Innovation Venture Fund

The Innovation Venture Fund provides seed capital to help especially promising NYU founders scale their startups. Together with co-investors, the philanthropic evergreen fund provides needed capital, contacts with the entrepreneurial and venture communities, and practical management and marketing coaching to help NYU students, faculty and researchers transform ideas and inventions into startups.

NYU's pre/seed-stage venture capital fund invests exclusively in startups founded by, and/or commercializing technologies, innovations and intellectual property developed by, current NYU students, faculty, and researchers.

Learn more about our investment criteria below.

To request a meeting with our team and be considered for funding, submit a venture profile.

SUBMIT PROFILE
  • Tell Me More
    Founded in 2010, the NYU Innovation Venture Fund provides seed capital to scale startups based on technologies, innovations and intellectual property developed by students, faculty, and researchers while at NYU. The Fund provides needed capital, contacts with the entrepreneurial and venture communities, and just as important, practical management and marketing coaching to transform NYU ideas and inventions into successful startups.

    .

    The Fund makes approximately three to four investments per year in partnership with other angel and venture capital investors. The Fund will recycle investment returns from the successful sale of portfolio companies back into the University to finance future ventures.
  • Criteria & Guidelines
    This opportunity is open to startups founded by current students, faculty, and researchers at any NYU school, college, or institute.

     

    The Fund seeks early-stage businesses with inventions, discoveries, products or services that were developed in whole or in part at NYU, that have achieved proof of concept (or a prototype) and are ready for scaling commercial product development and/or customer acquisition. The fund does not invest in projects requiring further basic research.

    The Fund will consider proposals using the following evaluation criteria:

    • Technology has achieved proof of concept or prototype and is ready for commercial product development
    • Technology has important and sustainable points of differentiation
    • Validated initial target customer(s) with a compelling value proposition
    • Viable regulatory approval and reimbursement strategy, if applicable
    • Market able to sustain $50 million/yr revenues within 5 yrs of market entry
    • Logical mechanism for transferring key know-how and IP
    • Investment required for exit is in the $1s or $10s of millions, not $100s
    • Business capable of generating venture scale returns (5-10x return on invested capital)
    • Founders with key skills & experience committed to venture success

    Don’t worry if you don’t know if you meet all the criteria laid out above. We will help you more fully assess the merits of your opportunity and connect you with the resources you need to progress your venture. Please reach out to us if you’re considering raising seed capital.

  • Current Portfolio Companies

    Vengo

    Redefining the concept of vending through its mini, interactive, and digital vending machines that serve not only consumer-packaged goods but also digital advertisements.

    Industry

    Hardware

    Year Established

    2012

    Founder(s)

    • Brian Shimmerlik (Stern '14) |

    Website

    Social

    Participated in

    BioDigital

    BioDigital was founded on the premise that 3D technology will transform the way we understand the human body. Allowing people to see inside the body, using interactive 3D technology, promises to have a profound impact on the way we comprehend our health.

    Industry

    Healthcare

    Year Established

    2002

    Founder(s)

    • Aaron Oliker (SPS faculty) |
    • John Qualter (Langone faculty) |

    Website

    Social

    Transparent Healthcare

    Affordable health insurance alternative

    Industry

    Healthcare

    Year Established

    2009

    Founder(s)

    • Betty Heiman |

    Social

    Participated in

    Opentrons

    Provides an integrated suite of automation tools and protocols for life sciences scientist to conduct experiments to reduce the time to scientific insight.

    Industry

    Hardware

    Year Established

    2014

    Founder(s)

    • Will Canine (Tisch '14) |

    Website

    Social

    Vidcode

    A female-founded company with a mission to build a rigorous and creative online coding experience that appeals to all students. Vidcode is a 3rd-12th grade web-based JavaScript platform that teaches coding through media computation. Today, Vidcode is used by over a million students all over the world.

    Industry

    Education, Enterprise software

    Year Established

    2014

    Founder(s)

    • Allie Diracles (Tisch '14) |

    Website

    Social

    Participated in

    Clarifai

    Clarifai’s powerful image and video recognition solutions are built on the most advanced machine learning platform, and made easily accessible via API, device SDK, and on-premise, empowering businesses all over the world to build a new generation of intelligent applications.

    Industry

    Enterprise software

    Year Established

    2013

    Founder(s)

    • Matt Zeiler, PhD (Courant '14) |

    Website

    Social

    Participated in

    Cytodel

    CytoDel, Inc., is a biopharmaceutical company developing a platform based on recombinant derivatives of botulinum neurotoxin (BoNT). This platform enables two pipeline programs. The first uses atoxic derivatives of BoNT to create antibody fusion proteins that deliver their antibody cargo to the INSIDE of neurons. These BoNT-based molecular delivery vehicles have been shown to safely inactivate intra-neuronal targets in three species. The second program is developing pharmaceutically active BoNT derivatives to address unmet needs in the current $4B market for BoNT pharmaceuticals.

    Industry

    Healthcare

    Year Established

    2012

    Founder(s)

    • Phil Band, PhD (Langone faculty) |
    • Konstantin Ichtchenko, PhD (Langone faculty)

    Website

    KitSplit

    KitSplit is making gear rentals more enjoyable and affordable for a huge community of artists and filmmakers.

