Since its inception, LVC has funded more than 95 commercially-promising projects at CU Boulder. Through this funding, 45 new deep tech startup companies have been launched and collectively, these companies have raised over $140 million to date in follow-on financing. LVC demonstrates a powerful way to advance innovative research and translate it into impactful business ventures.
Watch the video below to hear from past winners about their LVC experience:
Applicants must meet the following criteria:
- The subject innovation must fall within one of the seven defined areas: advanced manufacturing, aerospace, bioscience, electronics, energy and natural resources, infrastructure engineering, or technology and information.
- An invention disclosure form for the subject invention must be received by Venture Partners. UCCS investigators are eligible to apply. CU Denver investigators in physical sciences and engineering are eligible to apply. CU Denver investigators in biomedical disciplines and all CU Anschutz investigators should apply with CU Innovations.
- The primary applicant must be a CU Boulder professor, or an eligible UCD or UCCS professor, with a lab.
- There is a $125,000 maximum that an applicant may receive from LVC for a single invention. Multiple applications for different inventions are permitted.
- If the applicant has received a prior award under the OEDIT Advanced Industries Proof of Concept program for the same invention that is the subject of a new LVC application, the total amount of funding, including the present application plus the prior award(s), cannot exceed $150,000 from the state of Colorado.
- If the invention is already licensed/optioned, the licensee/optionee company cannot have raised more than $500,000 in investment capital. Where a company has raised over $500,000, the Advanced Industries Accelerator Early Stage Capital Retention Grants is a more appropriate resource.
- Two concurrent OEDIT awards are not allowed. If the PI or the innovation currently has a LVC or an OEDIT award, that award must be completed before March 2023.
Want the chance to win a portion of more than $1.25 million in total funding for your innovation? Up to $125,000 (including 8% F&A) is available per award in total costs, consisting of two subcategories:
- Proof of Concept
Up to $100,000 is available for answering critical experimental questions that will help to validate the technology for commercial applications.
- Business Development
Up to $25,000 is available in support of early commercialization activities. Funds may be used for customer discovery, market assessment, startup formation expenses, website development, intellectual property ($10,000 max), travel ($5,000 max) and accelerator fees. If patent expenses are anticipated during the award term, then applicants must include such expenses in the budget, up to the $10,000 maximum. Other business expenses may be eligible upon specific request. Need guidance? Your Venture Partners case manager can provide you with details on IP expenses and suggestions for how to best allocate your Business Development budget.
Funding under the Lab Venture Challenge comes from Colorado's AIA program, Venture Partners and a share of CU Boulder’s IP licensing revenues. The observed funding rate over the last three years was approximately 28%. Project duration can be up to 24 months for physical science awards and up to 36 months for bioscience awards.
State funding requires a match of 25% of the total project costs. For example, an applicant requesting $125,000 in total funds would request $93,750 from the State and $31,250 in matching funds. Matching funds are available from Venture Partners only for CU Boulder applicants. Matching funds may be provided by a partnering company, or by another campus or another department in the case of eligible UCCS and CU Denver applicants. Venture Partners does not provide matching funds for UCCS and CU Denver applications.
Applicants are encouraged to reach out to their Venture Partners contact with any questions about eligibility, and/or to discuss ways in which their applications may be strengthened, especially with regards to the commercialization section of the application.
The AIA program operates within the State of Colorado’s Office of Economic Development and International Trade. CU receives a pre-allocation from the total available funding.
The Lab Venture Challenge is run internally at CU Boulder and, while it does benefit from OEDIT's AIA funding, is separate from the statewide AIA competition run by Colorado's OEDIT. The Lab Venture Challenge and statewide AIA programs have different timelines, funding amounts and other details. To apply to the Lab Venture Challenge, please only use the details provided on this page and within the application site. Please do not use the application guidelines on the OEDIT AIA website if applying for the Lab Venture Challenge. If you are interested in applying for the statewide AIA program, please visit their website. Please also note that if you apply to and win both the Lab Venture Challenge grant and the AIA Proof of Concept grant, you will have to choose one award.
Working on a moonshot idea for a startup or commercial innovation? Need a little funding boost to break ground?
Apply for The Next Moonshot Grant, sponsored by the Office of Economic Development & International Trade (OEDIT) and Venture Partners at CU Boulder! From quantum computing to driverless cars to fintech to next-gen cancer therapies – all ground breaking innovations are welcome! You do not need to have experimental validation in-hand to be eligible; the purpose of The Next Moonshot Grant is to seed an early idea and position you for follow-on grants or other funding.
- Funding amount: Up to $61,150
- Budget deadline: April 21, 2022
- Application deadline: May 5, 2022
- Number of grants available: 1
Applications are now closed.
Applicants must meet the following criteria:
- The subject innovation must fall within one of the seven defined areas: advanced manufacturing, aerospace, bioscience, electronics, energy and natural resources, infrastructure engineering, or technology and information.
- An invention disclosure form for the subject invention must be received by Venture Partners. UCCS and CU Denver investigators whose innovations are/will be managed by Venture Partners are eligible to apply. The primary applicant must be a CU Boulder professor, or an eligible CU Denver or UCCS professor, with a research lab.
- The applicant must not have received a prior award under OEDIT Proof of Concept, Advanced Industries Accelerator (AIA) or LVC for the subject invention.
- The primary applicant cannot have an active OEDIT/LVC award at the time of The Next Moonshot award disbursement.
- Ideally, the subject invention would be an un-licensed technology. However, if the invention is already licensed/optioned, the licensee/optionee company cannot have raised more than $500,000 in investment capital. If a company has raised over $500,000, the Advanced Industries Accelerator Early Stage Capital Retention Grants is a more appropriate resource.
Please contact Amy Dodenhoff, Licensing Manager (Physical Sciences & Engineering) and Director of Lab Venture Challenge
