Environmental software company Encamp won the New Tech Startup of the Year award during TechPoint’s 20th annual Mira Awards honoring the best of tech in Indiana.

To any customer who has seen an environmental compliance fee on a bill, the importance of streamlining the process and reducing the cost of meeting regulations and reporting requirements is self-evident. Businesses today recognize the need for environmental compliance, and many strive to become environmental leaders. However, environmental compliance is expensive, time-consuming, and tricky. Managing environmental programs using paper binders or home-made Excel and Access databases is costly, cumbersome and often leads to noncompliance.

Encamp, which was part of the second gBETA Indy accelerator cohort, is an environmental software company that helps small to enterprise companies save time, minimize risk, and protect human and environmental health. The company’s mission is to align corporate and environmental goals, that can be an expensive and time-consuming challenge for businesses today. With cloud-based software, Encamp is revolutionizing environmental reporting and data management for businesses.

The Mira Awards judges were impressed with Encamp’s smart and scalable solution combining the best aspects of SaaS data management systems and environmental business logic. Though launching in the third quarter of 2018, Encamp already has more than 130 customers including Fortune 1000 companies. The startup’s product also has a broad appeal with customers in agriculture, retail, logistics, and manufacturing industries.

The three founders, Luke Jacobs, Sam Jacobs, and Daniel Smedema, are native Hoosiers committed to growing the startup in Indiana. With their expertise and experience in technology, ecology and business, they have taken on the mission to make environmental compliance fast, simple, and accurate. With $1.1 million in venture capital funding and an IEDC grant for $245,000 of tax credits for the projected creation of 29 new high paying jobs over the next nine years, Encamp is a rapidly growing startup, and their journey is one to watch.

Encamp team portrait by Polina Osherov.
Encamp team portrait by Polina Osherov.

TechPoint, the nonprofit, industry-led growth accelerator for Indiana’s tech ecosystem, honored the successes and innovation of Indiana people, places, companies and products at the JW Marriott Indianapolis during the 20th annual Mira Awards gala presented by Angie’s List, Infosys, and Salesforce. With a sold-out crowd of 1,400 attendees—up another 100 from last year—this was the largest Mira Awards in the program’s 20-year history.

Only a handful of the 2019 nominees existed as companies 20 years ago, and 82 percent were founded in just the past 10 years. Similar to the rapid adoption of the iPhone starting a decade ago and streaming services today, tech businesses in Indiana have grown from a few pioneers to a fast growing, vibrant industry that is a key driver of job growth and a critical part of the state’s economic success story.

SEE ALL WINNERS

A total of 14 award winners and honorees were chosen from the 109 outstanding people, places companies and products that were selected as nominees for their achievements during the 2018 calendar year. Fifty-two independent, volunteer judges spent more than 850 total hours evaluating applications, interviewing nominees, and selecting this year’s winners. Judges included company founders, CEOs and presidents, CTOs, CIOs, and other subject matter experts.

The Mira Awards are named after the first of the brilliant variable stars to be discovered – the Mira Star. It is also the Latin root meaning “worthy of admiration, wonderful, marvelous.” The awards represent the best of tech in Indiana each year.