    Industry

    Ecommerce and retail

    Year Established

    2014

    Founder(s)

    • Lisbeth Kaufman (Stern '15) |
    • Kristina Budelis (Tisch '15) |
    • Ken Amarit (Tisch '15) |

    Website

    Social

    Participated in

    PainQx

    Diagnostic/software company that has developed a next generation approach to objectively measure pain in humans.

    Industry

    Hardware, Healthcare

    Year Established

    2014

    Founder(s)

    • Leslie Prichep, PhD (Langone faculty) |
    • Frank Minella (NON-NYU) |

    Website

    Prime Discoveries

    State-of-the-art technology platform integrates automation, machine learning, and advances in computational biology to accelerate microbiome discoveries.

    Industry

    Healthcare

    Year Established

    2016

    Founder(s)

    • Eugene Joseph (Stern '11) |

    Social

    Pepper

    The first brand to design products specifically for women with small boobs, starting with bras.

    Industry

    Ecommerce and retail, Fashion

    Year Established

    2016

    Founder(s)

    • Lia Winograd (Stern '19) |

    Website

    Social

    My Wellbeing

    Matching individuals with quality therapists to ease access to a personalized healing relationship and enable therapists to help more people.

    Industry

    Healthcare

    Founder(s)

    • Alyssa Petersel (Silver '17) |

    Website

    Social

    Dathic

    Dathic creates an AI-based platform for CPG that understands the US Hispanic consumers, recommends the best locations to grow and connect communities with the products they love.

    Industry

    Consulting

    Founder(s)

    • Laura Rocha (Wagner '20) |
    • Jose Daniel Ramirez |
    • Luis Felipe Giraldo
    • Santiago Alvarez
    • Diana Prieto
    • Juan David Ramirez

    Website

    Social

    Wrapbook

    Created by filmmakers and technologists, Wrapbook is a powerful suite of software for modern entertainment payroll, insurance, and production management.

    Industry

    Fintech

    Year Established

    2017

    Founder(s)

    • Ali Javid (Stern '20) |

    Website

    Social

    Revelio Labs

    A platform that uses data from millions of resumes, job postings, and online profiles, and standardizes employee data automatically.

    Industry

    Fintech

    Year Established

    2018

    Founder(s)

    • Benjamin Zweig, PhD (Stern faculty) |

    Website

    Social

    She Matters

    She Matters trains healthcare workers in culturally competent care for Black women and offers an online platform to support Black women who experience postpartum comorbidities (e.g., anxiety and/or depression) through community and culturally relevant resources

    Industry

    Healthcare

    Founder(s)

    • Jade Kearney (Steinhardt '20) |
    • Marguerite Pierce |

    Social

    GigFinesse

    A platform that connects artists and venues to create unforgettable shows.

    Industry

    Entertainment

    Founder(s)

    • Mir Hwang (CAS '19) |

    Website

    Social

    Sabai Design

    Offering affordable, deconstructable, and stylish furniture for modern and transient living with a focus on financial flexibility. Through a buy-back program, Sabai Design solves the headache of disposal/reselling and offers an even cheaper line of refurbished furniture.

    Industry

    Year Established

    2018

    Founder(s)

    • Phantila Phataraprasit (Law '20) |
    • Caitlin de Lisser-Ellen (Stern '21) |

    Website

    Social

    Participated in

    Jones

    Jones is a judgement-free journey to a vape-less life, through a personalized nicotine replacement subscription, behavioral support and digital community.

    Industry

    Year Established

    2022

    Founder(s)

    • Caroline Huber (Stern '23) |
    • Hilary Dubin |

    Social

    Participated in

    Baton

    Baton is a blockchain-enabled collaboration protocol designed to facilitate the future of creative digital exchange to help artists maintain control over their material and get the credit they deserve.

    Industry

    Enterprise software, Entertainment

    Founder(s)

    • Gabe Warshaw (Tisch '23) |

    Website

    Social

    Rilla

    Rilla provides conversation intelligence software for outside sales and service. Industries such as roofing, solar, interior design, banking, and telco send sales representatives to talk to potential customers face to face in their homes and businesses. Rilla uses AI to automatically transcribe, analyze and give feedback to sales managers on their representatives’ performance with customers, enabling them to remotely monitor their teams, saving two to three days a week from having to accompany field sales reps on training calls.

    Industry

    Enterprise software

    Year Established

    2018

    Founder(s)

    • Sebastian Bienen (CAS '18) |

    Website

    Chiefy

    Perioperative team collaboration platform to intended to prove patient care that captures lessons, notes, and feedback after procedures and drives continuous improvement, helping surgeons, anesthesiologists, nurses, and other surgical stakeholders in fast and efficient coordination and collaboration from pre-op to post-op, while automating administrative tasks.

    Industry

    Healthcare

    Founder(s)

    • Roee Ber (Grossman) |

    Website

    Social

    Participated in

    Muse

    Developer of an artificial intelligence-based tool designed to find missed tax deductions and create a personalized tax plan to lower taxes.

