Rice Venture Fund

This fund will give students hands-on experience with the venture process, including sourcing deals, due diligence and financial modeling, and making investment decisions. The fund will be advised by a team of VC professionals and professors at Rice, including Kyle Judah, our faculty sponsor and director of Rice’s Lilie Program. 

Investment Thesis: Rice is a world class research institution on the cutting edge of technological development, featuring a diverse and highly motivated student body. Our deal flow revolves around those students looking to make an impact on the world through big ideas. We are looking to firstly invest in viable homegrown Rice startups from undergraduates, graduate students, professors, and technologies developed at Rice. Secondly, we plan to leverage the diverse interests and experiences of our student body and are open to deal flow from anywhere our team members’ passions take them. Lastly, and most importantly, we are looking to offer a syndicate for our Alumni, so they can co-invest in Rice Venture Fund’s opportunities.

The creation of this fund will enable a new era of Rice entrepreneurship, allowing student founders to build their visions and student investors to gain invaluable experience, and allow startups connected to the Rice Network to have a formal way to receive their early stage capital.