The Center for Technology Transfer and Commercialization (CTTC) launched the Vanderbilt Venture Partners (VVP) Program, an initiative aimed at building stronger bridges with the early-stage venture capital community. It is designed to provide greater and more meaningful interactions between faculty and staff entrepreneurs, their startup companies, and qualified seed and Series A investors looking for the latest tech-enabled market opportunities.
The VVP program responds to the significant growth of Vanderbilt's entrepreneurship-centric commercialization efforts, with 29 technology-based startups formed in the past three years, including a record 16 in FY25 alone, and more than fifty developing projects in CTTC’s pre-company-launch pipeline.
Alan Bentley, assistant vice chancellor for technology transfer & intellectual property development, states, “This program is a great example of a concept evolving over time, ultimately simplifying the pathway investors must navigate to invest in Vanderbilt innovations. The original intent was to develop deeper relationships with the venture community by engaging at multiple levels – delivering key opinion leaders to help with diligence, placing students in internship positions, having investors serve on Vanderbilt committees, and the like.” He continues, “As we spoke to our target venture firms, the concept of carefully curated and customized data rooms for each firm took shape. We now have venture capital firms efficiently evaluating Vanderbilt startup investment opportunities in markets and at stages that they have identified as of high investment interest to them.”
Mutual Value Creation for Faculty and Investors
Separate proprietary and confidential data rooms are managed by CTTC’s new venture team for each venture capital firm participating in the program to access curated technical and financial information about Vanderbilt-affiliated startups matching their investment criteria. Once interest in an investment opportunity is established, the Vanderbilt innovators and their startup company are engaged for deeper diligence and evaluation.
"The Venture Partners program is becoming a potent conduit between Vanderbilt startups and early-stage venture investors,” said Cam Crain, Venture Acceleration Manager, who recently held separate engagement calls with venture partners in areas of venture growth at Vanderbilt, namely digital innovations, medical devices, and life science innovations. “Our initial roundtables with more than 40 firms affirmed the value of this model, and this is just the beginning of a larger effort to accelerate Vanderbilt’s innovation pipeline."
Vanderbilt Stakeholders Collaborating with VVP
The VVP program is synergistic with other CTTC offerings to enhance entrepreneurship and investor access for Vanderbilt’s new ventures, including the Southeast Venture Showcase, Entrepreneur-in-Residence program, SpaceEdge Accelerator, the Entrepreneurship Advisory Council.
Vanderbilt Venture Partners will provide crucial financial investments that enable early-stage companies to grow rapidly, achieve product-market fit, conduct necessary clinical trials, make key hires, and effectively serve their target customers.
The CTTC new ventures team will continue to grow the program and build greater synergies with other initiatives across campus, including those led by key partners such as Owen School of Management Center for Entrepreneurship, the Brock Center for Applied Innovation, and the Vanderbilt Innovation Acceleration Fund. Further, venture partners’ investments will open syndicated investments from Vanderbilt and our key regional partners such as Launch TN and their InvestTN fund.
Get Involved with the Vanderbilt Ventures Partners Program
The VVP program will provide Vanderbilt innovator-entrepreneurs with access to capital, expert coaching, market feedback, and exposure to a vibrant entrepreneurial ecosystem.
Venture partners will gain exclusive access to Vanderbilt's innovation pipeline, co-investment opportunities, and enhanced visibility within the regional startup community.
For more information about the program, potential venture partners and researchers interested in bringing their innovations to market are encouraged to contact Cam Crain, Venture Acceleration Manager.