Venture Catalyst will be closed December 21, 2020 through January 1, 2021. During these two weeks, we will be unable to respond to messages or provide access to resources and services available through our programs. Our office will reopen on Monday, January 4, 2021.

John Aikens will focus on innovations in physical science, engineering, agriculture, and computer science. He joins the team with over 25 years’ experience in the biotechnology, fine chemicals, and materials science industries. John is serial entrepreneur having worked in multiple startups with key roles within organizations including founder, research scientist, business development, and C-level management. He has also been an active advisor and mentor with experience engaging with entrepreneurs from several universities including Princeton, Northwestern, the University of Chicago, and the University of Illinois. John most recently worked as a contractor to Argonne National Laboratory’s Chain Reaction Innovations, which is a Department of Energy Lab-Embedded Entrepreneurship Program. John is an inventor of over 20 patents and is an advocate for sustainability and alternative energy. He received a Ph.D. in Chemistry from UC Irvine and completed postdoctoral studies in Biophysics and Biochemistry at the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign.

Mike Lemcke will focus on life science innovations. He moves into the Associate Director role after serving as Venture Catalyst’s Proof-of-Concept & Innovation Programs Manager for the past three and a half years. In this role, Mike was responsible for managing the Science Translation and Innovative Research (STAIR) and Data, Informatics and Application Launch (DIAL) proof-of-concept grant programs, engagement with undergraduate student innovators and entrepreneurs, implementation of funding through the UC Innovation & Entrepreneurship Expansion Bill, and the Biotech Innovation Gallery (BIG) Accelerator program. Through these programs, Mike has supported numerous life science innovators and startups with technology de-risking activities, industry and investor engagement, and entrepreneurial skills development. Prior to joining Venture Catalyst, Mike worked in new product and technology development and deployment in the gaming industry.

Seed Central, in partnership with Venture Catalyst, the UC Davis Innovation Institute for Food & Health, and the Microbiome Special Research Program will host a virtual Innovators Showcase with pitch sessions, panel discussions, and online company visits scheduled for January 21-29, 2021. The showcase will feature startups and innovative companies in seed, ag, agbiotech, microbiome, and food & health and will also include a panel discussion on incubator and startup space in the Davis-Sacramento region, with particular focus on seed-to-fork.

Gene editing can improve crop performance, but oftentimes the plants are hard to grow from cells after their genomes have been edited. Plant geneticist Jorge Dubcovksy, a distinguished professor of plant sciences at UC Davis developed a new tool to improve the the plant gene editing process by coaxing transformed cells to regenerate new plants. The findings were published in the journal Nature Biotechnology.... Read More

UC Davis announced that the Aggie Square project is one step closer to realization. The Sacramento City Council adopted a resolution of intention to establish the Aggie Square Enhanced Infrastructure Financing District, or EIFD. This financing mechanism will utilize the City's portion of increased property taxes generated by the project to help fund the development and related improvements.... Read More

A team of brain scientists from the UC Davis School of Medicine and University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston (UTHealth) were awarded a six-year grant expected to total $53.6 million from the National Institutes of Health (NIH). The researchers will use the funding to study the role of incidental white matter lesions, or WMLs, in dementia among diverse people with cognitive complaints. The grant is the largest ever from the NIH to the UC Davis School of Medicine. It also is a new and critical part of the NIH’s Vascular Contributions to Cognitive Impairment and Dementia (VCID) research program.... Read More

Pamela Ronald, distinguished professor in the Department of Plant Pathology at UC Davis and with the UC Davis Genome Center, was named a 2020 World Agriculture Prize laureate by the Global Confederation of Higher Education Associations for Agricultural and Life Sciences, or GCHERA. She becomes the first woman whose work is recognized by the award. The award recognizes her history of major discoveries in plant molecular genetics.... Read More

As a part of the Computational Research Division’s (CRD) summer student program at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, four graduate students from UC Davis researched a method that could allow doctors and researchers to leverage valuable health information in the battle against COVID-19 while also preserving patient privacy in COVID-19-related electronic health records (EHR).... Read More

Visit the website: https://covid19research.ucdavis.edu/

PitchBook-NVCA Venture Monitor (PitchBook)

Compared to the previous quarter, venture deal activity increased in Q3 2020, according to PitchBook-NVCA Venture Monitor report. Investments over Q3 2020 totaled nearly $38 billion, buoyed by mega-deals, bring the 2020 total to over $112 billion.... Read More

Pandemic’s Impact Disproportionately Reduced VC Funding for Female Founders (TechCrunch)

The pandemic's effect on the venture capital funding for different industries varied greatly. While the funding dried up for some sectors, others, especially software, flourished. However, data collected by Techrunch shows that early-stage female founders have been disproportionately hurt by the pandemic’s impact.... Read More

Data Shows California's 'Women on Boards' Law Has Decimated All-Male Boards (Silicon Valley Business Journal)

Since the passing of the California Senate Bill 826 in 2018, which requires a minimum number of women on public company boards, the number companies with no women on their boards went down from 180 to just 15. California public companies added 176 women to their boards in 2018 and 346 in 2019. Women claimed another 147 board seats in first half of 2020.... Read More

Latent Technology as an Outcome of R&D (Technological Forecasting and Social Change)

Researchers from Northumbria University in the UK and University of North Carolina at Greensboro published a paper on the effects of latent technology licensing versus commercialization. The findings indicate that there is a higher probability of a company selling a technology to another firm if the technology has not been commercialized. The paper also indicated that larger firms are more likely to commercialize technologies in-house rather than licensing them out.... Read More

The latest report from the California Life Science Association (CLSA) shows that the state's life science sector directly employs nearly 324,000 people (up 4% from 2019) and generated nearly $192 billion in revenue in 2020. California's life science sector is also projected to receive $6.5 billion in venture capital funding as well as $4.5 billion of funding from the NIH.... Read More

UC Davis Venture Catalyst supports the development of new ventures fueled by university research and technology. Venture Catalyst offers several innovative programs that bridge the gap between early-stage research and commercialization and provide entrepreneurs the resources, support, and connections needed to successfully form and grow technology-based startups. With a focus on accelerating technology-led economic development in the Davis-Sacramento region, Venture Catalyst also works closely with partners in the regional innovation and economic development ecosystems. 

For more information or for editorial comments, please email us.