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Originally posted by IBJ on Thursday, April 24, 2025. Read original press release here.
Indiana University’s Launch Accelerator for Biosciences, known as IU LAB, on Thursday announced partnerships with three organizations that will recruit and accelerate the growth of high-potential startups that can strengthen Indiana’s place as a leader in life sciences.
Gener8tor, a Madison, Wisconsin-based startup accelerator, will run a pre-accelerator program for early-stage startups that have an idea but not yet a viable product.
And San Jose, California-based venture capital firm Plug and Play and the Central Indiana Corporate Partnership will collaborate on an accelerator for startups that have a potentially viable product, have demonstrated initial market traction and are preparing for fundraising.
In addition, IU LAB announced that its accelerator programs will now be called IU Health Incubator at IU LAB, thanks to a $4.5 million, three-year sponsorship deal with IU Health.
The announcements came during IBJ’s Life Sciences Power Breakfast on Thursday.
“Our ambitions are limitless,” IU President Pamela Whitten said. “We have all the ingredients: the human talent, the expertise within IU and these three partners. We have the people across Indiana who have these great ideas to bring to market and we have the life sciences ecosystem. We want ultimately to make Indiana the undisputed global leader in bioscience innovation.”
Gener8tor will run two cohorts a year through its pre-accelerator program, with five companies in each group, a total of 30 companies over three years. Its first cohort will launch in July. Plug and Play and CICP will run two cohorts a year with 10-15 companies in each group. Their first cohort will launch this fall.
“This is a huge opportunity to translate IU’s nearly $1 billion research enterprise, add to Indiana’s $99 billion life science economy and bring those startups who are going to help find the next breakthrough and commercialize the next big product,” said David Rosenberg, CEO of IU LAB. “It will partner them with world-leading industry partners as well as the expertise of IU faculty and researchers to really drive that innovation for the life science ecosystem.”
In 2023, IU announced a $250 million investment to position the university as a global leader in life sciences and biotechnology innovation. Last December, IU received a $138 million grant from Lilly Endowment Inc. to fund construction of a state-of-the-art facility to drive advancements and commercialization in biosciences and develop talent in the sector. That facility, to be located at the 16 Tech Innovation District in Indianapolis, is scheduled to open in 2027.
Indiana University announced the IU LAB in December and brought on Rosenberg as president and CEO in January. Rosenberg, previously Indiana’s secretary of commerce and, before that, chief operating officer of the Indiana Economic Development Corp., has worked with Gener8tor, Plug and Play, and CICP.
“Each of them operated a different piece of the programming in the entrepreneurship ecosystem within the state of Indiana, and I knew what they were able to offer,” Rosenberg said.
An immediate yes
Gener8tor General Counsel Travis Stegemoller said his company has been running pre-accelerator programs in Indiana since 2018, which is how he’s gotten to know Rosenberg. He said when Rosenberg called about participating in IU LAB, the answer was an immediate yes.
Gener8tor’s pre-accelerator program runs for seven weeks. Some participants apply online and go through a selection process; others are recruited by Gener8tor.
Prentice Keller, a partner in Gener8tor, said the companies that are selected for the pre-accelerator get one-on-one coaching in whatever areas the business needs, whether it’s sales, marketing, finances or something else. They also get mentoring from experts and investors within their industry, weekly lunch-and-learn programs and other support.
“It’s intended to be a sprint and intensive,” Stegemoller said. “We want to find out if [you’ve] got what it takes. IU and all the people that are funding IU and all the leaders of IU LAB—they’re putting a lot of resources into this. And if you’re not going to use them and you’re not going to take it seriously, then we find out very quickly.”
Stegemoller and Keller said their goal for the first year is to have all 10 fledgling companies develop and grow in Indiana, retaining talent and creating jobs. Ideally, too, at least four of the young companies would come from IU in some capacity.
“It would be a perfect scenario if we have a student who’s doing a post-doc or something, and we’ve helped them really think through the launch of a new business,” Stegemoller said. “Same for a professor. It’d be nice to have a mix of the IU ecosystem who were able to leverage the IU resources that are being organized here. That would be an outstanding success.”
Starting in Warsaw
Plug and Play came to Indiana just over a year ago, launching an office in Warsaw centered on developing medical technologies. The Silicon Valley company, which runs accelerators in 25 industries around the world and accelerated more than 2,200 startups last year, was looking for other opportunities in Indiana.
“We were pulled into this IU LAB initiative, and it aligned perfectly with Plug and Play’s core mission of connecting startups and investors to accelerate innovation,” said Brandon Noll, director of Plug and Play Indiana.
“We’re aiming to drive innovation in life sciences, and so that means supporting development and the commercialization of groundbreaking technologies to improve human health. We also are coming in here to support and build a thriving ecosystem in the state of Indiana, not just Indianapolis. Part of doing that is bringing on partners like CICP.”
Each cohort of Plug and Play’s accelerator program runs for three months. The plan over the next year is to recruit more than 20 startups from around the world, drive collaboration and innovation among startups, corporations and venture capitalists, and create a hub of entrepreneurial activity at IU LAB and 16 Tech.
“Our goal in this partnership is multifaceted,” Noll said. “We want to drive innovation with life sciences, not just locally but internationally, to improve human health. We also want to build a thriving ecosystem in Indiana. We expect this collaboration to create significant economic development opportunities and contribute to job growth throughout the state.”
Plug and Play has been running its program in Warsaw—often called the orthopedic capital of the world—for more than a year in search of up-and-coming medical technologies and medtech companies. It has already accelerated 17 companies, and another 11 have been selected for the third round.
“We’re doing that in a town of 16,000 people,” Noll said. “What are we going to do when we have an R1 institution and the leadership of Indiana University layered on the global piece of Plug and Play layered on the local piece of CICP? If done appropriately, we can really make generational impact in the life sciences ecosystem.”
Jim Lancaster, senior vice president and head of global product development for Warsaw-headquartered medical-device company Zimmer Biomet, said the accelerator program is working well. He said his company has an ongoing relationship with two or three companies from the first two cohorts, “just staying connected with them to see how their technology and company continues to evolve.”
Lancaster said from what he’s seen, IU LAB can expect a program that runs smoothly and benefits all the participants—sometimes in surprising ways.
“Let’s say our HR team wants to talk about some HR IT systems and what’s the latest, greatest state of the art,” he said. “You get access to that through Plug and Play. So, as we think about AI and other technologies that are going to have broad applications, being part of the Plug and Play family or being partnered with Plug and Play opens many doors along those fronts, making sure you’re staying on the cutting edge of technology and innovation without having to go do it all yourself.”
Rosenberg said with the partners in place and IU Health signed on as sponsor, Indianapolis and Indiana are well-positioned to attract, develop and retain talent.
“When you look at the cost of doing business in Indiana, when you look at the talent that’s available from the universities, when you look at the established industry presence of huge companies that are looking at the evolution of the future of their industry spaces, I can’t think of a much better place for young startups in the human health space,” he said.•
