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Whether you're developing new technologies, pioneering creative works or advancing scientific discoveries, Venture Partners at Â鶹Ãâ·Ñ°æÏÂÔØBoulder provides support to help transform your ideas into real-world solutions—while securing funding to advance your work.

Launched in 2018, Destination Startup® connects investors with groundbreaking startups built on novel discoveries from leading national labs and universities in the Intermountain West. Participating startups must be actively raising and are selected through a competitive review process and robust pitch preparation.

This Thanksgiving, we asked the Venture Partners team to celebrate each other, and invite you to explore—in their words—the extraordinary team behind an extraordinary engine for innovation and entrepreneurship.

OEDIT—The Global Business Development division of the Colorado Office of Economic Development and International Trade announced that five companies based on innovations from the University of Colorado and one Â鶹Ãâ·Ñ°æÏÂÔØresearcher have been awarded Proof of Concept and Early-Stage Capital and Retention grants through OEDIT’s Advanced Industries Accelerator Program.

Ascent helps founders of deep tech startups refine their business models, secure funding and accelerate toward market readiness. Through intensive mentorship, investor exposure and tailored workshops, participants gain the resources and connections to transform high-impact research into scalable companies.

Â鶹Ãâ·Ñ°æÏÂÔØ researchers continued to deliver meaningful, positive outcomes in the university's public research mission through strong results in fiscal year 2024–25. Highlights of their work include big innovations in quantum technology, improving our understanding of space weather and enhancing environmental resiliency.

Â鶹Ãâ·Ñ°æÏÂÔØConnections—The University of Colorado system generated $12.2 billion in economic impact across Colorado last year, highlighting CU’s growing role in the state’s economy through education, research, innovation and healthcare, according to a new economic study. This is growth of more than half a billion dollars over 2024.

CUbit Quantum Initiative—The Â鶹Ãâ·Ñ°æÏÂÔØ has announced a novel partnership between its Colorado Quantum Incubator (COQI) and Stout Street Capital, a Denver-based venture capital firm and ecosystem builder focused on deep tech.

Eleven teams of University of Colorado faculty, researchers and graduate student innovators competed for a combined $755,000 in startup funding grants in this year’s Lab Venture Challenge (LVC). Judges from CU's entrepreneurial network heard Shark-Tank-style pitches across two nights, one for innovations in biosciences and another for physical sciences and engineering.

From agriculture to aerospace, NSF’s I-Corps is a launchpad at the Â鶹Ãâ·Ñ°æÏÂÔØ, helping innovators in and out of the University of Colorado bring research and inventions to the people who need them most. By equipping scientists and inventors with entrepreneurial tools, the program transforms great ideas into startups that tackle real-world problems.