Accelerate Blue Fund Highlights $6.8M Total Investment in U-M Startups In 2024 Impact Report
5/28/2025
The Accelerate Blue Fund team is proud to share the 2024 AB Fund Annual Report, detailing the fund’s performance and progress of its portfolio companies.
As of December 31, 2024, the Accelerate Blue Fund (AB Fund) has $15.6 million under management and has invested more than $6.8 million in 25 startups originating from the University of Michigan. This strategic support enabled these startups to attract $347 million in external investments, translating to $50 of additional capital for every dollar invested by the AB Fund. These startups have significantly impacted the economy, generating 367 jobs, with 293 of them located within Michigan.
In 2024, Innovation Partnerships launched two key initiatives to further promote innovation and entrepreneurship across the University of Michigan and the state. The Michigan University Innovation Capital Fund (MUICF) is a $5 million effort in partnership with the Michigan Economic Development Corporation and Michigan’s public universities providing essential investments for pre-seed and early-stage startups. MUICF invests in founders building fast-growing technology companies based on research from the state of Michigan’s public universities.
The second initiative, the Accelerate Blue Foundry, is an innovative program designed to bridge the gap between startup founders and some of the most promising innovations from University of Michigan research. By connecting top entrepreneurial talent with U-M researchers and their technologies, the program will accelerate the path to startup launch, fostering new ventures that have the opportunity to solve the world’s great challenges. Newly launched startups from the Foundry will be eligible for Accelerate Blue Fund investment.
The Accelerate Blue Fund is transforming research breakthroughs into tangible societal benefits by providing necessary seed investment capital to promising startups. We look forward to another impactful year of helping world-changing startups bring transformative research from the lab to the marketplace.