Indiana’s startup, scale-up and enterprise technology companies had a banner year in 2016 in the way of venture capital funding and acquisitions.

The latest PriceWaterhouseCoopers MoneyTree report indicates that 23 deals were made to Indiana tech companies for a combined $51.51 million in 2016, equating to an average deal size of $2.2 million.

Thanks to a new partnership with data giants CB Insights, the report data was updated for both 2016 and prior years to better reflect deals that were not previously reported on. This is due to the category companies are classified in (such as Internet or telecom vs technology) along with acquisitions and private equity deals not being considered “venture capital.” The Indianapolis Business Journal reported on this and was able to determine that with the new data sets, Indiana venture capital deal activity hit a 16-year high in 2016.

While 2016 funding amounts did not reach previous year’s amounts, the number of individual deals rose.  

Mike Langellier

Mike LangellierPresident & CEO

“One can infer from this — consistent with my personal observations — that the companies attracting investment are younger scale-up companies; companies beyond early startup stage, but early in their growth and expansion stage,” said Mike Langellier, President and CEO of TechPoint.

“Historically, roughly half of all venture capital nationwide gets invested into IT/tech companies, with about 40 percent into software companies alone, exceeding every other industry category by far. In Indiana the concentration is even greater. Per this report and our own findings, in 2016 two-thirds of all dollars and 74 percent of all deals were in IT/tech companies.”

Here is a list of standout venture capital deals and acquisitions from Indiana tech companies in 2016:

Q1:

  • Learning automation software company Lesson.ly raised a $5 million Series A round from Allos Ventures, High Alpha and OpenView Venture Partners.
  • Cloud-based platform-as-a-service company Clear Software raised $1.5 million from Elevate Ventures, Hyde Park Venture Partners, MK Capital and individual investors.
  • Perceivant, a provider of evidenced-based content, assessment, and real-time analytics that empower individuals and organizations to adapt in a fast-moving, competitive world, closed the first quarter with $250,000 in funding from angel investors.

Q2:

  • Cloud and hosting technology company CloudOne announced a $9 million Series E raise led by Plymouth Ventures of Ann Arbor.
  • Health analytics software company Springbuk announced a $3.75 million Series A raise led by St. Louis-based Lewis & Clark Ventures.
  • Artificial Intelligence Marketing scale-up DemandJump announced a $1.8 million equity raise in June with contributions from Hyde Park Venture Partners, 4G Ventures, Bob Davoli of Sigma Prime Ventures, and Indianapolis-based Collina Ventures.
  • Sports technology company Upper Hand announced a $1 million seed raise in June with investment from former Finish Line executives.
  • Lumavate, a technology company that delivers crucial product information from manufacturers to consumers, announced a $1 million equity round in June, led by 4G Ventures.
  • Customer success Software-as-a-Service company Consul Teams (now Bolstra) announced a $1 million seed raise on June 30 led by Elevate Ventures.
  • Beer technology company SteadyServ raised $5.4 million in May from undisclosed funders.

Q3:

  • Mobile app software company Bluebridge announced a $3 million Series A funding round alongside the launch of a new company called Emplify, which will focus on employee engagement through mobile devices.
  • File-sharing firm SmartFile announced an equity raise of $1.1 million led by Indiana firms VisionTech Angels and Elevate Ventures.
  • Octiv (formerly Tinderbox) announced a $4.75 million fundraising round that includes participation from GE Ventures, High Alpha Capital, Greycroft Partners and Allos Ventures.
  • Legal transaction software company Doxly announced a $2.25 million Series Seed funding round from NextLaw Ventures, High Alpha Capital and Hyde Park Venture Partners.
  • Genesys Telecommunication Laboratories announced their acquisition of Indianapolis-based Interactive Intelligence for $1.4 billion. This is the second largest technology company sale in Indiana’s history, following that of ExactTarget’s $2.3 billion acquisition by Salesforce in 2013.
  • After moving their HQ from San Francisco to Indianapolis, Appirio announced their acquisition by Wipro for $500 million.
  • Parking management software company T2 Systems was acquired by a private equity firm for an undisclosed amount in September.
  • Software-as-a-Service optimization platform Zylo raised $3.3 million from High Alpha Capital, GGV Capital, SV Angel and SaaS industry leaders.

Q4:

  • Cloud solutions integrator Kinney Group raised $2 million from Plymouth Ventures, a connection made at TechPoint’s Winners’ Circle in May 2016.
  • Marketing technology company PERQ raised $1.7 million in a round led by Bill Godfrey of 4G Ventures, who PERQ met at a previous Mira Awards live judging event.
  • Nonprofit fundraising software company BidPal raised $6 million from MK Capital and Allos Ventures

2017 is already starting off strong with recent  fundraise announcements from SmarterHQ ($13 million), Blue PIllar ($10 million) and ClearScholar ($1.25 million). Stay tuned for a full Q1 report in April.