Venture Partners Annual Report
Supporting a Groundbreaking Innovation Pipeline
2023 was another tremendous year for innovation at CU Boulder. Campus researchers and inventors created a strong crop of 162 breakthrough technologies this past year. These spanned the breadth of CU Boulder鈥檚 research expertise, with innovations in climate tech, biotechnology, quantum science, optics and aerospace, to name a few.
Innovation is at the heart of CU Boulder's values and mission. One way we innovate is by translating our research into new solutions to improve life across the globe. At Venture Partners at CU Boulder, we provide the resources, guidance and partnerships to bring the promise of university breakthrough discoveries to fruition. In this report, we are proud to share highlights from the past year鈥檚 exciting and challenging work of building new ventures, training our innovators and growing the entrepreneurial ecosystem in our region.
After years of building a comprehensive array of resources to help our researchers establish and accelerate new startups, CU Boulder was recognized in 2023 as a leading university for startup creation. The most recent national data from AUTM (the leading global organization for recording data on university commercialization) showed that CU鈥檚 startup production was fifth among all U.S. universities鈥攁 strong indicator that the university has arrived among national leaders. This is an amazing achievement for the university. CU Boulder鈥檚 tailored startup programming, which helped to achieve this milestone recognition, includes the Lab Venture Challenge (LVC) and National Science Foundation (NSF) I-CorpsTM Hub: West, each highlighted in this report.
Venture Partners鈥 extensive programming saw a new addition in 2023: the Embark Deep Tech Startup Creator. Embark addresses the unrealized potential of many university technologies by pairing them with experienced community entrepreneurs and seed funding to launch new companies. In its inaugural cohort, Embark created 10 startups, each commercializing a technology born in a CU Boulder research lab. The new ventures spanned various disciplines, including quantum sciences, biotechnology, sustainable biofuels and advanced materials. Embark was an incredible success in spinning out university innovation while providing new opportunities for the business community to partner with CU Boulder in entrepreneurial collaboration.
We were delighted to see the January announcement from NSF that the Colorado-Wyoming Climate Resilience Engine鈥攁 regional grant proposal for innovation and economic development co-led by CU Boulder鈥攚as chosen for an award worth up to $160 million. Venture Partners played the lead role in designing the pillar of the Engine to commercialize new climate innovations and will be an integral partner within the Engine for years to come. This unprecedented opportunity will directly tackle regional challenges like drought and wildfire while driving new company creation and growth.
On behalf of our entire team at Venture Partners, we鈥檇 like to thank our many collaborators鈥攕tartups, investors, accelerators and, most of all, our groundbreaking faculty, student and staff innovators鈥攆or an incredible 2023. We hope you enjoy this year鈥檚 report.
Telling Our Stories
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The University of Colorado is a national leader in startup creation with a growing suite of entrepreneurial resources giving innovative researchers opportunities to spin ideas into businesses.
The National Science Foundation today announced the Colorado-Wyoming Climate Resilience Engine (CO-WY Engine) as a recipient of its inaugural Regional Innovation Engines program.
Gov. Jared Polis announced formal support from the Department of Commerce for the Elevate Quantum Consortium in Colorado and its designation by the Economic Development Administration (EDA) as a Regional Technology Hub in Advanced Energy.
The National Academy of Inventors (NAI) has ranked the CU system 14th among the 鈥淭op 100鈥 institutions nationwide for recent patent activity.
The Embark program pairs seasoned entrepreneurs with university technologies to bring those breakthroughs to market in response to urgent societal needs.
The Intermountain West innovation ecosystem came together at the sixth annual Destination Startup Investor Showcase hosted by Venture Partners at CU Boulder.
The New Venture Challenge (NVC) and Venture Partners at CU Boulder teamed up to present the NVC Deep Tech competition, awarding $53,000 to groundbreaking new ventures.
Venture Partners at CU Boulder and the university鈥檚 Industry and Foundation Relations (IFR) team brought together dozens of stakeholders in the renewable energy and storage ecosystem to discuss innovations, issues and opportunities in the vibrant sector.
