WHAT IS THE NJII VENTURE STUDIO? NEW JERSEY’S MOST POWERFUL STARTUP ENGINE
NJIT’s high impact science and technology flourishes in our academic community yet often does not fulfill its commercial potential. While NJIT certainly has success with traditional lab-to-market strategies – IP licensing and faculty startups. These mechanisms work well, but the challenges are many and perennial. University IP is rarely developed with market needs in mind and, as such, potential corporate partners struggle to connect their business applications with our technologies. And NJIT faculty and researchers rarely find the balance needed for a successful university spinout and a career in higher education. Recognizing these impediments, the NJII Entrepreneurship Division has created a third pathway to deploy the NJIT ecosystem of technologies, capabilities, and entrepreneurs: a Venture Studio. Unlike a venture fund or traditional venture investing – which invest in other people’s companies – the NJII Venture Studio creates its own high-growth companies as vehicles for NJIT assets.
The NJII Venture Studio is the dividend of a 10-year track record of successful new venture investment and acceleration at NJII. While the NJII team utilizes this unique ability to support our homegrown start-ups, the Entrepreneurship Division also offers new venture Acceleration Services to support the needs of our corporate, state and community partners.
Why NJII?
SUCCESS IN COMPANY BUILDING
A fundamental challenge for academic institutions is the ability to translate their research into products and services that have an impact on the outside world. Despite these challenges, NJII (an NJIT-owned standalone corporation) has successfully started two for-profit companies – Healthcare Innovation Solutions (HCIS) and BioCentriq. BioCentriq was NJII’s first major exit and HCIS is a profitable asset within NJII’s portfolio. It is from these successes that NJII is moving into the business of operating a dedicated Venture Studio.
SUCCESS IN MULTIPLE SECTORS
NJII was formed to enhance and accelerate the lab-to-market pathway. We operate across five revenue-generating verticals (AI/ML, Defense, Healthcare, Entrepreneurship and Professional & Corporate Education) and have a strong track record of spurring innovation in New Jersey and beyond. The NJII Entrepreneurship Division also delivers Venture Acceleration Services to support the needs of our corporate, state and community partners.
VENTURE STUDIO INVESTMENT THESIS
Our Goals for Company-Building
Over the next four years, the NJII Venture Studio plans to build 1-2 companies per year with an industry-agnostic approach where each company will be built with the following characteristics:
- An ability to achieve a major valuation inflection point within 18 months of founding (e.g., profitability, first customer).
- A corporate partner at inception who has committed resources (e.g., in-kind, investment) and/or has committed to being a customer.
- A dedicated and experienced management team.
- Strong intellectual property.
Our Guidelines for Investment
- Each company will be formed as a for-profit C-Corp with the NJII Venture Studio owning a meaningful stake.
- Up to $1M will be invested into each company and disbursed based upon milestones.
- The companies will execute an 18-month sprint plan leading to a major valuation inflection point.
- Each company will receive hands-on support from the Studio including customer and investor networking and streamlined back-end support from NJII (e.g., Accounting, Legal, Payroll, Marketing, Finance, HR).
3 Ways to Engage with NJII Venture Studio
Here’s how you can get involved with the NJII Venture Studio:
- Talk to us about your idea: We evaluate ideas from NJII, NJIT, other academic institutions, and the regional entrepreneurship ecosystem to identify novel business opportunities for the NJII Venture Studio.
- Partner with us: If your organization wants to develop a novel business solution by creating a nimble and innovative startup, reach out to our team about a potential joint venture.
- Join the team: We are seeking entrepreneurs and leaders who can fill out the management teams (e.g., CEO, CTO) of the companies we create.
About NJII
The New Jersey Innovation Institute (NJII) is a 501c3 organization wholly owned by the New Jersey Institute of Technology (NJIT). As an independent corporation, NJII is uniquely positioned to be agile, entrepreneurial, and opportunistic. NJII is focused on accelerating technology and fostering innovation in order to have a positive economic impact in New Jersey. To date, NJII has generated over $330M in revenue during its ten years of operation across its four divisions (Healthcare, Defense, Continued Learning, Entrepreneurship) and today has a team of 120 staff. Learn more.
Get In Touch
3 Ways to get involved - Talk to us about your idea, Partner with us, Join the team. Submit below to get started.
