Spin-outs from Illinois state universities will be able to apply for up to $25,000 in investments.
The state of Illinois is launching a $500,000 fund to invest in university spin-outs. Individual investments will be up to $25,000 so long as the university matches the funding two to one, and the university will need to commit that money first.
Participating universities are Chicago University, Illinois Institute of Technology, University of Illinois at Chicago, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, Northwestern University, Northern Illinois University, Southern Illinois University and Argonne National Laboratory.
The fund, dubbed Regional Proof of Concept Fund and aimed at early-stage tech companies, will accept applications in the near future.
The fund is hoping it can replicate successes such as the Chicago-based incubator 1871 and increase the number of successful startups such as GrubHub and Georama.
Nancy Sullivan, chief executive at Illinois Ventures and executive director at University of Illinois at Chicago’s Office of Technology Management, came up with the idea to make universities commit money first. She said: “What is valuable is we get to show at a national level what we are doing. We needed a platform for the best discoveries coming out of Illinois.”
