Another Successful Innovation Showcase

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Writer / Kara Reibel

Seventy-four startups, 70 pitches, one winner: pi lab’s Edwin the Duck steals another show in 2015. First they owned CES in Las Vegas and now The Innovation Showcase on their home turf.

“Edwin is no ordinary duck,” says co-founder Don Inmon, quoting Edwin’s tagline. “We couldn’t be happier. The support we’ve received from the City of Carmel and Mayor Brainard, Verge, Launch Fishers and TechPoint as well as the entire tech community has been truly humbling.”

Verge co-founder and frontman Matt Hunkler, the event’s MC for the pitch competition, shares, “This group of entrepreneurs is making things happen, and they’re doing it right here in the Midwest. It’s great to see how our tech and entrepreneurship community has grown to support and celebrate these innovative companies. The talent, capital, education and inspiration are right here in Indiana. You don’t have to be in Silicon Valley to build a high-growth tech company.”

“Something magical happens when you pack a room with 1,000 people all focused on entrepreneurship and innovation,” says Launch Fishers founder John Wechsler. “I think we can definitively say in our seventh year, The Innovation Showcase is simply getting better with time!”

The guiding principle of the Venture Club of Indiana is based upon “creating an entrepreneurial, business-friendly environment attractive to investors” which they feel “is critical to the continued success of Indiana’s emerging companies and established businesses.” This intention is echoed throughout the entrepreneurial community.

The Venture Club of Indiana recognized the need for an investor/startup event, hosting the first Innovation Showcase in 2009. Like every great idea, support from the entrepreneurial community gained momentum over the last 16 years, creating even greater opportunities for partnerships by providing successful conditions for viable businesses to flourish.

Today, The Innovation Showcase is an exemplary partnership of the Venture Club, Verge, VisionTech Partners, Launch Fishers and Launch Indiana. The collaboration indicates the significance of The Innovation Showcase as an excellent opportunity for networking and exploring why central Indiana is a hotbed of potentiality, featuring the best and brightest entrepreneurs. A rising tide raises all ships.

“What always impresses me are the entrepreneurs and their stories,” shares Todd Saxton, Associate Professor IU Kelley MBA and President of the Venture Club of Indiana. “Not just the ideas, but the creative and engaging ways they choose to share those ideas. The passion and commitment to solving a problem is inspirational. Without entrepreneurs and the dreams they commit to pursuing, we would not have the vibrant venture community that exists here.”

Edwin’s creators, pi lab, were just one of 74 startups participating in this year’s Innovation Showcase. All may be viewed on the website, TheInnovationShowcase.com.