Award & Investment Overview
The University of Pennsylvania’s Office of the Chief Innovation Officer has announced the first investments from its StartUP Fund, a $10 million university-backed initiative providing early-stage capital to Penn faculty-founded companies commercializing technologies developed across the University’s twelve Schools.
The inaugural portfolio includes three companies: Vasowatch, OneFiltr, and Peptaris. Individual investment amounts were not disclosed.
Vasowatch is developing a predictive maternal health technology for postpartum hemorrhage and preparing for a pivotal clinical trial targeted for early 2027. OneFiltr is developing compact, tunable radio-frequency filtering technology and will use its investment to prepare devices for evaluation by aerospace and defense companies. Peptaris is developing an AI-powered platform for peptide therapeutic discovery and optimization and will use the funding for platform development and experimental validation of initial therapeutic candidates.
The inaugural investments establish the StartUP Fund as a university-backed venture funding mechanism positioned downstream from research discovery and initial technology development. Rather than supporting research projects alone, the fund is deploying capital directly into Penn spinout companies to help them reach milestones that can improve readiness for regulatory advancement, industry adoption, and subsequent financing.
Approach & Ecosystem Context
Penn created the $10 million StartUP Fund through the Office of the Chief Innovation Officer to accelerate development and commercialization of technologies emerging from research across the University.
The first three investments demonstrate how a centralized university venture fund can support companies with substantially different commercialization pathways.
Vasowatch needs to optimize a regulated Software as a Medical Device product and advance toward a pivotal clinical trial. OneFiltr needs to refine and manufacture hardware that prospective industry partners can evaluate. Peptaris needs to advance its computational platform while experimentally validating therapeutic candidates.
These are different technical milestones, but they share a common commercialization challenge: each company requires early capital to generate the evidence, products, or validation needed before the next external stakeholder can make a larger commitment.
From a Mind the GAP perspective, this is an important distinction. The StartUP Fund operates beyond traditional proof-of-concept grants by investing directly in faculty-founded companies. The University is therefore extending its commercialization support from research translation into venture development and early company financing.
The portfolio also demonstrates the potential value of a university-wide fund. Penn’s first investments cross nursing and maternal health, electrical engineering, medical research, artificial intelligence, and therapeutics. A centralized fund can evaluate these opportunities according to commercialization milestones while allowing individual companies to follow market-specific development pathways.
Innovation & Technology
Vasowatch
Vasowatch, co-founded by Penn Nursing clinical adjunct professor Stefanie Modri and former Penn Engineering faculty member James Weimer, is developing a noninvasive monitoring system designed to predict the risk of maternal postpartum hemorrhage.
The technology is being developed as Software as a Medical Device. Vasowatch is optimizing the system and preparing for a pivotal clinical trial targeted to begin in early 2027.
The StartUP Fund investment will support both technology optimization and preparation for the upcoming trial, positioning the company to address a significant regulatory and clinical validation milestone.
OneFiltr
OneFiltr was co-founded by Troy Olsson, professor of electrical and systems engineering in Penn’s School of Engineering and Applied Science.
The company is developing compact, tunable radio-frequency filtering technology intended to simplify the complex and costly hardware used in advanced RF systems, including handheld communications devices.
Potential markets identified by Penn include defense, radar, satellite communications, and quantum computing.
OneFiltr will use the StartUP Fund investment to develop and produce its proprietary device for advanced evaluation by major aerospace and defense companies. That customer evaluation represents an important commercialization milestone because it moves the technology from laboratory development toward validation by potential industry adopters.
Peptaris
Peptaris was co-founded by Penn Presidential Associate Professor César de la Fuente and Marcelo Der Torossian Torres, a research assistant professor in the Perelman School of Medicine.
The company is developing an AI-powered platform for peptide therapeutic design, discovery, and optimization.
Peptide therapeutics require systematic optimization of properties relevant to drug development. Peptaris is applying AI to this process with the objective of accelerating identification and optimization of therapeutic candidates.
The StartUP Fund investment will support further development of the platform and experimental validation of Peptaris’ initial therapeutic candidates. This is an important translational step because computationally identified candidates ultimately require experimental evidence before they can progress through a therapeutic development pathway.
Related Topics
University of Pennsylvania, Penn StartUP Fund, Office of the Chief Innovation Officer, OCINO, university venture funds, university spinouts, faculty startups, GAP funding, university commercialization, venture development, Vasowatch, OneFiltr, Peptaris, maternal health, Software as a Medical Device, radio-frequency technology, peptide therapeutics, AI drug discovery, translational research, early-stage investment
About innovosource
innovosource tracks GAP programs, including proof-of-concept programs, startup accelerators, translational research initiatives, university venture funds, and commercialization ecosystems that help move university innovations from research to market.
Our coverage is informed by the Mind the GAP Initiative and the GAP COA consortium activity, providing practical insights into the evolving commercialization landscape.
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Source
https://penntoday.upenn.edu/news/penns-startup-fund-announces-its-first-investments
