Vanderbilt University’s entrepreneurial community will have greater access to Jumpstart Foundry’s (JSF) proven program for education, mentorship and networking through a new collaboration with Vanderbilt’s Center for Technology Transfer and Commercialization (CTTC).
JSF and CTTC will engage in a new program that identifies, evaluates and selects new project proposals from Vanderbilt faculty, staff and students. CTTC will nominate select proposals through a stringent due diligence process for placement in JSF’s top 30 applicant pool. JSF will rank order this group and begin interviewing the top ranked teams. The final selection round will comprise of the top dozen or so teams from the above pool and will be given an offer to participate in JSF’s annual business accelerator program, which begins in May.
“This new engagement represents a dynamic extension of our growing relationship with Jumpstart Foundry that promises to create new and valuable opportunities for entrepreneurial-minded members of the Vanderbilt community, ” said Alan Bentley, assistant vice chancellor of technology transfer and intellectual property protection. “We’re excited and fortunate to work with one of the most highly-regarded accelerator’s in the country.”
In 2013, JSF selected Vanderbilt startup InvisionHeart, LLC to participate in the accelerator program. The startup expects to close its Series A funding shortly and was recently selected to pitch at Google Demo Day with just nine other startups from around the country.
“We have been incredibly impressed with the potential at Vanderbilt,” said Vic Gatto, CEO of Jumpstart Foundry. “The combination of Vanderbilt intellectual property and human talent with the Jumpstart Foundry curriculum and mentor network will create successful startups driving disrupting large industries and improving people’s lives.”
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