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Mar 17, 2026 Accountancy Alumni Business Administration Entrepreneurship Faculty Finance Student

Orange & Blue Ventures to collaborate with Illinois Ventures

By Shelby Koehne

Gies College of Business is teaming up with one of the largest and longest-running university-based venture capital firms in the country – Illinois Ventures – to offer students a new hands-on learning experience.

Gies Business recently announced the launch of Orange & Blue Ventures, University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign’s first student-led venture capital fund. This program will give students direct experience with building and managing capital from an investor’s point of view.

Melissa Graebner, associate dean of entrepreneurship and Robert C. Evans Endowed Professor of Business Administration, said that “Orange & Blue Ventures will be an outstanding addition to our growing portfolio of entrepreneurship programs at Gies Business. The Origin Ventures Office of Entrepreneurship is thrilled to be collaborating with Professor Rob Metzger and the finance department to bring this new opportunity to our students.”

Rob Metzger, clinical professor of finance and Stephen V. and Christy C. King Professor in Business, led the development of Orange & Blue Ventures in consultation with leaders across campus, the Illinois Research Park, and the Illinois alumni network.

 “I talked with many people across what I like to call the ‘innovation ecosystem’,” said Metzger, referencing the extensive network of entrepreneurship programs and resources that attract and support startups across the University of Illinois system. “I got the sense that this was something a lot of people were excited about – that it could be a way to really build out the early-stage investing muscle we have here at Illinois.”

Orange & Blue Ventures is an expansion of the programming delivered through the Origin Ventures Office of Entrepreneurship – a key player in the innovation ecosystem at Illinois. Much of the Office’s programming, such as the iVenture Accelerator, supports student- and faculty-led startups at Illinois with funding and other resources.

Learning from startup founders and investors across industries

Here’s how Orange & Blue Ventures works: First, students take a foundational course in early-stage investing. Then, they can be selected to join the venture fund management team, where they’ll invest real dollars in real businesses – going through all the steps of the process just as any other venture capitalist would.

Illinois Ventures, the decades-old, early-stage investing arm of the University of Illinois System, will play a key role in guiding the student team through that process and helping them connect with startup founders and professionals in the venture capital (VC) industry.

According to Illinois Ventures CEO Nancy Sullivan (right), one of the first things the students on the fund management team will need to think about is how to find opportunities to invest in and who they might co-invest with.

In the venture capital industry, it’s common for larger funds to act as a lead investor – the entity that typically puts up the most capital and takes on the most risk – and in return gets the most latitude in negotiating the terms of the deal.

Because Orange & Blue Ventures is a smaller fund, students likely won’t be leading venture deals but rather finding strong opportunities to co-invest in alongside other established funds and institutions. Metzger and Sullivan expect that students will likely begin that process by talking with founders and venture partners within the University of Illinois alumni network.

After identifying promising opportunities, students will “diligence” the investment deals they’re considering.

“They’ll evaluate the company, management team, market opportunity, and technology, along with the term sheet set by the lead investor. They’ll assess the valuation, what they’re paying for the opportunity, and determine whether the investment makes sense based on comparable deals and their view of the company’s current stage,” said Sullivan.

Several factors must be considered during this critical stage in the investing process, Sullivan explained. Students will need to build their working knowledge of the markets that a potential venture will play in and determine how much capital the business is likely to need. For tech ventures, students will have to consider whether inventions are patentable – and therefore legally protectable from reverse-engineering, copying, or other unauthorized use.

To make those kinds of determinations, students might need to consult with subject matter experts. This is another area where Illinois Ventures anticipates providing support.

“The Illinois Ventures Angel network has more than 100 Illinois alumni who are subject matter experts across every area,” said Sullivan. “We often talk to three to four experts ourselves before doing a deal. Helping the students who are working on this fund think about who they should be talking to, who might be an expert to provide feedback – we would be happy to help with that.”

Real-world experience gives Gies Business graduates a competitive edge

Once an investment has been made, students will then manage the fund’s portfolio, which Sullivan said typically entails supporting the companies they’ve invested in by advising on strategy and connecting those companies with resources and expertise – like the kind you can find in droves at Illinois – to help them achieve their goals.

According to members of Orange & Blue Ventures leadership, those early interactions with founders and strategy experts have the potential to put Gies Business students in a powerful position as they launch careers after graduation.

“Taking the investor perspective will help students understand what’s required to raise capital, which will make them more effective founders or start-up employees," Graebner (right) said.

Or, as Sullivan pointed out, the direct experience and industry connections students can gain in Orange & Blue Ventures could help them jumpstart successful investing careers: “We get a chance to bring our best alums in investing to the table to support the work of the students, so there's a really strong network effect. I like to say it's Illini supporting Illini.”

Students who work on the fund management team can enter the job market being able to talk about deals they’ve made, not just case studies that they’ve reviewed or simulations they’ve participated in. And whether they’re trying to launch their own startup or sourcing new investments, they’ll have important, reliable contacts in the venture capital industry.

Offering that kind of benefit to students creates new possibilities – not just for learners but for the entire University of Illinois System. Orange & Blue Ventures leaders say they hope the program will strengthen the university’s ability to attract and support innovators in science, technology, healthcare, and beyond.

“[Illinois Ventures is] one of the longest-running venture capital firms associated with a university, ever. Over the last 25 years, we've gone from being a pre-seed, double bottom line fund, adding limited partner venture funds, then adding an angel network,” said Sullivan. “Adding support to a student-led venture fund really allows the University of Illinois to be at the front and center of what's happening in the country.”


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