Fund That Tiger, a venture capital fund set up to back companies affiliated with Clemson University, will mark its first close at $1 million at the end of this month.
Launched last year by Clemson alumni Joe Milam and Matt Johnson, Fund That Tiger has a target size of $10 million.
It plans to back preseed, seed, and early-stage spinouts from Clemson University, as well as startups founded by alumni from the US public land-grant institution, with pre-money valuations below $20 million.
Cheques will range from $100,000 to $1 million, and while the fund will be industry-agnostic, it will focus on tech-enabled businesses.
“I cannot be more excited about calling our initial capital and getting to work investing in the best Clemson Tiger-led startups.”
Joe Milam, co-founding partner
Fund That Tiger is now actively evaluating its pipeline. Opportunities should abound: there are more than 189,000 alumni, and Clemson manages $368 million in annual research expenditures.
The fund has also built partnerships with Clemson University Research Foundation, Launchpad Tech Ventures, Venture Atlanta, VentureSouth, the South Carolina Research Authority, Atlanta Tech Village, Atlanta Technology Angels, the ATDC, and Research Triangle Park.
Fund That Tiger is entirely independent from the university, and the university has not officially endorsed the fund.
