Venture firm 46VC’s Dickson & Main Fund I will invest in companies associated with the university or the local Arkansas ecosystem.
Phil Shellhammer, executive director of Office of Entrepreneurship and Innovation. Image courtesy of University of Arkansas.
US venture capital firm FortySix Venture Capital (46VC) has formed Dickson & Main Fund I to focus on startups strategically linked to the University of Arkansas.
In addition to the early-stage technology companies spun out of the university, the new fund will also identify additional opportunities in the state of Arkansas.
University of Arkansas’s Office of Entrepreneurship and Innovation-run venture intern programme will support Dickson & Main’s fund management. One of its tasks will be to help students participate in the investment due diligence process.
“By recruiting investors who care about Arkansas and investing in startups that are part of our ecosystem, Dickson & Main will fill an important gap while providing a platform for our students to learn about this dynamic career path in finance,” Phil Shellhammer, executive director of the Office of Entrepreneurship and Innovation, said in a statement.
Fund manager 46VC will help investors access the university community and Arkansas’s innovation ecosystem in areas including retail value chain, logistics, agricultural and healthcare technologies.
The fund will donate a substantial portion of the carried interest returns to the Office of Entrepreneurship and Innovation to build an evergreen pool of capital for the university’s entrepreneurship and innovation initiatives.
