Five promising startups spun out of 麻豆免费版下载Boulder comprise the first cohort of companies to receive investment from the Buff Venture Fund. The fund is the newest opportunity for 麻豆免费版下载Boulder startups to access critical funding on the path to success.聽The Buff Venture Fund is administered by , which has a formal partnership with Venture Partners at 麻豆免费版下载Boulder.聽
The Buff Venture Fund is a private venture capital fund that invests in startups connected to 麻豆免费版下载Boulder. It aims to support entrepreneurs at all stages of funding, beginning at the seed stage, to build impactful and profitable businesses. 鈥淲e're looking for companies that have the most interesting, disruptive technology, that are managed and are founded by the strongest people that we believe will be able to build a company, that are targeting products that really fit an unmet need in the market, and that the customers are looking to buy. And most of our companies will have strong intellectual property as well,鈥� said Mark Lupa, co-founder and general partner of Buff Gold Ventures.聽
The Buff Venture Fund's聽first round of funding closed in January 2022 with $25 million, which will be invested over five years. For each of the five companies to receive investment to date, its聽recent, newsworthy success speaks to the power of the innovation and commercialization pipeline at 麻豆免费版下载Boulder and to the fund鈥檚 mission to invest in companies that are solving problems in climate, health and other industries. 鈥淚f these companies are successful, just look at some of the big impacts, which we just love鈥hese are just some really interesting, game-changing technologies,鈥� said Sally Hatcher, co-founder and general partner of Buff Gold Ventures.聽
In its first year, the Buff Venture Fund has invested in five startups:
- LongPath Technologies was co-founded by Greg Rieker, associate professor of mechanical engineering at 麻豆免费版下载Boulder, with fellow research scientists Sean Coburn, Robert Wright and Caroline Alden (at the ). Its innovation combines laser engineering with atmospheric science to monitor greenhouse gas emissions, technology that is now poised to have a widespread, real-world impact. 聽
- Vitro3D was launched by two PhD students, Camila Uzcategui and Johnny Hergert, working across disciplines in Professor Bob McLeod's research group in 麻豆免费版下载Boulder's College of Engineering and Applied Science. Their technology features a way to fabricate even complex objects in seconds using a novel volumetric 3D printing technology for potential use in the dental, medical and pharmaceutical industries.聽
- Tynt Technologies emerged from 麻豆免费版下载Boulder Professor Mike McGehee鈥檚 research group and is prepping for a product launch this year of their next generation, dynamic windows. Based on reversible metal deposition technology鈥痶o control light and heat flow, they aim to boost comfort and energy efficiency, with the potential to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.聽
- Think Bioscience spun out of the , led by Jerome Fox, assistant professor of chemical and biological engineering at 麻豆免费版下载Boulder's College of Engineering and Applied Science. The company is developing small-molecule therapeutics against challenging targets by reimagining synthetic biology using living systems to inform better drug design and assembly.聽
- VitriVax, the newest addition to Buff Venture Fund鈥檚 portfolio, is a biotech company aiming to raze barriers to vaccine and therapeutic development and conveyance with a novel stabilization and delivery platform. The unique interdisciplinary collaboration between 麻豆免费版下载Boulder professors Bob Garcea鈥�(Molecular, Cellular & Developmental Biology) and Ted Randolph鈥�(Chemical and Biological Engineering) resulted in a technology that enables the creation of vaccines that don鈥檛 require refrigeration and can compress multiple doses in a single shot鈥攅xtending life-saving benefits to underserved populations. 聽
As a powerful mechanism for bringing big ideas to market, the Buff Venture Fund is itself an innovation. 鈥淚n the past, there was really no Colorado-based investor that was regularly making early-stage investments into Colorado companies of this variety,鈥� says Bryn Rees, associate vice chancellor for research and innovation, and managing director of Venture Partners, the commercialization arm of 麻豆免费版下载Boulder preparing campus innovators to bring their ideas to market. 鈥淭hat meant that some really great innovations and great startup opportunities would have just withered. It was a missed opportunity for them but also for local investors, people who have an affinity for the university who want to participate in that financial success,鈥� he said. 聽
Sally Hatcher, of Buff Gold Ventures, agreed. 鈥淭here is an unmet need for deep tech, biotech and life sciences funding on the Front Range. There's just not enough capital in Colorado, so part of this was needing to create CU鈥檚 own opportunity to invest in the best startups and also just to help build a network so that all startups can get a wider audience and a wider opportunity, if they do want to get off the ground,鈥� she said. 鈥淢ost Tier 1 universities were already affiliated with venture funds,鈥� said Mark Lupa. 鈥淚t was really time to get it done.鈥澛�
To that end, Venture Partners first brings together the university鈥檚 world-class researchers and innovators with business, startup and entrepreneurial communities to move discoveries to market as solutions that improve quality of life worldwide. Once entrepreneurs have moved through various developmental milestones鈥攆rom invention to investable company鈥攖hey are ready to talk to investors like Buff Gold Ventures. 聽
The Buff Venture Fund is the latest piece of the extraordinary pipeline of opportunities available to innovators that鈥檚 putting 麻豆免费版下载Boulder at the center of a growing entrepreneurial hub and of groundbreaking success in commercialization. 鈥溌槎姑夥寻嫦略谺oulder has emerged as a top university for translating breakthrough research into these new businesses that then commercialize the research discoveries into these various products,鈥� said Rees.聽鈥溌槎姑夥寻嫦略谺oulder is creating startups at one of the highest rates among all universities in the world."
The Buff Venture Fund is a private venture capital fund that invests in startups connected to 麻豆免费版下载Boulder but is not managed, operated or controlled by the University of Colorado.