Sixteen teams of University of Colorado faculty, researchers and graduate student innovators competed for a combined $1.5 million in startup funding grants in this year鈥檚 Lab Venture Challenge (LVC).
Developing Real-World Readiness
Our programs go beyond the traditional technology transfer model to support researchers-turned-founders in scaling successful, sustainable businesses.
New Approaches to Launching Companies
Transforming Innovators into Entrepreneurs
A three-day workshop with customer interviews designed to help scientists and engineers find a market for their innovations. This is the shortest, 鈥渋ntroductory鈥 version of NSF鈥檚 I-Corps methodology, which helps inventors build a customer discovery toolkit and learn to talk to industry and business funders about their technologies.
The four-week program walks technologists through the customer discovery process and pushes them to think about how their innovations can be adopted in markets in consultation with experienced mentors and advisors. As part of NSF鈥檚 I-Corps Program, R2M leverages the nationally-recognized Lean Startup and Business Model Canvas methodologies.
Moving at Market Speed
CU Boulder鈥檚 most commercially promising technologies compete to win a share of $1.5 million in grants. Competitors are encouraged to participate in I-CorpsTM customer discovery programs, participate in a pitch academy and work with Venture Partners Entrepreneurs in Residence, staff and mentors before competing. Finalists compete in a live pitch competition with a community audience.
World-Changing Companies
CU Boulder technology has launched more than 170 startups. These are some of our most compelling success stories.
View our full startup portfolio here
Faculty Founders: Albin Gasiewski, PhD (Electrical, Computer & Energy Engineering)
Focus: Weather data as a service platform, delivering real-time weather information and predictions
CEO: Michael Hurowitz (prev. Electrical, Computer & Energy Engineering)
Recent Results
- Awarded $5M contracts by NASA for NOAA
- Awarded $1.7M Space Force SBIR Phase II grant
Founders: Noel Clark, PhD; Joe MacLennan, PhD; Matt Glaser, PhD; David Walba (all, Physics)
Focus: Using ferroelectric nematic liquid crystals to offer faster, energy-efficient integrated photonics products
CEO: Jason Sickler
Recent Results
- $3M Seed round
- 2021 Lab Venture Challenge winner
Founders: James Weltz, PhD (alum 鈥19); Alex Rosay; with IP from Joel Kaar, PhD and Daniel K. Schwartz (both, Chemical and Biological Engineering)
Focus: Enzyme immobilization for sustainable production of chemicals
CEO: Alex Rosay
Recent Results
- $2.6M raised in Pre-Seed round
- Finalist in Hello Tomorrow Global Challenge 鈥業ndustrial Biotech and New Materials鈥
Founder: Sristy Agrawal (); Juniper Pollock, PhD (alum 鈥22)
Focus: Chip scale atomic clocks
CEO: Sristy Agrawal
Recent Results
- $250K funding from HAX
- 2023 Lab Venture Challenge winner
Faculty Founder: Chunmei Ban, PhD (Paul M. Rady Mechanical Engineering)
Focus: Sodium battery technology for grid and electric vehicle storage
CEO: Tyler Evans, PhD (alum 鈥15)
Recent Results
- 2023 Lab Venture Challenge winner
Faculty Founder: Wil Srubar, PhD (Civil, Environmental and Architectural Engineering)
Focus: Using algae to grow limestone for use in green concrete production
CEO: Sarah Williams, PhD (alum 鈥22)
Recent Results
- 2020 Lab Venture Challenge winner
- $500K Breakthrough Energy Explorer Grant
- $500K from JLL Foundation
Faculty Founder: Zoya Popovic, PhD, (Electrical, Computer and Energy Engineering)
Focus: Non-invasive core body thermometer
CEO: Jim Pollock
Recent Results
- Awarded $1M SBIR Phase II grant
- Partnerships for Innovation (PFI) grant
Faculty Founder: Robert Erickson, PhD (Electrical, Computer and Energy Engineering)
Focus: Efficient power electronics for home, electric vehicle and solar applications
CEO: Sreenivas Cherukuri
Recent Results
- $1.1M DOE SBIR Phase II grant
Founders: Simon Julien (alum 鈥22), Zachary Jacobs (alum 鈥21), Tristan Liu (alum 鈥21)
Focus: Automatic generation control software for grid-scale solar utilities
CEO: Simon Julien (alum 鈥22)
Recent Results
- $575K Grand Prize winner of the DOE American-Made Solar Prize
Founder and CEO: Poolad Imany, PhD ()
Focus: Efficient and reliable quantum light generation
Recent Results
- $50K CU Boulder Translational Quantum Research Seed Grant Awardee
- Graduate of the 2023 Duality Quantum Accelerator
Groundbreaking 91制片厂国产AVies
CU Boulder has signed over 550 license and option agreements with a portfolio of over 1,340 inventions.
