INDIANAPOLIS (May 5, 2020) — TechPoint, the nonprofit, industry-led growth initiative for Indiana’s technology ecosystem, will announce the 2020 Mira Award winners live on a special broadcast of its 21st annual gala, with presenting sponsors Eli Lilly and Company, Genesys, Infosys, Raytheon and Salesforce.
The Mira Awards is the state’s largest and longest-running technology excellence and innovation recognition program, and the annual gala celebrates the “The Best of Tech in Indiana.” Last year a sell-out crowd of 1,400 people attended the black-tie affair. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, this year’s event is being transformed into an interactive, live-streaming broadcast including Zoom VIP rooms for sponsors and nominee representatives to watch together. The live-stream will be available to the general public to watch live for free on social media platforms, and it will be recorded and posted to the TechPoint website for future viewing.
Nominees won’t know if they have won a coveted “Best of Tech” Mira Award until they are announced live on the broadcast. When announced, the winners’ Zoom feeds will be broadcast live so that they can give acceptance speeches and be recognized by the community.
“Rather than waiting and hoping to hold the event in the fall, we decided that—amidst all of the COVID challenges—it is important to give the community an opportunity to celebrate together soon. We also decided that it is important to make the event accessible to as many people as possible so we’ve made individual tickets free,” said TechPoint CEO Mike Langellier. “We are very grateful to the five presenting sponsors, the event sponsors, and the production partners who make the Mira Awards possible.”
Because this will be the first time that the Mira Awards gala will be a live-streaming broadcast event, TechPoint expects the viewing audience to be even larger than the sell-out crowds of recent in-person galas. Instead of being limited to available seating dictated by the State Fire Marshal, the general public will be able to watch the tech community’s biggest night of celebration for free on social media platforms, thanks to the capable production support from the team at Markey’s Staging & Rental.
Details about participating in the live-streaming broadcast will be shared with sponsors and nominees in the coming weeks and information about how and where to watch will be posted on TechPoint Index and social media platforms as soon as it is available.
This year’s diverse class of nominees includes people, products, companies and places that crisscross the state from Evansville, Jasper, and Bloomington, to Muncie, Greencastle, West Lafayette, Delphi, New Paris, Merrillville and South Bend. Of course, Central Indiana is also well represented with nominees located in Greenwood, Plainfield, Lawrence, Fishers, Carmel and Indianapolis.
Among the companies selected, there are small startups with less than $100,000 in 2019 revenue, fast growing scale-up companies that grew triple digits last year and large tech-enabled enterprises with up to $2 billion in revenue. In aggregate, the 44 companies participating in the five company categories employ 10,572 people in the state of Indiana and they represent nearly $14 billion in annual revenue (excluding GEICO’s $25 billion+ expected revenue reporting).
The official 2020 TechPoint Mira Award nominees are:
*Unless otherwise noted, nominees are based in Indianapolis.
Tech Product of the Year – (Highly innovative and ground-breaking tech products that burst onto the scene or achieved a major milestone last year)
- 120WaterAudit (Zionsville, Ind.)
- Anvl
- Cimcor, Inc. (Merrillville, Ind.)
- Cummins Inc. (Columbus, Ind.)
- Delta Faucet Company
- DemandJump
- FlexePark (Brownsburg, Ind.)
- hc1
- Karyosoft (Carmel, Ind.)
- KMC Controls (New Paris, Ind.)
- NCAA
- Raytheon Company (prime) Secure Communications (partner)
- Schneider Geospatial (Ft. Ben/Lawrence, Ind.)
- Zylo
Service Partner of the Year – (The year’s best service provider delivering remarkable, impactful service to clients—whether they be external or internal)
- Avance Design
- BLASTmedia, (Fishers, Ind.)
- Brite Systems Enlite with Indiana Department of Child Services (DCS)
- Counterpart, (Fishers, Ind.)
- Cummins Inc. (Columbus, Ind.)
- Innovatemap
- KSM Consulting
- Lev
- Mobile reCell, (Fishers, Ind.)
- NCAA IT Department
- Pin & Tumbler Studio at Allegion (Carmel, Ind.)
- Project Brilliant
- Raytheon Company
Innovation of the Year – (A brand new way of doing things that revolutionizes, advances, or creates new tech industries and fields)
- Anvl’s Automated Offline Hazard Identification
- ConverSight.ai (Carmel, Ind.)
- DemandJump
- Eli Lilly and Company
- HySonic Technologies (West Lafayette, Ind.)
- Illuminate Health – Recovery Coach
- Karyosoft (Carmel, Ind.)
- LaLaLi Vocal Perfomance Analyzer
- Olio
- OnBoard – Passageways
- Preventia Group (Greenwood, Ind.)
- Prime Movement Healthcare
- WPR Services POW Brands (Fisers, Ind.)
Rising Entrepreneur Award – (A class of passionate and creative entrepreneurial leaders thriving in Indiana)
- Amy Brown, Founder & CEO, AuthentiCx, Inc (Carmel, Ind.)
