About this programme
The Catamount Innovation Fund (CIF) is a student-run educational program at the University of Vermont that helps UVM's most innovative student startups create economic and social value. It provides student entrepreneurs with mentorship, financial support, work space, and other resources to build their ventures.
The program has two goals: encouraging cross-disciplinary entrepreneurship across UVM's campus by helping students launch ventures, and providing an extracurricular learning environment for the students who run the fund itself.
UVM's Office of the Vice President for Research (OVPR) lists CIF in its directory of the regional entrepreneurial ecosystem, describing it in one line as a "UVM student-run organization" that "provides venture capital and mentoring services." The fund itself is managed day to day by a student team, with an advisory council and an accelerator cohort structure.
How it works
An archived snapshot of the program's own site (captured April 2021) reported that CIF had received 41 applications from 5 undergraduate colleges, the Larner College of Medicine, and the Sustainable MBA program, and had supported 18 startups over two years, involving 36 student entrepreneurs and 34 student analysts. In that period it awarded $38,000 in non-equity grants to nine teams across two accelerator cohorts. These figures are historical and were not found on a current, dated page, so they should not be read as the program's present funding level.
OVPR's own current listing describes CIF's role as providing "venture capital and mentoring services," which reads differently from the archived site's own description of "non-equity grants." No current official page reconciles the two descriptions, so both are reported here rather than picking one.
CIF sits outside UVM's formal tech-commercialization apparatus: UVM Innovations, the office that runs the separate UVMVentures Fund, SPARK-VT, the Vermont Innovation Accelerator, Academic Research Commercialization, and NSF I-Corps for UVM, does not list or administer the Catamount Innovation Fund on its own program pages. CIF is cross-linked only from OVPR's broader regional-ecosystem page, alongside outside organizations like Generator, VCET, and Launch-VT.
Who can apply
The program is for UVM students across undergraduate colleges, the Larner College of Medicine, and the Sustainable MBA program who want to build a startup venture.
How to apply
- Reach out to the Catamount Innovation Fund to discuss your idea; the program's contact address is catamount.innovation@gmail.com.
- The fund also welcomes professionals interested in advising teams, leading a workshop, or supporting the program financially.
Frequently asked
Who can apply to the Catamount Innovation Fund?
UVM students, including undergraduates, Larner College of Medicine students, and Sustainable MBA students, who want support building a startup venture.
What kind of support does CIF provide?
Mentorship, financial support, work space, and other resources, plus an extracurricular learning environment run by a student management team.
Is the funding equity or non-equity?
An archived program snapshot from April 2021 describes the grants it awarded as non-equity, meaning CIF did not take an ownership stake in exchange for the funding. UVM's own current ecosystem listing, by contrast, describes CIF as providing "venture capital," a term that usually implies an equity stake; no current official page clarifies which description still applies.
Is the Catamount Innovation Fund run by UVM's tech-commercialization office?
No. UVM Innovations, which runs the separate UVMVentures Fund and programs like SPARK-VT, does not list or administer CIF. It appears only in OVPR's broader directory of Vermont's regional entrepreneurial ecosystem, alongside outside groups such as Generator and VCET.
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Reviewed 2026-09-25. Programmes change, so check eligibility, amounts and deadlines on the official page before you apply. CapEasy is a private firm and is not part of any government body.