Yale Ventures Opens 2025-2026 Faculty Accelerator Fund Applications
The Blavatnik Fund for Innovation at Yale, The Colton Center for Autoimmunity at Yale, and The Roberts Innovation Fund are seeking promising faculty-led projects for 2025-2026 awards.
Yale Ventures is excited to announce that applications for the 2025-2026 accelerator funds open on September 2, 2025. Yale accelerator funds are open to faculty innovators and their teams working on cutting-edge translational research in the life sciences, digital health, autoimmunity and allergic disease, engineering, and physical sciences. To date, Yale accelerator funds support faculty ventures with over $6M in translational funding each year and have helped to launch over 150 faculty-led ventures over the last seven years.
Yale Ventures accelerator funds are dedicated to advancing transformative Yale innovations that address some of the world’s most pressing challenges. In addition to funding, accelerator funds provide mentorship, innovation training, investor exposure and strategic support to assist in the commercialization of Yale faculty research. Each accelerator is led by a principal investigator from across Yale—including leadership from the Provost’s Office, Yale Engineering, Yale School of Medicine, and Yale Planetary Solutions—ensuring deep expertise and broad engagement across the university.
Yale Ventures is hosting events throughout the fall to provide more information about accelerator funds and opportunities for faculty innovators to acquire pitching skills, explore customer discovery, and understand market opportunity. To register for an upcoming event, subscribe to our events calendar.
Eligible applicants are encouraged to apply for multiple accelerator funds. Submitting applications to multiple funds will not affect the consideration of each individual application. Each application will be evaluated independently based on its own merits and the specific criteria of the respective fund.
LIFESCIENCES
Blavatnik Fund for Innovation at Yale
The Blavatnik Fund for Innovation at Yale focuses on the commercialization of applied research and technology in the life sciences, supporting Yale investigator-initiated research addressing unmet medical need. Completed projects aim for partnerships with industry, the development of startups, or major industry-sponsored research agreements. Since its inception in 2017, it has supported more than 80 projects with over $20 million awarded, 28 new ventures launched raising $438M in external funding, 9 IND’s accepted with 7 clinical trials initiated. 2 positive early clinical trial readouts and 2 revenue generating digital health ventures. The Blavatnik Fund welcomes a diverse range of innovations to apply. In the past we have funded traditional therapeutics as well as medical devices, diagnostics, and digital solutions. The accelerator fund is supported by a grant from The Blavatnik Family Foundation.
- Deadline: October 31, 2025
- Application Information
AUTOIMMUNE & ALLERGIC DISEASES
The Colton Center for Autoimmunity at Yale
The Colton Center for Autoimmunity at Yale is committed to advancing innovative translational research in autoimmune and allergic diseases. The Center promotes cross-disciplinary, investigator-initiated research to bridge gaps between research and real-world applications. To date, the Center has provided over $5M to advance Yale investigators’ research to develop therapeutics, diagnostics, vaccines and platform technologies, and to gain deeper insight into complex disease mechanisms. Founded in 2019, the Center is supported by a generous gift from Judith and Stewart Colton.
- Deadline: November 20, 2025
- Application Information
YALE ENGINEERING
The Roberts Innovation Fund
The Roberts Innovation Fund is a lab-to-market accelerator fund that supports projects with faculty innovators from the Yale School of Engineering & Applied Science. In particular, the fund is focused on advancing breakthrough inventions that address real-world problems by providing access to capital, programmatic support and mentorship. Established in 2022, the Fund is made possible by a gift from Yale alumnus Will Roberts '90 and is managed in partnership with Yale Ventures and Yale Engineering’s Office of the Dean.
- Deadline: November 4, 2025
- Application Information
PLANETARY SOLUTIONS
Planetary Solutions Impact Accelerator
The Planetary Solutions Impact Accelerator mobilizes the breadth of Yale’s research enterprise to generate scalable, sustainable, resilient solutions. It is a new addition to Yale Planetary Solutions’ core programming and is powered by Yale Ventures. The initial focus of the accelerator is on commercializing scalable technologies that can significantly reduce greenhouse gas emissions, the root cause of climate change.
For more information, visit: Planetary Solutions Impact Accelerator.
About Yale Ventures
Launched by Yale University in 2022, Yale Ventures aims to foster and accelerate a vibrant entrepreneurship and innovation ecosystem. It provides increased support, resources, and opportunities for Yale innovators, helping them translate their ideas and discoveries into new ventures that will have a positive impact on the world’s greatest challenges.