Print“We are fortunate to have attracted top universities that have historically created a very rich pool of companies in both life and physical sciences.”
A venture fund focused on making direct investments in startups out of leading universities has just closed on a $100 million fund. Osage University Partners, which manages coinvestment rights held by affiliate universities, is making direct investments in their most promising startup companies.
Under the arrangement with these affiliate universities, which include prestigious research centers, the schools share in Osage's profit.
Though not restricted to the life sciences, the fund reflects a growing interest universities have in commercializing their technology. At a time when they face new fiscal constraints and the vagaries of federal research budgets, the plan offers a way to bring in a new source of revenue. At the same time, it offers a way to capitalize on the growing interest of pharmaceutical and biotech companies to tap early-stage university research that has commercial potential.
The fund has invested in nine companies to date including Avid Radiopharmaceuticals, a diagnostics company focused on Alzheimer's disease that Eli Lilly bought in November for $300 million. A second portfolio company, the biofuels developer Gevo, completed a successful IPO on February 9. Burrill & Company, publisher of “The Burrill Report,” is an investor in Gevo.
In announcing the closing of the fund, the firm announced it has signed contracts with California Institute of Technology, Columbia University, Duke University, University of California, Berkeley, University of Florida, University of Michigan, University of Pennsylvania, and Yale University. Osage noted that the affiliated universities have top technology transfer and commercialization programs, and a track record of launching startups base on their discoveries.
“We are fortunate to have attracted top universities that have historically created a very rich pool of companies in both life and physical sciences,” says Marc Singer, managing partner of Osage.
Universities nationwide collectively create approximately 600 new startups each year based on their research discoveries and have created nearly 5,000 new startups over the last 10 years, the firm said.
February 25, 2011
http://www.burrillreport.com/article-out_of_school.html
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