Vanderbilt is proud to support the newly created Greater Nashville Venture Capital Association (GNVCA), a non-profit member organization whose mission is to make middle Tennessee a great place to launch, grow and invest in companies. The GNVCA will act as a convening organization for the local investment and entrepreneurship community, and will host a variety of networking events for the VC community. More information is provided about the GNVCA on its website: GNCVA.org.
Vanderbilt understands the importance of building and sustaining a robust and vibrant venture capital community in and around the Nashville region, and is therefore providing GNVCA a grant to support its startup and initial operations. GNVCA’s activities are aligned with Vanderbilt’s educational and research missions. The GNVCA will provide valuable educational resources to Vanderbilt undergraduate, graduate, and professional students by exposing them to various aspects of the venture capital industry, provide insights into the craft, and create opportunities to interact and learn from practitioners in the field. The GNVCA will provide a variety of educational events for Vanderbilt and for other colleges and universities in the region, held on or near campuses in the region to optimize accessibility. These events will include educational and professional development seminars provide by representatives of association member, and by invited experts from other regions with proficiency in various area of early stage investing, finance, product development, recruiting and other relevant topics to aspiring entrepreneurs early career investors. Such events will be open to the membership, and in most cases, to the community at large.
The GNVCA will create new avenues and enhance existing avenues for commercializing research results from Vanderbilt laboratories, as well as from other regional universities. Vanderbilt technology will be a key asset in a substantial number of ventures that associate members vet as investment opportunities, and a more engaged and growing VC community in the region will enhance financial support for the development Vanderbilt technologies into products that benefit society. Further, due to the work of GNVCA, the number of new and growing technology companies will rapidly increase in the region, creating new job for Vanderbilt graduates, a greater tax base, and provide other regional economic development benefits.
It is in Vanderbilt’s interest to maximize the professional development opportunities of its students and faculty. The GNVCA will be an important addition to existing resources of professional associations available to Vanderbilt and its constituents who may be interested in the venture investment industry - either from a practitioner point of view (career interest/education) or to study it in an academic setting including analyzing the regulatory environment around it.