The University of Pennsylvania’s early-stage spinout division, PCI Ventures, has recruited Craig Gravitz as its new executive director.
Gravitz joins Penn from the Advanced Research Projects Agency for Health (ARPA-H), a US government research funding agency he helped set up as its first employee in March 2022.
At ARPA-H, he also founded and served as director of the Office of Commercialization.
Before ARPA-H, Gravitz spent more than 12 years at the Defense Logistics Agency, which sits within the US Department of Defense. In July 2016, he founded and then led the DLA Innovation Team and Commercial Technology Accelerator, supporting all tech transfer activities at the agency.
At PCI Ventures, Gravitz succeeds Michael Poisel, who became the executive director of the University of Melbourne’s innovation hub, Melbourne Entrepreneurial Centre, last August. Poisel had set up PCI Ventures in 2009.
Penn has significantly doubled down on its innovation ecosystem in recent months and now has access to two university venture funds: the $10 million StartUP Fund, set up using the institution’s own capital, and the $50 million PxB Fund, managed by Osage University Partners and also backed by BioNTech.
