Global University Venturing

With a £15m commitment, Aviva’s investment in Cambridge Innovation Capital’s new Opportunity Fund marks its continuing backing of the Cambridge startup ecosystem

The small German academic institution generates an outsize number of unicorns.

Professors have academic teaching obligations that can distract them from leading a spinout, but their technical expertise is also often invaluable to its commercial success.

The US university claims to be ranked second in the US for company formation.

Pooling tech transfer resources could help smaller universities commercialise technology that they can't push out on their own.

The investment fund will mostly back founders from the US university.

The £40m recently allocated by the UK government to proving university research is commercially viable shouldn't just benefit Oxford, Cambridge and London, say sector pundits.

Many of the UK's universities have adopted recommendations to lower equity stakes in the companies they commercialise to at or below 25%.

Michelle Perugini, who was a senior research fellow with the Australian university earlier in her career, has been hired as head of commercialisation.

The US university recently created an office of innovation as part of a drive to commercialise more of the research coming out of its labs.

Mart Maasik has stepped down as chief executive of UniTartu Ventures at the University of Tartu to join a $63 spinout investment fund.