Mercury Bets On Midcontinent With New 105M Seed Fund
Early-stage science startup venture capital firm Mercury Fund will close its Mercury Fund III with $105 million in commitments it says it will use to target some of the biotech markets most promising startups and entrepreneurs in the Southwest, Midwest and Rocky Mountain regions. “We are grateful to our new and existing investors for their […]
Houston venture capital firm opens Ann Arbor office headed by U Michigan Graduate
University of Michigan graduate and serial entrepreneur Adrian Fortinio will lead a new office for the Houston-based Mercury Fund–a venture capital firm–according to a report in Crain’s Detroit Business. Fortino co-founded FlockTag and was a vice president at Invest Detroit before being tapped to lead Mercury’s new Ann Arbor office. The firm, which raised more […]
Venture’s funding reaches $2.5 million with help from Next Level Ventures
VIDA Diagnostics, a venture out of the University of Iowa Research Park (UIRP) BioVentures Center, recently received $2 million in funding from Next Level Ventures (NLV), a Des Moines venture capital firm created to invest in Iowa companies. This $2 million investment and the $500,000 Iowa Innovation Fund granted in September total $2.5 million dollars […]
University of Iowa start-up VIDA attracts $2.5M in funding
A Coralville-based medical software start-up born out of the University of Iowa has attracted $2.5 million in funding. Vida Diagnostics said Wednesday that it has received $2 million in funding from Next Level Ventures, a Des Moines venture capital firm created to invest in Iowa companies. That investment comes on top of a $500,000 loan […]
Venture capital fund invests in ASU startups to stimulate Arizona economy
Successful SkySong-based startup Bosse Tools has received a major investment of $200,000 from the Maricopa County Manufacturing Venture Fund to ramp up production of its line of ergonomically designed tools. The venture fund was developed by the ASU Foundation for A New American University, thanks to a $1 million grant from the Maricopa County Industrial […]
UConn’s ‘hearty startup’ gains attention, funding
When he enrolled in UConn’s biomedical engineering graduate program in 2005, Eric Sirois wasn’t thinking about a career in business. But an entrepreneurship class that helped him better understand how to commercialize the heart valve implant he’d been developing changed that. These days, Sirois, CEO of Dura Biotech, a startup participating in UConn’s Technology Incubation […]
Raze Therapeutics launches with $24m in Series A financing
Cambridge-based Raze Therapeutics announced its launch Monday, adding that it has closed on a $24 million Series A financing. Investors in the Series A financing include Atlas Venture, MPM Capital Management, MS Ventures, Partners Innovation Fund, Astellas Venture Management, and Novartis, the Raze press release said. Atlas partner Jason Rhodes is Raze’s acting chief executive. […]
Osage collects $151m for University Fund II
Osage University Partners II has received $151m in commitments from 145 LPs according to a filing with the US Securities and Exchange Commission. The funds predecessor was a $100m vehicle which closed in 2011. Fund II will focus on start-ups that are commercialising university research. The vehicle will invest in cleantech, energy, IT, biopharma, healthcare […]
SpeedInvest launches €50m second fund
The fund has been launched in partnership with start-up platform Pioneers and business angel Johann Hansmann. SpeedInvest CEO Oliver Holle hinted the fund would be holding its first close by the end of 2014. The fund, which aims to bridge the gap between a start-up incubator and a seed investor, will have a typical lifespan […]
Should Universities Get Involved In Venture Capital? Forbes Opinion Piece
The StarTribune noted recently that the University of Minnesota is rethinking its venture capital strategy. Is this smart? I don’t mean to single out one university, because I find similar thinking at some other universities. So it might be useful to bring this into the open and see if the above strategy makes sense. Essentially […]