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24 most active nonprofit, public or university investment funds identified

April 05, 2018
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By: Mark Skinner

In reviewing data regarding the hundreds of TBED-related investment funds, SSTI found that 24 of them have invested in at least one dozen startups each over the past year.  The funds are characterized as economic development, university-centric, regionally focused, or impact oriented investment funds, incubators and accelerator programs located in the U.S. or Canada. Data the various funds provide to  Pitchbook is the source of the list below, ranked in order by activity level. Each organization may have used their public or university funding to support operations, due diligence or mentoring of portfolio companies and/or to support direct invest into startups.  University-centered activities in the list are denoted by an asterisk at the end of the entry.  Two of the most active 24 funds are nonprofit, impact accelerators supported in part by foundations and corporation philanthropy.

It is important to note the investment totals below may be made in a broader geographic area than their specific town, region or even state/province. In all but a few cases, however, these organizations are significant policy instruments for increasing risk-tolerant capital in their regions – capital serving as a key ingredient for regional innovation-based economic growth.

1.              Connecticut Innovations (Rocky Hill, CT) – 61
2.              Ben Franklin Technology Partners  of Southeastern Pennsylvania
                 (Philadelphia, PA) – 50
3.              Elevate Ventures (Indianapolis, IN) – 44
4.              Innovation Works (Pittsburgh, PA) – 38
5.              District 3 Innovation Center (Montreal, QC) – 36* (Concordia University)
6.              TMCx Innovations (Houston, TX) – 33*
7.              TEDCO (Columbia, MD) – 29
8.(tied)     Rev1 Ventures (Columbus, OH) – 28
8.(tied)     Startx (Palo Alto, CA) – 28* (Stanford University)
10.            Innova Memphis (Memphis, TN) – 27
11.(tied)   Grand Central Tech (New York City, NY) – 18
11.(tied)   Portland Seed Fund (Portland, OR) – 18
13.            VentureWell (Hadley, MA) – 17
14.            Fledge (Seattle, WA) – 16 (nonprofit, impact)
15.            Imagine H20 (San Francisco, CA) – 15 (nonprofit, impact)
16.            Texas Venture Labs (Austin, TX) - 14* (University of Texas at Austin)
17.(tied)   Launch NY (Buffalo, NY) – 13
17.(tied)   Play Labs (Cambridge, MA) – 13* (MIT)
19.(tied)   Invest Nebraska (Lincoln, NE) – 12
19.(tied)   Investissement Quebec (Montreal, QC) – 12
19.(tied)   Missouri Technology Corporation (Jefferson City, MO) – 12
19.(tied)   QB3 (San Francisco, CA) – 12* (University of California)
19.(tied)   SCRA Technology Ventures (Columbia, SC) – 12
19.(tied)   Tampa Bay Wave (Tampa Bay, FL) – 12

List compiled using information published on Pitchbook.com as of March 31, 2018.

investing, impact investing