Not-for-profit hoping to grow microloan program
Small amounts of funding often ignored by larger banks.
Small Business
Articles
For graying generation, startups are booming
Since the 1990s, the demographic makeup of new entrepreneurs has been steadily shifting toward baby boomers as they seek personal and financial fulfillment. Count Fountain Square Brewing Co.’s Bill Webster among them.
Lemonade Day gives kids taste of entrepreneurship
About 15,000 of central Indiana’s youngest entrepreneurs are testing their business-ownership chops this weekend in tried-and-true fashion: setting up and running lemonade stands.
Kids to sell lemonade at the Indiana Statehouse
More than 15,000 young people from pre-school age through high school will open lemonade stands across the greater Indianapolis area this weekend.
Biz boosters embrace One Click, but it’s no sure thing
Husband-and-wife entrepreneurs Randy and Angie Stocklin started Greenwood-based One Click Ventures out of their home with $20,000 in 2005. They now own a portfolio of niche retail websites, including SunglassWarehouse.com, HandbagHeaven.com and Scarves.net, which brought $5.3 million in revenue last year.
Chamber to merge with economic development groups
The Greater Indianapolis Chamber of Commerce will lead economic development efforts for central Indiana by merging with Develop Indy, Indy Partnership and Business Ownership Initiative, the groups announced Thursday.
Signature Inns founder plans auto-care franchises
Honest-1 Auto Care hopes to open as many as 20 shops in Indiana over five to seven years and has tapped the founder of the Signature Inns chain to help lead the effort.
Contest aims to find next hot ‘foodpreneur’
About 60 aspiring food-business operators entered the Hottest Kitchen Entrepreneur Challenge in hopes that they have the next big idea.
Former Pac-Van owners return to mobile office biz
Brent and Matthew Claymon have founded OnSite Space LLC and acquired Indianapolis-based Tyson Corp., to form OnSite Space by Tyson. The brothers sold Pac-Van in 2006 and have returned to the industry after their five-year non-compete expired.
Digital textbook firm Courseload raises millions
The Indianapolis-based digital textbook company Courseload completed a new round of fundraising in April that its CEO says gives the company the cash it needs to keep landing new university customers in what has become a fast-growing but hyper-competitive field.
Carmel event firm sold, relocated to Castleton
EventzPlus, besides hosting large gatherings, will also offer daily office space rentals to small business owners.
Progress spotty in narrowing tech field’s gender gap
Most technology firm startups are birthed by men in their 20s and 30s who have a background in computer science. To what degree women are underrepresented in the ranks of tech entrepreneurs is hard to quantify, but it’s a small universe.
Purdue’s Indy tech incubator nearing capacity
Officials consider expanding facility that got off to a slow start but began filling up last fall.
Want to check your coat? Now, there’s an app for that
Indianapolis-based upstart CoatChex is preparing the launch of an iPad-based, ticketless coat-check system for bars through which a patron enters his phone number to check a coat and, later, to retrieve it.
Fast-food clients fueling furniture-maker’s growth
Facility Concepts’ can-do attitude has cemented the loyalty of clients like Southern Bells—one of the largest Taco Bell franchises in the country—and propelled it from startup consultancy in 2004 to full-fledged manufacturer.
New owner moving EventzPlus to larger location
Less than two months after serial entrepreneur Jenn Kampmeier and her partners staged a grand opening for Carmel party venue and event-planning service EventzPlus, they’ve sold the firm for an undisclosed sum.
INSIDE DISH: Husband-wife team revive sushi joint’s reputation
Scott and Debbie Bennett sank their savings into purchasing Greenwood's Yokohama, which had a past peppered with disappointed patrons.
Power-grid software maker lands $7M in venture capital
Indianapolis-based Blue Pillar Inc., which makes software to manage electrical grids, has closed on $7 million in funding from four venture capital firms, it said Monday.
Veteran broker Hohmann leaves Cassidy Turley to go solo
Hohmann has been involved in numerous high-profile real estate deals over the years, including the transaction that resulted in development of Intech Park and assembling about 60 acres for Clay Terrace in Carmel.
BioCrossroads launches second seed fund
BioCrossroads Inc. has raised an $8.25 million seed fund in its second attempt to help startup life sciences companies grow to the point where they can attract venture capital or a corporate funder.