The $1.5m UConn Innovation Fund, established in August last year, has made its first three investments, namely Torigen Pharmaceuticals, Bioarray Genetics and Shoreline Biome.
Connecticut University (UConn) made its first three investments through the $1.5m UConn Innovation Fund, also backed by state-owned investment firm Connecticut Innovations (CI) and financial services firm Webster Bank, on Friday.
The three businesses are all participants in the UConn Technology Incubation Program, a prerequisite to be awarded capital from the fund.
They are Torigen Pharmaceuticals, which is developing veterinary cancer care therapies, Bioarray Genetics, which is using molecular diagnostics to improve the prediction of patient response to cancer treatments, and Shoreline Biome, which is developing products that rely on understanding the human microbiome.
The UConn Innovation Fund, launched in August 2016, invests up to $100,000 in early-stage funding in spinouts and startups affiliated with the university. The fund is managed by the UConn Evaluation Board, fund managers and an investment committee made up of representatives from the university, CI and Webster Bank.
Applications for the second round of funding can be submitted until July 14.
Jeff Seemann, vice-president for research at UConn, said: “In the first round of funding, we identified three exceptional companies that all have ties to the university.
“UConn continues to be a centre of innovation, and we look forward to supporting and catalysing more promising startups in the future to continue to create new companies, new jobs, and economic growth in the state.”
Matt McCooe, chief executive of Connecticut Innovations, said: “We look forward to supporting these startups with the resources to help them bring their products closer to commercialisation.
“We know how difficult it can be to grow a company at the earliest stages of development and this funding can help companies overcome some of those first hurdles.”