The Cleveland nonprofit does something rare: it pays for advice before founders can afford it, invests when some become venture-ready, and measures the result in jobs, wages and taxes across Ohio.
The Bellevue studio sells no tidy accelerator syllabus. It offers a pipeline, a workshop and flexible capital - the unglamorous machinery between a promising software idea and a company that can stand up on its own.
For 15 years, Elevate Ventures has written the first check for Indiana startups from Gary to Evansville. In 2025, the state that helped create it started asking hard questions about the books.
Maxine Minter is Australia's first solo female General Partner at a venture capital fund, and the Founder & GP of Co Ventures - a $5M pre-seed fund dedicated to backing software-led companies with at least one Australian founder building for global scale. Based in San Francisco, she started her career as a tech lawyer, pivoted into startup founding and operating, and began angel investing with $2,500 cheques before raising her own fund. She co-hosts the 'First Cheque' podcast with Cheryl Mack, champions a 'belief capital' philosophy, and has built a portfolio with over 50% women founders.