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Report: Duke teams with VC firm in bid to boost profits from spin-offs

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RESEARCH TRIA NGLE PARK, N.C. – Duke University hopes to improve returns from technology spin-offs using intellectual property developed at the institution through a partnership with a venture capital firm.

According to VentureWire, Duke is one of six universities that is part of a “unique partnership” with Pennsylvania-based Osage Partners.

Osage will raise “at least $100 million” for a new fund that will be used to “exclusively participate in follow-on financing rounds” for the university startups, VentureWire reported. The universities would “receive a piece of the fund’s profits,” the report said.

Other universities in the partnership include: Yale University, University of Pennsylvania, University of Florida, California Institute of Technology, and the University of Michigan.

VentureWire said it based the report on a summary of the plan that it obtained.

Officials at Duke told VentureWire it would not contribute to the fund.

"Universities often don't exercise their rights to participate in follow-on rounds of financing because they lack an internal pool of money to keep participating," Rose Ritts, executive director at Duke University's office of licensing and ventures, told VentureWire. "As a result, their equity position gets diluted."
 

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