- Ben Forrest, Founder and CEO, Olio
- Megan Glover, Co-Founder/CEO, 120WaterAudit (Zionsville, Ind.)
- Luke Jacobs, Co-founder & CEO, Encamp
- Megan Lohman, CEO, Plan Forward
- Brodie Meyer, CEO, FuseMe
- Aaron Pierce, CEO, Pierce Aerospace (Carmel, Ind.)
- Evan Rocheford, Co-Founder and CEO, NutraMaize (West Lafayette, Ind.)
- Darren Root, CEO, Rootworks LLC (Bloomington, Ind.)
- Sarah Stilz, Founder, Prime Movement Healthcare
- Sunny Lu Williams, President, TechServ Corporation
Tech Education Award – (Celebrating educators and education innovators who inspire and have a positive impact on student achievement)
- Center for Information and Communication Sciences (CICS), Ball State University (Muncie, Ind.)
- Codelicious
- Eleven Fifty Academy
- Matthew Etchison, CIO, Ivy Tech Community College
- Steve Fouty, McDermond Center Director, DePauw University (Greencastle, Ind.)
- Dr. Mary Giesting, Director of The Imagination Lab, Plainfield Community School Corporation (Plainfield, Ind.)
- Girl Scouts of Central Indiana
- Indiana University Idea Garden @IUPUI
- Infosys Foundation USA
- Marianne McKenzie, Code Cafe, Indianapolis Public Library
- Nextech
- Purdue Polytechnic High School
Investor of the Year – (The venture firms or angel investors who bring money plus outstanding connections, advice and attention to Indiana companies)
- Edison Partners (Princeton, NJ)
- Elevate Ventures
- Victor Gutwein, Managing Partner, M25 (Greater Chicago)
- HG Ventures
- Innovatemap Ventures
- IU Ventures (Bloomington,Ind.)
- Ade Olonoh, Venture Partner, Starting Line
Community Impact Award – (Individuals and organizations that have gone above and beyond to support the advancement of Indiana’s tech community)
- Eleven Fifty Academy
- Indiana Department of Correction
- Indy Hackers
- Code Black Indy Inc.
- Kelli N. Jones and Jeff TD Williams, Co-Founders, Be Nimble Ventures & Black Hatch Fund
- Chelsea Linder, gBETA Managing Director, gener8tor
- Jason Pennington, Executive Director, Indiana IoT Lab (Fishers, Ind.)
- The Polis Center at IUPUI
- Rural Innovation Network (Delphi, Ind.)
- The Speak Easy
- Women & Hi Tech
- Luke Zhang, Data Scientist, DemandJump
Rising Tech City Award – (Cities, towns, regions or communities in Indiana, celebrating the projects and people behind them who have championed the location’s advancement with particular emphasis on tech friendliness)
- #FortBenTech Campus and City of Lawrence
- City of Bloomington
- City of Evansville
- City of Indianapolis
- City of South Bend
Exceptional Employer Award – (Companies doing an exceptional job of hiring and developing talent, cultivating workspaces and workplace culture and deliberately increasing diversity)
- BLASTmedia (Fishers, Ind.)
- Delta Faucet Company
- KAR Global, Carmel
- Kronos Incorporated
- KSM Consulting
- Lev
- LifeOmic
- Passageways
- Republic Airways and LIFT Academy
- SEP, Carmel
Startup of the Year – (Startups with great potential that demonstrate the creative, strategic and innovative entrepreneurial spirit of Indiana’s technology industry)
- Anvl
- AuthentiCx
- Cabentry (Jasper, Ind.)
- Casted
- Civic Champs (Bloomington, Ind.)
- Docket
- Encamp
- InternX
- Olio
- Plan Forward
- The New Paper
- Woven
Scale-up of the Year – (High-growth, innovation-driven companies that provide technology products or services, are gaining traction and could be Indiana’s next big success stories)
- ActiveCampaign
- Boardable
- Greenlight Guru
- Kerauno
- KSM Consulting
- Lev
- OneCause
- Ovation.io
- Passageways
- Socio
- Vibenomics (Fishers, Ind.)
- Zylo
Large Enterprise of the Year – (Companies with exceptional innovation and market position that are helping Indiana to become a recognized technology leader, putting Indiana on the map in the technology world)
- Allegion PLC (c/o Schlage Lock Co LLC) (Carmel, Ind.)
- Delta Faucet Company
- GEICO
- Kronos Incorporated
- Republic Airways
- Sallie Mae
- Schneider Geospatial
- STANLEY Security (Fishers/Greenfield, Ind.)
In addition to the 12 adjudicated categories, a special industry recognition award — the TechPoint Trailblazer Award — will also be announced, which is selected by the TechPoint board of directors and executive committee.
ABOUT TECHPOINT:
TechPoint is the nonprofit, industry-led growth initiative for Indiana’s technology companies and overall tech ecosystem. The team is focused on attracting talent, accelerating scale-up companies, activating the community and amplifying stories of success. For more information, please visit www.techpoint.org.