One Giant Leap Ventures is Rice University’s early-stage venture investment platform supporting startups founded or led by Rice alumni, students or faculty, and companies commercializing Rice-licensed intellectual property. It invests across industries through a rules-based process requiring Rice affiliation and a qualified outside lead investor before Investment Advisory Committee review. The platform combines university and limited-partner participation with access to Rice’s alumni network for diligence, mentoring and commercialization support. Its first disclosed investment is Motif Neurotech, which develops an investigational minimally invasive neurostimulator for treatment-resistant depression. The mandate spans Rice-affiliated businesses broadly rather than being an exclusively neuroscience fund.
Founded
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Type
Venture capital
Funds1
One Giant Leap Ventures Fund I—
Rice University’s inaugural institutional early-stage venture fund backing Rice-affiliated spinouts and alumni-founded startups across industries. Rice’s October7,2026 public launch announcement confirms an actual first close in August2026 and a subsequent investment in Motif Neurotech. Its structure enables equity limited-partner commitments and philanthropic participation. Closed capital, target and the exact August close day are unpublished; the platform’s up-to-USD500000 company investment policy is not a fund corpus.
Motif Neurotech