Yale Ventures Annual Report
FY 2023: July 1, 2022 - June 30, 2023
Launched by Yale University in 2022, Yale Ventures seeks to foster and accelerate a vibrant entrepreneurship and innovation ecosystem that increases support, resources, and opportunities for Yale innovators as they translate their ideas and discoveries into new ventures that will positively impact the world's greatest challenges.
Content
INTRODUCTION
Letter from the Managing Director
Our Mission
FY 2023 At a Glance
INNOVATION TRAINING & STARTUPS
The Blavatnik Fund for Innovation at Yale
The Roberts Innovation Fund
The Colton Center for Autoimmunity
Yale Center for Biomedical Innovation & Technology
Tsai Center for Innovative Thinking at Yale
Venture Lab
amplifyHERscience
IP & LICENSING
Overview
2022-2023 Highlights
Spinout News
CORPORATE STRATEGY & ENGAGEMENT
Overview
From our Partners
Highlighted News
INNOVATION COMMUNITY
Overview
Events
Our Team
Community News
INTRODUCTION
Letter from the Managing Director
It’s my privilege to introduce our first Annual Report since the launch of Yale Ventures in 2022. Our inaugural year has been one of transformation and collaboration. We launched new programs and partnerships, deepened our engagement with innovation partners across the University and the state, and convened events to catalyze our growing entrepreneurship and innovation ecosystem.
New gifts have allowed Yale Ventures to expand our Innovation Programs and accelerator funds, supporting Yale faculty with mentorship, business training, and non-dilutive funding. The Blavatnik Fund for Innovation completed its 6th round of awards and The Roberts Innovation Fund launched, drawing wide interest across Yale Engineering faculty, and made its first round of awards. The Colton Center for Autoimmunity at Yale gift was increased to fund a staff director that will enable expanded support for investigators pursuing autoimmune disorders.
Tsai CITY sprung to life in its first full year of operations free of pandemic-related restrictions offering expanded programming for students. For faculty, we launched Venture Labs, hosting 22 workshops drawing 60 volunteer industry mentors, as a new hub of support for Yale investigators to access mentorship, guidance, and potential investors.
We expanded our Community and Events and increased our outreach, engaging with greater numbers of Yale and Connecticut innovators. We hosted several new events, including Yale’s first-ever Faculty Innovation Awards, the diverse-founder-focused Innovators Ignite, and established a networking series for Connecticut entrepreneurs, Collaborative CT. We expanded the Life Sciences Pitchfest, and the student-focused Startup Yale, engaging with early-stage faculty and student startups, awarding non-dilutive prize funding. Over 2,100 people attended the dramatically expanded Yale Innovation Summit.
This year we announced major changes to the university's practice of the distribution of income from IP & licensing activities, directing all income from new technologies to the investors and academic units responsible for the invention. We also introduced a new startup license to streamline the licensing process for Yale innovators, especially for early-stage and software-enabled spinouts.
Our Corporate Strategy and Engagement office expanded Yale's strong collaborations with major alliance partners and participated in several successful business recruitment efforts to attract new bioscience companies and incubators to the region.
As a result of all of this work, we enjoyed double-digit increases in new invention disclosures, patent filings, new technology licenses, and sponsored research funding, and even maintained the number of newly funded Yale startups despite a very challenging year in the venture financing markets. Most importantly, I hear almost every day from students, faculty, alumni, and community partners that they are more excited than ever about the momentum in the Yale innovation ecosystem.
While I am encouraged by our progress in FY '23, there is so much more to do. On behalf of the entire team at Yale Ventures, thank you for your support.
Josh Geballe
Managing Director, Yale Ventures
Senior Associate Provost for Entrepreneurship, Yale University
Our Mission
Helping develop innovations that impact the world's greatest challenges.
Yale innovation has the potential to change the world. Launched by Yale University in 2022, Yale Ventures seeks to foster and accelerate a vibrant entrepreneurship and innovation ecosystem that increases support, resources, and opportunities for Yale innovators—faculty and students—as they translate their ideas and discoveries into new ventures that will positively impact the world's greatest challenges. We organize our work around four teams: Innovation Training & Startups, IP & Licensing, Innovation Community, and Corporate Strategy & Engagement.
