VC firm launches virtual matchmaking event for Midwest startups and investors
With face-to-face meetings between investors and startup founders sidelined due to the coronavirus, a Chicago VC firm is launching a new virtual matchmaking initiative to connect entrepreneurs with tech investors. Sandalphon Capital, led by Jonathan Ellis, has launched the “midwest.tech/connect” virtual summit, a virtual event that aims to connect startups across the Midwest to venture capital firms and angel […]
Illinois Innovation Network announces seed funding recipients
The Illinois Innovation Network on Monday awarded seed grants to teamsthat will use collaborative research to improve nutrition, turn trash into usable products, explore urban-rural connections, and enhance agricultural practices. The funding is part of IIN’s Sustaining Illinois program, which is designed to increase collaborative research among the state’s public universities, focusing on the economy, health, and […]
Starting a science business during a pandemic
What a time to start a business. Lab and university shutdowns, travel restrictions, stay-at-home orders, nervous investors, and social distancing—the novel coronavirus has created a lot of uncertainty. How can scientific entrepreneurs plan and execute what may be the biggest move of their professional lives when no one even knows what next week is going to […]
Kentucky creates nationally unique partnerships to commercialize academic tech innovations
Gov. Andy Beshear announced the creation of Kentucky Commercialization Ventures (KCV), a new public-private partnership unique in the U.S. that aims to develop academic innovations into job-creating tech companies. “We all want to grow Kentucky’s tech sector and create the high-paying, knowledge-based jobs that follow. A big part of doing so is turning Kentucky’s own […]
Venture Capital Makes Talent Unaffordable for Start Ups’ Competitors | Institutional Investor
Assistant finance professor Linghang Zeng noticed a few years ago just how much computer programmers seemed to be getting paid. “The salaries in IT went up quite dramatically in the last decade or two,” Zeng observed. “When programmers go out to find jobs, they are typically going to have multiple offers. Naturally, they ask those […]
Three ISU students launch startups in entrepreneurship accelerator program
Three Cyclone Engineering students are building new, innovative businesses this summer as members of the 2020 CYstarters cohort. CYstarters is an 11-week program giving Iowa State students with a passion for entrepreneurship the funding, skill development and mentorship to start their business while still in school. Benjamin Thompson, a junior in mechanical engineering, teamed up with […]
UGA Foundation commits up to $10M to fund student, faculty innovation
The University of Georgia is putting big money up front for innovation in a higher education setting. On Tuesday, the school announced the UGA Foundation’s investment committee voted during a meeting in June to approve a commitment of up to $10 million for funding innovation. The funding will allow the Foundation to partner with the […]
University of Victoria launches fund to support, accelerate research
The University of Victoria has launched a fund to help researchers thrive. The UVic Research Accelerator Fund (RAF) aims to help researchers find solutions and speed up recovery from COVID-19. As the population calls for more strategies to navigate through the pandemic, UVic researchers have been developing various tools such as non-invasive tests and virus […]
This Maryland accelerator is helping to turn clean energy tech into startups
The immediate impact of the COVID-19 pandemic and economic shock are the focus of plenty of societal problem-solving efforts right now. In the long-term, however, climate change remains a vexing challenge that’s not going away. The environmental imperatives of reducing emissions and creating clean energy options offer an area where new technology can play a role in […]
NIH-funded Network Led by XLerateHealth and UK Supports HBCU Commercialization
The University of Kentucky and XLerateHealth, a national startup accelerator, are partnering with Jackson State University (JSU) to launch a program that helps advance and commercialize innovative human health focused ideas from Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs). The program is receiving support from the XLerator Network, an NIH-funded accelerator hub that supports health care innovation […]