Mission

Our venture fund is dedicated to closing the commercialization gap for deep tech innovations emerging from non-hub R1 universities across the U.S. By partnering with leading research institutions outside traditional venture capital hubs, we provide early-stage funding, mentorship, and direct access to Silicon Valley’s investment ecosystem. Our goal is to accelerate the transition from groundbreaking academic research to successful, high-growth companies.

Investment Focus

• Industries: Life Sciences, Artificial Intelligence, Healthcare, Medical Devices, and Software.
• Investment Stages: Pre-seed and Seed.
• Portfolio Strategy: Targeting 15-25 high-impact startups originating from partner universities.

Fund Structure

• Size: Initial capitalization of $20M+, with room for additional investment from outside Limited Partners (LPs).
• University Contributions: $5M per participating institution.
• Capital Allocation:
  • 40% designated for startups from the contributing university.
  • 60% allocated to a shared investment pool for the strongest opportunities across all partner institutions and select external deep-tech ventures.
  • This is meant to de-risk the entire fund by gaining exposure to a wide-variety of startups, which helps assure the fund continues, and can provide resources to each ecosystem over time. Thus, each ecosystem can grow without having to provide immediate home runs.
• 10-Year Closed-End Fund:
  • First 3-4 years focused on initial investments.
  • Follow-on funding reserved for high-performing portfolio companies.
  • Liquidity targeted through acquisitions, IPOs, or secondary sales by years 7-10.

Key Benefits for Universities

1. Dedicated Early-Stage Capital: Provides targeted funding for university spinouts, reducing dependency on government grants and local seed funding. University money goes to university spinouts.
2. Accelerated Research Commercialization: Enhances technology transfer by enabling high-potential innovations to evolve into scalable businesses at a faster pace, through dedicated relationships and early eyes on technology.
3. Financial Upside: Universities share in the financial success of portfolio companies, generating returns that can be reinvested into research and entrepreneurship programs, or into secondary funds.
4. Access to Industry and Investors: Acts as a direct bridge to top-tier venture capital firms, corporate partners, and follow-on funding opportunities. Coastal leaders, industry collaborators, workforce, founders, and investors.
5. Ecosystem Strengthening: Encourages faculty-led entrepreneurship, fosters student involvement, and positions universities as leaders in applied research commercialization. Every ecosystem benefits when startups and innovators stay local.

Governance & Decision-Making

• Investment Committee: A balanced team of experienced venture capital professionals and select university representatives.
• University Role: Participating institutions guide the deployment of their reserved capital while contributing input on spinout company selection.