Fundraising

Kindred Ventures has attracted university endowments for its second fund, building on the successes of its $56m debut vehicle launched just two years ago.

The firm announced its second fund the same day as one of its portfolio companies, University of Wyoming-backed Momentus, successfully listed on Nasdaq.

An undisclosed US university endowment has helped the consumer-focused venture firm hit a $118m final close for its second fund, surpassing its $100m target in the process.

The firm, which specialises in commercialising public and corporate research, has closed its largest fund to date.

Princeton University has approved a six-figure commitment to the student-run Prospect Student Ventures launched last year.

KII’s second iteration more than doubled in size from its predecessor, which closed five years ago and invested in 19 companies.

Steady is the assessment that comes to mind, rather than remarkable, when probing the year-on-year direction of corporate venture capital investment in university spinouts.

With hundreds of university venture funds, internal commercialisation vehicles and third-party firms the reality in today’s innovation ecosystem, selecting the nominees and the winner for Investment Unit of the Year is increasingly challenging.

One only has to look at the investors in the €117m ($135m) final close for Imec.xpand, the venture fund of nano-electronics research institute Imec, to see why it is worthy of GUV’s Fundraising of the Year award.