- The University of Wyoming launched “A Venture in Capital,” a student-led venture capital club/fund backed by the UW Foundation and Fisher Incentive Funds to invest in UW-connected Wyoming startups.
- The fund expects to deploy roughly $100,000 per year, with students sourcing, diligencing, and voting on deals through the ENTR 5603 course as a year-round activity.
- It complements Wyoming’s growing early-stage ecosystem, alongside efforts like Innosphere’s $11M Wyoming Innovation Fund and WYVC investments.
- Key watchpoints are governance and continuity, deal-flow quality, and whether a small, student-run fund can deliver sustainable returns while meeting educational goals.
Read More
The University of Wyoming’s “A Venture in Capital” marks a notable strategic move: merging experiential learning with economic development. By channeling the Fisher Incentive Funds to seed UW-affiliated startups, and involving students in both evaluating and executing deals through an MBA course-turned-club, UW addresses two foundational gaps: student VC experience and early-stage capital in Wyoming.
In terms of scale, the fund expects to deploy approximately $100,000 annually in investments. While modest in absolute size, this allows for significant hands-on student involvement and can serve as a signal and lubricant for other investors. The requirement that startups maintain a UW touchpoint (student, faculty, alum, or UW-originated IP) helps ensure alignment and deal flow, but could limit universe size. The in-kind services (legal, accounting, training) add value beyond capital, mitigating some risk.
This initiative slots into a growing state venture ecosystem. The Innosphere Wyoming Innovation Fund, with $11 million targeting ~12 companies, addresses the same problem at greater scale. Meanwhile, WYVC’s direct investments (e.g., $15 million Series A for Disa, support for Mia Share) show emerging deal-velocity. UW’s fund is thus complementary: smaller, more pedagogical, and more focused on UW network, feeding into larger funds requiring later stage. It helps densify the startup pipeline in Wyoming.
Strategic implications include UW’s potential to anchor talent and avoid brain drain by giving students reasons to stay and start locally; enhanced research commercialization; and sectoral development, especially in technology, mining-materials, and education tech. But risks: student assessments may lack depth versus professional VCs; small fund size may lead to under diversification; returns may lag; and governance must balance educational mission with fiduciary responsibility. Scaling this initiative may require attracting external LPs, partnerships, or expanding investment size while maintaining control.
Open questions that need watching: What is the expected timeline to see exits or returns? How will performance be benchmarked against cost? Will the fund ever invest beyond UW-affiliated startups to increase scale? How will student turnover affect continuity? Can the fund attract co-investors or follow-on capital? And will regulatory, legal, or tax issues around university-affiliated investment complicate operations?
Supporting Notes
- UW’s «A Venture in Capital» is an entrepreneurial finance class starting a year-round venture capital club/fund in partnership with the UW Foundation and CEI, funded by Fisher Incentive Funds.
- Investments typically expected to be about $100,000 per year depending on fund availability.
- Investments require a UW touchpoint (student, staff, faculty, alum, or UW-generated IP).
- Startups will present in class/club, students perform due diligence and vote on investments; in-kind services (legal, accounting, training) included.
- Innosphere Wyoming Innovation Fund launched in March 2025 with $11 million targeting ~12 companies to bridge seed/pre-seed gaps in Wyoming.
- WYVC invested in Disa Technologies via Series A of $15 million closed December 2023; WYVC also investing in emerging funds like Breakthrough Venture Capital.
- The university is R1 research institution; economic impact report shows over $150 million in research expenditures, with strong spillover into startups and IP disclosures; but only ~37% of graduates currently remain in Wyoming.