INDIANAPOLIS, IN (August 7, 2018) – The Indiana Economic Development Corporation (IEDC) and gener8tor, a nationally-ranked startup accelerator, announced plans today to host an Indiana-focused pavilion at the upcoming TechCrunch Disrupt SF Conference . The conference will be held September 5-7 in San Francisco at the Moscone Center West.
With this partnership, eight Indiana early-stage startups will feature their products or platforms at the conference’s Startup Alley , while also showcasing the state’s growing entrepreneurial ecosystem. Among these companies are the five recent graduates of gener8tor’s gBETA Indy program, and three other high-growth Indiana startups. More information on the eight companies is below.
“Indiana’s entrepreneurial ecosystem will be on full display at TechCrunch Disrupt, showcasing our thriving tech community to companies and investors from across the world,” said IEDC President Elaine Bedel. “As a state, we will continue to support Hoosier innovators as they start and scale their businesses, attracting capital investment to Indiana and creating high-skilled jobs for Hoosiers.”
As part of Governor Holcomb’s Next Level Agenda to cultivate a strong and diverse economy, the state is committed to making Indiana a hub for innovation by increasing support and resources for entrepreneurs and startup and scaleup companies. The IEDC supports gener8tor’s gBETA Indy program , which is Indiana’s first public, application-based accelerator.
“The Indiana Pavilion will highlight our state’s best and brightest entrepreneurs on an international stage,” Chelsea Linder, director of gBETA Indy. “We are happy to partner with the IEDC to provide this opportunity to eight great Indiana startups. It directly aligns with gener8tor’s mission of bolstering the Indiana startup ecosystem and helping to create more jobs and wealth in our community.”
In 2017, TechCrunch Disrupt boasted 5,000 attendees, 1,220 investor-founder meetings, 500 exhibiting startups and millions of online viewers. At Startup Alley, the exhibition area of TechCrunch Disrupt, hundreds of startups from around the world — and investors looking to fund them — gather to meet, connect and network. The only requirement is that each startup must be in its pre-Series A funding round.
“Attending TechCrunch Disrupt provides so much opportunity for us to meet investors and early customers!” said Wes Winham, founder and chief executive officer of Woven. “There’s no way we could have done this without the support of IEDC and gBETA. I’m excited to represent Indiana in the startup capital of the world!”
At this year’s TechCrunch Disrupt conference, Indiana is the only U.S. state with its own pavilion and will be among several countries like Japan, Germany, Austria, Australia, Korea and Lebanon. Regions that have participated in previous TechCrunch events include St. Louis, Argentina, Austria, Belgium, Brazil, the Caribbean, Catalonia, the Czech Republic, Germany, Hungary, Hong Kong, Korea, Japan, Lithuania, Taiwan, Ukraine and Uruguay.
The IEDC and gener8tor will continue to work together in support of Indiana-based startups beyond the conference. With the support of the IEDC, Hendricks Commercial Properties, Barnes & Thornburg LLP, Gutwein Law and Ice Miller, the second cohort of gBETA Indy will kick off in mid September. gBETA Indy is currently accepting applications for the Fall 2018 cohort and the deadline to apply is August 17th. For more information or to sign up for office hours, visit www.gbetaaccelerator.com/indy .
Participating Startups
Brightlamp is a computational medicine company that produces consumer ready software for medical diagnostics. Our mission is to make the world medically mobile by reforming the way we interact with technology and our health. The goal is to bring healthcare into the hands of everyday people by allowing them access to simplistic diagnostic services for a fraction of today’s costs. Brightlamp is currently bringing to market a head trauma tool for physicians, as well as an alcohol analyzer that consumers’ can download from the app store.
Observer called Brightlamp “One of the 5 coolest startups” discovered at Disrupt last year. Michael Heims | mheims@brightlamp.org | www.brightlamp.org
Codelicious builds confidence in educators and students in the classroom by providing instant access to computer science curriculum for grades 3-8 that any educator can teach. Codelicious’ full-semester, interactive, comprehensive skills-building curriculum ensures that teachers are always connected with the most current technology. Since launching their curriculum through a software-as-a-service model in January of 2017, Codelicious has generated revenues over $125,000 by securing clients with renewable contracts and pursuing opportunities to expand each contract by 4x.
Christine McDonnell | cmcdonnell@codelicious.com | www.codelicious.com
Mimir builds tools to scale the software engineering workforce. Their flagship product, Mimir Classroom, helps instructors to efficiently teach Computer Science courses of any scale without compromising quality of education for students.
