Drexel invests $450,000 in 3 new startups across manufacturing, sustainability and cosmetics
Summary
This years group includes green energy firm 1DNano, nanomaterial manufacturer MXene Inc and makeup brand Aer Cosmetics, Drexel announced on Friday.We aspire to be a friends and family investor, as opposed to a professional investor, Shintaro Kaido, vice provost for innovation and executive director of Drexel Applied Innovation, told Technical.ly The programs objective is to get those early stage companies institutional input and capital faster than if they didnt have the funding from our program.The fund received over 30 applications for its second cohort, Kaido said. An investment advisory committee made up of Drexel alumni who work in innovation or venture capital questioned the founders in a months-long due diligence process before deciding how to invest the funds.The Innovation Fund selected the winning companies based on potential societal impact and the passion that the founders showed for their businesses. 1DNano works toward reducing the cost of green hydrogen, MXene Inc aims to commercialize a proprietary material developed by Drexel in 2011 and Aer Cosmetics develops sustainable makeup.Drexel launched the Innovation Fund in January 2023 as a way to invest in startups and spinouts in the universitys ecosystem. Last summer, Drexel chose agricultural lighting startup GrowFlux and lightweight construction material company SusMax for its first cohort.The impacts of Drexels Innovation Fund reach far beyond just the startups that win funding.Undergraduate students can take a course that lets them work on the due diligence process with the investment advisory committee. So this really exposes the students to the cutting edge of early stage startup companies, Kaido said.