SOUTH BEND — A collection of local economic leaders announced last week an effort to attract, develop and nurture 200 new high-potential startups in the South Bend-Elkhart region by 2025.
That’s 25 a year, or just over two each month, for eight straight years.
Developing a startup with high potential is about taking an idea from academia or elsewhere, and turning it into a service, good or product that serves a national or international market. Different from a traditional small business, a “high-potential startup” is designed to grow fast and go big.
It’s risky and difficult, but by taking advancements discovered by researchers and academics and developing products to sell to global markets, startups can quickly balloon into massive regional success stories.
Gary Neidig, president of Indiana Technology and Manufacturing Companies in Plymouth, chairs the startup committee as part of the Regional Economic Development Strategy, which was unveiled by local leaders last Wednesday in Mishawaka.
“We’ve got people with ideas that need to be enabled,” Neidig said last week. “There’s an enormous amount of talent in our area.”
One of those startups is AgenDx Biosciences, which is located in a one room lab on the third floor of Notre Dame’s IDEA Center. There its team is working to develop a device that would significantly improve the odds of surviving pancreatic cancer by detecting it early and assessing the impact of chemotherapy treatment.
Last week, nonprofit venture capital organization Elevate Ventures, along with other venture capital groups, announced $1.525 million in new funding for AgenDx. Gavin Ferlic, entrepreneur-in-residence for Elevate Ventures in North Central Indiana, said the startup has the potential to change lives.
“They’re working on a solution to provide diagnosis while the cancer is still treatable,” Ferlic said. “That could ultimately impact so many lives, which is really incredible.”