Search company, investor...

Predict your next investment

IU Ventures company logo
Corporate Venture
iuventures.com

Investments

32

Portfolio Exits

1

Funds

1

Partners & Customers

4

About IU Ventures

IU Ventures is the venture arm of Indiana University. It aims to invest in IU-affiliated companies. It was founded in 1997 and is based in Bloomington, Indiana.

Headquarters Location

642 North Madison Street Suite 113

Bloomington, Indiana, 47404,

United States

Want to inform investors similar to IU Ventures about your company?

Submit your Analyst Briefing to get in front of investors, customers, and partners on CB Insights’ platform.

Latest IU Ventures News

Amplified Sciences scores more funding as testing continues

Sep 11, 2023

(photo of V. Jo Davisson and Diana Caldwell provided by Purdue Research Foundation/Vincent Walter) A West Lafayette-based life sciences diagnostics startup is getting an additional funding boost, and more is on the way. Amplified Sciences, which is developing a platform to diagnose pancreatic cancer earlier among high-risk patients, recently completed a $1.5 million wave of funding that is part of an open Series Seed Preferred round, and that number could more than double. The first wave included investment from IU Ventures, the venture capital arm of Indiana University that supports IU-affiliated early stage companies. Amplified Sciences CEO Diana Caldwell told Inside INdiana Business the funding will allow the startup to scale, particularly once it clears certain regulatory hurdles. “We’re adding team members and bringing other additional partners that will enable the regulatory certificate that’s required to run this test as a clinical test for patients in a CLIA lab,” Caldwell said. “It also helps us build out additional tests on our platform.” Your browser does not support the audio element. The company is built on the work of Dr. Jo Davisson, a graduate of the IU School of Medicine and professor of medicinal chemistry and molecular pharmacology at Purdue University. Caldwell said the startup’s platform uses patented dyes that can detect biomarkers in a small amount of pancreatic cyst fluid. “So [the patients] have a cyst; it’s been diagnosed on their pancreas, and our technology uses a bit of this fluid to help physicians restratify patients as benign or no issues or potentially malignant,” she said. IU Ventures said Amplified Sciences is currently collaborating with IU clinicians and researchers to collect samples that are being used in clinical-stage testing. The startup is conducting further testing and validation of its platform in order to receive certification for the test to be used in CLIA labs, which are “sites that test human specimens for health assessment or to diagnose, prevent, or treat disease,” according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Once that certification is achieved, Caldwell said they can begin marketing the product to physicians, though she notes the startup plans to start small with a targeted launch and slowly expand its reach. The startup’s open Series Seed Preferred round, and more will be added following the $1.5 million first wave. Caldwell said the company has closed on additional funding in a second wave, led by Indianapolis-based Elevate Ventures and OCA Ventures in Chicago. A dollar amount for the second wave was not provided, but Caldwell said they are hoping to oversubscribe the round to nearly $3 million overall. Caldwell said the company plans to use the new funding round to extend its platform approach to other diseases. This is not the first funding round for Amplified Sciences that IU Ventures has participated in. The company closed on a $1.8 million seed round in 2021 that included additional investors as well. “We are thrilled to continue our support of Amplified Sciences’ mission to improve patient outcomes through early detection and preemptive treatment, and IU Ventures’ goal of driving innovation and impact in the healthcare sector,” Jason Whitney, chief venture officer of IU Ventures, said in a news release. The startup has secured additional funding since that time, including a Small Business Innovation Research grant from the National Cancer Institute valued at over $400,000. Amplified Sciences was also named to the Pepperdine University Graziadio Business School’s Most Fundable Companies list in 2021. Story Continues Below

IU Ventures Investments

32 Investments

IU Ventures has made 32 investments. Their latest investment was in Leap Services as part of their Series C on June 6, 2023.

CBI Logo

IU Ventures Investments Activity

investments chart

Date

Round

Company

Amount

New?

