AUSTIN, Texas, July 16, 2019 — Research Bridge Partners—a 501 (c) (3) organization that makes formative investments in biomedical startup companies based on the breakthroughs of preeminent innovators at mid-continent research universities—has launched a program-related investment (PRI) seed fund to invest in promising university spinouts.
Over the past five years, 75 percent of federal research funding has gone to institutions outside of California, Massachusetts and New York, while nearly 80 percent of venture investment went to companies located in those three states.
“Silicon Valley’s unique capabilities and culture are a powerful engine for new company creation and scaling, but it’s essential that the benefits of that engine not accrue only a handful of zip codes. That’s why I’m excited to work with Research Bridge Partners to enable researchers working at universities in the middle of the country to access commercialization ecosystems on the coasts in bringing their innovations to market,” said Reid Hoffman, Chairman of the Board of Research Bridge Partners.
“This seed fund will further our goal of bridging leading edge research labs in the mid-continent to the mature networks of capital, talent, and services based in coastal venture clusters,” said Isaac Barchas, CEO of Research Bridge Partners. “This complements our ongoing efforts to support and enable academic innovators in the middle of the country by funding foundational corporate activities to activate the downstream venture cycle.”
To identify exceptional researchers across a distributed geography, Research Bridge Partners has developed proprietary algorithms and statistical models in examining publicly available information it has compiled for more than 50,000 principal investigators nationwide.
Likewise, Research Bridge Partners’ PRI fund structure is designed for scale, prioritizing creating sound, investment-worthy startups over maximizing financial returns to the portfolio, consistent with the PRI nature of the fund.
Barchas added, “With the support of the fund’s limited partners and our network of service partners, including law firms and executive search firms with long track records of supporting scaling technology companies, we expect to significantly increase the impact of mid-continent university spin-outs.”
About Research Bridge Partners
Research Bridge Partners, a 501 (c) (3) organization, makes formative investments in biomedical startup companies based on the breakthroughs of preeminent innovators at mid-continent research universities—creating high quality investment opportunities that are sourced from geographies with thinner commercialization resources.
Founded by Isaac Barchas and Reid Hoffman, we use proprietary analytics to identify the less than 1% of academic researchers nationwide whose science and entrepreneurial mindsets are characteristic of successful biomedical startups. We then make seed capital and scaling investments and establish effective corporate structures to create portfolio-ready opportunities for downstream investors.
www.researchbridgepartners.org
CONTACT: Bob Knott, (443) 604-3476, bob@timbrestratgies.com