University System of Maryland has committed $10m to Maryland Momentum Fund and aims to raise a further $15m from local investors to back startups within its system.
The US-based University System of Maryland has set up a $25m fund called Maryland Momentum Fund to support startups formed within the system’s 12 public institutions.
Julie Lenzer, co-director of UM Ventures, a joint initiative of the University of Maryland, Baltimore and University of Maryland, said the university system had already committed $10m to the Maryland Momentum Fund.
University System of Maryland is working with University of Maryland, Baltimore County and UM Ventures to raise the remaining $15m from local venture capitalists and angel investors, she told the university newspaper, The Diamondback.
Lenzer said the fund could provide up to $50,000 in seed funding and $50,000 to $500,000 for a series A round if there is at least a one-to-one match by an outside angel investor or venture capitalist.
Thomas Sadowski, the system’s vice-chancellor for economic development, said University System of Maryland’s Committee on Economic Development and Technology Commercialization set a goal five years ago to create more than 300 startups within the system by 2020, and that it has now more than 500.
