Rice University has launched One Giant Leap Ventures Fund I, an early-stage fund built to invest in the university’s most promising spinouts and alumni-founded startups. Structured as an institutional venture fund, it enables participation from equity limited partners as well as philanthropic investors seeking to support Rice startups. One Giant Leap held its first close in August and, shortly thereafter, made its first investment in Rice spinout, Motif Neurotech.
"One Giant Leap provides unique engagement opportunities for our community, allowing us to tap into a deep bench of experience while, for the first time, allowing our community to invest and participate in the success of our spinouts and alumni founded ventures,” Rice President Reginald DesRoches said.
The fund advances Rice’s Momentous strategic plan, which calls for the university to accelerate the commercialization and translation of research, expand entrepreneurial opportunities and attract early-stage venture funding to Rice and Houston. It builds on Rice’s longstanding strength in entrepreneurship, including its seven-year run as the nation’s No. 1 graduate entrepreneurship program in The Princeton Review rankings.
The fund will invest up to $500,000 into Rice-affiliated companies, including those founded or led by Rice alumni, students or faculty, or based on Rice-licensed intellectual property.
“Research produces breakthrough technologies and our academic environment forms outstanding entrepreneurs,” said Adrian Trömel, the fund’s managing director, a Rice alumnus and startup founder who also serves as Rice’s interim chief innovation officer. Fellow Rice alumna Nafisa Istami serves as Investment Manager on the fund.
“With One Giant Leap, I am excited that we are creating a unique structure that brings together traditional investment and philanthropic participation to invest in and help catalyze our startups, engage the deep expertise within the Rice ecosystem and transform those strengths into real-world impact,” said Trömel.
Creating a tie in to Rice’s educational mission as well as its research mission, companies coming through the growing number of high impact programs including the Liu Idea Labs for Innovation and Entrepreneurship’s Innovation Fellows and Summer Venture Studio, or the Rice Alliance’s Business Plan Competition will be eligible to seek investment. These programs develop entrepreneurial skills and help students and researchers translate ideas into new ventures; One Giant Leap adds institutional investment capital to that continuum.
The fund adds to Rice’s growing innovation infrastructure, including the 16-acre Ion District and the Arc, a 200,000-square-foot research, laboratory and office building set to break ground later this year, as well as initiatives such as the Woodside Rice Decarbonization Accelerator, Rice Nexus, the Biotech Launchpad and RBL Ventures. Together, these investments in programs, places, and capital strengthen the continuum of resources available to Rice entrepreneurs while building a broader Houston community of founders, funders and partners.
One Giant Leap Ventures is a rules-based, community-driven fund supporting the university’s research and educational mission. Under its rules-based approach, startups must be Rice-affiliated and have a qualified lead investor whose investment provides market validation in order for the fund to participate. With these requirements fulfilled, a startup may advance to the fund’s Investment Advisory Committee for review.
One Giant Leap intends to leverage the vast experience and knowledge of Rice’s over 60,000 alumni to not only support diligence, but advise and mentor companies. One Giant Leap integrates educational opportunities into its investment process, engaging undergraduate and graduate venture scholars, students exploring both sides of startups and venture capital, while working with researchers exploring commercialization of their work.
“Over the last several decades, Rice alumni have invested in, founded and played key management roles in many innovative start-up companies that have gone on to great success,” said John Jaggers, Rice trustee and former managing partner of venture capital firm Sevin Rosen. “Looking ahead, we hope to make it a little easier for those alumni to invest their time and treasure in the next generation of Rice affiliated entrepreneurs, helping them to build successful innovative companies that will impact lives.”
With its first close, One Giant Leap announced its investment into brain health startup, Motif Neurotech, led by Rice faculty member Jacob Robinson. Motif is commercializing a minimally invasive neurostimulator initially targeting treatment resistant depression. One Giant Leap invested alongside recognized institutional funds, supporting the commercialization of the Rice invented technology and exemplifies the Momentous priority to lead innovations in health.
“Rice alumni bring an extraordinary depth of experience as entrepreneurs, investors and industry leaders, and One Giant Leap creates new ways to put that expertise to work for the next generation of Rice innovators,” said Stephen Bayer, vice president for development and alumni relations. “It strengthens the connection between our alumni and the university while giving them meaningful opportunities to mentor, advise and support Rice-affiliated companies as they grow.”
Hogan Lovells Cadwalader served as counsel in developing the fund’s innovative structure, which enables participation through both traditional limited-partner commitments and philanthropic contributions.
For more information about the One Giant Leap, please visit onegiantleap.rice.edu.