A partnership between Bloomington/ The Mill, the Columbus Chamber of Commerce, and Elevate Ventures, Velocities partners on many Mill events and programs. They support entrepreneurs across Monroe, Brown, and Bartholomew Counties.

The Mill is proud to partner with Elevate Ventures, a state leader in entrepreneurship. Elevate provides investment capital to Indiana entrepreneurs, robust investment opportunities to funders, and superb educational events and mentoring.

The Mill works closely with nationally ranked accelerator gener8tor on the local gBETA program, The Mill Code School, and more. Their platform includes pre-accelerators, accelerators, corporate programming, conferences and fellowships.

The Mill regularly collaborates with Ivy Tech on entrepreneurial programming for startups, business teams, and students. The Cook Center at Ivy Tech provides powerful startup resources.

Origins Pre-Seed is for pre-revenue startups, aspiring entrepreneurs, or entrepreneurship instructors. Origins Seed is reserved for revenue-generating startups and for life science companies that have completed pre-clinical trials. Both are free, from Elevate Ventures.

Firestarter is an ideation (aha!) stage practical workshop run by Purdue Foundry. This cohort-based workshop helps innovators validate their ideas while learning practical methodologies to launch a successful business. 

The Mill’s Crossroads Idea Competition is a fun opportunity to get expert feedback on a business idea before developing it in a pre-accelerator like B-Start.

Mill Cohorts is a 6-week program for Mill members only to spur growth in key areas of early-stage companies. The program focuses on the critical areas of product-market fit, metrics, and financing.  Mentor swarms and office hours ensure participants receive a wide range of feedback and the full support of The Mill and our extensive network of entrepreneurs, innovators, and investors. 

gBETA is a program of nationally ranked startup accelerator gener8tor. gBETA is a free, seven-week accelerator for early-stage companies with local roots. Each program is capped at five teams, and requires no fees and no equity. The Bloomington-Columbus cohort runs twice annually.

Mill members and Velocities region startups have also participated in many prestigious national accelerator programs such as TechStars, Y Combinator, gener8tor, MassChallenge, and more. Check our events calendar and subscribe to our newsletter to stay informed of opportunities!

Crossroads Pitch Competition, run by The Mill, is one of the largest pitch competitions in the state, supported by a broad network of venture firms, entrepreneurs, investors, and businesses. Its nondilutive cash and other prizes attract competitors from across the state. Independent regional competitions may be powered by the Crossroads Platform.

The Mill’s Crossroads Collegiate Pitch Competition is open to any student currently enrolled in an Indiana college or university and offers non-dilutive cash prizes and other opportunities.

The Elevate Nexus program culminates in two annual pitch competitions (spring and fall) that offer pre-seed and seed awards of $20K and $80K. Regional winners may also participate in the statewide Nexus competition for a higher investment.

Pitch Strong is a recurring free webinar for entrepreneurs offered by Velocities and Elevate Ventures. It provides a framework of what to include in a pitch to investors in order to stand out and captivate their attention, as well as tips for presenting.

Flywheel Fund is a member-managed fund that invests in Indiana-based software and technology-related startups. 13% of investment funds are earmarked for Black founding teams. Each startup also agrees to be mentored on a monthly basis by one of Flywheel’s members after investment. Investments range from $25,00-$150,000.

Elevate Nexus provides programming and funding to higher education institutions, communities, and entrepreneurs, culminating in two annual pitch competitions.

The Community Ideation Fund enables ideation-stage high-potential companies to move closer to specific, measurable technology or product development milestones through an investment between $5,000 and $20,000. Eligible applicants include Indiana-based companies with headquarters in communities under a partnership with Elevate Ventures, and with no more than $50,000 in trailing revenue over the past 12-month period.

VisionTech Partners and VisionTech Angels are committed to advancing Indiana’s innovation ecosystem. They mentor and invest in promising startup companies and technologies with the potential of delivering significant return to investors and the marketplace at large. Their goal is to bridge the gap between early-stage funding and other investment rounds.

The Small Business Innovation Research and Small Business Technology Transfer (SBIR/STTR) programs are the largest source of early-stage technology financing in the US. Elevate Ventures matches $.50 toward every federal dollar awarded, up to $50,000 (lifetime cap of $150,00).

The Indiana Technical Assistance program (INTAP) from the ISBDC is a great source of non-dilutive capital (up to $15kK for eligible small businesses). Funds are used to complete projects that require specialized, professional, or technical assistance from a vendor. 

Mill members have special access to our Concierge program. Concierge connects startups with professionals in marketing, banking, legal, and more, for free consultations up to one hour.

The Mill’s beautiful downtown coworking space has soaring ceilings and natural light, the fastest WiFi in town, a Slack channel for chat and help from other members, free printing, hot Hopscotch coffee (and cold brew, too), and a creative vibe that will get your best ideas flowing.

Members of The Mill and Velocities network receive exclusive rates on design services for websites, pitch decks, one pagers, and more. Startup Studio designers help startups acquire and engage customers and investors.

The Mill Cohorts program is a 6-week program to spur growth in key areas of early-stage companies. The program focuses on the critical areas of product-market fit, metrics, and financing.  Mentor swarms and office hours ensure participants receive a wide range of feedback and the full support of The Mill and our extensive network of entrepreneurs, innovators, and investors. The program ends with Demo Night: an opportunity for companies to pitch in front of investors for feedback and follow-on conversations, and to showcase their growth over the previous 6 weeks.

The Indiana Procurement Technical Assistance Center helps Indiana businesses identify, apply for, and secure goverment contracts.

South Central Indiana SCORE is located in the Columbus Chamber of Commerce. SCORE volunteers have a wide range of business experience and are available to assist any entrepreneur with starting or growing a business. All services are free and confidential.

The Bloomington Chamber offers business events and networking as well as member benefits.

The Columbus Chamber offers entrepreneurial support and programming. A maker space is coming soon!