3D Printing Startup Receives Funding

Bloomington-based startup WayZada is the recipient of a $20,000 investment from Elevate Ventures’ Community Ideation Fund. The startup uses data from athletes to create custom, interactive 3D representations of outdoor activities such as running, biking, or hiking.

The startup says its built a method to illustrate athletes’ data and make it tangible with 3D prints.

“We are very pleased to support WayZada and its mission of helping athletes share their achievements,” said Cy Megnin, Elevate Ventures’ entrepreneur-in-residence serving Velocities, a partnership supporting startups in south-central Indiana. “WayZada’s launching digital tools on top of its 3D print option has really accelerated growth. I am very excited to see where this one goes.”

The startup was launched last year by Adam Ward and Robert Henschel. WayZada was formed after Ward, who was creating personal protective equipment for healthcare workers at the time, had the idea to 3D print data from completed runs.

“Support from Elevate transformed our process of turning data into 3D models and prints from a workflow that took heavy involvement from our team into a robust, self-serve process,” said Henschel. “Users can now connect to their favorite apps, like the popular STRAVA app, and build sharable models of any achievement without requiring our team to be part of the workflow.”

WayZada also received a $20,000 pre-seed investment from Elevate Ventures in Indianapolis through the Elevate Nexus Regional Pitch Competition earlier this year.