Pack Ventures, a new venture capital fund that is collaborating with the University of Washington, aims to help entrepreneurs launch new innovations and grow startups that emerge across the UW, while also giving Husky alumni access to investment opportunities.
Pack VC is independently run and is building affinity to the UW, lowering the threshold to investing and leveraging the deep relationships with innovators who have a UW affiliation — spinouts from campus and alumni-founded companies. The UW and Pack Ventures signed a memorandum of understanding earlier this year, formalizing the relationship.
Pack Ventures is now a preferred venture partner of the UW and CoMotion, the UW’s collaborative innovation hub. On the back of this agreement, Pack Ventures launched their second venture fund and is raising $30 million to invest in more Husky founders. The second fund already has more than 50 investors.
Ken Horenstein, Pack Ventures’ founder, said the fund also will help attract faculty and students to the UW, increase philanthropy to the UW and help the UW engage alumni who are looking to invest in emerging companies. Horenstein has committed to donating up to 2% of his personal proceeds to the UW and is encouraging all fund investors to make a similar pledge.
“I’m kind of a marketplace. I’m trying to pair people who have investment dollars to good investment opportunities,” Horenstein said, emphasizing companies that will succeed and are likely to have a positive social impact on a global scale.
Full story: New independent venture capital fund accelerates and enhances innovation ecosystem at the UW | UW News