Co-Investors

Sources

6/7/2023

Series C

Leap Services

$15M

Yes

3

6/10/2022

Series A - II

Boardable

$2.6M

Yes

2

5/6/2022

Seed VC

Sentinel Occupational Safety

$2.1M

Yes

1

3/18/2022

Seed VC - II

Subscribe to see more

$99M

Subscribe to see more

10

1/11/2022

Seed VC

Subscribe to see more

$99M

Subscribe to see more

10

Date

6/7/2023

6/10/2022

5/6/2022

3/18/2022

1/11/2022

Round

Series C

Series A - II

Seed VC

Seed VC - II

Seed VC

Company

Leap Services

Boardable

Sentinel Occupational Safety

Subscribe to see more

Subscribe to see more

Amount

$15M

$2.6M

$2.1M

$99M

$99M

New?

Yes

Yes

Yes

Subscribe to see more

Subscribe to see more

Co-Investors

Sources

3

2

1

10

10

IU Ventures Portfolio Exits

1 Portfolio Exit

IU Ventures has 1 portfolio exit. Their latest portfolio exit was Canopy on October 12, 2021.

Date

Exit

Companies

Valuation
Valuations are submitted by companies, mined from state filings or news, provided by VentureSource, or based on a comparables valuation model.

Acquirer

Sources

10/12/2021

Acquired

$99M

1

Date

10/12/2021

Exit

Acquired

Companies

Valuation

$99M

Acquirer

Sources

1

IU Ventures Fund History

1 Fund History

IU Ventures has 1 fund, including The IU Philanthropic Venture Fund.

Closing Date

Fund

Fund Type

Status

Amount

Sources

The IU Philanthropic Venture Fund

$11M

1

Closing Date

Fund

The IU Philanthropic Venture Fund

Fund Type

Status

Amount

$11M

Sources

1

IU Ventures Partners & Customers

4 Partners and customers

IU Ventures has 4 strategic partners and customers. IU Ventures recently partnered with NSA International on November 11, 2021.

Date

Type

Business Partner

Country

News Snippet

Sources

11/18/2021

Partner

United States

BLOOMINGTON and CRANE, Ind. IU president renews partnership with Naval Support Activity Crane during inaugural visit: News at IU: Indiana University

`` As the state 's largest research university and the state 's largest military installation , respectively , a partnership between Indiana University and NSA is a beneficial pairing , '' Whitten said .

1

12/16/2019

Partner

United States

Subscribe to see more

Subscribe to see more

10

9/3/2019

Partner

United States

Subscribe to see more

Subscribe to see more

10

9/3/2019

Partner

United States

Subscribe to see more

Subscribe to see more

10

Date

11/18/2021

12/16/2019

9/3/2019

9/3/2019

Type

Partner

Partner

Partner

Partner

Business Partner

Country

United States

United States

United States

United States

News Snippet

BLOOMINGTON and CRANE, Ind. IU president renews partnership with Naval Support Activity Crane during inaugural visit: News at IU: Indiana University

`` As the state 's largest research university and the state 's largest military installation , respectively , a partnership between Indiana University and NSA is a beneficial pairing , '' Whitten said .

Subscribe to see more

Subscribe to see more

Subscribe to see more

Subscribe to see more

Subscribe to see more

Subscribe to see more

Sources

1

10

10

10

IU Ventures Team

2 Team Members

IU Ventures has 2 team members, including current Chief Executive Officer, President, Tony Armstrong.

Name

Work History

Title

Status

Tony Armstrong

Government of Indiana, Indiana 21st Century Research and Technology Fund, and Indiana University

Chief Executive Officer, President

Current

Subscribe to see more

Subscribe to see more

Subscribe to see more

Name

Tony Armstrong

Subscribe to see more

Work History

Government of Indiana, Indiana 21st Century Research and Technology Fund, and Indiana University

Title

Chief Executive Officer, President

Subscribe to see more

Status

Current

Subscribe to see more

Discover the right solution for your team

The CB Insights tech market intelligence platform analyzes millions of data points on vendors, products, partnerships, and patents to help your team find their next technology solution.

Join a demo

CBI websites generally use certain cookies to enable better interactions with our sites and services. Use of these cookies, which may be stored on your device, permits us to improve and customize your experience. You can read more about your cookie choices at our privacy policy here. By continuing to use this site you are consenting to these choices.