New WEDC-Funded Initiative to Build a Seamless Pipeline from Research to Scalable Ventures
Milwaukee, WI — February 18, 2026 — The Universities of Wisconsin Center for Technology Commercialization (CTC), in partnership with a regional consortium of universities, industry leaders, and entrepreneur-support organizations, today announced the launch of Founder Factory, a new multi-year initiative funded through the Wisconsin Economic Development Corporation’s (WEDC) Ignite Wisconsin program.
Founder Factory is designed to significantly increase the number, quality, and retention of high-growth startups in Southeastern Wisconsin by addressing long-standing gaps in the early and middle stages of the startup pipeline. Through structured programming, milestone-based seed funding, and coordinated regional support, the initiative provides founders with a clear, end-to-end path from idea to investment readiness.
“Wisconsin’s economy thrives when we give entrepreneurs the support they need to turn bold ideas into scalable companies,” said John W. Miller, secretary and chief executive officer of WEDC. “The Founder Factory strengthens that pipeline by helping innovators move from concept to investment readiness, activating university research, and building a more connected startup ecosystem in Southeast Wisconsin. This effort will grow high‑potential ventures, attract follow‑on capital, and expand the state’s long‑term innovation capacity.”
“Wisconsin has world-class research and entrepreneurial talent, but too many high-potential ventures stall in the ‘messy middle’ between discovery and scale,” said Margaret Ramey, director of the Center for Technology Commercialization. “Founder Factory brings structure, capital, and accountability to that critical stage, ensuring promising founders and innovations don’t fall through the cracks.”
A Founder-Centric Startup Pipeline
Founder Factory offers a four-part pipeline that integrates existing regional strengths with new, targeted supports:
- Innovation Bootcamps that activate regional and federally developed intellectual property and form strong interdisciplinary startup teams.
- Entity Formation Clinics that help founders efficiently start compliant businesses.
- A two-stage, milestone-driven Pre-Accelerator, combining hands-on mentoring with non-dilutive seed funding to advance ventures toward traction and capital readiness.
- Early and ongoing engagement with investors, industry partners, and follow-on funders to align startups with real market needs.
Teams in the program may receive up to $50,000 in staged seed funding, paired with individualized coaching focused on business model development, founder readiness, and commercialization milestones.
“Through extensive stakeholder interviews and ecosystem analysis, we heard loud and clear that too many high‑potential founders in Southeastern Wisconsin were falling through the cracks between early discovery and true investment readiness.” said Brian Walsh, senior technology commercialization manager at UWM Research Foundation. “Founder Factory was designed to close those gaps. By delivering structure, seed funding, and coordinated support, we’re setting up startups in our region to emerge as real contenders for follow‑on funding from investors, industry partners, and grants. And now we’re ready to execute.”
Regional Collaboration, Statewide Impact
The initiative is guided by a 20-member consortium that includes the University of Wisconsin–Milwaukee Research Foundation, University of Wisconsin–Milwaukee, Milwaukee Tech Hub Coalition, Marquette University, Medical College of Wisconsin, Versiti, Midwest Founders Community, Forward BIOLABS, Golden Angels Investors, NVNG Investment Advisors, and other regional partners. This collaborative model reduces duplication, aligns resources, and creates a shared infrastructure for venture creation across institutions.
“While industry‑agnostic, Founder Factory will place early emphasis on biohealth, aligning with recent state and federal investments in the Wisconsin Biohealth Tech Hub,” said Kalpa Vithalani, executive director of technology transfer at Marquette University. “It will systematically unlock strengths in SE Wisconsin by pairing founders with the structure, capital, and support needed to turn life sciences innovations into scalable companies that deliver economic and societal impact.”
Bringing Impact to Southeast Wisconsin
Over its initial two-year implementation, Founder Factory aims to launch and support high-potential startups, increase follow-on investment and commercialization grant success, strengthen founder skills and leadership capacity, activate underutilized university and federal intellectual property, and build a durable, data-driven venture creation engine for Southeastern Wisconsin.
“Southeast Wisconsin is rich with bold ideas and breakthrough innovation emerging from our academic institutions and community. We have high‑performance support systems needed to turn those concepts into thriving companies and market-ready products but have lacked cohesive formal support with entity formation and early business milestones” said Kristin Ciezki, PhD, director of the Therapeutic Accelerator Program and assistant professor in the Department of Pharmacology & Toxicology at the Medical College of Wisconsin. “Founder Factory fills that gap. It will redefine what’s possible for aspiring and early‑stage founders across the region.”
Founder Factory officially begins programming in mid-2026, with applications for the first Innovation Bootcamp and Pre-Accelerator cohorts opening later this year.
For more information, visit www.wisconsinctc.org or contact ctc@business.wisconsin.edu.
About the Center for Technology Commercialization
The Center for Technology Commercialization (CTC), housed within the Universities of Wisconsin Office of Business and Entrepreneurship, provides hands-on guidance to early-stage, technology-based companies across Wisconsin. CTC supports entrepreneurs through commercialization strategy, funding readiness, and SBIR/STTR assistance, helping turn innovation into economic impact.
About WEDC Ignite Wisconsin
Ignite Wisconsin is a Wisconsin Economic Development Corporation (WEDC) initiative that invests in scalable, collaborative programs designed to increase startup creation, commercialization, and capital attraction across the state. WEDC leads economic development efforts for the state by advancing and maximizing opportunities in Wisconsin for businesses, communities and people to thrive in a globally competitive environment. Working with more than 600 regional and local partners, WEDC develops and delivers solutions representative of a highly responsive and coordinated economic development network. Learn more at https://wedc.org; follow @WEDCNews on X.
