UCeed will target four to eight healthcare projects with a focus on child medicine, investing up to $220,000 per transaction.

University of Calgary yesterday launched a C$10m ($7.4m) seed vehicle backed by philanthropic contributions from Alberta Children’s Hospital Foundation and River Fund at Calgary Foundation.
The fund, UCeed, will back pre-seed and seed-stage healthcare research with the aim of forming spinouts. UCalgary will direct the fund through its knowledge transfer and incubator subsidiary Innovate Calgary.
UCeed will back four to eight projects across healthcare with a focus on paediatric medicine. The vehicle is separated into two-tiers: an Opportunity Fund for contributions up to $111,000, and a Growth Fund investing up to $220,000.
Returns from its portfolio will be reinvested as an evergreen mechanism for the fund and to facilitate UCalgary’s future innovation and impact.
Investees will have access to biotech and entrepreneurship resources from various parts of UCalgary’s ecosystem.
William Ghali, vice-president for research at UCalgary, said: “We are so pleased to launch Canada’s first seed fund for child health, which is a priority research area for UCalgary.
“UCeed will continue to grow, providing funding for ventures in new sectors, enabling translation of research into impact for our communities.”