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TandemLaunch

Universities & Inventors

We believe that to make great deep tech startups the best of two worlds are needed: great researchers to make impactful inventions and great entrepreneurs to transform those inventions into products.

TandemLaunch office

A team member of ORA working in the TandemLaunch office

We invest in deep technologies:
  • Software and Artificial Intelligence
  • Electronics and Semiconductor
  • Imaging, Cameras and Computer Vision
  • Displays, Video Processing and Graphics
  • Wireless and Communication
  • Advanced and Novel Sensors
  • Machine Learning and Data Analysis
  • Audio and Signal Processing
  • Human-Computer Interaction

It was great to witness how our student project seeded an idea for a startup, which then turned into a tech company, delivering perceptual display technology to thousands of consumers.

Rafal Mantiuk
Reader in Graphics and Displays at Cambridge University

The TandemLaunch Advantage

80+%
of our companies successfully raise Series A financing

We have a proven track record that our ventures succeed and have a fit for the market.

30+
university inventions commercialized through our program

We work hard to ensure transparency and that everyone knows what is happening every step of the process.

50+
professors and inventors from around the world advise our startups

We're proud of our international network of professors and scholars.

4,000+
technologies reviewed each year

We have a strong venture team that ensures we can source the next best thing to commercialize.

The main strength of TandemLaunch is that they provide everything that is needed to create a startup company: not just the money, but most importantly a team that is supported with TandemLaunch's business experts and their network.

Hugo Van Hamme
Professor at KU Leuven
Why work with us?
  • We have a global network of industry leaders in consumer technology to accelerate venture development and provide in-depth market intelligence.
  • Inventors can participate in the ventures at the level they desire. You focus on your research while we take your work to global commercial impact!
  • Universities and inventors of our ventures are treated as investment peers with related benefits and dilution protection.
  • Regardless of whether we invest, inventors and university licensing offices can receive market feedback on submitted inventions to help guide their IP strategy.
Diagram of university inventor process

We are a zero-stage investor. We invest in technologies and individuals, and with them, create new companies.

How it works
  1. 1Technology Submission: Universities and professors submit technology to our venture development team. We examine whether or not it fits in our investment criteria and provide market feedback.
  2. 2Venture Creation: If approved, we get to work recruiting a founding team, developing a validated business narrative, and developing a commercial proof of concept.
  3. 3Venture Incubation: Once the venture is assembled, we unlock our full investment to scale up the team and build the first product.
  4. 4Venture Acceleration: With a product ready to hit the market, a CEO is recruited and business development is accelerated through our industry network.
  5. 5Venture Graduation: Armed with a complete team, early traction, and our investor network, the venture goes fundraising.
  6. 6Upon the successful closing of the financing, the venture leaves TandemLaunch as an independent company.

Negotiations with TandemLaunch were conducted at a good pace. I would not hesitate to attempt to license other technologies from our office to TandemLaunch.

J. Montgomery
Senior Technology Manager at a Big Ten University

TandemLaunch's Venture Development Ecosystem

  • Industry Network
  • Academic Fellow Network
  • Technology Licensing Offices
  • Researchers
  • Investor Network
Venture Development Ecosystem

TandemLaunch partnered with Columbia to launch and build Algolux. The TandemLaunch team shepherded Algolux through many of the normal startup ups and downs, turning it into the award winning autonomous vision design platform it is today.

Orin Herskowitz
Executive Director at Columbia Technology Ventures
Bring your research to market
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