Vincennes Incubator Gets Boost From Purdue

(Image courtesy of our partners at WTHI-TV)

Purdue University is making a financial commitment related to a business incubator and coworking space in Vincennes. The university says it will provide a $2 million endowment for chemical engineering students collaborating with startups at the Pantheon Business Theatre.

The incubator is being established inside the old Pantheon Theatre in the city’s downtown. Sangtae Kim, a professor of mechanical and chemical engineering at Purdue, says the university has created a $2 million endowment and will work with the incubator to direct where the funding from the endowment will be used.

The endowment requires a $2 million match from the city and county. Vincennes Mayor Joe Yochum tells our partners at WTHI they are working to determine from where those matching funds will come. The city and county have already provide a total of $2.4 million to get the incubator up and running.

Knox County Commission President Kellie Streeter tells the station they are also applying for grants through the Indiana Office of Community and Rural Affairs and the U.S. Department of Agriculture. She says several private entities have also expressed interest in donating money to the project.

In March, the USDA awarded a $77,000 grant to support a new roof for the theater. INVin, the city’s business and arts initiative, owns the building and Executive Director Ellen Harper told Inside INdiana Business last year the project would create a community for entrepreneurs looking for a starting point.