University of Pennsylvania Launches StartUP Fund
The University of Pennsylvania (Penn) today announced the launch of its StartUP Fund, a new early-stage investment fund dedicated to supporting startup companies founded by Penn researchers and based on innovations and promising ideas created at the University. Managed by Penn’s Office of the Chief Investment Officer (OCINO), and backed by a $10M commitment from the University, the new evergreen fund provides vital seed-stage capital investments to qualifying startups drawn from across the Penn research community.
“Penn is distinguished by the integration of academic excellence and discovery with real-world problem-solving. The StartUP Fund will provide direct support to advance promising technologies and ideas emerging from our outstanding faculty and researchers” remarked Penn President Larry Jameson. “Over the past decade, Penn has contributed to a growing entrepreneurial ecosystem in and around Philadelphia and this new fund will be another catalyst for startups that will benefit our university, the city and our broader community.”
Penn’s Vice Provost for Research, Dr. David Meaney, added “This new fund addresses the critical need for seed investment capital at the earliest stages of company formation and will further accelerate innovation across the University. Penn has built a world-class commercialization engine through the Penn Center for Innovation, and this new fund will complement that work by addressing a key funding gap in the innovation ecosystem.”
Funds invested into Penn startup companies will help to further advance Penn’s research breakthroughs, and any returns that the fund realizes will be reinvested into the fund thereby creating a virtuous cycle of support.
“The launch of the StartUP Fund clearly demonstrates that Penn continues to be a national leader in commercialization and technology translation,” added John Swartley, Penn’s inaugural Chief Innovation Officer. “My team and I are looking forward to engaging with researchers and faculty entrepreneurs across the University to develop a strong portfolio of emerging startup companies.”
Applicants for StartUP funding must be companies that are based on Penn technology, know-how, or ideas and have at least one Penn-affiliated faculty member or researcher as a company founder. Evaluation of qualifying submissions will include review by a group of expert external advisors who will assess applications for funding potential according to a number of key investment considerations including overall feasibility, commercial potential and the likelihood that the StartUP investment will advance the maturity of the technology or idea and increase the value of the company.
“The StartUP Fund is a very welcome addition to Penn’s commercialization efforts, enabling broader innovation across diverse technology sectors,” said StartUP Fund Advisory Committee member Andrew Africk, Chief Investment Officer at Searay Capital LLC. Fellow committee member Joshua Kazam, co-founder and partner of venture capital firm Two River added “I am incredibly excited to support Penn’s newest effort to expand its technology commercialization activities and engage more broadly with the early-stage investment community.”
This new fund is a welcome addition to the startup ecosystem that Penn has already built through the combined efforts of many different university constituencies, such as the Penn Center for Innovation, Penn Medicine, the Wharton School and Pennovation Works. Penn has ranked #1 for licensing revenue nationally among Universities for the last five years in a row and has supported the creation of over 350 startups which have collectively raised or received over $7.5B in investment funding over the last decade despite challenging market conditions.
For more information about the StartUP Fund and the Office of the Chief Innovation Officer, please visit https://ocino.upenn.edu or email ocino@upenn.edu.