By Teri Willey, executive director, IU Ventures and fund manager, Indiana Philanthropic Venture Fund LLC
It’s been a year since the Indiana Philanthropic Venture Fund was launched. We have had a busy and gratifying year as we support companies that are based on IU intellectual property or have IU graduates as founders or members of the C-suite.
During our first year, 10 companies have received a total of $3.1 million in investments from the fund. These portfolio companies are Care Revolution, Confluence Pharmaceuticals, Diagnotes, Doxly, Encamp, NERX BioSciences, Open Martech, Scioto Biosciences, Sharpen and Vascugen. These companies have IU DNA at their core, are located within the state, and are garnering attention; Encamp was named New Tech Startup of the Year at the 2019 Mira Awards.
While my colleagues and I are pleased with our growing portfolio of investments, we are equally pleased that our strategy of syndication has garnered even greater results for these companies. Having co-investors who leverage our investment has led to an additional $22.75 million in funding for the companies. This ratio of more than 7:1 shows that the fund’s impact will extend beyond just the immediacy of its investment.
The response to the fund has been heartening. Our team has reviewed 147 investment opportunities, many identified by my colleague Jason Whitney through his Quarry program. We proposed 23 of those for investment, and 14 have received investment committee approval. The quantity has been impressive, but the quality is even better, excellent examples of the university’s impact on the state through the commercialization of its IP and the leadership of its graduates.
Our outlook for the balance of 2019 will be supporting our companies and, because of the increasing number of excellent investment opportunities, raising money for our fund so we can continue our work.
For more information about our portfolio companies, to inquire about funding or to donate to the fund, please visit our website. You can also connect with us on LinkedIn or by sending a message to me, tfwilley@iu.edu, or to our awesome fund associate Samantha Ginther, sginther@iu.edu.
Myself and Luke Jacobs are two of the three founders of Encamp, and we’re the IU connection – both of us are ‘15 grads.
I have to say, Luke has spoken in nothing but glowing terms about the process of working with you folks. I’m guessing it’s partially due to the mission-driven nature of the fund – it’s focusing on the success of local and IU-rooted businesses, but with a broader definition of success than a Silicon Valley VC’s “hyper-growth or die” mindset. It’s probably also partially due to the Fund’s board just being full of pleasant and excellent people.
Whatever the cause, we’re extremely happy with our experience working with the IU Philanthropic Venture Fund and would recommend it to anyone.