Venture studio brings dedicated startup capital and hands-on support in company building to the UW-Madison campus; actively sourcing ideas and entrepreneurs.

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Madison, Wisconsin — Varsity Venture Studio has announced its official launch. The university venture studio is a collaborative product of the University of Wisconsin-Madison, the Wisconsin Alumni Research Foundation (WARF) and High Alpha Innovation.

Varsity Venture Studio is the first university venture studio of its kind, providing an emerging model for entrepreneurship that combines dedicated startup capital with hands-on support in company building. Varsity will assess, select and refine business ideas through a structured venture building process, ultimately leading to the launch of at least one funded software company in 2021.

"The venture studio is a very promising model," notes Greg Keenan, WARF's Senior Director - Venture and Accelerator. "Our campus is a rich source of ideas for a venture studio, and Varsity will help bring those ideas to life." High Alpha Innovation CEO Elliott Parker believes that his company's deep knowledge of venture building and B2B SaaS expertise will enable Varsity's success: "At High Alpha Innovation, we're deeply committed to systematic, rapid startup creation. We can't wait to extend that commitment to the UW-Madison campus and start building some amazing things."

Varsity is actively sourcing ideas from UW-Madison faculty, students and staff that address problems solved by software or an app, as well as entrepreneurs interested in participating in business design and leading a startup company. Ideas can come from anywhere on campus, and no coding experience, patents or invention disclosure are required. To learn more, visit www.varsityventurestudio.com.

Varsity Venture Studio, a UW-Madison-wide venture studio, turns ideas into funded software businesses. Varsity Venture Studio is a collaboration between the University of Wisconsin-Madison, Wisconsin Alumni Research Foundation (WARF) and High Alpha Innovation, and is the first university venture studio of its kind. Whether UW innovators have a solution to a customer problem, research challenge, or industry inefficiency, Varsity Venture Studio can help transform big ideas into real companies.

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