New VC fund looks to incubate startups from universities

Big ideas emerge from research universities, one of the reasons why leaders of the state's technology industry at the annual Technology Alliance luncheon today called for more support for the University of Washington and Washington State University.

Now, a new Bellevue venture fund called The University Funds is attempting to bankroll and incubate compelling technologies emerging from research institutions, reports PeHub.com's Connie Loizos. The seed-stage fund is led by WSU grad and former Talyst CEO James Torina, who left the Bellevue pharmacy automation company last year. Als involved are Pat Murphy, a former Mosaix and N2H2 executive; and Len Jessup, a WSU professor and Director of the Center for Entrepreneurial Studies.

According to a press release, the directors of The Univesity Funds are looking to raise as much as $50 million in capital. They've already lined up relationship with eight universities and research organizations, including the UW, Arizona State, Oregon State and the University of Oregon.

“The model put forward by The University Funds is intriguing and when fully implemented may well provide an efficient commercialization route for some of the truly ground-breaking research being conducted at WSU,” said Keith Jones, executive director at the WSU Research Foundation in a statement.

Torina explained how he came up with the concept in a message on the firm's Web site.

During my many visits to Washington State University, where I serve as a Foundation Trustee and Advisor to the colleges of Pharmacy and Business, I discovered a market gap in the eco-system for commercializing products developed within many of our nation’s research labs. This led me to further discussions with the leadership at WSU and several other research institutions, that confirmed the need for a new kind of venture partner to develop a repeatable model for driving research innovations out of the lab and into the marketplace.

It is unclear how much capital The University Funds have raised, and Loizos' story points to a February SEC filing citing plans to raise $5 million.

Of course, raising a first time venture fund in this climate is extremely challening. The firm's partner institutions certainly could be sources of capital with their endowment pools, but those have been hit along with the rest of the economy in the past eight months.

 

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