Newly Launched Yale Ventures Aims to Propel Start-Ups in New Haven and Beyond

“Yale is home to brilliant, creative, and altruistic people who dream about changing the world,” said Josh Geballe, recently named senior associate provost for entrepreneurship & innovation at Yale, and who will be Managing Director of the newly formed Yale Ventures.

“With support and guidance from Yale Ventures, innovators will create new startups across more university departments, attract external investment into those startups and develop partnerships in the Yale and New Haven communities to create jobs, retain talented Yale graduates, and grow the innovation ecosystem. The launch of Yale Ventures is an important step in expanding the impact Yale will have on addressing many of the world’s biggest challenges,” Geballe said.

Yale Ventures will be organized into four primary units: Intellectual Property and Licensing Services, Innovation Training and Startups, Corporate Partnerships, and Innovation Community. Each of these units will be supported with new university investments. 

The new initiative, formally announced this month by Yale, is designed to support and expand innovation and entrepreneurship across the university and throughout the greater New Haven region.  Yale Ventures aims to support the translation of university research into impactful products, services, and social ventures and accelerate the expansion of the entrepreneurial ecosystem.

Geballe joined Yale earlier this year after spending much of the past three years as a high ranking official in the Lamont administration, as Commissioner of the Department of Administrative Services and the state’s chief operating officer.  A former IBM executive and technology entrepreneur prior to his recent stint in government, Geballe played a central role in managing Connecticut's pandemic response and was overseeing a major initiative to modernize and streamline state government operations. He holds an MBA from the Yale School of Management and a BA from Yale University.

Yale Provost Scott Strobel said: “Creativity and collaboration are hallmarks of our research enterprise at Yale. Yale Ventures marks an opportunity for us to fully harness their potential. Under Josh Geballe’s leadership, alongside our partners in New Haven, and with new strategic investments, we are poised to drive significant impact in the coming years.”

Yale has already seen some success in the innovation and entrepreneurship space. In 2021, 11 startups spun out of Yale with $53.3 million raised in new venture financing. A record-breaking five IPOs occurred in the past five years for Yale spinouts Arvinas, BioHaven, Inozyme, NextCure, and IsoPlexis, according to officials.  Yale alumni who began developing their venture ideas as students have also gone on to achieve significant milestones.

In 2021, Yale announced it will be an anchor tenant at 101 College Street in New Haven, a key project in the city’s effort to expand as a national center for the life sciences industry. The university is supporting BioLabs, a biotech incubator that will be located there to serve burgeoning area startups. Yale spinout Arvinas will also serve as a major tenant and AstraZeneca has indicated plans to expand in the city following its 2021 acquisition of Alexion.

Later this month, a virtual three-day event, Start-Up Yale, will have student entrepreneurs and alumni start-ups pitch their ideas for a chance to win substantial prizes including funding for ideas in health, sustainability, equality, tech, and more.  Registration for the April 28,29,30 event is now open here.  And the 2022 Yale Innovation Summit will be held on May 17-18 at the Omni New Haven Hotel.

“At Yale, we are nurturing connections across campus to drive innovation that benefits individuals and communities,” said Yale President Peter Salovey. “Our investment in Yale Ventures will ensure that our faculty and student entrepreneurs have the support they need to tackle the most critical challenges facing humankind. We are wholly committed to the integrative approach and ambitious vision of Yale Ventures, and I’m excited to see it realized.”