Ohio State University (OSU), early stage investor TechColumbus, and the Nationwide Children’s Hospital have partnered on a $7m venture fund for seed investment into Ohio’s startups and OSU spin-outs.
The Catalyst Fund, which will be managed by TechColumbus, will look to make initial investments of up to $400,000 at early and concept stages, with room to join in on follow-on investments.
One of the main focuses of the fund will be to invest in spin-outs from both OSU and the Nationwide Children’s Hospital.
It has been an active few months of OSU in terms of backing venture funds, which recently announced a student-led university venture capital fund and also supported Drive Capital’s $250m fundraising with $50m from the institution.
Tom Walker, TechColumbus CEO, said: “Catalyst Fund significantly expands Ohio entrepreneurs’ access to investment capital. This is the largest fund that TechColumbus has raised and the third investment fund that we and our strategic partners have announced in sixty days. This greatly enhances the continuum of capital accessible to Ohio startups. We are ready and eager to talk to entrepreneurs who have fundable companies.”