FY 2023 At a glance
Entrepreneurial Activity
14
Yale faculty-led spinouts
34
Faculty accelerator awards
86
Deals, new licenses (+23% YTY)
18
Major deals, $1M raised or 1Million lives impacted
$3.75M
Translational funding awarded
$153M
Money raised in new venture financing by Yale spinouts, $2B raised since FY '19
Invention & Patent Activity
291
Invention disclosures (+12% YTY)
158
Provisional applications (+5% YTY)
158
Non-provisional applications (+30% YTY)
197
Patents issued* (+12% YTY)
1,938
Yale patents overall
* 52 U.S., 145 International (34 countries)
Sponsored Research
36
SRA & CRAs, sponsored research agreements and cooperative research agreements (+89% YTY)
$14.7M
New funding (+34% YTY)
Innovation Training & Startups
“Yale is a great place to be both an academic and an innovator at the same time. I feel very much supported to pursue my dreams in both of these orbits.”
—Akiko Iwasaki, Sterling Professor of Immunobiology & 3x Founder, Rigimmune, PanV, Xanadu Bio
ACCELERATOR
The Blavatnik Fund for Innovation at Yale
Accelerating the translation of early-stage life science research into impactful products.
The Blavatnik Fund for Innovation completed its sixth round of awards and added a new set of accelerator awards presented at the annual Yale Innovation Summit. Since 2017, the $25M fund successfully resulted in the launch of 17 biotech ventures and 3 FDA Investigational New Drug (IND) applications. Over the life of the Fund it has given awardees exposure to over 200 investors and licensors across 16 therapeutic areasThe Fund has been made possible by a generous grant from the Blavatnik Family Foundation in support of the commercialization of Yale faculty applied research and technology in the life sciences.
2022-2023 HIGHLIGHTS
11
Projects
$2.7M
Awarded
LIFETIME: 2017 - 2023
65
Projects
$17M
Total awards
21
Ventures launched
$247M
Money raised by ventures
3
Investigational New Drug (IND) status
We are grateful for this award as it will provide Playbl critical opportunities to move our company forward and amplify our efforts to target the most significant health issues impacting adolescents related to mental health, substance misuse, and sexual health so that they can live happier and healthier lives.
Dr. Lynn Fiellin, Professor of General Medicine at Yale School of Medicine and founder of Playbl, a spinout from the play2PREVENT lab at Yale that develops evidence-based digital health games. Dr. Fiellin is a 2023 Yale-Blavatnik award recipient.
HIGHLIGHTED NEWS
The Blavatnik Fellowship in Life Science Entrepreneurship Announces 2022/23 Cohort
The Blavatnik Fund for Innovation at Yale Awards $2.5 Million to 11 Yale Faculty-led Projects Developing New Therapeutics and Health Technologies
Eight Yale Faculty Take Home Awards at the 2022 Yale Life Sciences Pitchfest
Innovator Spotlight: Dr. Amber Childs on the current mental health crisis and identifying as an entrepreneur
ACCELERATOR
The Roberts Innovation Fund
Accelerating the engine of innovation at the Yale School of Engineering & Applied Science
The Roberts Innovation Fund was launched, drawing wide interest across Yale School of Engineering & Applied Science faculty. Established in 2022 with a generous gift from Will Roberts ’90, The Roberts Innovation Fund is designed to provide funding, mentoring, and strategic support for Yale Engineering faculty-led projects that solve real-world problems. In its inaugural year, a director was hired, an advisory board was formed, and the first round of awards totaling $500,000 were distributed following a competitive application process.
2022-2023 HIGHLIGHTS
10
Projects
$500k
Total awarded
The large number of excellent proposals that have been developed by our faculty clearly illustrate the pent-up demand for these opportunities. Yale’s Engineering faculty have always generated a wealth of great research, and now we have a strong mechanism to take their breakthrough technologies from the lab to market.
Jeff Brock, Dean of Yale Engineering
HIGHLIGHTED NEWS
ACCELERATOR
The Colton Center for Autoimmunity
Advancing innovative and translational research in autoimmune and allergic diseases.
The Colton Center for Autoimmunity received increased gift funding this year to fund a new staff director, enabling expanded support for investigators pursuing treatments for autoimmune disorders. Established in 2019 by a gift from philanthropists Judith and Stewart Colton, The Colton Center bridges gaps between research and innovation, advancing research in autoimmune and allergic diseases.
2022-2023 HIGHLIGHTS
7
Projects
$750k
Funding awarded
LIFETIME: 2020-2023 HIGHLIGHTS
30
Projects
$3.15M
Funding awarded
These outstanding Yale faculty are driven to generate impact and develop their research into substantial innovations that will benefit society, and we are thrilled the Colton Center for Autoimmunity at Yale has the ability to move these projects forward.
Dr. Joseph Craft, Faculty Scientific Director for The Colton Center
HIGHLIGHTED NEWS
INNOVATION CENTER: STUDENTS & FACULTY
The Center for Biomedical Innovation and Technology (CBIT)
Catalyzing innovators across Yale’s campus to make novel healthcare solutions in data science, diagnostics, and devices a reality.
