02 Mar Registration Open for 2026 IU Founders & Funders Network Venture Summit
BLOOMINGTON, Ind. – IU Ventures will welcome IU-affiliated entrepreneurs, innovators, investors and others to the Indiana University Bloomington campus for the fifth annual IU Founders & Funders Network Venture Summit on May 21-22 in Bloomington.
Registration for the event – a unique opportunity to connect with IU’s global network of founders and funders – is now open. Registration is $100 and includes all summit programming.
Featured speakers will include prominent IU alumni Scott Dolson, IU vice president and director of intercollegiate athletics; Scott Dorsey, Managing Partner of High Alpha; David Krane, CEO and managing partner of Google Ventures; and Todd Wagner, a tech entrepreneur and philanthropist.
The summit’s presenting sponsors are Western Alliance Bank, a leading financial resource to innovative companies nationwide, and Amundsen Davis, one of the fastest growing law firms in the Midwest. Other summit sponsors include Amplify Bloomington, Elevate Ventures, Gutwein Law, HCC a division of One Digital, Limestone Strategic Partners, Spokenote, TechPoint, The Trades District and Venture Club of Indiana.
The Summit’s keynote address will be delivered by Dr. Richard Gunderman, an IU alumnus and Chancellor’s Professor of Radiology, Pediatrics, Medical Education, Philosophy, Liberal Arts, Philanthropy, and Medical Humanities and Health Studies at the IU School of Medicine.
A 10-time recipient of the IU Trustees’ Teaching Award, Dr. Gunderman’s remarks will highlight this year’s 150th anniversary of the world’s largest health company, Eli Lilly and Company – an enterprise born from entrepreneurial risk-taking and guided by a bold vision that also laid the foundation for America’s largest private philanthropy, the Lilly Endowment.
A graduate of The IU Media School, Krane has built his life and work around the art of investing—not only in capital, but in deep and long-standing relationships. After early career stops at Qualcomm and Apple, Krane joined Google in 2000 (as employee number 84) and is recognized as a key architect of the early culture and brand. He will take the stage during the “IU Icons Fireside Chat.”
As an investor, Krane says, “The easy problems have mostly been solved. We’re left with complex, long-term challenges that demand strong collaboration and creative thinking.”
The fireside chat with Krane will be moderated by Scott Dorsey, an IU alumnus and co-founder and managing partner at High Alpha, a venture studio that conceives, launches and scales enterprise technology companies.
A graduate of the IU O’Neill School of Public and Environmental Affairs, Dolson will explore how success on the field intersects with the rapidly evolving business model of college sports. In a year that has witnessed IU Football’s historic College Football National Championship, he will share insights on leadership, revenue, NIL, conference dynamics and the strategic decisions required to sustain excellence in a new economic era of college sports.
The conversation with Dolson will be moderated by Jeremy Gray, senior associate athletic director for strategic communication at IU. Gray is also an IU alumnus.
Summit activities begin on May 21 in Luddy Hall at the IU Luddy School of Informatics, Computing and Engineering featuring a networking lunch and IU Innovates Student Startup Showcase featuring top-set IU student startups and welcome remarks from IU alumnus Todd Wagner.
A graduate of the IU Kelley School of Business, Wagner co-founded Broadcast.com leading the company as CEO to a record-breaking IPO and $5.7 billion sale to Yahoo in 1999. He is also co-founder and CEO of 2929 Entertainment, which has produced or executive-produced more than 50 films, including Good Night, and Good Luck with George Clooney, and founder of FoodFight USA, a nonprofit, nonpartisan organization with a mission to clean up America’s tainted food supply.
Other Thursday activities include opportunities to tour Memorial Stadium and Bloomington’s Trades District and the always popular “Networking at Nick’s” session at Nick’s English Hut.
In addition to the keynote sessions, the agenda on May 22 includes the annual Spirit of Venture Award as well as the Mentor of the Year Award and Hoosier Nation Networking.
Attendees can also look forward to connecting with select IU-affiliated and Indiana based startups in partnership with the IU Angel Network and Bloomington based Paragraph Ventures.
“Resting inside the nearly 800,000 living IU alumni network is a world-class venture ecosystem,” said Tony Armstrong, president and CEO of IU Ventures. “The summit is a chance to mobilize that ecosystem in service to students, faculty, and alumni founders and funders alike.”
IU Ventures offers a limited number of full scholarships for current IU students to attend all summit activities.
Additional information about travel, lodging and a complete list of activities and speakers can be found on the IU Ventures website.
What they’re saying
“We’re proud to continue our five-year partnership with the IU Founders & Funders Network Venture Summit, supporting Indiana University’s exceptional entrepreneurial ecosystem,” said IU alumnus Ryan Dammeyer, head of Underwriting and Portfolio Management, Western Alliance Bank. “This event exemplifies our mission of supporting emerging companies by bringing together passionate entrepreneurs and investors to create the meaningful connections that drive growth and innovation. We look forward to engaging with the talented founders and funders who make this network so dynamic, and to seeing the compelling ideas that will emerge from this year’s programming.”
IU alumnus and Amundsen Davis Business Transaction Partner Daniel Spungen said, “As a leading Midwest law firm serving businesses at every stage of growth, Amundsen Davis is proud to be a sponsor of the 2026 IU Founders & Funders Network Venture Summit, an event that fosters innovation and meaningful connections within the IU community while showcasing the entrepreneurial spirit that makes Indiana a premier place to build and grow companies.”
About IU Ventures:
IU Ventures invests in and supports IU-affiliated early-stage companies. Its investment programs include the IU Philanthropic Venture Fund, the IU Angel Network and the Innovate Indiana Fund. Further support initiatives include the IU Founders and Funders Network. Each program takes a unique approach to accelerate and support the positive impacts that entrepreneurs affiliated with IU already achieve across the world.