Published: Dec. 1, 2020 By

In 2019, Venture Partners at CU Boulder—the university's commercialization arm—launched the state's first-ever showcase for research-based startups spun out of Colorado universities and federal laboratories. This event, called Destination Startup®, aims to connect these startups with investors and the greater innovation ecosystem in hopes of securing capital and making industry connections to advance their companies. 

With the coronavirus pandemic, an in-person event became impossible for 2021.

"Rather than merely trying to convert it to a virtual format, the Venture Partners team is taking this as an opportunity to go bigger!" said Bryn Rees, managing director for Venture Partners and assistant vice chancellor for Research and Innovation. "Going virtual means we can engage more out-of-state investors and university partners." 

From February 16-18, 2021, Venture Partners will host the biggest Destination Startup® yet, showcasing 26 startups from 10 different universities across six states in the Rocky Mountain region—not just Colorado—and drawing investors from around the world. 

Due to the team's efforts, applications for this year's showcase more than doubled. The participating universities from Montana, Wyoming, Utah, Colorado, Nebraska, and New Mexico have also been extremely collaborative, and Venture Partners hopes this network of research institutions continues to partner on other commercialization endeavors after Destination Startup®.

Director of Venture Development Stephen Miller has been reworking the event, developing an on-demand format for investors to sort and view startups, while leveraging partnerships with other regional universities and forging new ones.

"With the expansion of this year's event, we expect higher quality startups, more investor connections and more investments closed," said Rees. "The university holds equity and royalty streams in the presenting companies, so hosting this event leads to a direct financial impact, but it also helps to achieve the university's mission of translating breakthrough research into positive impact."