Elevate Purdue Foundry Fund, a vehicle managed by Purdue University and Elevate Ventures, provided more than $500,000 in total to 11 companies linked to the university on Tuesday.
Elevate Purdue Foundry Fund backs companies that fulfil either the criteria of its first-tier black award, which consists of a $20,000 convertible non-recourse note, or the second-tier gold award, which comes with $80,000 in debt or equity funding.
Since starting its three-year term in 2014, the fund has now committed to investing $2.5m in 59 Purdue-linked businesses.
The latest $500,000 sum includes five gold award investments, provided to crop management technology developer VinSense, medical diagnostics software provider Brightlamp, event organisation app creator Socio, plant growth machine maker Heliponix and educational game developer Explore Interactive.
VinSense was the only company confirmed as commercialising a licence from Purdue Research Foundation Office of Technology Commercialization. Brightlamp, VinSense, Heliponix and Explore had all previously secured black award investments, while Socio will also receive first-tier funding as part of the fund’s latest tranche.
In addition, another six companies will receive $20,000 convertible notes this time around – namely college laundry services provider UniBubbles, college ridesharing platform UniRide, visual impairment aid developer HaptImage, defence technology developer HySonic Technologies, public safety app developer Cyber Inform and medical device creator MediTrak.
John Hanak, managing director of Purdue Ventures, the university’s startup funding division, said: “This funding helps these entrepreneurs commercialise Purdue innovations. These are companies that have good ideas and have shown a strong potential for success.”
