Skip to content
Flyover Future
  • Newsletters and More
  • Podcast
  • Innovation Radar
  • Subscribe!

Hoosier Angels | Data & GoodMaps | Funding for Midwest startups

December 10, 2020

“I’ve achieved ‘the American dream.’ I feel it’s my duty to help others achieve their vision, too.” — Joe Frazier

 

Today’s itinerary:

  • Hoosier Angels
  • Podcast: Serve the superuser, change the world
  • Connecting entrepreneurs around the globe
  • Stopping metastasizing cancer cells
  • Fueling the Future
  • Name that Flyover City!

December 10, 2020

Image

CHAT WITH A CHANGEMAKER

How IU Angel Network helps new businesses launch 

A 15-Year-Old Entrepreneur Impresses the Sharks - Shark Tank

Image courtesy of the Trustees of Indiana University

 

The IU Angel Network is designed to connect qualified investors with an Indiana University (IU) affiliation to early-stage startups led by members of the IU community.

 

Flyover Future spoke to Jason Lee Whitney, Executive Director, about the beginnings of the organization and where it is now.

 

What does the IU Angel Network do?

 

Whitney: It facilitates connections between startup companies and prospective investors among Indiana University’s global community of alumni, faculty, staff, students, and friends. Through this network, we aim to foster an entrepreneurial culture. IU Angel Network provides mentors, educational programming and networking opportunities for budding entrepreneurs throughout the state.

 

When investors with an IU affiliation join the IU Angel Network, they connect with a growing collective of successful IU alumni to exchange ideas and review investment opportunities in a curated list of IU-affiliated startup ventures.

 

How did the program begin?

 

Whitney: When I was with the Launch Indiana platform, I spent two years mapping out the state in cities like New Albany, Evansville, Kokomo, etc. We found innovative entrepreneurs in these cities, and we needed to find a way to support them so they remained there. It’s where they went to high school, where they want to raise their kids and where they’ll be good citizens of the community without having to move to bigger cities like Indianapolis or Chicago.

 

IU asked if I could come and support entrepreneurs on campus in the same manner—surround them with the tools they need to be successful. After a time, we realized that we weren’t fully utilizing our network of alumnae throughout the world.

"Our nationwide engagements have given us an opportunity to search out the most promising IU alumni-founded startups in the country."

 

— Jason Lee Whitney, IU Angel Network

What did that involve?

 

Whitney: We started making connections with those folks who were interested in supporting the innovation happening on campus. We started a traditional venture fund, but the thing that really through gasoline on the fire was the launch of our angel network in Sept. 2019.

 

When we instituted that program, we were giving people the chance to invest in the companies we were working with. I spent most of those first months traveling throughout the country curating this community of alumna who were interested in supporting businesses and reconnecting with this area. Our nationwide engagements have given us an opportunity to search out the most promising IU alumni-founded startups in the country.

 

Our network has grown from 20 members to almost 60 and, since February, we’ve invested around a $1 million this year.

Share this story!

Facebook Twitter

INNOVATORS PODCAST

Serve the superuser, change the world

Innovators Podcast, S1E10
Jose Gaztambide thought he would be a baseball insider but instead is leading the charge on a new kind of mapping that is literally changing how people navigate the world. Hear the details on Jose's journey, his company GoodMaps and the concepts, ideas and data they are harnessing to change the way we think about movement.
LISTEN TO PODCAST
You can also listen to this episode on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google, or wherever else you get your podcasts.

Share this podcast!

Facebook Twitter

ON THE RADAR

Pittsburgh startup helps entrepreneurs connect with peers

Entre is a social network created to bring together entrepreneurs, freelancers, and investors and provide a community that helps founders learn, build relationships, and exchange ideas with others who are starting or growing a business. Membership is free (although there’s also a premium version) and now you can download a new app—also free—to help you interact with other members, ask questions and solicit feedback, connect with investors, find a mentor, launch your project, and build a team.

 

While it was still in beta, the app garnered more than 4,000 users in 100 countries—an impressive start for a company whose mission is to “build the largest network of entrepreneurs.” Entre has raised over $185,000 from angel investors, is actively raising additional funding, and is planning to start its seed round in 2021.

Share this story!

Facebook Twitter

Notre Dame scientists study the brain’s immune system

Notre Dame researchers recently published a report that details the results of a study involving the brain’s immune environment. Scientists believe that the brain suppresses an aggressive immune response to protect against inflammation. However, that suppression opens the door to metastasizing cancer cells.

