GUV Powerlist 2018: Jay Schrankler

Jay Schrankler joined the University of Minnesota’s office for technology commercialisation more than a decade ago after a career at conglomerate Honeywell. One of the biggest breakthroughs in his time at the institution has been the creation of university venture fund Discovery Capital Investment Program in 2014.

Discovery Capital’s focus is primarily on the biotech sector and takes advantage of the commercialisation office’s status as an accredited National Institutes of Health Research Evaluation and Commercialisation Hub. The fund operates on a matched-capital basis – in its first three years, Discovery Capital invested around $2m with matches in excess of $13m.

Now in the role of associate vice-president of technology commercialisation and new ventures following a promotion in April 2017, Schrankler has overseen a number of investments, including co-leading the $1m series A round for genome editing business B-Mogen Biotechnologies, a spinout of University of Minnesota, in June 2016.