The winning 2022 Yale Healthcare Hackathon team.
Since 2014, CBIT has worked collaboratively with students and faculty across Yale’s centers to support the acceleration of discoveries in digital health, healthcare data, diagnostics, and medical devices. This year, CBIT launched the Rothberg Catalyzer Awards to support student innovation in healthcare. Other Center highlights include supporting healthcare entrepreneurship education opportunities, including hosting the Annual Healthcare Hackathon, developing healthcare entrepreneurship courses for Yale students, offering mentorship opportunities, and convening the annual Yale Clinical Pitch Night.
2022-2023 HIGHLIGHTS
103
New projects supported by CBIT
15
Healthcare Hackathon teams
HIGHLIGHTED NEWS
INNOVATION CENTER: STUDENTS
The Tsai Center for Innovative Thinking
Inspiring students from diverse backgrounds and disciplines to seek innovative ways to solve real-world problems.
In 2022, the Tsai Center for Innovative Thinking at Yale celebrated its fifth year supporting student innovation. After opening its new building during the COVID-19 pandemic, this was the first year the space was fully activated and welcomed students from across campus to learn, engage, and explore innovation pathways through a number of events, programs, and community building activities.
2022-2023 HIGHLIGHTS
$500,401
Total funding awarded
597
Mentors
86
Community events & workshops
116
Total venture development teams
We will continue to create a culture at Tsai CITY where curious students of diverse backgrounds and disciplines find a home at Yale for exploration and innovative problem-solving.
Clare Leinweber, Executive Director, Tsai Center for Innovative Thinking at Yale
HIGHLIGHTED NEWS
INNOVATION PROGRAM: FACULTY
Venture Lab
Accelerating faculty founders with expert mentorship.
Launched in 2022, Venture Lab is a new Yale Ventures program designed to support faculty founders who have established proof-of-concept data and are looking to accelerate their venture development to reach their next milestone. The program convenes a series of workshops for its faculty participants, pairing their projects with seasoned executives, investors and entrepreneurs as well as student analysts to match the needs of the faculty innovator.
2022-2023 HIGHLIGHTS
22
Workshops in FY 23
60
Participating EIRs
23
Participating Yale PIs
Venture Lab isn’t just for an academic PI who has never done a startup—it's a resource that clearly should be tapped by anyone thinking of any type of startup at most stages. It’s unique at Yale as an infrastructure to start spinning out more companies at a higher velocity which is the best way to translate some of the best science at Yale.
Dr. Ranjit Bindra, Venture Lab participant
HIGHLIGHTED NEWS
INNOVATION PROGRAM: FACULTY
amplifyHERscience
Supporting and promoting diversity, equity, and inclusion in science and entrepreneurial pursuits.
In 2022, amplifyHERscience introduced new program enhancements to engage and support as many underrepresented Yale innovators as possible including: the launch of a personalized training series “Elevator Pitch Intensive,” the first in-person Innovators Ignite, a day-long event that highlighted 10 Yale faculty spinout ventures. The event brought together keynote speaker, Nobel Laureate, Dr. Jennifer Doudna, and 130 enthusiastic attendees across Yale and Connecticut's innovation ecosystem.
2022-2023 HIGHLIGHTS
38
Women applicants to Yale Ventures accelerators*
37
Unique underrepresented faculty served through programs
Initiatives like amplifyHERscience are important because they teach women business thinking and provide representation that proves that women too can be entrepreneurs. This type of training will also help me serve as a mentor for my students, to bolster their voices and to help them optimize Yale’s resources.
Barbara Ehrlich, PhD, Yale School of Medicine
HIGHLIGHTED NEWS
Innovators Ignite event celebrates diversity in STEM showcasing 10 women scientists and a keynote by Nobel Laureate Jennifer Doudna
Innovator Spotlight: Dr. Gigi Galiana on making AI work for radiologists through innovation and entrepreneurship
amplifyHERscience STORIES Podcast: Cyndi Green, CT Innovations
IP & Licensing
Yale's technology transfer office is responsible for protecting and licensing the intellectual property (IP) developed at Yale, helping to commercialize breakthroughs to market as products and services that can make a difference in the world. This year we announced major changes to the university practice of distribution of income from licensing activities, now directing all income from new technologies to the investors and academic units responsible for the invention, aligning incentives, improving positioning vs. peers, and sending an important message that Yale fully supports real-world application of our discoveries to improve humanity. We also introduced a new startup license to support Yale innovators, especially early-stage and software-enabled spinouts.
