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’s 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’s 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’s startup production was fifth among all U.S. universities—a strong indicator that the university has arrived among national leaders. This is an amazing achievement for the university. CU Boulder’s 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’ 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—a regional grant proposal for innovation and economic development co-led by CU Boulder—was 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’d like to thank our many collaborators—startups, investors, accelerators and, most of all, our groundbreaking faculty, student and staff innovators—for an incredible 2023. We hope you enjoy this year’s report.

  Download the Report 

 

Bryn Rees

Bryn Rees

Associate Vice Chancellor for Research and Innovation; Managing Director of Venture Partners at CU Boulder

Massimo Ruzzene

Massimo Ruzzene

Vice Chancellor for Research and Innovation; Dean of the Institutes

 

Measuring Impact in FY 2023
 

$ 504 M

Capital raised by portfolio companies

68

License and option agreements

79

NSF I-Corps teams trained 

10

New startups created

18

Startup exits since 2000

Telling Our Stories

The Insider is Venture Partners at CU Boulder's monthly newsletter featuring the latest headlines, news, events, opportunities and emerging innovations from the university. Subscribe Now
 

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 “Top 100” 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’s 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’s Lab Venture Challenge (LVC).

Supporting Startup Success

Our team works closely with innovators to commercialize cutting-edge science. Together, we shape discoveries, identify opportunities and determine how to develop the final product, service or solution to appeal to target markets.

 

 

IP Management

Protecting the most compelling and transformative innovations and technologies

 

Entrepreneurial Training

Providing innovators and startups with commercialization tools and resources

 

Funding

Offering translational and proof-of-concept grants, and helping innovators obtain capital

 

Licensing & Industry Partnerships

Providing business-friendly licensing and bringing world-class research into consumer markets

 

Mentorship & Advising

Coaching innovators and startups on their pathways to commercialization

 

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

Embark Deep Tech Startup Creator

With myriad CU Boulder technologies ready to make a real-world impact, Embark connects them to motivated entrepreneurs ready to launch new companies. The program provides IP rights, salary support, grant funds and investor introductions to selected entrepreneurs.

Learn More

Ascent Deep Tech Accelerator

Deep tech startups are a huge opportunity for impact. Yet, they face unique challenges like a need for more funding and longer lead times to bring products to market. The Ascent accelerator created for CU Boulder deep tech innovators addresses these hurdles.

Learn More

Transforming Innovators into Entrepreneurs

Starting Blocks Customer Discovery Workshop

A three-day workshop with customer interviews designed to help scientists and engineers find a market for their innovations. This is the shortest, “introductory” version of NSF’s I-Corps methodology, which helps inventors build a customer discovery toolkit and learn to talk to industry and business funders about their technologies.

Learn More

Research-to-Market (R2M) Customer Discovery Program

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’s I-Corps Program, R2M leverages the nationally-recognized Lean Startup and Business Model Canvas methodologies.

Learn More

Moving at Market Speed

Lab Venture Challenge

CU Boulder’s 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.

Learn More

Destination Startup

The fifth annual and largest-ever Destination Startup® event attracted 21 startups from nine different institutions across the Intermountain West in 2023. Participants pitched to investors and strategic partners from around the world.

Learn More

Growing Results

We empower the people behind the headline-making breakthroughs. Our approach supports long-term commercial success. The proof is in our results.
 

  1. STEP 1

    FY 2023

    162

    Inventions disclosed 

    68

    Licenses and options

    10

    Startups launched

  2. STEP 2

    FY 2022

    145

    Inventions

    87

    Licenses and options

    12

    Startups

  3. STEP 3

    FY 2021

    130

    Inventions

    65

    Licenses and options

    20

    Startups

  4. STEP 4

    FY 2020

    175

    Inventions

    59

    Licenses and options

    12

    Startups

  5. STEP 5

    FY 2019

    144

    Inventions

    46

    Licenses and options

    6

    startups

  6. STEP 6

    FY 2018

    187

    Inventions

    52

    Licenses and options

    7

    Startups

  7. STEP 7

    FY 2017

    124

    Inventions

    49

    Licenses and options

    9

    Startups

  8. STEP 8

    FY 2012-2016 (Average)

    109

    Inventions

    33

    Licenses and options

    5

    Startups

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

 

Orbital Micro Systems

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

Polaris Electro-Optics

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

Cascade Biocatalysts

Founders: James Weltz, PhD (alum ‘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 ‘Industrial Biotech and New Materials’
Mesa Quantum

Founder: Sristy Agrawal (JILA); Juniper Pollock, PhD (alum ‘22)

Focus: Chip scale atomic clocks

CEO: Sristy Agrawal

Recent Results

Mana Battery

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 ‘15)

Recent Results

Minus Materials

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 ‘22)

Recent Results

LumenAstra

Faculty Founder: Zoya Popovic, PhD, (Electrical, Computer and Energy Engineering)

Focus: Non-invasive core body thermometer

CEO: Jim Pollock

Recent Results

BREK Electronics

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

Latimer Controls

Founders: Simon Julien (alum ‘22), Zachary Jacobs (alum ‘21), Tristan Liu (alum ‘21)

Focus: Automatic generation control software for grid-scale solar utilities

CEO: Simon Julien (alum ‘22)

Recent Results

  • $575K Grand Prize winner of the DOE American-Made Solar Prize
Icarus Quantum

Founder and CEO: Poolad Imany, PhD (NIST)

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 Discoveries

CU Boulder has signed over 550 license and option agreements with a portfolio of over 1,340 inventions.
Learn more about researchers and discoveries

 

PEG10 for ALS

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

Cancer therapeutics targeting tangocytosis

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

Nanolancet device for cell therapy manufacturing

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 for CO2 removal in gas and oil

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

UAV mounted NO2 detector to improve air quality

An ideal instrument for assessing NO2 pollution near populated areas by Caroline Womack, PhD (Cooperative Institute for Research in Environmental Sciences (CIRES)) in conjunction with National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA)

ENVIRONMENT AND SUSTAINABILITY, CLEANTECH, HARDWARE AND INSTRUMENTATION

‘Click’ thermoplastics for consumer products

A simpler and more efficient method to make robust thermoplastics that may be easily ‘reconfigured’ and/or recycled by Chris Bowman, PhD (Chemical and Biological Engineering)

ADVANCED MATERIALS, ENVIRONMENT AND SUSTAINABILITY, CLEANTECH

Thermoelectric devices based on nanophononic metamaterials

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

Phononic subsurfaces for flow control

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

Robust obfuscation of encrypted DNS traffic

A cybersecurity tool that can be used by clients, such as with a browser extension, to hide their internet data by Alireza Vahid, PhD (CU Denver Electrical Engineering)

Recent Results: Current attack techniques can decode internet traffic with an accuracy of over 95%; this technology reduces that accuracy to 8%.

CYBERSECURITY

Methods for chemical degradation of polyester polymers

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