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ELEVATE NEXUS:

Pitch Competitions

Offering promising startups the opportunity to secure foundational capital needed to launch their businesses. 

The Pitch Competitions

Elevate Nexus Pitch Competitions are organized into four competitions:
Regional Pre-Seed
Investment
$20,000
Statewide Pre-Seed
Investment
$40,000
Regional Seed
Investment
$80,000
Statewide Seed
Investment
$100,000

Pre-seed investments are for startups seeking funds to build a minimum viable product. Seed investments are for companies that are further along and are building and testing the processes that will be used to ultimately scale the business. It is up to the business to review the eligibility criteria below and determine if they should apply for a Pre-Seed or Seed Pitch Competition.

Applicants are not required to have participated in the pre-seed category prior to applying for the seed category. Applicants who have previously applied for one category may reapply in the same category or apply to a different category in subsequent competitions.

Businesses should select the region in which the business is headquartered. Winners of regional pitch competitions are eligible to pitch at the statewide competition for the same category they won.

Eligibility Criteria

Regional Pre-Seed Criteria

Investments should be used for early-stage product or service development- essentially, for preparing the company to maximize its future fundraising opportunities via the assembly and testing of a coordinated, effective core team and the building of a minimum viable product (MVP) that goes beyond a prototype.

To be considered, companies must:

  • Be Indiana based
  • Have a total addressable market of over $500M
  • Have a unique value proposition
  • Have a committed team with ambition to create a venture-backed, high-growth, enterprise
  • Preferably, be engaged with a college or university participating in the Elevate Nexus program
  • Be available to present the company pitch deck in front of an audience to a panel of judges.
Statewide Pre-Seed Criteria

To be considered, companies must:

  • Fulfill all Regional Pre-Seed Criteria outlined above
  • Have won a Regional Pre-Seed Investment
Regional Seed Criteria

Investments should be used for companies that have already validated their value proposition and are developing the levers with which they will define how their businesses will ultimately scale via an infusion of venture capital. It is not necessary to have received a pre-seed investment to be eligible for a seed investment.

To be considered, companies must:

  • Fulfill all regional pre-seed requirements outlined above
  • Have completed an MVP, or if selling in a government regulated field (i.e requires FDA, USDA approval) the company should have a viable plan toward developing a completed prototype or trial results
  • Have conducted customer discovery, and preferably, gone through a formal customer discovery process
  • Start to demonstrate professional operations by adding expertise as managers, board members and/or advisors
  • Preferably, have validated the company’s value proposition by generating early revenue, securing signed contracts, and/or established strategic partnerships with entities that will license or buy the company’s intellectual property upon future development
  • May have, or are in the process of, raising capital
Statewide Seed Criteria

To be considered, companies must:

  • Fulfill all Regional Seed Criteria outlined above
  • Have won a Regional Seed Investment
  • For applicable companies, a portion of the seed investment will be used for admission into the GrowthX program.
Who does not qualify?
  • Companies who won a regional pre-seed competition and won a statewide pre-seed award, doesn’t qualify for seed
  • Companies who won a regional seed competition, and won a statewide seed award

Investment Terms

Elevate Nexus pitch competition investments are convertible notes with a 20% discount, 8% interest, and a 3-year maturity. Pre-Seed Regional and Statewide investments carry a $2M cap while the Seed Regional and Statewide investments have a $3M cap. Terms could be negotiable, subject to an evaluation from the Elevate Ventures investment committee if the business is currently in the process of raising a round with commitments already made.

Companies are only considered winners once a term sheet is accepted.

Application Specifications

Applicants must submit their pitch deck and executive summary following the exact specifications outlined below. Failure to do so will lead to immediate disqualification.

1. Pitch Deck

Provide a pitch deck following the exact order and number of slides below:

  1. Title Slide
  2. Team
  3. The Problem
  4. The Solution
  5. Market Size
  6. Competition
  7. Business Model
  8. Marketing and Sales
  9. Three-Year Milestones
  10. Ask and Use of Funds

2. Executive Summary

Provide a one-page executive summary covering the following topics in the exact order listed below:

  1. Team
  2. Problem
  3. Solution
  4. Market Size
  5. Competition
  6. Business Model
  7. Marketing and Sales
  8. Progress to Date
  9. Future Milestones

Three participating regions

Each Regional Competition takes place in North, Central, and South Indiana at both pre-seed and seed levels. At the conclusion of each competition, nine pre-seed companies (three per region) will receive a $20,000 investment, and six seed companies (two per region) will receive an $80,000 investment for a total of $660K invested.

Northern Region Counties

Adams, Allen, Benton, Blackford, Carroll, Cass, DeKalb, Elkhart, Fulton, Grant, Howard, Huntington, Jasper, Jay, Kosciusko, LaGrange, Lake, LaPorte, Marshall, Miami, Newton, Noble, Poter, Pulaski, St. Joseph, Starke, Steuben, Wabash, Wells, White, and Whitley counties

Central Region Counties

Boone, Clinton, Delaware, Fayette, Fountain, Hamilton, Hancock, Hendricks, Henry, Johnson, Madison, Marion, Montgomery, Morgan, Parke, Putnam, Randolph, Rush, Shelby, Tippecanoe, Tipton, Union, Vermillion, Warren, and Wayne counties

Southern Region Counties

Bartholomew, Brown, Clark, Clay, Crawford, Daviess, Dearborn, Decatur, Dubois, Floyd, Franklin, Gibson, Greene, Harrison, Jackson, Jefferson, Jennings, Know, Lawrence, Martin, Monroe, Ohio, Orange, Owen, Perry, Pike, Posey, Ripley, Scott, Spencer, Sullivan, Switzerland, Vanderburgh, Vigo, Warrick, and Washington counties