Harper Court Ventures Fund I, a substantial £25 million early-stage fund, has been opened and is well-positioned to find, develop, and scale game-changing deep technology firms coming out of the prestigious University of Chicago (UChicago) ecosystem.
This new fund, which was announced on May 29, 2025, is run separately by MFV Partners, a well-known deep technology venture capital firm with headquarters in Silicon Valley. Harper Court Ventures’ primary goal is to provide vital early-stage funding to pre-seed and seed-stage businesses that are utilising innovative research and development from UChicago labs, the extensive programs offered by the Polsky Centre for Entrepreneurship and Innovation, and ventures run by faculty, students, and the vast network of UChicago alumni.
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Driving Chicago’s Deep Tech Ambition
The managing partner of MFV Partners and a graduate of the UChicago Booth School of Business, Karthee Madasamy, leads the MFV team with decades of expertise in deep tech investing and technology leadership. According to Madasamy, the alliance aims to “cement Chicago’s position as a deep tech hub in the Midwest” by evaluating early-stage enterprises inside the University of Chicago ecosystem and utilising MFV Partners’ established investing strategies.
It is adamant that Chicago already has many of the essential elements needed for deep tech success, such as robust research facilities, a wealth of talent for entrepreneurship, and easy access to industrial clients. He went on to say that the city’s central location, close proximity to other prestigious colleges like Purdue, Northwestern, and UIUC, and its ability to reach Fortune 500 industrial and healthcare clients are all important components of a deep tech comeback.
Madasamy highlighted comparisons to his previous positions creating innovation ecosystems in hitherto peripheral tech countries like Israel and India.
Strategic Investment Focus and Approach
Investments made with the Harper Court Ventures Fund I are intended to be extremely strategic. It will specifically target businesses operating in high-impact industries, such as:
- Quantum computing
- Life sciences
- Energy
- Artificial intelligence (AI)
The fund looks to support innovative businesspeople who are ready to start or lead new categories in sizable markets and who have extensive subject knowledge and distinctive, frequently patented technologies. The fund intends to make about 40 startup investments. The source explains that MFV intends to invest in “nearly 40 companies” over the next “three years” with a “five-year goal” to see several of these companies “break out,” even though the source refers to “over the next three years” and “over five years.”
Filling a Critical Market Gap
Karthee Madasamy underlined that a “specific pain point in the innovation pipeline” is immediately addressed by the fund. Particularly in areas without a robust venture capital ecosystem, deep tech ventures especially those in the pre-seed and seed stages originating from university research frequently have difficulty obtaining early backing.
Harper Court Ventures hopes to de-risk these businesses enough to draw in later outside investors by offering early funding and experience. The fund will give innovations in the UChicago ecosystem “the best chance of succeeding,” giving entrepreneurs the runway they need to hit important milestones and speed up their path to market, according to Samir Mayekar, managing director of the Polsky Centre, who echoed this point by pointing out the inherent difficulty of raising early-stage capital for deep tech startups.
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The Polsky Centre for Entrepreneurship and Innovation is directly integrated into the fund’s hands-on approach. The MFV team can collaborate closely with professors, PhD candidates, and accelerator programs with their close physical presence, which also gives them “first access” or “first look” at disclosures of inventions. Even whether a professor is just revealing an innovation or a PhD student is thinking about commercialization, their special methodology enables them to help turn scientific ideas into successful enterprises from the very beginning.
Since many researchers could undervalue the commercial potential of their work, Madasamy contends that this closeness is crucial. A “shift from the traditional academic commercialization model of patenting and licensing to an emphasis on company creation,” this strategy aligns incentives to promote venture building.
Key Investors and UChicago’s Unparalleled Support
Harper Court Ventures Funders The University of Chicago Endowment and Trustees Emmanuel Roman, Donald Wilson, Ken Jacobs, Ashley Duchossois Joyce, and Rachel Kohler, Michael Polsky, and Andy Alper. A strong institutional commitment is demonstrated by the fund’s operation under a formal, exclusive cooperation agreement with the University.
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The University of Chicago: “Uniquely positioned to develop and scale technologies that address some of humanity’s greatest challenges” .Over 160 transdisciplinary institutions and centres and 50 cutting-edge core facilities make up its huge ecosystem.
In addition to having a globally recognized business school, UChicago is the custodian of the Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory and Argonne National Laboratory, two national laboratories of the U.S. Department of Energy.
“Engines for basic science research in quantum computing, high-energy physics, and energy systems” is how these labs are referred to. The fund’s support will give “strong momentum to the University’s efforts to translate the most high-potential deep tech ideas into real-world applications” and increase the possibility of ground-breaking discoveries, according to UChicago President Paul Alivisatos, who expressed his happiness with the new collaboration.
Initial Investments Reflect Vision’s Breadth
The Harper Court Ventures Fund demonstrated the scope of its investing mandate by making initial investments in a number of promising UChicago-related businesses:
- Flow Medical: Under the direction of a Chicago Booth alumnus and co-founded by doctors from UChicago Medical Centre, this business is creating a cutting-edge catheter-based treatment for acute pulmonary embolism.
- SimCare AI: Using lifelike AI-generated patient dialogues, SimCare AI, founded and run by former UChicago students, is developing a scalable and secure platform for clinical skills training and assessment.
- Beacon: Started and run by a Chicago Booth alumnus, Beacon is revolutionising the prevention of illnesses in real time by using innovative, human-safe technology that gets rid of bacteria, viruses, and mould from surfaces and air.
- OrisDX: This business is creating a multiomic platform based on saliva for the early identification of oral cancer.
These early investments are all closely related to the engineering, business, or medical communities of UChicago. The fund’s wide-ranging mandate includes cutting-edge fields where strong academic ties can provide firms a sustainable competitive edge, like quantum sensing, sophisticated artificial intelligence AI, and innovative battery chemistries. Madasamy emphasized that the businesses they invest in are frequently based on “patented or hard-to-replicate tech, with domain experts at the helm,” which he says is essential for creating businesses that define their respective categories.
Looking Ahead: From Signal to Ecosystem
MFV intends to invest in about 40 businesses over the course of the next three years. Over the next five years, it hopes to see some of these businesses grow significantly, draw in significant follow-on capital, and establish themselves as well-known industry heavyweights. To become a “globally acknowledged node in the deep tech startup map,” Chicago is the “ten-year goal is bolder,” making it impossible to overlook.
The Harper Court Ventures money is intended to “light the spark,” while it acknowledges that Chicago currently lacks the density of venture firms found on the coasts and that it will take time for the initial wave of startups to scale to IPOs or significant exits. The general idea is that once the confidence and cash start flowing, the rest of the ecosystem will take care of itself.
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