After four years of investing, USM’s Momentum Fund seeks additional $6M

When the University of System Maryland Board of Regents first established a fund to invest in early-stage student-, faculty- and alumni-led companies, they funneled $10 million from the system’s operational balance into it.  The hope was that the fund would become evergreen, with the money made from the investments serving to refill the pot. So far, only one of the Maryland Momentum Fund’s 24 portfolio companies has been acquired: an edtech company focused on K-12 vocabulary, called InferCabulary, that was officially bought in March. The fund’s leaders say this is only an issue of timing — the companies are too young to sell, but exit events are expected to begin in the next few years.