NYU Innovation Venture Fund

Name

NYU Innovation Venture Fund

Legal name

NYU Innovation Venture Fund

Website

https://entrepreneur.nyu.edu

Company type

Private

Founded year

2010

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

11–50 employees

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Venture Capital

NAICS

Other Investment Pools and Funds (5259)

SIC

Investment Advice (6282)

akta.pro primary industry

Early-Stage Venture Capital (Series A/B) (FSANAAAB)

akta.pro secondary industries

Accelerators & Incubators (Investor-Operated) (FSANAAAM), Technical Universities with Entrepreneurship & Incubation Focus (EDAHAEAH)

Keywords

• Seed venture capital
• University venture fund
• Startup equity investment
• Technology commercialization funding
• Entrepreneurship accelerator programs

Headquarters

HQ city

New York

HQ country

United States

HQ region

North America

Offices1 record

Markets served

GTM type

B2B

Offering type

Services

Cost components

Personnel, Operations, Marketing or Sales, Others

Distribution channels1 record

Marketing channels3 records

Core offering

The NYU Innovation Venture Fund is a seed-stage equity investment fund that provides capital to startups founded by NYU students, faculty, and researchers, or to ventures commercializing technology and intellectual property developed within NYU. Operating under the NYU Leslie Entrepreneurial Institute since 2010, the fund deploys capital alongside a pipeline of grant-funded accelerator programs (Tech Venture Program, Summer Launchpad, NSF I-Corps, Startup Sprint) and ecosystem support such as mentorship, the Leslie eLab incubator, and the Female Founders Fellowship.

Product overview

NYU Innovation Venture Fund is a seed-stage investment fund that traces its roots to 2010 and provides capital to NYU-founded startups. The fund operates alongside a broader ecosystem of programs including the Tech Venture Program for faculty and researchers commercializing deep tech (offering up to $102,000 in grants through workshop, NSF I-Corps, and accelerator tracks), Summer Launchpad and Startup Sprint for student founders ($15,000 funding plus mentorship), and Startup Coaching & Mentorship services. The Female Founders Fellowship provides additional community support. Together, these offerings form a comprehensive pipeline from research commercialization through student entrepreneurship to seed investment.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Products and services

• Innovation Venture Fund Seed-stage equity investment fund providing capital to startups founded by NYU students, faculty, and researchers or that commercialize technology and intellectual property developed at NYU. Operates as the core investment vehicle of NYU's entrepreneurship ecosystem under the Leslie Entrepreneurial Institute.
• Tech Venture Program Three-part venture development program for NYU faculty, postdocs, PhD candidates, and researchers that provides training, mentorship, and up to $102,000 in grant funding to commercialize deep tech research.
• Tech Venture Workshop Initial phase of the Tech Venture Program in which NYU researcher teams test the commercial potential of their deep tech research directly with customers.
• NSF I-Corps Program providing $50,000 in funding to develop a business model for NYU deep tech research through structured customer discovery and validation.
• Tech Venture Accelerator Accelerator offering $50,000 to launch scalable startups based on NYU deep tech research, with connections to industry mentors and follow-on funding sources.
• Summer Launchpad Student accelerator providing $15,000 in funding and mentorship to help NYU student founders launch scalable startups.
• Startup Sprint Pre-accelerator program helping NYU student founders develop a scalable business model for their startup before progressing to Summer Launchpad.
• Startup Coaching & Mentorship One-on-one coaching and mentorship services for NYU entrepreneurs developing new venture ideas or scaling existing startup operations.
• Female Founders Fellowship Fellowship program providing community and support specifically for women founders within the NYU entrepreneurial ecosystem.

Segments1 record

Ideal customer profiles1 record

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

AI capability4 records

Partnerships

One partnership is on record.

• GigFinesseminorOthersNYU Innovation Venture Fund participated as an investor in GigFinesse's Series A funding round. GigFinesse is an Austin-based live entertainment booking platform co-founded in 2019 by Mir Hwang and Ryan Kim. The company's platform powers more than 1,000 live shows per month at venues across the country including boutique hotels, restaurant groups, country clubs, and retirement communities.

Scale indicators2 records

Recent moves6 records

Expansion highlights4 records

Direct peers

• MIT Sandbox Innovation Fund: MIT-affiliated seed fund that supports MIT student, faculty, and alumni founders with early-stage capital, paralleling the NYU Innovation Venture Fund's university-restricted mandate and accelerator-style programming.
• Stanford StartX Fund: Stanford-affiliated accelerator and seed investor backing Stanford founders; directly comparable in that both funds combine a structured accelerator with equity investment in university-affiliated founders.
• Berkeley SkyDeck Fund: UC Berkeley's combined accelerator and seed fund that invests in Berkeley-affiliated startups, offering an analogous model of university-anchored programming plus early-stage equity.
• Harvard Innovation Labs (i-lab): Harvard University-affiliated entrepreneurship hub that provides workspace, mentorship, and seed-stage funding to Harvard students, faculty, and alumni, structurally similar to NYU's Leslie Entrepreneurial Institute ecosystem.
• Columbia Technology Ventures: Columbia University's technology transfer and venture arm, providing an NYC-based university peer that bridges academic research commercialization with seed investment in affiliated founders.
• Cornell Tech Runway Startup Postdoc Program: Cornell's NYC-based entrepreneurship programs that fund and incubate Cornell-affiliated founders, offering an immediate peer given shared NYC footprint and Ivy League research pipelines.

Broad incumbents

• Y Combinator: The dominant seed accelerator globally; while not university-affiliated, it competes directly for NYU student founders through its twice-yearly cohorts and is the benchmark for accelerator-based seed investing.
• Techstars: Large global accelerator network offering seed investment and mentorship, serving as a broader incumbent competitor for the same NYU founder pipeline and accelerator-style seed capital.

Market position

Strengths4 records

Weaknesses4 records

Competitive moat3 records

Key risks5 records

Key highlights6 records

Customer concentration

• Xx.com/NYUEntrepreneur
• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/nyu-entrepreneurial-institute
• Instagraminstagram.com/nyuentrepreneur
• TikToktiktok.com/@nyuentrepreneur

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles1 record

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

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M&A

Investments47 records

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about NYU Innovation Venture Fund