Venture Capital Investments by Nonprofits May Be on the Rise

Background: Funding cuts have affected the ability of academic medical centers (AMCs) to finance research. The authors are turning to alternative sources to keep their laboratories open for business. Objective: To examine the extent, patterns, and implications of venture capital investments by U.S. AMCs, and to assess how such investments align with institutional missions, financial strategies, and potential conflicts of interest. Discussion: The authors describe the growth of venture capital investment activity by 10 leading U.S. AMCs between 2010 and 2024 using PitchBook (a commercial online business data resource) data. They report the number of investment deals and cumulative deal sizes involving AMC-affiliated venture capital funds. A graph (see the original article) of the data demonstrates a steady increase from $8 million to a peak of $54 million in 2021. There is a year-over-year decline in these investments after 2021, with the most recent 2024 data showing a total value of more...