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To further Rowan University’s commitment to a resilient South Jersey economy, the Rowan University Foundation expanded its venture capital fund to $25 million in August. Launched in 2014, the Rowan Innovation Venture Fund (RIVF) has contributed $5 million to foster visionary startup ideas, and he will receive a further $20 million to support the Rowan University community. supported company pipelines in development inside and outside of
14 South Jersey-based regional firms have been launched by RIVF since 2015, several of which were started by college students and teachers.
“We have invested about $4.3 million since the fund’s founding,” said RIVF Managing Director Ernest Holzheimer ’12, MBA ’13. “To decide if an opportunity satisfies the Fund’s investment requirements, I work closely with the Advisory Board.
Even if we initially reject an investment, we frequently make tools available through the Fund and the University to help businesses get ready for outside investment, whether it comes from the Fund or another investor in our network. Although a large portion of those investments have gone to businesses started by Rowan students, professors, or alumni, the Fund’s larger mission supports one of the University’s main objectives: the growth of the local economy.
With a $25 million investment, the RIVF is one of the biggest venture funds from a public university in the area, according to Ali A. Houshmand, president of Rowan University. “As Rowan expands, one of our goals must be to help innovators who have the concepts and capacity to found companies, generate revenue, and enhance communities.”
Houshmand noted that initiatives to make Rowan more entrepreneurial, such as a partnership with Virtua Health to create a dynamic and ground-breaking academic health system that will support clinical care, research, and innovation, coincided with the rise of the RIVF. A first for New Jersey, the Rowan University School of Veterinary Medicine will shortly open, and the university has launched the School of Innovation & Entrepreneurship under the Rohrer College of Business. (Last fall, the entrepreneurship program at Rowan University was recognized among the top 50 in the country by the Princeton Review and Entrepreneur magazine.)