Ohio State University has again thrown its weight behind Rev1 Ventures, whose latest fund also attracted University of Dayton and multiple corporates.

Rev1 Ventures, a US-based startup studio, has launched the $20m Fund II with the backing of Ohio State University (OSU) and University of Dayton.
Limited partners also include diversified metals manufacturing company Worthington Industries, healthcare services provider Cardinal Health, media company Dispatch Printing, insurer Nationwide and electrical grid operator AEP Ohio.
Financial services firms Huntington Bank and US Bank, diversified holding firm Crane Group and venture capital firm Drive Capital have also invested in the fund.
Fund II will invest in seed and early-stage companies across the digital health, healthcare IT, human resources technology, fintech, insurance technology, data analytics, enterprise software-as-a-service and life sciences sectors.
The fund will enable Rev1 Ventures to invest outside of Ohio for the first time.
OSU is a long-time partner of Rev1 Ventures. Its previous commitments have included the $10m Future Value Fund, which will invest at the pre-seed stage, in March 2021, the $15m Catalyst Fund II in 2019 and the original Fund I in 2016 – also backed by Nationwide, AEP Ohio, Cardinal Health, Dispatch Printing, Worthington Industries, Crane Group and others.
Rev1’s leadership includes Zachary Ellis, who joined the firm in November 2020 as managing director, having previously been director of new ventures at OSU for three years. Ellis had earlier been the manager of soft drink producer PepsiCo’s corporate venturing arm, PepsiCo Technology Ventures.

Thierry Heles

Thierry Heles is the former editor-at-large of Global University Venturing and Global Corporate Venturing, and was the producer and host of the Beyond the Breakthrough podcast until December 2024.