University of Pennsylvania, Osage University Partners Launch $50M Penn-BioNTech Innovative Therapeutics Seed Fund

The University of Pennsylvania ("Penn"), BioNTech SE ("BioNTech"), and OUP (Osage University Partners) announced the launch of the $50 million Penn-BioNTech Innovative Therapeutics Seed Fund ("PxB Fund"), a dedicated venture capital fund focused on early-stage life science companies originating from Penn. The joint effort will provide additional fuel to advance Penn discoveries into products that benefit patients across the world, following a decade in which the university's research teams have spawned 45 FDA approvals for transformative vaccines and novel medical treatments such as CAR T cell therapy, and garnered a Nobel Prize and four Breakthrough Prizes for Life Sciences.

The PxB Fund will provide capital to Penn-founded companies developing novel therapeutics, diagnostics, and research tools, including AI-enabled drug discovery platforms to address serious medical conditions. It is designed to help Penn investigators accelerate the translation of high-potential science from their labs to patients by providing early-stage capital to promising Penn startups. The fund will be managed by OUP, a Philadelphia-based venture capital firm with over $800 million under management that has invested in more than 150 startups commercializing university research, including more than 10 Penn startups.