Nationwide Children’s Hospital, a US-based not-for-profit healthcare system, has started a $5.5m life sciences fund to back spinouts from its research institute.
Rev1 NCH Fund I is a joint venture with Rev1 Ventures, a seed-stage venture capital fund. It has also secured $2.75m in debt financing from the Ohio State-backed Ohio Third Frontier’s Pre-Seed/Seed Plus Fund Capitalization Program.
Rev1 and Nationwide Children’s first teamed up in 2014 with an investment by Rev1 in Nationwide Children spinout Milo Biotechnology, a company that delivers a gene-based therapy to treat muscle atrophy.
Ohio-based venture development organisation JumpStart and Rev1 Ventures made a follow-on investment in Milo earlier this month.
Tim Robinson, chief financial and administrative officer at Nationwide Children’s Hospital, said: “Partnering with Rev1 Ventures on the life sciences fund enables us to support innovative and promising research that will literally impact children’s lives all around the world.”
– Image courtesy of Nationwide Children’s Hospital