CIT GAP Funds Makes Follow-On Investment in 4stay to Support Rapid Growth
The Center for Innovative Technology (CIT) today announced that CIT GAP Funds has made a follow-on investment in Arlington, Va.-based 4stay, an online marketplace for student housing that connects students, interns, and professionals with local hosts, roommates, and room providers. Since the GAP Funds’ original investment in late 2018, 4stay’s management team has doubled down on their efforts […]
UI, OSF research partnership on medical innovations getting $50 million boost
A new process for “bioprinting” individualized human heart models, to help surgeons practice for heart operations. A virtual-reality training program for intubations, now being used by medical institutions across the U.S. and abroad. A simulator to train medical professionals how to connect patients to machines that pump and oxygenate blood outside the body when the […]
MIT Solve launches an Innovation Fund to back impact startups
As the executive director of MIT Solve, a tech incubator launched in 2016 that sources and supports solutions to global challenges, Alex Amouyel has watched the social-impact innovation landscape evolve significantly in the last three years. Each year, Solve issues a set of four challenges that cover sustainability, health, economics, and education. Past challenges have asked questions like: How can […]
UH launches $2M research fund to commercialize new technologies
The University of Houston System has launched a $2 million research fund to help faculty commercialize new technologies. The Chancellor’s Technology Bridging Fund announced Thursday will offer grants to help faculty build prototypes or test their technology under industry-relevant conditions — stages of development that don’t typically receive basic research funding. “The Technology Bridging Fund will fill […]
Thai bank and Vietnam incubator partner to grow regional startups
Kasikornbank, Thailand’s second-largest lender, is partnering with Vietnam’s Business Startup Support Center to help Thai and Vietnamese startups with their regional expansion plans. Under a memorandum of understanding signed in May, the government-backed BSSC will promote Thai companies’ expansion into Vietnam, where startups are booming, particularly in fintech and e-commerce. “We will help Thai startups […]
1717 Innovation Center to launch new accelerator for Richmond nonprofits
Just weeks after gaining its first accelerator focused on nonprofits, Richmond snagged a double dose. Applications opened Monday for @1717, a new nonprofit accelerator run by Capital One’s 1717 Innovation Center. This fall, Richmond’s resident banking giant and 1717 are piloting the program, which aims to support Richmond-area nonprofits in expanding capacity to help them […]
European Research Council makes move to promote commercialisation
The European Research Council (ERC) is stepping up efforts to promote the commercialisation of research its funds, setting up a website to link holders of its €150,000 proof of concept grant with potential investors. To date, 26 proof of concept grant holders have joined the Virtual Venture Fair, which is intended as a shop window for […]
IBM/Egypt: Changing the Startup Scene with Technology
Egypt has one of the fastest growing startup ecosystems in the world and the second largest after the UAE. It is also witnessing a strong entrepreneurship wave, driven by a domestic appetite for technological advancement. According to recent statistics, more than 73% of Egyptians think entrepreneurship is a good career choice, and a total of […]
CIT’s Virginia Founders Fund Invests in Fringe to Change the Way Employers Offer Benefits
The Center for Innovative Technology (CIT) announced today that the Virginia Founders Fund has invested in Richmond, Va.-based Fringe. Founded in 2018, Fringe is the first employer benefits marketplace. The platform offers employers an easy and cost effective way to manage their perk programs, and gives employees the opportunity to pick the benefits that matter most […]
Imperial-TUM seed fund takes off
The fund, backed equally by Imperial and Technical University of Munich as part of their ‘flagship partnership’, will seed early-stage research activity in healthcare haptics, battery storage, and ideas for a circular economy. The start-up funds will help researchers explore new ideas and directions of research to further their respective fields: Re-working wind By combining our expertise through the […]