Research Foundation News

May 19, 2016  

Purdue Foundry, M25 Group to partner on startup investment, mentor opportunities

CHICAGO and WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. – M25 Group and Purdue Foundry officials announced Wednesday (May 18) an agreement that will identify Purdue technologies and startups for possible investment and mentoring opportunities.

The Purdue Foundry, an entrepreneurship and commercialization hub in Discovery Park's Burton D. Morgan Center for Entrepreneurship, and M25 Group, a Chicago-based venture capital firm, will collaborate to identify new and emerging ventures and collaboratively work to advance the startups through funding, mentoring and networking and business competition activities. M25 Group focuses on Midwest-based startups and has investments in Chicago, Lafayette, Indiana, Indianapolis, Pittsburgh and Milwaukee.

"Our partners already have a long history of working with Purdue and the Greater Lafayette community, and there is a lot of entrepreneurial talent in that area," said Victor Gutwein, managing director and board member of M25 Group. "We've attended 'Pitch Days' at Purdue and have invested in Purdue-affiliated startups. What we want to contribute are greater capital resources and additional funding experience. College towns don't often have a lot of resources for entrepreneurial activities, but Purdue does and we look forward to being an important part of that startup ecosystem."

As part of the agreement, leaders from Purdue Foundry and M25 Group will meet to review emerging startups and share public information such as technology descriptions, market feasibility, strategies and talent.

"Often an emerging enterprise will have everything except capital to build their startup, and that is one of the most critical needs for entrepreneurs," said Greg Deason, director of innovation and entrepreneurship for Purdue Research Foundation. "Our goal for this collaboration is to increase funding support for startups and further support moving Purdue innovations to the public."

The partnership also will include business model development, creation of prototypes, funding strategies and go-to-market strategies.

Mike Asem, who led the development of Purdue Foundry's FoundryX, a startup mentoring program with more than 150 mentors, will join the team of M25 Group as a director in June, and part of his new role will be to help coordinate the partnership with Purdue.

"M25 Group has already invested in a two Purdue Foundry startups and two other Purdue alumni-founded startups. We look forward to increasing the investment support and to providing other benefits to entrepreneurs," Asem said. "The Purdue Foundry and M25 Group agreement will provide a great benefit to companies coming out of Purdue."

Asem also was a founder of the Anvil, a student and community co-working space that has more than 200 members. The Anvil is supported by the City of West Lafayette and the Purdue Research Foundation.

About M25 Group

M25 Group is a Midwest, seed-stage micro-VC firm that seeks to responsibly steward investors’ capital by sourcing alternative investments with substantial potential to multiply. M25 has invested in nearly 20 companies throughout the Midwest and has locations in Chicago, IL and West Lafayette, IN. For more information please visit m25group.com.

About Purdue Foundry

The Purdue Foundry is an entrepreneurship and commercialization hub in Discovery Park's Burton D. Morgan Center for Entrepreneurship whose professionals help Purdue innovators create startups. Managed by the Purdue Research Foundation, the Purdue Foundry received the 2014 Incubator Network of the Year from the National Business Incubation Association for its work in entrepreneurship. For more information about funding and investment opportunities in startups based on a Purdue innovation, contact the Purdue Foundry at foundry@prf.org 

Purdue Research Foundation contact: Cynthia Sequin, 765-588-3340, casequin@prf.org

Sources: Greg Deason, 765-588-5251, gwdeason@prf.org

Victor Gutwein, victor.gutwein@m25group.com

Mike Asem, dmasem@prf.org 

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