Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, a private research and engineering university in New York, is set to benefit from a new fund set up by its alumnus Jeff Stewart.
While the total size of the fund has not been disclosed, individual investments in startups and spin-outs will range between $250,000 and $2.5m. Stewart is expecting the first investment to be made by end 2014.
The fund will not be specifically limited to Rensselaer or to New York, instead choosing not to impose any geographical boundaries. It will be set up with a syndicate structure, so that fellow alumni and third parties may contribute to any investment.
Stewart is a serial entrepreneur and current chief executive of Lenddo, which allows the middle-class in emerging markets to build credit through social connections. It raised $14m in a series A round closed in October 2013.
Jeff Stewart said: “One of the things that an investment fund like this will do for the Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, Albany, Hudson Valley ecosystem is it will create more connective tissue to the Silicon Valley and to New York and to Berlin and to London. If you are going to build a great tech company, you want it to be global.”
