From Safer Schools to Stronger Hospitals: How a Proof of Concept Grant Powered an Unexpected Success Story

The most successful innovations rarely end up where they started. They evolve, adapt, and find a purpose far greater than what their creators first imagined. That was exactly the case for local entrepreneurs, Nikolas Ackerman and Adam Toland, whose journey read more...

From an Idea to 450 Pharmacies: How AURA Sports Cream Is Expanding to the U.S.

"Take the resources that are available to you, jump two feet in, and don't be afraid to pivot." That's the advice from Rory Staunton, an entrepreneur originally from Ireland, and co-founder of AURA Sports Cream. AURA Sports Cream is a read more...

South Bend – Elkhart region celebrates ribbon-cutting of two READI 1.0 projects

SOUTH BEND, Ind. (October 1, 2025) – Two Regional Economic Acceleration and Development Initiative (READI) 1.0 projects celebrated their grand opening on September 19 – the Momentum Entrepreneurship Hub in South Bend, and the Marshall County Career Innovation Center in read more...

Startup South Bend – Elkhart launches season three of Rooted & Reaching podcast; Opens office in Momentum Entrepreneurship Hub

  SOUTH BEND, Ind. (September 19, 2025) – Startup South Bend – Elkhart celebrated both the launch of season three of the Rooted & Reaching podcast as well as the opening of its new office in the Momentum Entrepreneurship Hub. The read more...

Entrepreneurs as the New Diplomats: What We Learned at GEC 2025

Fresh insights from Indianapolis on building startup ecosystems that actually work Chisonga and I just got back from the Global Entrepreneurship Congress (GEC) in Indianapolis, and honestly, it was one of those conferences that actually delivered. We went representing the read more...

Entrepreneur Profile: Ray Fraser

Ray Fraser is a serial entrepreneur. He is co-founder and CEO at his sixth start-up, VitalView Technologies. The company brings patient monitoring into the home with a contactless sensor platform keeping eye on heart failure patients. This potentially life-changing technology read more...

Save the Date! Join Google for Startups Head Burks Solomon at Founder Factory 2022 – November 16

After a successful inaugural event, we are excited to announce Founder Factory is coming back for its second year! Join us November 16 at the Lerner Theatre in Elkhart for Founder Factory 2022. This startup summit for “Movers, Makers and read more...

Startup Focused on Safety Analysis Receives Funding

South Bend, Ind. (Feb. 15, 2022) – SAFA today announced a $20,000 investment from Elevate Ventures’ Community Ideation Fund. SAFA uses artificial intelligence to improve safety analysis of technical documents and software in the automotive, robotics, IoT (internet of things), read more...

Startup South Bend – Elkhart Pre-Accelerator Cohort Two Graduate, Kelley Rich and Lisa Vetne

Cohort Two Graduates: Kelley Rich and Lisa Vetne, Co-Founders Company: Purple Nation Contact Purple Nation: Via Email Describe your company: "It all started when my family and I (Kelley) were sitting down for a nice dinner when before I knew read more...

Startup South Bend – Elkhart Pre-Accelerator Cohort Two Graduate, Anthony Esplin of Sleep Easy

Cohort Two Graduate: Anthony Esplin, Founder Company: Sleep Easy Contact Sleep Easy: Via Email Describe your company: Anthony Esplin is a 2020-2021 graduate of the University of Notre Dame's ESTEEM Graduate Program and holds a Bachelor's degree in Biomedical/Medical Engineering read more...