Accessing South Bend – Elkhart Regional Capital
Whether you are starting a new business or scaling your business to new heights, you need access to capital. Click below for information on a variety of funding types and sources available for tech-enabled startups and entrepreneurs at each stage of evolution.
Microfunding
In the early stages of the startup life cycle, entrepreneurs often struggle to obtain funding. Investment groups want to see traction before making an investment, and startups often need just a fraction of what investors are willing to spend to reach their next milestone. The Startup South Bend – Elkhart Proof of Concept fund helps to bridge this funding gap by providing equity-free grants of up to $5,000 to early-stage entrepreneurs. These funds can be used toward market validation activities, such as product development and prototyping, tradeshow attendance, crowdfunding preparation, A/B testing, and other market testing strategies. These microgrants allow entrepreneurs to minimize risk, gain market traction, and demonstrate the potential for their startup.
Eligibility/Requirements
We welcome Proof of Concept fund applications from any entrepreneur located in the South Bend- Elkhart region. The eligibility and requirements details are:
- You must have a W9 showing that your business is headquartered in Elkhart, Marshall, or St. Joseph County in Indiana – or – Berrien or Cass County in Michigan.
- Less than $50,000 in revenue and/or funding to date
- Must be a high-growth potential startup:
- Must be a repeatable, scalable business model
- Must address a national or global market
- Funding must be tied to a specific Proof of Concept milestone (see application request form)
- Fund recipients must report periodic updates to the Startup South Bend Elkhart committee
How to apply and pitch for funds
Startup South Bend – Elkhart hosts monthly pitches for early-stage startup funding, including Proof of Concept funds. These pitches typically take place on the 4th Thursday of every month. In order to take part in a pitch you must:
- Complete the application
- You will be contacted to schedule a 30-minute consultation with us to make sure you meet our eligibility requirement
- Prepare a 5-minute pitch presentation of your startup to share with our committee (see recommended template here)
What we look for
To increase the chances of a successful Proof of Concept fund application, be sure to include:
- Criteria for successful proof of concept. How will you know if your proof of concept activities are successful? Be clear in how you will use the funds to gain market traction.
- Specific details on how the funds will be used. We don’t provide stipends to support general startup expenses. The funds must be used toward specific market validation activities.
- The vision for your startup after Proof of Concept. Show us how you will turn the funds into more money/investment down the road.
Not sure if you qualify?
Answer five quick questions below to check your eligibility before you apply.
The Awesome Foundation is an ever-growing worldwide community devoted to forwarding the interest of awesome in the universe. Created in the long hot summer days of 2009 in Boston, the Foundation distributes $1,000 grants, no strings attached, to projects and their creators. At each fully autonomous chapter, the money is pooled together from the coffers of ten or so self-organizing “micro-trustees” and given up front in cash, check, or gold doubloons.
South Bend Chapter
The South Bend Awesome Fund is dedicated to supporting people, ideas, businesses, and causes that will make the South Bend area even more Awesome! The Chapter meets on a quarterly basis to award three $1000 grants. Finalists are selected one week prior to the quarterly meeting and are required to give a 5 minute presentation at the quarterly meeting. Following all presentations, Chapter Members will vote and award three $1000 grants to the top three vote recipients. Applications are always open and will be considered on a quarterly basis. Even if a meeting date for the next meeting has not been set, applications are open and the next meeting will typically be ~3 mo. from the date of the previous meeting.
The Chapter’s next quarterly meeting will be held at 530pm on May 6, location TBD.
Submissions for the upcoming Quarterly meeting are due by 5pm on Thurs. May 2.
Submissions should highlight how grant funds will be used to make the South Bend region even more Awesome!
Any submission not awarded a grant at a quarterly meeting is welcome to apply for a future meeting.
Even if the date of a future quarterly meeting has not been set, applications are open (please apply).
DISCLAIMER: The South Bend Awesome Fund reserves the right to publish information regarding finalists and grant recipients to the media and general public.
Local Investor Network for Capital (LINC) is a structured network of accredited investors across the South Bend–Elkhart region, built to deploy local capital into early-stage companies and acquisition-stage businesses.
For entrepreneurs, LINC means a growing pool of regional investors who understand this market and are actively looking to fund businesses like yours — right here, not on the coasts. More opportunities to access local capital are on the way.
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