301 Ventures

301 Ventures

301 Ventures launched as an early-stage venture firm physically rooted beside the University of Maryland's research engine in College Park. The firm's origin thesis is geographic: dense academic IP production, heavy federal lab adjacency, and a talent pipeline that feeds the Mid-Atlantic's under-ventured technical corridors. The partnership focuses on pre-seed and seed-stage companies spun out of UMD-affiliated labs, student-founder teams, and faculty-led commercialization efforts. The firm concentrates on enterprise software, applied AI/ML, and cybersecurity, backing founders who are building defense-adjacent or B2B infrastructure tools often overlooked by Sand Hill Road generalists. 301 Ventures writes initial checks in the $250,000 to $1.5 million range, typically leading or co-leading the first priced round. The portfolio includes companies commercializing research from UMD's quantum computing lab, former NSA cryptographers building privacy infrastructure, and robotics founders from the Clark School of Engineering. The firm co-invests alongside DC-regional funds like DataTribe and TEDCO, and selectively with Baltimore-based accelerators. Team size and deployment totals are not publicly disclosed as of May 2026, reflecting the firm's early-stage and deliberately low-profile posture. The partnership maintains a single office in College Park, with no known parallel vehicles, philanthropic arms, or real-asset structures reported. The firm's model relies on physical proximity to campus labs and faculty rather than a distributed or remote-first approach. Structurally, 301 Ventures operates more like a university-affiliated proof-of-concept fund than a traditional venture partnership — the sourcing pipeline is built into the university's tech transfer office and its associated incubator programs, giving the firm a first-look advantage on de-risked intellectual property before it surfaces on the broader seed market.