What is the Deming Center Venture Fund?

The Deming Center Venture Fund (DCVF) is a graduate student-run investment fund that provides capital support for emerging companies based in Colorado or founded by CU students or alumni.

Our goal is to provide an applied venture capital experience for MBA, JD and graduate engineering students at CU Boulder and thereby grow the Colorado private investment community. To this end, the DCVF student team is typically comprised of up to 15 CU Boulder graduate students from the Business, Law, and Engineering schools.

Team members participate in the fund for two years and bring prior experience in financial analysis, product development, project management, branding, technology, law, accounting, marketing, and sales. In addition to the student team, the DCVF includes the Executive Director of CU Boulder’s Burridge Center for Finance and the Assistant Dean for Programs and Engagement at the College for Engineering and Applied Sciences. The DCVF team meets twice each week throughout the academic year, with meeting topics including:

• Entrepreneur pitches
• Deal flow generation
• Due diligence analyses
• Support work for portfolio companies
• Investment professional guest speakers

In addition to our education goals, our mission is to empower local entrepreneurs and strengthen the Colorado startup ecosystem by providing the financial and resource support that young companies often need to develop and test new products and technologies.

Besides doing early-stage investments, we provide entrepreneurs with mentorship opportunities, generate potential partnerships and strive to improve the operational efficiency of the companies we work with, regardless of whether or not we ultimately invest in them. Furthermore, leveraging our unique position within the CU entrepreneurial ecosystem, we collaborate with other investors and support institutions to maximize our financial and educational impact on local ventures.

Since its inception in 1998 with an initial contribution of $1million the DCVF has made investments in 27 emerging companies and offered technical support to dozens of Colorado early-stage firms.

Any CU-connected or local entrepreneurs raising early-stage funding are encouraged to reach out to contact@cudcvf.org to see how we might be able to help.

APPLY TO JOIN THE FUND

We’re recruiting new members! DCVF is looking to add two MBA students from the class of 2020 and one graduate engineering student.

You’ll find the application on our website. The deadline to apply to the Fund is Friday, September 14th at 11:59pm and interviews will be conducted the week of 9/17. Please contact Alex Vetras - alex.vetras@cudcvf.org - with application-related questions.

RECRUITMENT EVENT

Come learn more at a live pitch event featuring Hygge Power at 12:30pm on Wednesday, September 5th on the first floor of IdeaForge.

IdeaForge
2445 Kittredge Loop Dr, Boulder, CO 80309