MSU Student Capital Venture Fund and Red Cedar Ventures announce 2023 recommended investments in Michigan startups
The MSU Student Venture Capital Fund (SVCF) announced recommendations for pre-seed investment in five promising Midwest-based startups at the Fifth Investment Celebration event held on April 11 in the Minskoff Pavilion at MSU’s Broad College of Business. This year’s event attracted approximately 100 participants, including MSU alumni in the venture industry, CVCPEEF advisory board members, and guests.
The MSU SVCF is a collaboration between the Michigan State University Research Foundation, its venture arm Red Cedar Ventures, the Department of Finance, and its Center for Venture Capital, Private Equity, and Entrepreneurial Finance (CVCPEEF).
The partnership gives MSU students taking Entrepreneurial Finance, Entrepreneurial Finance and Venture Capital, and Venture Capital and Private Equity hands-on experience in venture capital investing. In the class, students review a pipeline of early-stage start-up companies from the entrepreneurial ecosystem and conduct investment selection, due diligence, market and competitive analysis, and valuation analysis to make investment recommendations to Red Cedar Ventures.
This year, SVCF received applications from 28 start-up companies from various industries, such as software, social media, electronic games, sports equipment, medical devices and health care, agriculture, food, and space. The students recommended these five companies:
Audio Radar: gaming accessory designed for deaf and hard-of-hearing gamers
The Bee Corp: nonintrusive beehive detection system
KMI: space debris removal
Smart Bridge Medical Inc.: innovative medical devices
Revolin: innovative sports material and equipment
Hayong Yun, associate professor of finance and co-director of CVCPEEF, said, “The Student VC Fund is a unique program that partners with Red Cedar Ventures to analyze real-world start-ups. This program places MSU among the leading universities in the VC/PE space and contributes an important educational component to MSU students looking to enter the venture industry.”
Students had this to say after the event:
“I am incredibly grateful for this class and the opportunity to see what it takes for a start-up to be granted pre-seed funding. This experience was extremely beneficial to me as a student, and I am excited to carry it with me throughout my career and in future endeavors.” (Kennedy Goudeseune)
“This class was such a unique learning opportunity and helped shed light on what it takes for a start-up to be granted pre-seed funding. I’m grateful for this hands-on experience and excited to carry it with me throughout my career!” (Kate Connelly)
From the event’s inception in 2019 through 2022, $200,000 of pre-seed and seed stage investments have been deployed in 19 separate companies. Those companies have since raised over $27.6 million from dilutive and nondilutive sources. When this year’s recommended investments are completed, the SVCF will have 24 companies in the portfolio.