University of Chicago’s Polsky Center to Showcase Deep Tech Startups at Accelerator Demo Day

CHICAGO--(BUSINESS WIRE)--The University of Chicago’s Polsky Center for Entrepreneurship and Innovation will showcase deep tech startups at its inaugural Compass Accelerator Demo Day. The Polsky Center, founded at the Chicago Booth School of Business, has a 25-year successful track record of launching new ventures such as Pyxis Oncology, Grubhub, Foxtrot, Evozyne, ExplORer Surgical, and more.

Taking place on Wednesday, January 19, 2022, the all-virtual Demo Day will showcase innovations emerging from the Compass, the Polsky Center's 6-month deep tech accelerator. Investors are invited to register online to hear pitches from Cohort 3 ventures in the areas of life sciences, quantum, and artificial intelligence/machine learning. Additionally, participants in the newly announced Cohort 4 will deliver 2-minute quick pitches.

>> Register for the Compass Demo Day, here.

The event also will feature a panel discussion with Anthony Melendez from AbbVie Ventures; Mira Chaurushiya, senior partner at Westlake Village BioPartners; and Richard Ganz, venture partner at Orange Grove Bio.

“We are incredibly proud to showcase Cohort 3 of the Compass, which was launched last year to provide support to researchers at the University of Chicago, Argonne National Laboratory, and Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory who are working to commercialize their early-stage research,” said Bill Payne, executive director of science and technology at the Polsky Center.

“Though the program is only beginning its second year, we have already seen incredible successes from participating startups,” added Shyama Majumdar, associate director of Polsky Science Ventures. “Of note, HeioThera, ReAx Biotechnologies, and most recently, memQ have all gone on to receive the George Schultz Innovation Fund award, which provides up to $250,000 in co-investment funding for early-stage tech ventures. A participant in Cohort 2, phlaxis, went on to take second place at the New Venture Challenge last year, and received more than $388,000 in investment.”

About the Polsky Center for Entrepreneurship and Innovation at the University of Chicago

The Polsky Center for Entrepreneurship and Innovation applies world-class business expertise from the University of Chicago Booth School of Business to bring new ideas and breakthrough innovations to market. Home of the University’s technology transfer office, the Polsky Center’s dedicated team of professionals perform market analysis, manage intellectual property, identify partners, and negotiate partnerships and licenses for discoveries and inventions developed by faculty, researchers, and staff.