As we delve into publicly shared capital raises, mergers and acquisitions involving Indiana tech companies for the second quarter of 2020, it has the appearance of a solid rebound from the COVID-19 pandemic when compared to the first quarter. Coming in at just over $32 million in investments, grants and cash awards, the second quarter is twice the size of the first. However, it’s still over $10 million shy of 2019’s second quarter. Overall, the second quarter of 2020 saw 19 companies raise capital, while two other companies received grants or awards and 9 companies were involved in mergers and acquisitions.

Below is a list of publicly shared investments and acquisitions involving Indiana technology companies that occurred in the second quarter of 2020.

APRIL

The beginning of April looked more like a lion than March as Lessonly roared in with a $15 million Series C raise, positioning the training software company to remain solid during the pandemic while poised for growth. The raise included venture capital firms and corporate investors from all over the world with AXA Ventures of Paris, France leading the round. Other investors included Indianapolis-based Allos Ventures, Atlas Peak Capital and Zendesk of San Francisco, Openview and Yard Ventures of Boston and Rethink Education of New York.

EZ-Chow is known as a Louisville-based point-of-sale (POS) digital ordering platform for the restaurant industry. However, the company’s LinkedIn page lists it’s home as New Albany, Indiana, just across the Ohio River. The company raised $1 million in Seed capital with participation from Render Capital of Louisville and Elevate Ventures, which only invests in Indiana companies. Elevate was recognized as the Investor of the Year at the 2020 Mira Awards.

Elevate was also involved in the $1.5 million raise of Stamus Networks, a cybersecurity software company based in Westfield. The Seed round was led by VisionTech Angels.

Eight Indiana tech companies received smaller investments from Elevate Ventures as part of their Elevate Nexus series with the first round culminating in late April. Gen3Bio (West Lafayette), Multiscale Integrated Technology Solutions (Indianapolis), Probari (Indianapolis), DocuMentor (Indianapolis), Gamerized (Jasper) and Learning Alliance (Bloomington) each received $20,000 investments while Code In Class (South Bend) and BestQuote (Zionsville) received $80,000 each.

The Bee Corp of Indianapolis brought in an additional $250,000 investment from Indiana University Philanthropic Venture Fund. The company’s technology helps growers and beekeepers measure and communicate the value of pollination through infrared image analysis software.

Word Systems, a family-owned, Indianapolis-based provider of audio, video and data capture solutions, acquired Roach Reid Office Systems of Akron, Ohio for an undisclosed amount.

Viewtique of South Bend won the $50,000 grand prize during the University of Notre Dame’s McCloskey New Venture Competition. The money was awarded by Startup South Bend-Elkhart and Elevate Ventures. Viewtique’s platform is used to shop and earn rewards across local fashion boutiques.

April closed strong with a $6 million Series A raise by Vibenomics. The round was led by BIP Capital of Atlanta—the firm’s second major investment in the Indiana tech ecosystem. Vibenomics is a Fishers-based company that created what it calls the Audio Out-Of-Home advertising marketplace.

MAY

Conga is part of a relatively long history in Indianapolis. The Colorado-based company acquired Octiv of Indianapolis in 2018. Octiv emerged on the Indy tech scene in 2010 originally as Tinderbox. In May, Conga merged with Apttus of San Matteo, California. The combined company will use the Conga name. Financial details of the merger were not disclosed.

In addition to receiving a $20,000 investment from Elevate Ventures in April, Gen3Bio of West Lafayette pulled in a $20,000 grant from The Water Council in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. The Purdue-affiliated company transforms waste algae into an ongoing stream of revenue.

Right Networks of Hudson, New Hampshire acquired Rootworks for an undisclosed amount. Rootworks, with offices in Bloomington and Indianapolis, is a subscription-based platform for small to mid-sized accounting firms.

Encamp of Broad Ripple in Indianapolis landed $3.1 million in growth capital from Allos Ventures, High Alpha Capital and the Indiana University Philanthropic Venture Fund. The 2019 Mira winner and 2020 Mira nominee is the creator of environmental compliance software that helps companies save time, minimize risk, and protect human and environmental health.

Muncie’s Ontario Systems, a leading provider of enterprise software that automates complex workflows and accelerates revenue recovery for clients in the healthcare, government, and accounts receivable management (ARM) markets, acquired SwervePay. The Chicago-based company develops payment solutions for the healthcare and auto services industries.

Authenticx’s Amy Brown had two highlights in the late days of Spring 2020. In May the company completed an $800,000 Pre-Seed round led by M25 of Chicago which also included investments from Elevate Ventures and Innovatemap Ventures. In June she received TechPoint’s Rising Entrepreneur Award at the 2020 Mira Awards.

Communications Products, Inc. of Indianapolis was acquired by Avtex of Minneapolis for an undisclosed amount. Avtex is primarily known as a customer service provider who partners with companies like Microsoft and Genesys.

Diagnotes, a digital health leader that provides HIPAA-compliant communications between patients, physicians and care teams, took on an additional $250,000 follow on investment from Indiana University Philanthropic Venture Fund.

KSM Consulting, winner of both the Service Partner of the Year and Scale-Up of the Year (Tech Service) awards at the 2020 Mira Awards, acquired Advocate Solutions of Columbus, Ohio for an undisclosed amount. Advocate is a leader in public sector solutions, specializing in government.

JUNE

Canopy (formerly known as Loupe) is one of two High Alpha Studio companies to raise Seed capital in the second quarter. The revenue leadership hub company raised $2 million led by High Alpha Capital and Elevate Ventures, with participation from IU Philanthropic Venture Fund and Service Provider Capital of Golden, Colorado.

Indianapolis-based analytic.li, a company that helps businesses transform with workforce analytics, was acquired by Novi Group, also of Indianapolis. Novi Group LLC’s leaders are Fred Luddy and Greg Bell. Luddy is the founder and chairman of ServiceNow, a cloud computing platform that helps companies manage digital workflows for enterprise operations. Bell, is the founder of HealthX, one of the first cloud-based technology companies in healthcare.

Two tech companies received investments from Elevate Ventures as part of the Elevate Nexus Program. Multiscale Integrated Technology Solutions brought in a $40,000 Pre-seed round while HySonic Technologies of West Lafayette netted a $100,000 Seed round. A 2020 Mira nominee, HySonic owns proprietary experimental and computational engineering tools to improve the aerodynamic efficiency of existing hypersonic vehicles. The winners were chosen from 29 finalists that competed in the inaugural Elevate Nexus Statewide Pitch Competition.

Carmel’s Electrical Maintenance & Testing, an independent third party entity which functions as an unbiased testing authority, was acquired by Potomac Testing of Crofton, Maryland. Financial details of the transaction were not disclosed.

Pattern89, a data science platform that coaches marketers with data-driven insights to improve paid social results, secured $2 million in Seed funding from Break Trail Ventures of Columbus, Ohio; F&M Investments of Atlanta and VitalizeVC of Chicago along with Elevate Ventures and High Alpha of Indianapolis. The High Alpha Studio company plans to hire ten additional employees by the end of 2020.

If you want to see how 2020 compares to recent years you can read wrap-ups from 2019, 2018, 2017 and 2016.

Each quarter we report public investments and M&A activity involving Indiana technology companies. Interested in sharing your funding deals? Email roger@techpoint.org. If you represent one of these Indiana tech companies and notice they are not listed on the TechPoint Tech Directory, please take the time to add them today. Your free listing also allows you to list job openings on our Job Board.