Osage University Partners (OUP) Research
Investment Thesis
Osage University Partners (OUP) is a Philadelphia-area venture firm founded in 2009 that invests in breakthrough startups emerging from university and research-institution labs. Its stated line is "Investing at the Frontier: backing breakout researchers and entrepreneurs solving the toughest problems." The firm sources through a network of more than 150 partner universities and research institutions in the US and abroad, and leans on deep relationships with technology transfer offices, founders and industry to find companies early, often before a financing round is formed.
Sector Focus
OUP runs two parallel verticals. The tech side covers software, hardware and climate tech, with recent activity in AI security, photonics and networking silicon, defense autonomy and industrial AI. The life science side covers therapeutics, medtech, diagnostics and research tools, including gene editing, epigenetic editing, neuromodulation devices and immunology. The life science book appears to be the larger source of exits and IPOs.
Stage Focus
The firm describes itself as investing at all stages, from pre-seed through crossover. In practice it appears as an early backer (seed and Series A, sometimes leading, as with the Quintessent seed) and as a continuing participant in later rounds of portfolio companies (Series B through Series F in the third-party deal record).
Check Size
The website states an investment size of $1M to $20M. The firm reports roughly $800M under management, 150+ portfolio companies and 35+ IPOs.
Lead Tendency
Third-party deal records show OUP leading only occasionally (for example the Quintessent seed) and mostly appearing as a co-investor alongside specialist and multi-stage funds. Lead tendency is therefore recorded as both, with moderate confidence.
Recent Activity
- March 2026: Eridu emerged from stealth with over $200M in funding (OUP portfolio news).
- April 2026: Terremoto Biosciences closed a $108M Series C.
- May 2026: Tessera Labs raised $60M led by Andreessen Horowitz.
- May 2026: OUP appointed Gibb Witham as Venture Partner.
- January 2026: University of Pennsylvania, BioNTech and OUP launched a $50M life sciences fund.
- January 2026: OUP promoted Manny Stockman to Managing Partner, Mitra Miri to Partner and Beth Grafstrom to SVP Finance.
- January 2026: Precede Biosciences raised an $83.5M Series B / debt round; Nocion Therapeutics added a $23M Series B extension.
- Lilly agreed to acquire portfolio company DICE Therapeutics.
Portfolio Highlights
Public or exited names called out on the site include Menlo Security, IonQ, Beam Therapeutics, SiFive, Sana Biotechnology, Corelight, ReCode Therapeutics and DICE Therapeutics (acquired by Lilly). Other portfolio companies seen in news and deal records include Chroma Medicine, Nido Biosciences, BioAge Labs, Virtue AI, Overland AI, Xscape Photonics, Quintessent, Pairwise, AssetWatch and Veradermics.
Team
- Robert Adelson, Managing Partner
- Marc Singer, Managing Partner (leads the tech side)
- Bill Harrington, Managing Partner
- Matt Cohen, Managing Partner
- Manny Stockman, Managing Partner (promoted January 2026)
- Mitra Miri, Partner (life science, promoted January 2026)
- Anna Turetsky, General Partner, PxB Fund
- Ajay Rayasam and Allen Chen, Principals
- Justin Robeny and Nabil Ullah, Associates
- Gibb Witham, Venture Partner (appointed May 2026)
- Louis Berneman, Founding Partner
The team says it has worked together for over a decade and mixes venture investors, scientists, operators and tech transfer veterans. A separate sister fund, Osage Venture Partners, has its own site.
Decision Process
A partnership of several managing partners, with investment decisions made collectively. No public detail on timeline or committee mechanics was found.
Founder Preferences
Academic and research-led founders, including first-time founders spinning out of university labs. The firm publishes guidance for academic founders on equity splits, financing trends and choosing a VC, and runs a female founders blog.
Geographic Focus
Global in sourcing through university partners, with a US center of gravity and relationships at institutions such as Penn, Stanford, Indiana University and Berkeley. Outside the US it has backed spinouts such as Red Arrow Therapeutics (Japan).
Research Gaps
The oup.vc portfolio and approach pages sit behind a bot challenge and could not be read, and the browser fallback was unavailable. The portfolio list is therefore partial, drawn from the homepage highlights, the newsroom and third-party deal records. Team LinkedIn URLs and emails were not collected.