$40MM fund for NVille

Harry Jacboson and colleagues have created Fund II, with a goal of $40MM, to be invested toward more disruptive healthcare businesses. Read about it here.

TNInvestco winners 'on leave' at VU

During a review of the situation, Vanderbilt University has placed two of its former tech-transfer executives on administrative leave, in the wake of the two winning a slot in the TNInvestco competition. Read the story here.

TNInvestco: Tri-Star discusses targets

Tri-Star Technology Fund co-Founder Christopher Rand (left) told VNC this afternoon the fund will "target investments in health care, broadly defined to include: biotechnology, pharmaceuticals, personalized medicine, medical devices, health care IT and health care services." Rand, who is in the venture with Brian Laden and Harry Jacobson, M.D., added, "Tri-Star Technology Ventures plans to concentrate primarily on founding and investing in companies emerging from America’s top research institutions, with a focus on Tennessee’s great research institutions. All three partners...believe that there is a significant amount of promising research that isn’t currently tapped into by most VCs."

VU Venture exec eyes cap gaps

Vanderbilt University technology transfer and commercialization Venture Manager Christopher Rand reports on the 'disconnect' he senses between VCs and seed-stage companies here. Here's the VNC story.