to strengthen the startups’ Indiana ties and connect the founders to the Indiana Economic Development Corp. and industry-specific initiatives such as Conexus Indiana and AgriNovus Indiana.
“We’re trying to be understanding of their current life situations, but also want to give them an opportunity to come back to their alma mater, if they’re an alumnus, and see what’s new, what’s changed, and also learn about the opportunities that are here, not only with Purdue, but in the state of Indiana,” Applegate said.
Taking the long view, having these connections might lead these companies to do business in Indiana as they grow, Applegate said. “It could be a seed that’s planted that could come to fruition later.”
Please enable JavaScript to view this content.