The UT Dallas Institute for Innovation and Entrepreneurship has launched a partnership with Capital Factory to create an incubator that will benefit entrepreneurial efforts at the university by accelerating to market the products and services of ventures founded by UT Dallas students.

Capital Factory is one of the most active early-stage tech investors in Texas and opened an office in the Uptown neighborhood of Dallas in 2018.

UT Dallas said that the partnership is expected to make downtown Dallas an anchor for UT Dallas entrepreneurship activity. As part of the partnership, select UT Dallas student-founders and their teams will get coworking memberships there.

“Dallas’ urban core is an incredibly important hub of entrepreneurial innovation—from startups to large corporate innovation centers—with a sophisticated and growing range of venture investors choosing to locate there,” said Duane Dankesreiter, senior vice president of research and innovation at the Dallas Regional Chamber.

Launch planned at Capital Factory during Dallas Startup Week

A grand opening launch of the partnership at Capital Factory-Dallas is planned for April 2 during Dallas Startup Week.

Steve Guengerich, executive director of UTD’s Institute for Innovation and Entrepreneurship, said the partnership is “an important new extension of the innovation and entrepreneurship programs and facilities that the institute operates.”

Participating startups will have exclusive access to education, mentorship, networking, programming, products and services as well as connections to leading corporations and access to capital channels. The incubator will offer programs and events that are open to the larger community.

The new partnership with Capital Factory marks the latest in a series of formalized relationships UTD has entered into.

This month, The Dallas Entrepreneur Center Network launched its Innov8te Smart Cities Incubator, backed by UTD, AT&T, Cisco, Microsoft, and the Dallas Innovation Alliance.

“We are excited about the new opportunities for UT Dallas faculty and students to meet and work with private and public industry innovators, large and small, through each of these partnerships—with Capital Factory, with DIA’s Innovate and with the Blockchain Research Institute,” said Joseph Pancrazio, vice president of research at UT Dallas.

Capital Factory founder and CEO Joshua Baer said the partnership with UTD is a natural fit.

“UT Dallas was one of the first places I visited when I toured Dallas for the first time, and I was impressed,” Baer said. “The strength of its student body and faculty—from the business school to engineering to computer science to life sciences—was exceptional, as was its shared entrepreneurial mission. We’ve already invested in more than one UT Dallas alumni company, and I expect to see that number continue to grow.”

UT Dallas said that students have submitted the first round of applications for Capital Factory membership, and evaluation of student-founders and their teams has begun.