What are the benefits of SURAfund for universities?
Although universities are not eligible to receive funding directly, this initiative benefits the SURA university community by:

• Providing opportunities for their spinout companies to obtain funding from non-government, private equity sources
• Connecting their startup companies, or those researchers at their universities who are contemplating creating a startup, with a direct source of potential funding
• Promoting technology transfer and economic development and, if the company is successful, bringing funding back into the university and community through license fees and job creation
• Connecting their spinouts to investment capital from outside their immediate geographic area, a source of funding typically more difficult to attract

Are there ways that my university can participate?
Yes. The funding available through this program is targeted at university spinouts. Therefore, our member schools play an important role in disseminating information to their researchers, incubators, business schools, and companies who have licensed technology from the school. Please help by spreading the word and pointing them to the SURAfund website.

In addition, the SURAfund program will accept submissions from universities (i.e., their technology commercialization office or an entrepreneurial researcher) even if no company has been formed yet. Our VC partners are interested in and capable of creating companies from scratch, starting with groundbreaking technology and building from there. The initiative is not designed for technologies that are only appropriate for licensing, but if you can build a basic business plan around the technology and its inventors, please do submit it online.

For more information about partnering with SURA or any of our technology commercialization initiatives, please contact Marc Oettinger at or 202-253-7697.