Regents of the University of Michigan

The Regents of the University of Michigan (U-M) will expand the U-M Biomedical Seed Fund that provides equity-based investments in U-M life science spin outs. The U-M Biomedical Seed Fund was launched in 2016 to help address the seed stage funding gap in the Midwest, building upon existing U-M pre-seed commercialization resources supporting therapeutic, device, diagnostic and health IT technologies. This project will build upon the U-M Biomedical Seed Fund’s early momentum by: expanding capacity to source new early-stage investment opportunities and conduct due diligence on potential companies; augmenting resources to mentor portfolio companies and support follow-on funding efforts; and growing connections and collaboration with regional seed funds and national investor networks to enable portfolio companies to successfully raise the next stage of capital. The fund anticipates raising an additional $7-10 million of seed capital, and making investments in 25 companies over the next five years.