UAVC sparks $100m second fund

University of Arizona Venture Capital (UAVC), a third-party VC investment firm set up to back Arizona spinouts, is seeking $100m for a second venture fund to follow the launch of its first vehicle in 2018, the university announced on Friday.
The fund’s potential investors have not been revealed. It typically invests approximately $2m in businesses founded by Arizona faculty, students, alumni and affiliates.
UAVC has so far has added five companies to its portfolio: antenna manufacturing spinout Freefall Aerospace, hospitality recruitment platform Qwick, disk drive technology developer Codelucida, therapeutic painkiller supplier Regulonix and long-haul delivery marketplace Post.Bid.Ship.
The firm was founded by the duo responsible for University of Arizona-founded healthcare management software developer SinfoníaRx: Fletcher McCusker and Michael Deitch.
SinfoníaRx became an Arizona success story when it was bought by medication software provider Tabula Rasa Healthcare in September 2017, the funds from the acquisition helping to get UAVC off the ground.
Doug Hockstad, assistant vice-president of Tech Launch Arizona, University of Arizona’s tech transfer office, claimed the launch of UAVC’s second fund was further evidence of the vitality in the institution’s innovation ecosystem.
Hockstad said: “The UAVC’s focus on University of Arizona startups illustrates the strength of the research and intellectual property being developed here.
“We are extremely excited about the growth of VC resources and look forward to working closely with Fletcher and the UAVC to support the success of UA startups and the economic development of this region.”
Fletcher McCusker, now chief executive of UAVC, added: “We are thrilled to help fuel the University of Arizona innovation ecosystem. The activity is more robust than we imagined, and we are attracting national and international attention. We see huge gains in our region’s reputation as a startup harbour.”