Southern Indiana Business Report
BLOOMINGTON — Applications are now open for the 2022 Crossroads Collegiate Pitch Competition. The event showcases startup businesses founded by college students across the state of Indiana. The winner takes home a $2,500 investment from Flywheel Fund, the micro-investment fund run by The Mill, and access to its powerful network and mentoring support.
“Last year, we saw pitches from 15 fantastic startups from 11 campuses around the state,” said Andy Lehman, head of accelerator programming for The Mill, a Bloomington-based nonprofit center for entrepreneurship and coworking. “We’d love to see even broader representation of Indiana’s universities and colleges this year. Crossroads Collegiate is just the first step for these founders. You only have to look at 2021 winner Andre Harakas’s success to see how far a startup can go in a year.”
Andre Harakas from Indiana Wesleyan University won the 2021 competition for his company ProBook Sports, which recently rebranded to All In Sports Team Hub. All In streamlines sports team management, providing a complete platform for player development. Coaches can track and foster athlete development while building team culture through an all-in-one app where they can post game videos, set goals for athlete nutrition, share chat and news in a team feed, and more. After winning Crossroads Collegiate, Harakas went on to close a $350,000 pre-seed funding round led by Jim Zarvos and Michigan-based Skypoint Ventures. Flywheel Fund participated with an investment of $50,000.
“Indiana’s collegiate entrepreneurs represent diverse corners of the state,” Lehman said. “South Bend, Indy, West Lafayette, Notre Dame, Richmond, Columbus, Evansville, and of course Bloomington are bubbling with entrepreneurial activity. Part of what makes this competition so exciting is the process of discovery, seeing what’s happening all across Indiana and meeting the next generation of innovators. It’s energizing and inspiring to see the future they’re building.”
Crossroads Collegiate Pitch Competition is open to any student currently enrolled at any Indiana university or college with a startup based in Indiana. To apply, submit an executive summary, a pitch deck, and a 10-minute pitch video at https://crossroadspitch.com/ by midnight on April 18. A panel of entrepreneurs, investors, and business experts will judge four finalists on May 20.
The Mill’s mission is to spark Bloomington’s innovation economy by launching and accelerating startups, and its vision is to become Indiana’s center of gravity for entrepreneurship. For more information on Crossroads Collegiate Pitch Competition, visit https://crossroadscollegiate.com/ For more information on the flagship Crossroads event, visit https://crossroadspitch.com/