University Venture Fund at the University of Utah gets final closing on $18 million

The University Venture Fund on Monday announced it has achieved a final closing of $18 million in funding.

UVF is one of only a few business school venture capital funds, which teach students entrepreneurship by investing in risky — yet potentially rewarding — start-up companies rather than in safer stocks of public corporations.

Full Story: http://deseretnews.com/dn/view/0,1249,640188263,00.html

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Success among students

Utah entrepreneur hit it big by focusing on a young work force and its new ideas

By Linda Fantin
The Salt Lake Tribune

In its first four years, the University Venture Fund raised $5 million, making the following announcement all the more incredible: During the past 18 months, UVF has raised another $13 million for investments in budding biotechnology companies and other start-ups.

It’s an unprecedented amount of money when you consider the fund managers were plucked from a peer group more accustomed to investing in the futures market – as in hops, barley and ramen.

But, as UVF founder Jared Hutchings has discovered, college students are uniquely suited to this kind of work – and not just because they can persuade parents, er investors, to part with a lot of money.

"Students are in touch with trends and they have a great talent for doing research, for accessing information and people," said UVF managing director Jared Hutchings.

Full Story; http://www.sltrib.com/business/ci_3957498