2022-2023 HIGHLIGHTS
Invention Activity
291
Invention disclosures (+12% YTY)
158
Provisional applications (+8% YTY)
158
Non-provisional applications (+30% YTY)
Patent Activity
197
Patents issued FY '23 (+12% YTY)
52
U.S. patents
145
International patents
1,938
Total Yale patents
Deals
86
New licenses (+23% YTY)
18
Major deals*
*potential for $1M in royalties or 1M lives impacted
14
Yale faculty-led spinouts (flat year-to-year)
SPINOUT NEWS
Spotlight: Manifest Technologies
Arvinas Celebrates 10 Years: Biopharma Success Story Plants City Roots Deeper
Pearl Bio: This Startup Is Rewriting The Language Of Life To Make Smart Biologics
Yale Spinout Cellinfinity Bio Announces Publication and Licensing of Key Technology for Directed Evolution of Cells That Allows for More Effective Adoptive Cell Therapy
Playbl Helps Market Behavioral Change Video Games to Teens
Corporate Strategy & Engagement
Yale Ventures leads the University’s approach to corporate partnerships through the Corporate Strategy and Engagement Office (CSEO); working to develop private and industry sector connections and collaborations in support of Yale research and educational missions. This year, the Corporate Strategy and Engagement Office (CSEO) expanded Yale's industry collaborations, developed new models for working with industry, and added several new team members to build the foundation for significant growth in industry partnerships. This year it deepened its engagement with faculty and led new models for working with industry, such as managing a BI Fellowship, building the YCNCC Corporate Roundtable, and added a YSM Hybrid Decentralization Consortium. Looking forward to FY 23 and beyond, CSEO will continue to drive both direct business development and work in collaboration with colleagues across campus to advance critical strategies, models, and policies to support effective corporate engagement on campus with a focus on projects and prospects in health and life sciences, planetary solutions, and engineering/data science.
FROM OUR PARTNERS
Boehringer Ingelheim drives innovation including our strong collaboration with Yale University to advance cutting-edge technologies and scientific research in multiple therapeutic areas and development disciplines. Together, we develop novel methods to gain insights into complex biomedical datasets. Overall, innovations in drug development hold great promise for improving patient outcomes and quality of life and are likely to play an increasingly important role in the future of healthcare. —Xiorong He, Site Head of Development US and Head of Global Development Sciences, Boehringer Ingelheim
Innovation Community
Yale Ventures expanded our events and increased our outreach, engaging with greater numbers of Yale and Connecticut innovators. We hosted several new events, including Yale’s first-ever Faculty Innovation Awards, the diverse-founder-focused Innovators Ignite, and expanded a networking series for Connecticut entrepreneurs, Collaborative CT. We grew the Life Sciences Pitchfest, and the student-focused Startup Yale hosted by Tsai CITY, engaging with early-stage faculty and student startups, and awarding non-dilutive prize funding. Over 2,100 people attended the dramatically expanded Yale Innovation Summit.
We have deepened our support of the innovation community across greater New Haven and Connecticut as well, successfully assisting successful business recruitment efforts to attract new bioscience companies and incubators to the region. Most significantly, we catalyzed the creation of ClimateHaven, a new non-profit incubator for climate technology startups, through the leadership of several Yale Ventures teammates and a generous seed donation from the university. We have also dramatically increased our efforts to highlight Yale and community success stories through our expanding communication channels and a newly relaunched website.
Innovation Events
FEATURED EVENT
Yale Innovation Summit
The 2023 Yale Innovation Summit was the northeast’s biggest gathering of entrepreneurs, investors and creators, held from May 31 – June 1, 2023 welcoming over 2,100 innovators to Yale’s campus. Five tracks across the arts, biotech, climate, health and tech formed the core programming for two days of inspiring conversations, pitch contests, workshops, performances, keynotes, and awards.
“Connecticut is the original American startup state with Eli Whitney inventing the cotton gin. For those of you that are here in Connecticut, stay. Those of you who are visiting, you don’t know what you’re missing,” said Governor Ned Lamont, ’80 SOM in his opening remarks.
2022-2023 HIGHLIGHTS
4,347
Event attendees
26
Innovation events
Our Team
62
Yale Ventures staff
This year we brought on 21 new hires to support our expanded mission of helping develop innovations that impact the world's greatest challenges.
108
Entrepreneurs in Residence
Yale Ventures Entrepreneurs-in-Residence (EIRs) have deep operational experience and have gone through the process of turning new technologies to new businesses. These volunteer experts act as an early “sounding board” for Yale innovators.
46
Student fellows & associates
Each year we hire student associates and fellows to fill key roles on our teams. These students offer key contributions to our programming, strategy, and work directly with Yale faculty innovators to launch their ventures.