Prahasith Veluvolu | hello@mimirhq.com | https://www.mimirhq.com
Pinpoint Pharma uses inkjet printing technology to make personalized medicine products for pets when they are prescribed by veterinarians, in partnership with compounding pharmacists. Pinpoint Pharma accelerates production from 60 minutes to 10 minutes per patient and reduces product waste from 10% to less than 1%, while also limiting the number of different pills needed. Pinpoint Pharma is a NSF SBIR Phase I grant awardee based on patented technology which successfully demonstrated printed medicine for five applications including chemotherapy, and has one committed pilot customer.
Arun Giridhar | arun@pinpointpharma.co | pinpointpharma.co
With more than 10,000 active members in cities around the country, Powderkeg helps high-growth tech ventures connect with the local and national resources they need to grow and scale in areas beyond Silicon Valley. The Powderkeg Member Platform connects tech professionals with a suite of resources to help them play smart, take the next step on their journey, and make a bigger impact.
Kimberly Jefferson | kim@blastmedia.com | powderkeg.com
Selfless.ly’s online platform connects corporations, their employees, and non-profits to help people do good more easily, efficiently, and effectively. Using Selfless.ly, businesses of all sizes can create, maintain, and track a Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) program, while non-profit organizations can post volunteer opportunities, receive donations, and more. An Indianapolis-based Certified B Corp pending, Selfless.ly launched its beta version on May 1, 2018 with 35 active non-profit users and is actively on-boarding for-profit customers in Indianapolis.
“Selfless.ly is honored to be invited to attend and participate in DisruptSF in conjunction with gBETA and IEDC. The continued support and opportunities that we’ve received in this community are incredible and are allowing us to connect with the resources and people we need to move Selfless.ly forward faster.” – Lisa Mitchell, Co-Founder & COO
Joshua Driver | josh@selfless.ly | selfless.ly
SnapShyft’s gig-staffing platform instantly connects food & beverage, and hospitality (F&B) venues with reliable, qualified workers when they are short-staffed. SnapShyft provides on-demand and advanced shift coverage at a 90% success rate, making it the most effective solution to handling understaffed instances. Since January 2018, SnapShyft has covered 550 shifts through the platform, and currently has a talent pool of over 4,500 industry workers on tap to cover open shifts.
“It is such an honor and a sincere privilege to represent Indy tech in Silicon Valley during TechCrunch Disrupt. SnapShyft is looking forward to drawing the eyes of the west coast towards IND as part of the Indiana delegation. We’re proud to be joining some amazing Hoosier startups during this tremendous opportunity. We are grateful to be a representative of the local tech ecosystem!” – Thor Wood, Co-Founder & CEO
Thor Wood | thor@snapshyft.com | www.snapshyft.com
Woven’s evidence-based developer hiring platform helps high-growth teams find more qualified developers. With Woven as an early interview step, teams find hidden gems and dodge bad hires. Candidates show off with real-world engineering scenarios tailored for the team. It only takes an hour. Then Woven sends the hiring manager a rigorous recommendation, and every candidate gets actionable feedback. That creates great phone screens and Glassdoor reviews. 40% of Woven customers have made at least one “hidden gem” hire. Without Woven, those high-potential candidates get missed.
“Attending TechCrunch Disrupt provides so much opportunity for us to meet investors and early customers! There’s no way we could have done this without the support of IEDC and gBETA. I’m excited to represent Indiana in the startup capital of the world!”
Wes Winham | wes@woventeams.com | www.woventeams.com
About gBETA
gBETA is a program of nationally ranked startup accelerator gener8tor. gBETA is a free, accelerator for early-stage companies with local roots. Each program is capped at five teams, and requires no fees and no equity. gBETA currently operates in eight locations: Beloit, Detroit, Cincinnati, Indianapolis, Madison, Milwaukee, Minneapolis and Northeast Wisconsin. gBETA also offers an industry specific Medtech program in Minneapolis. gBETA graduates have collectively raised over $15M since 2015, and 40% have either gone on to participate in a full-time, equity-based accelerator or raise at least $50,000 in seed financing. For more statistics, visit https://www.gbetaaccelerator.com/statistics/ .
About gener8tor
gener8tor is a turnkey platform for the creative economy that connects startups, entrepreneurs, artists, investors, universities and corporations. The gener8tor platform includes pre-accelerators, accelerators, corporate programming, conferences and fellowships focused on entrepreneurs, artists and musicians.
gener8tor is a nationally ranked, GOLD-tier accelerator in the U.S. as ranked by the Seed Accelerator Rankings Project: http://seedrankings.com .
About IEDC
The Indiana Economic Development Corporation (IEDC) leads the state of Indiana’s economic development efforts, helping businesses launch, grow and locate in the state. Governed by a 15-member board chaired by Governor Eric J. Holcomb, the IEDC manages many initiatives, including performance-based tax credits, workforce training grants, innovation and entrepreneurship resources, public infrastructure assistance, and talent attraction and retention efforts. For more information about the IEDC, visit www.iedc.in.gov .
