Stanford StartX VCs Are Looking for the Next Snapchat

As a student at Stanford University, Evan Spiegel often hung around the offices of StartX, the school’s entrepreneurial hub. Spiegel, who was working on a photo-sharing app called Picaboo, would seek advice from people affiliated with the incubator. In return, he volunteered part-time in 2011, helping design some early marketing materials for StartX. Spiegel’s side project eventually became Snapchat, whose […]

Innovation hub at Michigan Tech University bridges “Valley of Death” 

They call it the “Valley of Death” — the gap in a project once a project is past the basic science but not far enough along for investors to jump in. Michigan Technological University will have a larger role in getting more of those ideas to market. This week, the Michigan Strategic Fund approved funding […]

MCCC fund to help provide capital for local start-up businesses

Jennifer Green doubled over in her chair, breathing rapidly with her hand to her face. Echo, a 16-month-old chocolate lab, recognized the signs of a panic attack and sprang into action, nuzzling his owner’s hand and climbing onto her lap to apply pressure to her chest to help calm her down. Green, however, wasn’t really […]

University of Michigan, Michigan Tech designated as Innovation Hubs in MEDC’s statewide MTRAC program

Accelerating the creation and transfer of new technologies from research settings to practical real-world applications is the main focus of the innovation hubs at the University of Michigan’s College of Engineering and Michigan Technological University. With the Michigan Strategic Fund (MSF) board’s approval today, the U-M advanced transportation Hub and Michigan Tech’s advanced materials Hub […]

Virginia Tech and Carilion form $15 million venture capital fund

Virginia Tech and Carilion Clinic have formed a new $15 million venture capital fund designed to catapult the startups taking root around Blacksburg and Roanoke’s so-called innovation corridor. About 60 percent of the investments will be in the life sciences industry and most will be based in Virginia. If they’re in another state, the companies […]

Shaw University, Carolina Small Business Development Fund Open Innovation & Entrepreneurship Center

Officials from Shaw University and Carolina Small Business Development Fund (CSBDF) launch an entrepreneurship center aimed at expanding small business development and economic empowerment within Southeast Raleigh and beyond. The mission of the Innovation & Entrepreneurship Center is to provide an ecosystem of support for entrepreneurs that will foster innovation and help them establish and sustain […]

Duke U, Viking Therapeutics and PoC Capital Enter Agreement to Fund Clinical Development 

Viking Therapeutics, Inc. (“Viking”) (NASDAQ: VKTX), a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company focused on the development of novel therapies for metabolic and endocrine disorders, today announced an agreement with PoC Capital, LLC to fund Viking’s initial clinical development of VK2809 in glycogen storage disease type Ia (GSD Ia).  Viking plans to file an Investigational New Drug (IND) […]

These four tech startups received crucial capital from a UPenn student-run fund

A student-run innovation fund has already provided capital to launch four Penn startups this year, and it’s only the beginning of second semester. The Weiss Tech House Innovation Fund gives grants ranging from $500-$2000 to startups that involve technology in some way, College senior and Fund co-chair Jason Shein explained. Shein facilitated a recent “relaunch” […]