2025 Evansville Community Collaboration Fund Award

Indiana’s Commerce Office awarded $925,107 in grant awards to accelerate entrepreneurial activity and resources statewide through its Community Collaboration Fund (CCF). These awards will help fuel 28 community-led projects focused on entrepreneurial education, connection and acceleration across Indiana. 

Bloomington’s Flywheel Fund and Evansville’s nonprofit Circular Venture Lab were among the southern Indiana grantees. Their program and partnership aims to resolve the lack of early investor capital in southwest Indiana through small, regional funds from local angel investors.

CCF provides matching grants to support new community collaborations, services and programming that will serve Indiana’s entrepreneurial ecosystem with a focus on education, connection and acceleration. 

After receiving a large number of applications, the state’s Commerce Office selected 28 projects for matching grants based on their potential to fill critical gaps across the entrepreneurial ecosystem, support underserved markets and collaborate across boundaries. The projects selected will result in a variety of new programs and resources for aspiring entrepreneurs and current small business owners, such as AI education, business planning, financial literacy, online visibility and prototyping design, for businesses across a variety of industries such as the creative economy, childcare, food and beverage, defense and in rural communities. 

Southern Indiana Awards

INdiana Strategic Defense Accelerator (INSDA) | Defense Innovation Networking Group ($40,000)
The Defense Innovation Networking Group (D!NG) will bridge a gap in Indiana’s defense ecosystem by creating a unified accelerator for small businesses. This training program will help businesses compete for DoD opportunities through education, connection initiatives and utilizing Indiana’s already vast number of business and DoD related resources.

Chapter One Business Incubator | Jeffersonville Township Public Library ($40,000 award)
Jeffersonville Township Public Library Foundation, in collaboration with seven community partners, is launching an innovative incubator program serving five counties. This comprehensive initiative will offer participants a cohort-based educational experience alongside access to non-dilutive seed funding, empowering local entrepreneurs and fostering regional economic growth.

Flywheel Fund Evansville | Dimension Mill, Inc. DBA The Mill ($39,735 award)
Flywheel Fund will expand its operations to Evansville in partnership with Circular Venture Lab to serve Vanderburgh, Warrick, Posey and Gibson counties. The program aims to resolve the lack of early investor capital in southwest Indiana through small, regional funds from local angel investors.

Generation Innovation | Maker Mobile, Inc. DBA Maker13 ($40,000 award)
Through collaborations with local organizations, Maker13 will offer a cohort-style education course that takes budding entrepreneurs through business plan development, prototyping and creation, market testing, mentorship and connections to accelerate their idea.

SPARK Shop Connections | Jackson County Chamber ($40,000 award)
SPARK Jackson County will foster community by hosting recurring events centered around small businesses in Jackson County. Once the SPARK Shop co-working studio opens, CCF funds will be used to engage and attract entrepreneurs and innovators to the space in southeast Indiana.

The Catalyst Academy: Incubator & Fund | Columbus Area Chamber of Commerce ($40,000 award)
The Columbus Area Chamber of Commerce will expand its entrepreneurial academy and incubator through an online education platform. Participants who complete the self-directed learning course and coaching will pitch for funding.

The D.I.C.E. Challenge – Community Competition | Ripley County Community Foundation ($40,000 award)
The Ripley County Community Foundation is expanding its D.I.C.E. Challenge competition to include a community-focused component. This new and enhanced edition will empower local start-up entrepreneurs by creating more accessible pathways to funding, fostering innovation and strengthening southeastern Indiana’s economic vitality.

The Pantheon’s Blueprint to Business | The Pantheon ($15,550 award)
The Pantheon in Vincennes will pioneer an 8-week session-based education program to fuel business growth in their community. Weekly in-class workshops will cover topics ranging from interpersonal communication to process optimization.