Overview
Why BR Ventures
Cornerstones of the Johnson School experience, BRV and BRI exemplify the Johnson School's tradition of combining rigorous business training with hands-on practice and leverage. Cornell's far-reaching entrepreneurship and personal enterprise initiatives. BRV fund managers and BRI directors are second-year MBA students already thoroughly versed in venture capital and entrepreneurship. As first-year students, they participate in the Johnson School's intensive, semester-long immersion programs in entrepreneurship and private equity or investment banking, among others, as well as serve as BRV associates or BRI consultants. Students also gain valuable experience and networking opportunities from Cornell's university-wide Entrepreneurship and Personal Enterprise (EPE) program--which won the 2001 NASDAQ Center for Entrepreneurial Excellence Award--and the Cornell Entrepreneur Network (CEN).
The fund and the incubator serve as extensions of the immersion programs, providing a one-of-a-kind experience for students to gain exposure to managing a professional organization, make real decisions that impact their success, and face real-world challenges. BRI resources also include Johnson School MBAs with diverse industry backgrounds in other areas including consulting, engineering, life sciences, and marketing management. As a result, BRV and BRI portfolio companies gain a competitive advantage from talented students, and Johnson School MBAs graduate with an experience superior to that at peer business schools.
Cornell
BRV and BRI draw upon the formidable resources of Cornell--an unrivaled institution with 13 colleges and schools and more than 100 research centers and programs that ranks 11th among U.S. universities in total R&D expenditures and 18th in federally financed R&D. The university's not-for-profit Cornell Research Foundation evaluates and provides technology transfer for inventions stemming from Cornell research.
The Cornell community produces more than 200 patentable ideas each year--opportunities in a vast range of areas, including microfluidics, nanofabrication and advanced materials, environmental remediation, biomedical devices, veterinary medicine, pain treatment, agriculture, textiles, and gene therapy.
Our Value to Portfolio Companies
BRV is more than just financial capital. A BRV investment puts the intellectual assets of one of the largest research institutions at the disposal of our portfolio companies. In addition, BRV has cultivated relationships with top-tier venture capital partners, helping our portfolio companies access the financial resources and relationships necessary to execute their business plans and create winning companies. BRV views itself as a facilitator and enabler, purposefully structuring its investments with the needs of subsequent and follow-on investors in mind.
"The BR incubator helped us find the right approach to the consumer marketplace, then hit the street to interact with real customers. BR Ventures has worked with SightSpeed since its inception and followed through with an investment. These two organizations are the best kind of investors and consultants because they act to make things happen." -Brad Treat, '02, CEO SightSpeed
