The Grit Engine bridges technology and talent to industry.
At Grit we’ve spent decades building a flywheel for sourcing, funding, de-risking and scaling deep tech companies emerging from the nations’ top labs. We partner with big industry to bring startups to market. We focus on the intersection of commercially ready technology and deep market opportunity, with an eye toward impact.
We connect founders and early-stage startups to important strategic partners through our programs including:
The Grit Labs investment program: we invest $100K in startups that are still in the labs and pair technical founders with business mentors to help with market discovery
Office Hours: a monthly meeting where Grit Partners and expert speakers present
Playbooks for Labs to Launch including: fundraising, customer discovery, GTM strategies, IP strategies, financial modeling, talent acquisition, and channel partnering
Industry Introductions: we connect founders to Grit’s Industry Partners for tech and market validation
University Summits: we bring together industry executives and academics in a format that facilitates conversation and partnership
The Grit Engine is actively enrolling strategically focused industry partners who are seeking a bridge to technology and talent in the labs.
The Grit Engine platform brings innovators in the university and government labs together with industry partners, entrepreneurial talent and investors to build impactful solutions to the world’s biggest challenges and to explore market opportunity and commercialization. We connect early-stage technologies and startups to these important industry partners through The Grit Engine strategic initiatives including our Startup Studio Accelerator Program and our Membership Program.
Startup Studio Sponsorship: a bi-annual three month accelerator with multiple tracks that encompasses strategic themes agreed upon by The Grit Engine and the Industry Sponsors.
Industry Membership: an annual membership which includes not only two curated Startup Showcases, but also establishing investment objectives, providing curated deal flow on a quarterly basis and a tailored University Day, including meetings with faculty , staff and lab tours.
Grit engages industry advisors to collaborate in support of the Grit Ventures portfolio and The Grit Engine. Grit Industry Advisors have deep expertise spanning industrial automation, defense, AI, construction and energy.
Grit’s University Fellows Program is a diversity-driven initiative focused on elevating university talent into venture capital, STEM, AI, Robotics and Energy. Grit is an ardent advocate of equal opportunity.
We believe that by rooting the socioeconomic networks resulting from deep technology in diversity, we have a special opportunity to change the world for the better.
The program includes a lecture series on entrepreneurship and venture capital, a focused research initiative, and connection to the Grit Engine strategic community.
Energy Transition Summit at UT Austin
The Energy Transition has just begun and will require trillions in investment in the coming decades. Industry university collaboration will be at the heart of this effort and Texas will have a special role to play. Grit Summit included panels, research presentations, startup showcase, lab tours and industry meetings.
Industrial Automation Summit at Carnegie Mellon
The Clean Machine revolution is here to solve challenging opportunities in industrial Automation. Innovation in Industrial Automation will increase efficiency and productivity and will be a big driver of GDP in the next decade. Pittsburgh is the hub of robotics innovation in the US. Summit included panels, research presentations, startup showcase, lab tours and industry meetings.
Texas Robotics Industry Day at UT Austin
Generative AI applied to the physical world is accelerating robotics innovation. Grit is sponsoring the First Annual Texas Robotics Industry Day taking place on the University of Texas at Austin campus in April 2024. Event showcases Texas Robotics industry sponsors, faculty leaders, and CEOs of Austin based robotics startups who have emerged from Texas Robotics labs in numerous application areas including surgical, manufacturing, energy, and mobility.
The Grit Engine is helping startups emerge from the labs.
The Grit Engine Startup Studio Accelerator Program is designed to accelerate the Go-to-Market transition of deep tech startups emerging from the nation’s top labs. Grit Ventures makes initial investments in each startup and delivers in-kind services in exchange for common equity. The Startup Studio is supported by the Grit Engine community which includes industry partners, other venture funds, government agencies, experienced entrepreneurs, academics and graduate students. This hyper-resourced environment will provide Startup Studio companies the resources they need to commercialize breakthrough technologies. Grit’s network is purpose built for the special connections and knowledge required to scale deep tech companies from the earliest stages through liquidity.
Diversity of perspective is a key to the future.
Grit University Fellows is a university-talent program focused on deep technology exploration and entrepreneurship.
2022 Applications due February 2022
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