 

The researchers demonstrated that a particular type of cell, a myeloid cell, is responsible for suppressing the immune response, allowing breast cancer cells to metastasize and form secondary tumor cells in the brain. One kind of myeloid cell, microglia, releases a protein called VISTA, which protects against brain inflammation. Unfortunately, it also suppresses the T-cells that would otherwise be inhibiting the spread of cancer.

 

Antibodies have been developed to block VISTA, but considerable research and testing needs to be done to ensure the safety and effectiveness of that approach in combating brain metastases.

Share this story!

Facebook Twitter

FUELING THE FUTURE

What is fueling Flyover Country innovation? In this weekly feature, we share a variety of announcements covering funding, acquisitions, exits, grants, and everything in between. Got something to celebrate? Click here to share your story.

  • In its continuing effort to invest in businesses in flyover cities, Revolution, the investment firm founded by Steve Case, is raising $500 million for its latest fund. This comes four years after Revolution announced its third growth fund, which closed with $525 million in capital investments.

  • The Ohio Third Frontier program wants to award up to $60 million in funding to organizations that will invest in Ohio technology companies in the early stages of commercializing their products or services.

  • Bloomington, IN-based Civic Champs has just completed a $130,000 round of funding from the IU Angel Network. The company’s platform lets nonprofit organizations manage volunteer management.

  • Kansas City’s TripleBlind, which helps enterprises share sensitive information with their stakeholders more effectively, has landed a strategic investment through Accenture Ventures. Terms of the investment were not disclosed.

  • Indy’s Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing (co-owned by Indy racer Bobby Rahal and talk show host David Letterman), is planning a $20 million headquarter in Zionsville, IN.

Share this story!

Facebook Twitter
Alternate text

NAME THAT FLYOVER CITY!

It's time for our favorite trivia game!

 

Here are this week's questions:

  1. What city was the home of the first community-sponsored educational TV station?
  2. The first typewriter to be commercially successful was patented in 1868 in what city?
  3. A neighborhood in this city was home, at various times, to writers T.S. Eliot, Tennessee Williams, Kate Chopin and William S. Burroughs. Can you name the city?

Click here for today's answers.

REACH OUT

Share stories, offer suggestions, or send comments!

CONTACT US

Share this:

  • Facebook
  • Twitter
  • LinkedIn
  • More
  • Print
  • Reddit
  • Tumblr
  • Pinterest
  • Pocket
  • Telegram
  • WhatsApp
  • Skype
Posted in Newsletters

Newsletters

  • Vaccines | How care has changed | IBM & Cleveland Clinic | AlphaLab Health April 21, 2021
  • Lewis & Clark Ventures | Arch Grants | Robots | 3D printing April 15, 2021
  • Easing PPE demands | Vaccines and kids | Antiviral therapeutics April 14, 2021
  • Tech for horses | Podcast: Shared Lessons | Steve Case and the Rust Belt | Startup Funding April 8, 2021
  • Tech transfer during the pandemic | The growth of telehealth | HealthTech April 7, 2021

View All Newsletters

Podcasts

  • S2-E4: Focus on the Toaster: A Guide to Not Overthinking the Tech You Need April 5, 2021
  • S2-E3: Why AI implementation in Flyover Country is getting noticed March 29, 2021
  • S2-E2: State of Change: Inclusivity, Access, & Impact March 22, 2021
  • S2:E1 You can’t just say, “Because I said so” March 8, 2021
  • Innovators Podcast – S1 E12: Are you using the right data? February 1, 2021

View All Podcasts

Stories & Features

  • Puddle Hops PUDDLE HOPS: Oklahoma and renewable energy; GM to make electric Silverado April 22, 2021
  • Fueling the Future: Technology training; JumpStart is on a roll; $11.4M for a Louisville startup April 22, 2021
  • Ann Arbor SPARKS entrepreneurship April 22, 2021
  • Flyover Future HealthTech: IBM & Cleveland Clinic; AlphaLab Health; Possible Cancer therapy April 21, 2021
  • PANDEMIC REPORT: Vaccines and nursing mothers; how care has changed; COVID-19 monitoring April 21, 2021

View All Stories & Features

Our Network

Cincinnati Future

Indy Future

Louisville Future

More Cities on the way!

About Us

Mission and Team

Contact Us

More Ways to Connect

LinkedIn

Facebook

Twitter

© 2021 Flyover Future | Powered by MoDuet
Terms & Conditions | Privacy Policy