DURHAM – The Triangle-based entrepreneur Joe Colopy, who co-founded and later sold Bronto Software and went on to found the venture capital firm Jurassic Capital, will make a significant gift to the North Carolina School of Science and Mathematics to bolster the public school’s entrepreneurship offerings and endow the effort for years to come.

Colopy and his wife, Karalyn, will donate $1.5 million to the school to endow a technology entrepreneurship program that will teach students the nuts and bolts of entrepreneurship, ultimately resulting in cultivating entrepreneurs that may one day change the world, Colopy described in an interview with WRAL TechWire.

“We have this MIT-level school, right in our midst,” said Colopy, adding that by investing in entrepreneurial programs locally, the region’s entrepreneurial economy may benefit greatly in the future.

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A hidden gem

In fact, there’s already a long history of NCSSM alumni that have gone on to found or lead technology companies, Colopy said.

“I saw a lot of these very successful entrepreneurs had gone to Science & Math, and that some of our best software engineers had attended Science & Math,” said Colopy.  “A hidden gem.”

Notable alumni include Carl Ryden, the co-founder and CEO of PrecisionLender, Jud Bowman, the founder of Appia and also Motricity, which he founded while a student at NCSSM, Minesh Mistry, the cofounder of SideTour Inc, which was acquired by Groupon, and Amy Kim, the cofounder of Squad.

Ryden previously provided a philanthropic gift to the school to establish the Ryden Program for Innovation and Leadership in Artificial Intelligence

“At a fairly young age, these students are choosing to move away from home and jump into the unknown,” said Colopy.  “And that is a unique trait.”

But it’s also a trait that students and alumni of the institution may share with another group: entrepreneurs.

According to Colopy, the philanthropic gift is intended to create a long-lasting entrepreneurial program, as such, the gift may endow one or more paid staff positions that enable the school to provide ongoing entrepreneurial offerings for its students.

School of Science, Math alum makes multi-million dollar gift for artificial intelligence