New philanthropic venture fund at U Michigan snags Amazon investment

摘要

When a new university venture fund lands Amazon as one of its early investors, it must be doing something right - and, according to its director, such a vote of confidence is especially important given the challenges this fund is taking on. It also illustrates for other universities seeking participants in start-up funds that big corporates could be fertile ground for prospecting. "Michigan and the Midwest in general have a lot of challenges when it comes to start-ups securing very early-stage and pre-seed funding," says Michael Psarouthakis, director of the UM Tech Transfer Venture Center and managing director of the Accelerate Blue Fund. It was the Accelerate Blue Fund, out of the University of Michigan, which recently announced that Amazon is contributing $200,000 - the first corporate gift received by the fund, which seeks to help develop and commercialize promising U-M technologies.