LAS VEGAS, Nev. (FOX5) – Is Las Vegas the new Silicon Valley? A new venture fund is giving local start-up companies the money they need to succeed.
Former UNLV President Len Jessup founded Desert Fund Ventures.
“The goal is to grow great companies here in tech and biotech that help to build out and diversify the economy,” Jessup said. “With Desert Forge Ventures, we’re aimed at the Las Vegas Valley.”
Jessup believes Las Vegas has seen an explosion in start-ups. He said the Valley is ranked top five in the country for start-up activity, but it’s one of the most underfunded tech hubs in the country.
The first start-up to receive funding through DFV is WAVR Technologies, Inc. The company, born from UNLV’s Da Kine Lab and lead by Mechanical Engineering professor Dr. Jeremy Cho, Ph.D. and former UNLV students, is using atmospheric water harvesting to collect water from the air.
“We came up with our own way of pulling water from the air in a completely new way that is really designed for dry environments like Las Vegas,” Dr. Cho explained. “We think there is an opportunity to generate water at scales that could be meaningful for actual communities that have water stress issues.”
With funding from Desert Forge Ventures, Dr. Cho and his former student researchers can keep creating the best product in the Da Kine Lab.
“Desert Forge Ventures pumps life into these ideas,” Jessup continued. “These guys in the labs come up with the ideas, the inspiration, the invention. Then, what do you do with it? It has to be commercialized. That needs expertise and it needs capital to be able to create a company around it and then grown that company and have products or services go out into the world and be used to make a difference.”
DFV has committed funding to other Las Vegas Valley start-ups.
“We’re looking at companies on three levels. One, anything coming out of UNLV but second, anything we see in the Las Vegas Valley that’s interesting,“ added Jessup. ”Level 3 is we’ve got people actively helping us to recruit founders and starters that come to Las Vegas. We’ve got a bunch of great companies from all over the world that we’re looking at to bring in to to Las Vegas.“
Jessup hopes to fund between five and ten companies with the first round of funding. WAVR Technologies, Inc. is included in that first wave.
DFV plans to keep growing and funding companies as more investors contribute. So far, he said DFV has more than a dozen initial investors, mostly from the Las Vegas Valley. The minimum investment is $200,000.
“Then, we invest between $50,000 and $500,000 into companies that we support,” explained Jessup. “We’re also partnering with the Governor’s Office of Economic Development. They’ve committed up to $10 million. They’ll match in two tranches, $5 million and then another $5 million, dollar for dollar. Whatever we put into the companies, they’ll do the same.”
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