The fund, consisting of $8m, was created by a group of alumni.
The Triton Technology Fund is an early stage venture capital fund, aimed at early-stage start-up companies created at the public research university. It will specifically serve as an accelerator by partnering with the von Liebig Entrepreneurism Centre at the university’s Jacobs School of Engineering.
The fund is part of a larger $40m technology venture fund created by Vertical Venture Partners, launched in 2013 and run by alumnus David Schwab. He graduated with a degree in engineering in 1979 and has been on the university’s advisory board since 2002. He gained expertise during his time as managing director at Sierra Ventures, a position he has held since 1996 and continues to hold although he will not make any new investments.
Schwab is joined by fellow alumni Steve Hart, co-founder and chief technology officer of ViaSat, and Paul Conley, managing partner of Paladin Capital, who will both serve as investment committee advisers.
The firm expects most investments to be between $500,000 and $3m and focus on the retail, health care, financial services and telecommunications sectors. It has already seeded Lanetix, a customer relationship management (CRM) software company targeting transportation and logistics companies, as well as another startup which makes analytics software for the pharmaceutical industry.
Sujit Dey, faculty director of the von Liebig Entrepreneurism Centre, said: “We see a lot of innovative ideas. We already have a strong platform for grooming university entrepreneurs. What the fund will do is let those efforts go to the next step.”