Carnegie Mellon and Pittsburgh sit by the river

Carnegie Mellon University and Pittsburgh University are participating in a new fund by Innovation Works dubbed Riverfront Ventures. Nearly $24m have been raised from the two universities as well as the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, the City of Pittsburgh and the Pittsburgh Foundation.

Riverfront Ventures is set to invest in local early-stage tech companies, including those focusing on IT, life sciences, medical devices, health care IT, advanced electronics, robotics, energy, advanced materials and mobile apps.

The fund was catalysed by an initial backing of the Marshall and Perrine McCune Charitable Foundation, which provides grants to support health, education, environment, cultural, and spiritual life of New Mexicans.

Innovation Works’s announcement follows the news that venture capital in Pittsburgh is increasing dramatically: so far in 2014, almost $250m have been invested, more than the annual totals of the past five years.

Riverfront has invested in six companies so far, namely ALung Technologies, Complexa, NoWait, Resumator, Wombat Security Technologies and Re2. Overall, the fund will invest in 15 to 20 companies, with individual investments between $1m to $1.5m.

Rich Lunak, president and chief executive of Innovation Works, said: “Pittsburgh companies have attracted more venture capital in the first nine months of this year than all of last year and we are already seeing that 2014 will hit historic levels for venture investments. This is a terrific time to launch our own fund, Riverfront Ventures, when there is a robust pipeline of companies forming, attracting investment and growing here.”