“We will focus on startups at the very early stage, because that’s the hardest money for an entrepreneur to find,” explained Stephen Fleming, Georgia Tech’s chief commercialization officer and manager of the new fund. “Once companies have customers, a product and some traction in the marketplace, they can interest larger investors.”

“There is certainly a perception that there’s not enough early-stage capital in Atlanta,” he said. “The Georgia Tech Edison Fund will not by itself be a silver bullet that solves this problem, but I think it will help by putting new energy into and a new focus on early-stage financing.”

Fleming plans to make the requirement for a Georgia Tech connection as broad as possible. For example, the Fund will invest in companies that may be founded by Georgia Tech faculty, students and graduates; licensing technology from Georgia Tech; sponsoring research at Georgia Tech; or even hiring a large number of Georgia Tech alumni.

“The Georgia Tech Edison Fund is for the whole community,” Fleming added. “There are a lot of Georgia Tech threads running through the entrepreneur community in Atlanta and Georgia. This really won’t limit our capability very much because a lot of deals we are going to want to make are well connected to Georgia Tech.”

Great news for Georgia Techies.