University Gap Funding and Accelerator Community News

Universities have been helping students become entrepreneurs since before the word “startup” existed, but it wasn’t until the dot-com boom that they started taking the commercial value of campus innovation seriously. In the mid-1990s, many technology licensing offices and campus venture funds began popping up. And by the 2010s, more universities were realizing that

Three spinout companies from the University of Glasgow have successfully secured proof-of-concept funding from the Scottish Government to help them turn university research into innovative industries of the future. The investment, which totals more than £540,000, forms part of the Scottish Government’s new £2.9 million Proof of Concept (POC) Fund, designed to

Four cutting-edge University of Cambridge research projects are to receive funding from UKRI to grow into market-leading products and services. A total of 48 projects from across the UK are receiving funding from a new £9 million proof of concept programme to support and accelerate the development of new or

COLUMBIA, Md., Oct. 2, 2025 /PRNewswire/ — The Maryland Stem Cell Research Commission (the Commission) awarded $4,707,142 in grant funding to accelerate the development of innovative stem cell–based therapies. The Maryland Stem Cell Research Fund (MSCRF), overseen by the Commission, is an independent program within TEDCO designed to promote human stem cell research and treatments through grants

In the long-established American ecosystem of scientific advancement, fundamental research—not geared toward immediate application—has mostly been conducted at universities with federal funding. The commercial sector, on the other hand, has been more likely to fund more applied research around ideas closer to market, including backing university studies in promising areas of

The Office for Research and Innovation at Stony Brook University has announced the recipients of its 2025 OVPR Seed Grant Program. In this 11th cycle, a total of $1.2 million was awarded to 22 faculty-led research projects, marking the highest amount distributed in a single round since the program began.

Rice University has named 10 graduate students as recipients of the 2025-26 Chevron Energy Graduate Fellowships, a program created through a partnership between the Rice Sustainability Institute and Chevron. Each fellow receives a $10,000 award to support research advancing scalable energy innovations that reduce emissions, accelerate low-carbon technologies and improve the reliability and

A transformative $1.5 million gift from Penn State alumnus Dr. Richard A. Gottscho has set in motion a new era for innovation at the university. The newly-created Nittany Angels network and funding pool will deliver early-stage investment and infrastructure to startups rooted in university research, bridging market-ready ventures with mission-aligned

INDIANAPOLIS, Sept. 30, 2025 /PRNewswire/ — Plug and Play, the world’s most active global innovation platform and venture capital firm, today officially launched the IU LAB Lifetech Accelerator with a ribbon-cutting ceremony in Indianapolis. This landmark event, a collaboration with Indiana University, BioCrossroads, and IU Health, marks the beginning of a new era of

Based in Kensington, Creator Fund works with scientists to turn academic research into deep tech startups, with notable examples including Glasgow spinout Chemify and Imperial College London spinout Recycleye. Its latest fund has already raised double the amount from its previous fund from 2022 and aims to hold its final close in early 2026. “We

Tulane Ventures, an early-stage investment fund launched by the Tulane University Innovation Institute, has invested $250,000 in Exactics, a biotech startup co-founded by Tulane senior Dylan Murray. The company is developing multiple at-home tests for infectious diseases, starting with a rapid test that will allow users to determine if a tick carries

Vanderbilt University announced nine recipients of the Innovation Catalyst Fund awards for the June 2025 cycle, continuing its mission of accelerating translational research and driving innovative solutions to real-world challenges by providing faculty with crucial pre-seed funding across diverse disciplines.   The newly selected projects span cutting-edge work in health care, engineering and