    Industry

    Fintech

    Founder(s)

    • Colin Horsford (Stern '15) |
    • Busayo Ogunsanya |

    Website

    Social

    Participated in

    Steg AI

    Developer of AI-driven information security tools designed to solve media provenance for social media platforms.

    Industry

    Enterprise software

    Founder(s)

    • Eric Wengrowski (Tandon) |

    Website

    Social

    Participated in

    Canaery

    Developer of a neurotech device designed to digitize the sense of scent. The company’s device identifies hazardous compounds at canary ports and inspection points, enabling clients to identify the underlying object or even the state of that object.

    Industry

    Hardware

    Founder(s)

    • Dmitry (Grossman faculty) |

    Website

    MICSI

    Industry

    Medical Imaging and Diagnostic

    Year Established

    2018

    Founder(s)

    • Gregory Lemberskiy (GSAS '19) |
    • Benjamin Ades-Aron (Tandon '20) |

    Participated in

  • Exited Portfolio Companies

    Brooklinen

    Brooklinen was built to deliver simple, beautiful home essentials at a fair
    price.

    Industry

    Ecommerce and retail

    Year Established

    2014

    Founder(s)

    • Rich Fulop (Stern '14) |
    • Vicki Fulop (CAS '07) |

    Website

    Social

    Acquired by AirBnB.

    Fondu

    Share bite-sized restaurant reviews with friends. Fondu was acquired by Airbnb in October 2012.

    Industry

    Consumer Services

    Year Established

    2010

    Founder(s)

    • Gauri Manglik (CAS '10) |
    • Orion Burt (Stern '12) |

    Participated in

    Acquired by FanDuel.

    numberFire

    Next Generation Sports + Analytics

    Industry

    Consumer Services

    Year Established

    2010

    Founder(s)

    • Sean Weinstock (CAS '13) |

    Website

    Social

    Participated in

    Acquired by mConnect.

    Keen Home

    Making the home smarter, more efficient, and comfortable. By adding intelligence, automation, and beauty to these core areas, you will finally have a home that takes care of you, instead of the other way around.

    Industry

    Hardware

    Year Established

    2013

    Founder(s)

    • Nayeem Hussein (Stern '13) |
    • Ryan Fant (Stern '13) |

    Website

    Social

    Participated in

    Acquired by Seeen.

    Tagasauris

    Intelligent data platform for visual data

    Industry

    Enterprise software

    Year Established

    2010

    Founder(s)

    • Panos Ipeirotis (Stern faculty) |

    Website

    Social

    Acquired by Square.

    Framed Data

    Predictive machine learning products to help companies understand their users

    Industry

    Enterprise software

    Year Established

    2013

    Founder(s)

    • Thomson Nguyen (Courant) |

    Website

    Participated in

    Acquired by PowerSchool.

    Kinvolved

    Combining technology tools and human interventions to change the deeply ingrained behaviors and external factors affecting student attendance, including poverty, racism, and socio-economic exclusion.

    Industry

    Education, Enterprise software

    Year Established

    2013

    Founder(s)

    • Miriam Altman-Reyes (Wagner '13) |
    • Alexandra Meis (Wagner '13) |

    Website

    Social

    Acquired by Astra Zeneca.

    Orca Pharmaceuticals

    Oral drugs for the treatment of chronic inflammatory diseases.

    Industry

    Healthcare

    Year Established

    2012

    Founder(s)

    • Dan Littman (Langone faculty)

    Participated in

  • Submission Guidelines
    To be considered, please carefully read the submission criteria and fill out a Venture Profile using the prompts below. Keep in mind this is intended to provide a preliminary overview of your concept and that an investment decision will not be made based solely upon the content of your profile.

     

    New Venture Concept

    • What existing problem/condition does your solution address and how is it addressed today/what is the standard of care?
    • Describe how this technology will be applied to create a product or service?
    • What makes your product/service unique and why will customers/patients buy or use it?
    • Who are the initial target users/customers and buyers/payers for this, and how big is the market opportunity?

    Technology and Intellectual Property (IP)

    • What is the technology at the core of this venture?
    • What is the background of the invention/discovery and who are the principal investigators/developers?
    • What supporting data/evidence do you have that your invention/discovery works as claimed
    • What IP protection exists (provisional patents, patents, copyright, know-how, trade secrets, etc.) if any?
    Business Model

    • What are the potential sources of revenue for your venture (what is your revenue model) and which do you intend to pursue first?
    • How can you scale this into a large business (what is your sales & marketing strategy)?

    Competitive Analysis

    • Who/what are the existing and potential competitive alternatives to your solution?
    • What is your sustainable competitive advantage/barrier to entry?

    Regulatory Pathways (if applicable)

    • Describe the potential regulatory pathways (510K, PMA, OTC product, etc.) and any predicate devices if applicable.
    • Outline key clinical studies required to get regulatory approval.

    Management Team

    • Who are the founders and what are their roles in the day-to-day of the startup?
    • What are the current team's qualifications for executing your plan?
    • What are the key skills and areas of expertise you need to add to the team?