Early-stage ventures with ties to Boston College are receiving a new form of funding.
Launch Angels announced Tuesday its latest affinity venture fund, called the Maroon & Gold Fund, created to support startups sprung from Boston College. Deals will be sourced from across the school's network, then vetted, selected and tracked by an Advisory Investment Committee comprised of BC alumni with experience in early-stage investing and entrepreneurship.
"There has been a really impressive number of startups coming out of BC in the last year alone," said BC alumnus Kevin Cook (photographed below), managing director of the Maroon & Gold Fund, in a statement. "As BC's subculture of entrepreneurship continues to thrive, the Maroon & Gold Fund is a logical next step in helping connect these budding entrepreneurs to funding and advisors."
Cook, who received his MBA from BC's Carroll School of Management in 2004, will be responsible for spearheading the Advisory Investment Committee. The Fund is targeting a close of one- to two-million dollars, and will be investing in roughly 10 to 15 scalable seed-stage companies boasting BC roots. Beyond financing, the Fund will offer mentorship, as well as back office and investment support.
Explained Launch Angels CEO Shereen Shermak in a statement:
In recent years, universities have been placing a stronger emphasis on their entrepreneurial departments. While this has led to a substantial increase in the number of university-based startups and an explosion of new entrepreneurs, funding has remained a challenge. Our goal is to make funding more accessible.
Earlier this year, another group of BC alumni launched the Soaring Startup Circle, a rotating summer accelerator program designed to bring student startups to the next level. Four up-and-coming companies comprised the inaugural cohort; each received equity-free seed funding, as well as the ability to work in the offices of budding Boston-based companies with similar academic roots, such as Jebbit, which lays claim to space in the Fenway's Landmark Center, and Vsnap, conveniently located in Downtown Crossing.
The Soaring Startup Circle and the Maroon & Gold Fund are neither affiliated nor officially sanctioned by BC. They both highlight, however, the willingness of the school's alumni to build an entrepreneurial engine competing institutions can't ignore.
For more information about the Maroon & Gold Fund, Launch Angels has said to direct inquiries to Cook, who can be reached at: KevinC@Launch-Angels.com.
Images via Shutterstock and Launch Angels
