Fundraising

MSU’s Student Venture Capital Fund will invest up to $50,000 in university-linked businesses with the administrative aid of MSU students taking the entrepreneurial finance course.

The first quarter of 2019 may not have broken records, but it puts the year on track for a solid performance after the historic successes of the previous 12 months.

The fresh capital, anchored by University of Cambridge and its Endowment Fund, will enable patient capital-orientated vehicle Cambridge Innovation Capital to make new bets and sustain investments in its existing portfolio.

Research from Argonne National Laboratory will support the advancement of emerging battery technology backed by Volta Energy Technologies, which is funded by corporates Equinor, Exelon, Albemarle and Hanon Systems.

The university has reportedly backed an oversubscribed $1.5bn buyout vehicle launched by Arcline aiming to take over eight-to-10 mid-market companies.

The vehicle has a target size of $3.7m to be fulfilled by donations from philanthropists, with the aim of providing support to early-stage university businesses and research.

University of Delaware-backed science incubator Delaware Innovation Space has started a VC vehicle called First Fund offering startups up to $75,000 in convertible notes.

Infosys will contribute $10m to the second House Fund, which is targeting a $50m close to back UC Berkeley-linked businesses with a focus on AI.