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Indianapolis-based The Heritage Group has discontinued its business accelerator program after a six-year run.
The Heritage Group is a privately held Indianapolis-based holding company with an ownership stake in more than 30 operating companies. Those companies operate in industries such as construction and materials, environmental services and specialty chemicals.
The Heritage Group Accelerator was part of The Heritage Group’s New Ventures Group, which launched in 2018 to boost entrepreneurship both inside and outside of The Heritage Group.
The accelerator program, which launched in 2019 and focused on early-stage companies in the areas of hard tech, climate tech, materials science, industry 4.0, sustainability and circular economy, wrapped up its final cohort in September.
Ginger Rothrock, the New Ventures Group’s senior director, said the accelerator had been a success, but that The Heritage Group decided it was time to switch things up.
“Part of being an entrepreneur is figuring out what’s working and where we might want to make a change, continue doing things that are working, maybe stop some things that aren’t perfect, or the timing isn’t right, or the opportunity cost is different,” Rothrock said.
Going forward, the New Ventures Group will focus its efforts on innovation and entrepreneurship within its own operating companies.
“There’s never been a centralized function for innovation,” Rothrock said of The Heritage Group’s various operating companies. “There’s lots of collaboration, but it’s never been standardized in one place.”
As part of this focus, The Heritage Group hired Josh Robinson late last year as its director of enterprise innovation.
Before joining The Heritage Group, Robinson was the CEO at Cocoon Bioscience, a Spain-based maker of growth factors and enzymes, according to his LinkedIn profile. He studied chemistry and math at Purdue University and went on to earn a doctoral degree in physical chemistry from Stanford University.
“We’re excited that he’s joined us and will help us focus on internal innovation activities,” Rothrock said.
Though it has closed down its accelerator program, the New Ventures Group will continue with another core part of its innovation strategy—investing U.S. and international companies through its HG Ventures arm. Those investments focus on developing advanced materials and systems in the transportation, infrastructure, environmental services and specialty chemical industries.
To date, HG Ventures has invested in 35 companies, including some that are based in Indiana: Zionsville-based 120Water, Indianapolis-based Avenew and Mito Material Solutions, and Newberry-based Ateios Systems.
One factor in the decision to discontinue the accelerator, Rothrock said, was the level of resources required to run the program.
During the program’s first three years, The Heritage Group ran the accelerator in partnership with Techstars, a New York City-based firm that operates accelerator programs in the U.S. and around the world. After its three-year contract with Techstars ended in 2022, The Heritage Group continued operating its accelerator program on its own.
Over the past six years, a total of 54 companies participated in the 13-week program, which took place at The Heritage Group’s headquarters on the northwest side of Indianapolis. Accelerator participants received a $150,000 equity investment, plus non-monetary benefits including mentorship and access to The Heritage Group’s research and development resources. (The accelerator initially offered participants a $120,000 investment. In later years of the program, that investment increased to $150,000.)
The Heritage Group Accelerator is the second local accelerator to shut down in recent months.
The Techstars Sports Accelerator Powered by Indy, which also launched in 2019, wrapped up last year after graduating its last cohort of sports-tech startups in December.
A total of 67 companies participated in the annual sports-tech accelerator, whose founding partners included the Next Level Fund/50 South Capital, Pacers Sports & Entertainment, NCAA and Indiana Sports Corp. Supporting partners were the Indianapolis Colts, NTT IndyCar Series and the Indianapolis Motor Speedway.
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