Utah Innovation Fund

Investment Director Spencer Romney leads deal origination, diligence, and portfolio management, reporting to CEO Katy Willis. A board chaired by Gavin Christensen of Kickstart Fund provides investment oversight. The three-person investment team operates with independence from the state legislature, though deployment milestones are mandated by the fund's enabling legislation.

The fund was capitalized with a one-time $30 million allocation from the Utah State Legislature in 2023. This is not pension capital — it is a direct state appropriation structured as an evergreen investment vehicle. Returns recycle back into the fund rather than flowing to the state's general fund, enabling perpetual reinvestment.

The fund maintains formal cooperation agreements with both the University of Utah and Utah State University to access and commercialize faculty and student research. It works alongside the University of Utah's PIVOT Center but operates as an independent investment entity, not a university program. Spencer Romney previously invested university-affiliated deals at PIVOT before joining the fund.

The fund writes initial checks between $200,000 and $1 million, targeting seed and Series A rounds with reserved follow-on capital for later stages. It takes equity positions on commercial terms, distinguishing itself from grant-based state economic development programs. The evergreen structure allows flexible hold periods unconstrained by conventional fund lifecycles.

The fund's legislative mandate requires it to co-invest alongside or invest after private capital has committed — it does not lead rounds or displace private investors. Its narrow focus on commercializing Utah university research occupies a deal-flow niche that private funds in the state typically do not serve at the earliest stages.

The fund has not publicly enumerated exclusions, but its university-commercialization mandate naturally filters for deep-tech and IP-driven sectors — enterprise software, AI/ML, industrial tech, robotics, semiconductor packaging, climate tech, and healthcare services. Consumer internet, traditional retail, and non-Utah-affiliated startups fall outside its statutory scope.

Utah's roughly $20 billion public pension system allocates to external fund managers across asset classes. The Innovation Fund by contrast makes direct equity investments from its own balance sheet into early-stage companies, with no pension beneficiary obligations. It is a separate legal entity, not a program within the state retirement system.