Totalling $30m, the funds will finance healthcare ventures spinning out of the academic medical care system.
The US Medical University of South Carolina (MUSC) has launched two VC investment funds — 1824 Health Ventures Fund I and the South Carolina Health Innovation Fund — to back healthcare spinouts and startups.
The $20m 1824 Health Ventures Fund I will provide seed capital for the university hospital system’s spinouts in healthcare. The fund, which is backed by limited partners, will focus on early-stage investments that help to bridge the gap between academic research and commercial viability.
The Medical University of South Carolina aims to attract increased private investment to its ventures with the fund.
This funding model is becoming more widespread in the US, as more university hospital systems seek alternative ways to fund ventures amid federal cuts to health research.
The $10m South Carolina Health Innovation Fund is a strategic partnership between MUSC Health and South Carolina’s Small Business Credit Initiative (SSBCI) administrator, InvestSC. The MUSC Foundation and SSBCI are each providing $5m.
This fund is focused on high-impact health innovation companies from inside and outside MUSC.
South Carolina ranks 45th in US venture capital activity, according to US News & World Report. But the state saw the tenth highest growth rate in venture capital relative to GDP between 2012 and 2022.