Learn more about researchers and discoveries
New therapeutic target for treating ALS by Alexandra Whiteley, PhD (Biochemistry)
Highlight Support: Funding, ALS Association
Recent Results: Demonstrated PEG10 accumulation in neural tissues of ALS patient and identified that approved drug Ritonavir acts as a PEG10 inhibitor
BIOTECH, THERAPEUTICS
New cancer therapeutics targeting a novel mechanism of cancer metastasis called tangocytosis by Xuedong Liu, PhD (Biochemistry)
Highlight Support: Funding, National Institutes of Health (NIH)
Recent Results: High throughput screening and identification of hits that inhibit tangocytosis
BIOTECH, THERAPEUTICS
Improved efficiency of cell therapy manufacturing by delivering DNA/RNA directly to the cell nucleus by Xiaoyun Ding, PhD (Paul M. Rady Mechanical Engineering)
Recent Results: High-efficiency knockout after delivery of CRISPR in human primary T-Cells
BIOTECH, MANUFACTURING
Membrane material that resists aging and can save replacement costs in separating CO2 and other light gases in gas streams, particularly suitable for gas and oil operations, by Rich Noble, PhD (Chemistry)
ADVANCED MATERIALS, ENVIRONMENT AND SUSTAINABILITY, CLEANTECH
An ideal instrument for assessing NO2 pollution near populated areas by Caroline Womack, PhD () in conjunction with National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA)
ENVIRONMENT AND SUSTAINABILITY, CLEANTECH, HARDWARE AND INSTRUMENTATION
A simpler and more efficient method to make robust thermoplastics that may be easily 鈥榬econfigured鈥 and/or recycled by Chris Bowman, PhD (Chemical and Biological Engineering)
ADVANCED MATERIALS, ENVIRONMENT AND SUSTAINABILITY, CLEANTECH
Solid state material capable of recycling waste heat energy into electricity with high efficiency by Mahmoud Hussein, PhD (Ann and H.J. Smead Aerospace Engineering Sciences)
Highlight Support: $2.5M ARPA-E award, 2020 Lab Venture Challenge winner
Recent Results: Demonstrated a theoretical ZT value of 2.5
ADVANCED MATERIALS
Material that reduces force on an object and in aerodynamics it reduces drag, by Mahmoud Hussein, PhD (Ann and H.J. Smead Aerospace Engineering Sciences)
Highlight Support: National Science Foundation (NSF), Boeing
Recent Results: U.S. Air Force Research Lab is currently validating
AEROSPACE
A cybersecurity tool that can be used by clients, such as with a browser extension, to hide their internet data by Alireza Vahid, PhD ()
Recent Results: Current attack techniques can decode internet traffic with an accuracy of over 95%; this technology reduces that accuracy to 8%.
CYBERSECURITY
A cost-effective, low-energy method for chemically recycling plastic without the use of highly corrosive materials by Oana Luca, PhD (Chemistry)
ENVIRONMENT AND SUSTAINABILITY