Collegiate entrepreneur hubs look to provide first support for would-be startups

Excerpt from TechCrunch December 16 2022

Jeff Wesley, executive director of Red Cedar Ventures, the venture investment subsidiary of the Michigan State University Research Foundation, said its infrastructure — and its depth and breadth of team and services — is what makes MSU unique.

“Between the venture creation group and the statewide efforts with funding organizations like Michigan Rise, we have invested in 60 companies now at an early stage, some from the university and some from the Michigan network,” Wesley told TechCrunch. “It’s very active and focused on the early stage, and we run two accelerator programs.”

It also taps into a lot of entrepreneurs-in-residence, who can bring both the knowledge of how to grow a company and the ability to leverage new ideas from faculty, staff and students and turn them into new companies.

In terms of investment, the foundation is one of the leading investors in the state — the state of Michigan gives Red Cedar a tranche of funds to invest — with its capital investment activity doubling in the past few years, Wesley said.

Reads the full article at TechCrunch.