Venture Partners News
CEO Magazine—Research is more than just a group of scholars furrowing away behind closed doors in universities around the globe, and Massimo Ruzzene of all people knows that. As the Senior Vice Chancellor for Research and Innovation at the Ƶ18 (CU Boulder), he sees research as a broad arc that moves from initial findings to real-world applications.
Celebrated professor and prolific inventor Richard Noble reflects on decades of teaching and discovery and embarks on a new path to commercialization of a game-changing technology.
PitchBook—Suspension of federal funding to universities and to the agencies that sustain their research risks cutting off a significant source of startup formation. “Most universities do not have the resources—by far—to weather the storm,” said Bryn Rees, associate vice-chancellor of innovation and partnerships at CU Boulder.
Silicon Flatirons Center—Rees has played a pivotal role in launching impactful startups from CU Boulder. After nearly a decade of leadership, Rees has helped build multiple programs to support innovations at CU Boulder, including the Lab Venture Challenge (LVC), NSF’s I-Corps and the Embark Deep Tech Startup Creator.
To introduce the SBIR/STTR programs and highlight funding uses, Venture Partners at CU Boulder is hosting a session to help researchers understand how to find funding and prepare their companies for an SBIR/STTR proposal.
The Ascent Deep Tech Investor Showcase brings together researchers, investors and community supporters to highlight innovative deep tech startups spinning out of the University of Colorado. Attendees will have a chance to see pitches from each of the Ascent 2025 cohort startups, followed by a networking happy hour to learn more.
Venture Partners at CU Boulder and its partners across the Intermountain West once again demonstrated the power of university innovations with back-to-back startup showcases for the Embark Deep Tech Startup Creator and Destination Startup. Both provided a platform for cutting-edge startups, breakthrough research and high-growth potential ventures to connect with industry leaders and investors.
Mesa Quantum, a CU Boulder spinout and leader in quantum sensing, recently announced $3.7 million in seed funding and a $1.9 million grant from SpaceWERX, the innovation arm of the U.S. Space Force. Both investments are fueling the company’s drive toward commercializing chip-scale quantum sensors for multiple applications including next-generation position, navigation and timing solutions.
Daily Camera—CU Boulder’s commercialization, including startup companies, had an economic impact of $8 billion nationally and $5.2 billion in Colorado from 2018-2022, according to a 2022 report from CU Boulder’s Leeds School of Business. Ball Aerospace was one of the first startup companies out of CU Boulder. Another is Solid Power, which creates electric vehicle batteries and other components and has partnered with Ford and BMW.
Destination Startup brings groundbreaking startups built on novel discoveries from top national labs and universities together with investors from throughout North America to catalyze real-world impact. This showcase demonstrates a powerful way to invest in and get funding for innovative research and translate it into impactful business ventures.