The University of Pennsylvania’s Office of the Vice Provost for Research has launched the Penn StartUP Fund, an internal early-stage investment vehicle designed to support startup companies founded by Penn faculty and researchers and based on Penn-developed innovation.
Backed by a $10 million University commitment and managed by Penn’s Office of the Chief Investment Officer, the fund will provide seed-stage capital to help move promising discoveries into viable companies across a wide range of disciplines.
The initiative is intended to help address a common hurdle for faculty-founded startups: access to capital at the earliest stages of company formation. The StartUP Fund is positioned as a complement to Penn’s broader commercialization infrastructure and is designed to be evergreen, with returns reinvested to support future faculty-led ventures.
To qualify, companies must be based on Penn technology, know-how, or ideas and include at least one Penn-affiliated faculty member or researcher as a founder. Applications will be accepted on a rolling basis and evaluated by a group of expert external advisors who will assess feasibility, commercial potential, and whether the investment will help mature the underlying technology or idea and increase company value.
The StartUP Fund is expected to write checks of up to $250,000 per company, with applications open to eligible founders across all 12 Penn schools and decisions made on a rolling, periodic basis, supported by reviews from external venture and startup experts. Penn officials have positioned the capital as milestone-driven seed funding intended to help faculty-founded spinouts validate technology, de-risk early commercialization, and become ready for larger outside rounds, such as a formal Series A.
