Funding Innovation
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Investing in Our Technologies
We invest in the early stages of the technologies being developed here at Wake Forest Baptist to increase their value and give them the best chance of making it to market. Our team works directly with inventors to match their ideas with the right type and amount of funding for each technology’s development and commercialization.
The Catalyst Fund
The Catalyst Fund is a collaborative partnership established to help Wake Forest Baptist Medical Center faculty inventions with significant clinical and commercial potential advance and attract licensing and risk-sharing partnerships, private sector investment, and complementary grant or sponsored research funding. It was launched with a $15-million commitment that aims to support two – three dozen novel technologies over a four- to five-year period. While the basic model is focused on pre-license, pre-company formation translational-stage technologies, the Fund also has the flexibility to make seed investments in its technology start-ups. Pappas Capital acts as the Fund’s independent Program Manager.
Other Funding Sources
Because it often takes multiple funding sources matched to the stage of development to realize the pre-licensing value of a technology, our team facilitates other funding including:
- Commercialization Pathway Awards: internal funding awards, generally in amounts ranging from $5,000 to $20,000, intended to advance projects through initial proof of concept stages
- NC Biotech grants
- State government grants
- Federal government grants, such as Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) and the Small Business Technology Transfer (STTR) programs
Want to Learn More?
Start a conversation with us if you have questions about how we invest in our technologies or want more information about the technologies we support.
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