Does E14 Fund invest only in MIT spin-offs?

E14 Fund only invests in startups with key contributors from MIT, some spinning straight out of MIT, others with founders who left MIT decades ago. Focusing on our amazing community helps us build trusted, deep connections with our founders and better support their companies. And this also makes the donation we make of a portion of our profits to MIT more meaningful to our portfolio companies too!

When am I ready to pitch E14?

As a part of the community, it’s never too early to come talk with us: maybe we’ll have questions to help with your brainstorming and customer development; maybe we can give you our opinion on your roadmap; maybe we can introduce you to a potential customer or a potential co-founder. E14 Fund invests at the earliest stages, and even if you’re not sure you’re ready for investment, we’re always here to try to help, coach and give feedback. We often work and workshop with students and alumni months or sometimes even years before we invest, although we won’t disrupt your academic career and won’t make an investment before you’ve left MIT.

When and how much do you invest?

Core Investment: We’re typically your first institutional investor and our usual first investment is somewhere between $500k and $5M. For these core investments, we also set aside additional funds to continue supporting your startup in future rounds.

Fellowship Investment: We also have a program called E14 Fellows for companies that may not yet be ready to digest a bigger investment. Fellowship investments are typically $50k to $100k on founder-friendly terms. They’re made on a continuous basis and there is no fixed schedule, milestones or program. Instead, we work with E14 Fellowship companies on an individual basis to help them be ready for a bigger check from E14 if and when it makes sense for the company, whether that’s weeks or months later.

Do I have to be in Boston?

No. E14 Fund invests in great, world-changing MIT companies wherever they may be.

Why are you called E14 Fund?

Our name comes from the main building that houses the MIT Media Lab where we are affiliated (n.b. Buildings at MIT are all numbered!). But lucky us, E14 also looks like π in Leet and the element with atomic number 14, in other words element 14, is Silicon. Perfect for a deep tech fund!