# Texas A&M New Ventures Competition Texas A&M New Ventures Competition is an Asset Manager based in College Station, United States. ## Overview - **Organization type:** Asset Manager - **Headquarters:** College Station, United States - **Region:** North America - **Address:** College Station, TX, United States - **Founded:** 2014 - **Assets under management:** Undisclosed - **Website:** www.texasnvc.org - **LinkedIn:** https://linkedin.com/company/texasnvc ## Regulatory record - **Reports private funds:** No ## About The Texas A&M New Ventures Competition launched in 2014 under the Texas A&M University System and the Texas A&M Engineering Experiment Station (TEES), with Chris Scotti serving as chair and Samuel Kim as interim chief innovation officer. It was built to bridge the gap between laboratory research and venture-backable companies, drawing exclusively from Texas A&M faculty, students, and affiliated researchers. The competition awards non-dilutive cash prizes, mentorship, and office space to early-stage startups rooted in A&M's intellectual property pipeline. TNVC's strategy targets pre-seed and seed-stage companies across deep technology verticals. Historical finalists include restorative neurostimulation developer PathMaker Neurosystems, water-purification sensor startup Infinite Elements, and drone-based crop analytics platform Paxauris. The competition mandates that participating companies hold a disclosure or license to Texas A&M intellectual property; judges include partners from the Aggie Angel Network and the Houston-based GOOSE Society, while TMC Innovation provides healthcare-specific acceleration for medical-device and life-science winners. Geographically, nearly all funded ventures remain in Texas — concentrated in Bryan/College Station, Houston, and Dallas-Fort Worth. The prize pool includes cash awards, legal services, and co-working access at Texas A&M's Innovation Plaza. In November 2023, TNVC awarded $400,000 across six finalists, with additional in-kind services from local service providers. The program operates alongside Texas A&M's broader commercialization infrastructure, including the Aggie Angel Network, the Blackstone LaunchPad entrepreneurship center, and the university's Office of Commercialization and Business Ventures, though TNVC remains the only vehicle offering non-dilutive competition-based seed funding with no equity take. TNVC's structural differentiator is its embedded position inside a public-university research engine — it does not raise external LP capital or charge management fees. Instead, it funnels state and donor-allocated commercialization funds into startups that remain tethered to A&M's technology transfer office, effectively acting as a pre-revenue screening mechanism for later-stage regional investors like the GOOSE Society. The arrangement creates a zero-equity, zero-fee entry point for A&M-affiliated founders that has no direct peer among Southeastern Conference universities. ## Sectors - Enterprise Software - Digital Health - AI/ML - Energy Transition & Renewables - Industrial Tech - Robotics & Automation - AgriTech & FoodTech - Cybersecurity - SpaceTech ## People - Chris Scotti — Chair of the Texas A&M New Ventures Competition and Director of Strategic Partnerships at Texas A&M Innovation - Samuel Kim — Interim Chief Innovation Officer and Managing Director of New Ventures for the Texas A&M University System ## Questions ### Who runs investment decisions at the Texas A&M New Ventures Competition? Chris Scotti chairs the competition and serves as Director of Strategic Partnerships at Texas A&M Innovation. Samuel Kim, Interim Chief Innovation Officer and Managing Director of New Ventures for the Texas A&M University System, oversees the broader commercialization portfolio. Judging panels are assembled each cycle from the Aggie Angel Network, GOOSE Society members, and outside industry experts — final prize allocations are determined by judge scoring, not unilateral investment committee discretion. ### Does TNVC take equity in participating startups? No. The Texas A&M New Ventures Competition awards non-dilutive cash prizes. Winning teams retain full equity ownership. The program is funded through university commercialization budgets and donor contributions, and operates as a competition, not as an investment fund. This distinguishes it from university-affiliated seed funds that take warrants or equity stakes. ### What investment stages does TNVC typically target? TNVC targets pre-seed and seed-stage companies with disclosed or licensed Texas A&M intellectual property. Most participating teams are at prototype or proof-of-concept stage, with limited or no outside venture capital raised. The competition is designed as a first-check mechanism before startups pursue angel or institutional venture rounds. ### How does TNVC source its deal flow? All deal flow is internal to the Texas A&M University System. Applicants must be A&M faculty, staff, students, or affiliated researchers with a disclosure or license to A&M intellectual property. The competition publicizes open calls through university channels, TEES, and the Office of Commercialization and Business Ventures, but does not accept unsolicited applications from outside the A&M ecosystem. ### Does TNVC participate in fund commitments or only direct prizes? TNVC does not commit to external venture funds. It operates solely as a competition-based prize mechanism that disburses non-dilutive cash and in-kind services directly to startups. The program does not hold LP interests, manage pooled capital, or pursue co-investment strategies alongside GPs. ### Which sectors does TNVC explicitly support? TNVC is sector-agnostic among science and engineering disciplines but requires a connection to Texas A&M intellectual property. Historically, finalists have clustered in life sciences, medical devices, AI/ML, industrial technology, energy, and agricultural tech. Consumer internet and pure software-as-a-service startups are rare unless built on A&M-owned machine-learning or data-science IP. ## Related profiles - [Tet Ventures](https://altss.com/profile/tet-ventures) - [Texas Halo Fund](https://altss.com/profile/texas-halo-fund) --- Last updated: 2026-07-06T00:38:59.500Z Canonical page: https://altss.com/profile/texas-a-m-new-ventures-competition Maintained by Altss — https://altss.com — methodology: https://altss.com/methodology